Quote from Introductions
"Yep. I saw all of there first pulls. Then we left for a while to go pickup a van (to hall to junk) when those antiques were doing hotlaps to get around and pull again and then came back later but missed most of their pulls.I though Tinker Toy had bar tires but Sat. it looked like he was running street treads. What's up with that? Your story sounds all to familiar. We were supposed to start this truck 6+ months ago but we waited until about 1 month ago. Now we are struggling to get everything done. Stuff is starting to come together though. Motor and trans went in last night. The upright headers should be here today or tomorrow. Got my wheel centers in Schribner this weekend and will drive to Lincoln either one afternoon this week or Sat. Morning. We aren't planning to go to all the pulls this year as we don't know what the trans will do and our motor is not up to the other guys standards. We are just trying to get the truck put together and make a couple passes. Next year we are planning to get a motor that will do a little better. Well it is looking like the truck will be John Deere Green so if you see us stop by and say hello."

Tinker toy still has his bar tires but wanted to try out his street tires because they are a little taller and will get him some more wheel speed. He hopes to work that motor a little more and take advantage of his horsepower.

What year of truck are building? And where did you get your upright headers from? I'm having some clearance issues with the headers that I have and am probably going to have to find a different set they were designed for that mini rod and drop down right off the head and are going to be an issue with the steering shaft and possibley the frame.

 

The truck is a 79 F250 2wd. I work on my truck at a buddies shop. He has a race car and one of his buddies has a derby car. The derby car guy was telling me about these guys and that they make pretty good headers. They were way cheaper than any other upright headers so I thought I would try them. The company is called DEC Headers. I called and talked to them breifly and then ordered on last Tuesday night. I called on Wed afternoon to make sure that they go the order and he said everything was cut and he would weld up and ship on Thursday. Thursday afternoon I got an email saying that they were shipped. He had told me that it was 2 days to IA so they should be here today but who knows when it comes to shipping companies. I figure that I didn't really want to spend the money for some of the other headers ($500 - $800) so I would try these cheap ones. I will try and get some pics and let you know how they are when I get them one and get the motor running. The guy was pretty knowledgeable. He didn't seam like he like to make 460 headers but he did ask if I would want the forward offset to avoid the master cylinder/brake booster. We are trying to do away with that so we just got regular uprights. Are you making your Silver one into a Mod 4X4? You should see Joe Smeals new motor... WOW. That thing is crazy. Lets just say that if it isn't hooked to the sled the back end is off the ground when he gives it the skinny pedal.

 

I found those guys on the internet it looks like they build them mainly for demo cars but hey the price is right. Definetely let me know how they look and fit. I think the 2 wheel drive has a different steering set up than the 4 if I remember right the steering box sits between the front axle and the cab and the 4x4 steering box sits infront of the axle. Anyway take some picks and post them in your gallery and I will do the same. As for the master cylinder I went out and bought one for a truck with manual brakes and am going to see how difficult that will be to eliminate the booster.

I am actually making the primer black one into the MOD 4 x4 the cab is pretty shot on it along with every other body part but the frame is solid so it won't bother me as much to cut extra holes in the cab and hood to make everything fit. Smeals truck "Black Magic" is one of my favorites that thing absolutly screams not to mention that it is one of the nicest looking mid 70's fords out there. Keep me in touch with how things are going and maybe we can meet up at one of the pulls.

 

Yes they do specialize in demo headers but when on a budget I can experiment... Yes the steering is right above or slightly behind the axel. We are pricing the manual brake setup today. My truck is fairly rough too. Hey it really only needs to look OK from 50 foot so we will fill what holes we can and paint her up with some JD green!! I keep forgeting to take the camera out to the shop with me. Hopefully in the next day or so we will get the headers on and get some pics. Look forward to seeing your pics too and yes I am sure we will hook up sometime. What size of motor are you guys running?

 

Also what pulls are you trying to hit?

We definately want to hit Malvern, Red Oak, and Scribner. Next year after we have a real motor and see how this trans will work we will try to make more pulls.

 

Tekameh, Wahoo, Springfield, Adams and all depending on what gets done and when possibley more. What tranny are you using?

 

We are gonna try and use a C6 with a 2 speed Eaton rear (8.XX gearing). We don't have too much motor so we will just see what happens.

 

OK. I test fitted the headers last night and I would think you would be fine. The pipe is cut at an angle and then welded to the flange so that they start to curve up right away. We have few inches of clearance with our steering box so I would think you should be OK. They aren't very long. Collector will stick out of the hood probably 4-6 inches so if you want them long then I would have them add extra pipe (which he will do for a small fee).

I will try to get pics ASAP but I have to get a water heater fixed tonight (hopefully that won't take long) while my buddie and a local race car guy are starting the wiring and then tomorrow night I have to go back to school for my last 3 month class (yuck). But at least now it is official. The truck will be JD Green as my dad's work kicked in the painting supplies. Thank you A&M Green Power.

 

Pics would be great if you don't have the front grill and radiator support on a pic from the front of the truck looking down the frame rail towards the cab on the drivers side and a side profile looking at the side of the motor would really help me out. Like I said I seen these guys on the web and am just curious to see how they are built. What did you think of the quality? and what size primaries and collectors?

What are you going to school for?

 

Since we are gonna be building a motor next year we went with 2" pipe into 4" collector. They seam to be pretty well build but then again this is the first pair of headers I have bought. I will try to get a picture in the next day or too. FYI.. None of the front clip is on so that won't be an issue.

I was in the accellarated program at Bellevue University for MIS (Management Information Systems aka computer geek). I finished that a couple of months ago but now need to get this stupid class that they make everyone take to graduate. I am not looking forward to it as our teacher is an English professor and that isn't my strong suit.

 

I am building a website and will try to put the pictures there sometime this week. Let me know what you think or if you have any ideas.

YES DEERE

Thanks,

Chris

 

I like the logo looks good. The name I'm going with right now is "The Gatekeeper" It's not that it will be going out the gate (that would be nice) but I picked up that name from some friends because I work for a company that sells gates so it's got some meaning also. let me know when you get the site up.

 

That is a good name. I uploaded some pics to the site. I tried to get the ones that you wanted and take some so that you could see how they were made and fit. Let me know if you need something different.

Last night we welded in a couple braces in between frame rails and then cut out the old suspensions and axel. We then put the 2 ton under the frame on some jack stands. I have school tonight and Bryan is going to Speedway in Lincoln to get some parts so I doubt much will get done tonight.

Thanks,

Chris

 

Thanks for posting those pics they don't look to bad for the price.

 

No they really aren't that bad. So how far are you on your truck or what do you have left?