The Polar Bear - NP241 Upgrade

[downtowncb]

nice where did u get it from ?

Got it from a local welding supply shop. With the rebate, it was the cheapest source I could find and I could pick it up in time for the weekend.

[Jeeptech01]

How much moneys?

I have been considering a 220 machine for a while now but my miller 140 keeps surprising me on the thick stuff.

[downtowncb]

Out the door for the welder, full 55 cu. ft. cylinder and an 11 lb roll of .035 was $990. That was with our atrocious 9.5% sales tax... there is also a $75 mail in Lincoln rebate. The price goes up quick when you have to buy a cylinder too. I only had one for the TIG.

[AgitatedPancake]

$1k out the door for a fully set up lincoln 220 really doesn't seem that bad! and a 9.5% sales tax...ouch lol.

Now....GET TO WORK

[downtowncb]

Now....GET TO WORK

I'm working on it! Haha I'm hoping to finally get the rear discs welded on the Rock Limo this weekend. One problem though with the welder, got everything hooked up last night, pulled the trigger to feed the wire through the tube and the motor doesn't spin. I checked the trigger signal wires with a multimeter and they work fine. Going to take it back to the welding shop at lunch and trade it for another one.

[AgitatedPancake]

Hmmm yeah that's an odd one...should be up and running soon though hopefully

[downtowncb]

Just got it checked out and everything is fine, so the problem must be with my power at home. It's weird because I've been running my TIG off the same outlet for 6 months without issue.

[Jeeptech01]

Hmm. That is strange.

Dammit 1k for a new machine isnt in the cards right now. I'll just have to continue being a weld prep nazi.

[downtowncb]

So haha funny thing, my TIG welder is smarter than I am. I ran both phases and neutral into the box, but accidentally only hooked up one phase and neutral. So I only had 120 going into the outlet but my TIG is auto switching and I haven't used it on anything big recently so I hadn't noticed the current limited to like 150 amps out of 200. Anyways, fixed and it took two seconds to get the MIG dialed in. I love it

[Jeeptech01]

Sweet. Now get that intake on. I want a driving impression.

[downtowncb]

Swapped the new 4.5" coils in the rear and new stiffer valving in the front coil overs.

On the highly comprehensive FOA shock scale I went from Medium to Medium-Firm compression valving and from Light-Medium to Medium rebound valving. These coil overs are such pieces of shit. I found a ton more metal shavings in the oil even after I initially cleaned them when they were new.

The shock oil was so disgustingly black I decided to no reassemble them yet and I'm ordering some fresh shock oil tonight. Actually now that I think of it, isn't shock oil just 5W oil? If that's the case I might just buy some locally to tied me over for now. When I do coil overs in the rear I think I'm going to buy new front ones as well. Thinking FOXs all around.

Don't worry JT, I'll post up as soon as I get the intake in, I'm still waiting for my parts to come back from annodizing. The hazards of getting it done for free is that I can't complain when it takes a while...

[downtowncb]

My parts finally came back from anodizing today!



I heard they were coming back yesterday so I pulled the truck intake last night and I'm going to start putting the LS6 intake on tonight

[downtowncb]

Beauty and the Beast:




I'm going to rework the harness tomorrow night to route the wires around the top of the intake. Can't cover up that sexiness.

[Shinobi]

sick !!

[downtowncb]

The 1" heim joint I'm using for the tire carrier hinges for the Polar Bear and Rock Limo got here yesterday. They're freakin huge!



Also, continuing to make progress on the intake swap.

Old waterpump off:

[PaperTowels]

Nice build.

When I get back to Seattle well have to go wheelin.

[Jeeptech01]

Moar! Lookin good man. Still interested in your impressions from the swap.

[downtowncb]

I'll let you know as soon as it's back running

I ran into a problem, the spacers would work fine if this was going in the original truck engine bay it was meant for, on mine the spacers push the f body water pump into the electric fan motor about 1/8". Sooo I can either move the fan a bit or I'm going to pick up a vette water pump which is much narrower and see how it fits. You can see on this image I stole off the net that the pump is MUCH narrower. The pulley on the f body pump sticks out way farther than is necesary.

[Jeeptech01]

Yea I was wondering if that might be an issue. I have heard of people pressing the pulley off machining it and reinstalling it further recessed. A lot of work though. Ls2 pump would be much easier.

[downtowncb]

As the saying goes, if it weren't for deadlines, there would be no progress. One month until GSW, and I've got a lot of work still ahead of me. I've almost completely finalized the front bumper design. I'm hoping to finish the rear in the next couple of days and then get them cut out. The design is mostly self jigging, which should help aid rapid assembly.

[Shinobi]

looks great man !! you better hurry up !!! aren't you guys coming to reno soon ?

[downtowncb]

Yeah, we'll be down there the weekend of the 28th. I know, I'm busting my ass to get all these goodies done! Hopefully I'll finish the design on the rear by tomorrow night. I'm ordering the last bits of hardware that I need from McMaster today. 1" stainless steel bolts and locking latches for the tire swing are expensive! I'm also ordering the steel for the new rock sliders today.

[AgitatedPancake]

damn man that bumper design is lookin really, really good! I like the lines a lot

[downtowncb]

Thanks Greg, now if only you and that table lived a little closer I'd much rather pay a friend to cut the stuff out than some random shop.

The cardboard model looks pretty good. It has taken quite a few hours of tweaking and going back and forth between the cardboard model and SolidWorks model to get it to the point where I'm happy with it.

[biggoofy]

please give Greg that part file I love that bumper!