Nice work Pat! Those harnesses came out beautiful. That's the effort that makes it that much special and clean afterwards.

Any reason you didn't go with a custom I piece driveshaft?

 

It's too long to be a 1 piece and have a slip shaft movement on it (changes length)

 

I know when my factory aluminum driveline exceeded speed rating I went with a 3 inch steel driveline specialties 2 piece. They can make whatever you need if
they are still around. They were out of Texas. I wish I had your skills Pat, Very nice work.

 

still pending a driveshaft and crossmember, but still have so much to do for other mini projects. I began by mocking up the shifter height and checking for clearances available under the console deck





Fabricated a quick bracket setup to gain approximately 4" of height






Welded in between several rounds of test fitments





Ground down, drilled some "speed holes" to reduce weight, then I primed, painted it






Installed under the console








Installed in the console, looking down through the top side






Shifter bolted in using resused 2003 front end hardware (I'm a pack rat and don't throw stuff away)






Console deck installed for some teaser pics







I clearly still have more to do here, I'll need to build or buy a trim ring for the shifter boot to click into, and then I'll do some hand laid fiberglass to fill in the bottom of the console deck


I'll work on getting a video together of some of the fabrication work soon

 

Wahoo! Looking good so far. I'm sure you'll have that looking like it was made for the console.

 

Video update #10

More pics very soon!

 

Great updates! Now will you be able to use the select a shift function? I imagine you would since you have everything talking together.

 

Patrick started the truck for me Sunday. It really sounds good with no mufflers. Under the hood, the 5.0 looks factory, really a clean installation. He is quite the craftsman.

 

Select shift will work, already tested that function, just forgot to get it in the video

I'm gonna lock out 2 and 1 gates on the shifter for clearance reasons

So shifter pattern will be P R N D M



Thanks Bluejay!

 

It's much too hot today to be out in the garage after work. Spent some time shopping around looking for a driveshaft crossmember. Hopefully something turns up. I'd much prefer to use a factory one when/where its possible

 

Found a donor crossmember, and began to fabricate a new one. Gonna have to end up modifying the factory donor to get it all to work right. Standby for more pics very soon

 

Donor chunk out of a 1997 2wd Scab 8' bed out at the local junk yard






Measuring driveline angle, so I can plan out the driveshaft angles. Once I figured out the angles, I can figure out how tall I want my carrier bearing crossemember to be

Lots and lots of good information available online, this was a pretty comprehensive website with basically a crash course all in one place
https://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTr...line-101.shtml

Also checked my math using the online calculator
https://spicerparts.com/calculators/...gle-calculator




Time to cut the bracket off the donor crossmember section







Quick initial mockup of my new crossmember, and my new (old) carrier bearing bracket

 

Cleaned and cut up the 1997 Carrier bearing bracket. Cut and will overlap welding to remove about 1.5" out of the height of the bracket




Mocked up and measured lots of times the final assembled height of my new bracket



Fully welded (by my coworker)



Primer





Black paint, ready to go home and get installed this weekend.




I'll still need to finish mocking up the crossmember and get everything drilled and bolted in place. Once this task is completed, I can take some final measurements of my driveshaft and send it out to be lengthened and have the correct flange installed

Until next time

 

I also will try and get some time this weekend to start fiberglassing the console deck. I made a super-cardboard template/ bottom plate. I call it super-cardboard because has a metal grid layer between the layers of the cardboard. Its a box from work, Porsche seatbelt box.....




Template installed around the shifter




A little side by side action to get me motivated to get going on this free form fiberglass. (not my favorite part of this build)

 

Laser level line to get the driveline centered up






mock up of the center mount




drilled and painted the crossmember




reinstalled




Just need to take final measurements and i can send the driveshaft out for modification