Wheels, Tires and Front Suspension...

Its been a bit since I've provided an update on the race truck.

It is still in upstate Vermont having its front suspension and wheels and tires put in place.

The front tires and wheels and long travel kit from BTF are now installed--to be removed for the front suspension parts to be powdercoated at a later date--and the engine cage with the upper shock mounts are to be fabb'd in the immediate future.

Comments here--Yes the setup is wide, wider even than the fiberglass fenders.  This was driven by a number of factors including the need to go to a very low backspace wheel (4.06"s) in order to clear the steering and upright components.  The width should improve the stability of the vehicle--key given the more asphalt, hill climb, stage rally, rallycross events it will see.  In regards to the tire impacting the fender--even if it had been tucked into the fender well, it still would have impacted the fender liner at the same point of impacting the fender, so I'm not losing any potential uptravel.  And lastly, hydraulic bumpstops will be installed to prevent the tire from destroying the fenders--yes, this will limit uptravel, but this build is not about getting the most travel out of the platform and making the biggest jumps possible.

Onto the wheels.  I was at first very concerned that my choice in wheels--more driven out of a need for a particular size--17" to clear the calipers and aforementioned backspace to clear other components--than than it was for looks and cost that they would be too "blingy" for my taste give the chrome.  However...they actually look incredible, in my opinion and are a great modern interpretation of the wheels seen on the original Nissan factory Hardbodies of the mid 80's which also had the round hole style of wheels.

As always, I hope this phase of the build is done shortly...but we'll see...baby steps...