how do i win the trophy and kiss the girl?

cool,
i have coils up front with radius arms

the rear has a leaf set up

i'm thinking the big daddy's are my ticket,
probly over kill for the capacity of the rest of the truck
but oh it will score big with the ladies! [img]images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

i 've got plans to remove major wieght from the front,

does anyone know who the cat is on page 16 of the 02 baja 1000 picture gallery?
that is a 78 bronco, it looks to have a lot of stock components on it,
if anyone knows this guy so i could get a hold of him, i'd buy you a beer [img]images/graemlins/40BEER.gif[/img] http://bbs.off-road.com/photobb/show...er=&stype=

page 16 of the trucks volume 1 02 baja 1000

Beer for info, yeah! The guy you're looking for from the Baja 1000 is Don Moss. He lives in Cal. I raced against him in that race. My truck is #302, a Chevy Blazer. I don't have his email address at the moment, but send me a tag at fastraffo@aol.com and I'll forward it to you. His truck works extremely well. He runs a single 3" shock at each wheel. I don't know what kind of travel he gets, but the most important thing is his reliability. He finishes most of his races.

Yah, another straight axle prerunner/ racer [img]images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] [img]images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]
Cleartoy has the right idea - good and big shocks. You may want to go with longer rear leafs - 63" Deavers may be the best set up for travel. For the front you may consider coil overs mounted to a front cage. This will give you plenty of wheel travel and tunability.
That 460 pig needs all the spring / shock you can afford. You will definily need to truss the axle housings. Other must do items are a good roll cage - 2"x .120 minimum with a big Bronco. Also consider steering upgrades, beefing the frame, rear body cage, 5pt seat belts.
But what / where are you gonna get the trophy and kiss the girl at?
The only race class that comes to mind is the MDR 1450 class - street legal pre runners (most are barely legal) but are a lot of fun to watch. Suggest getting a SCORE rule book or visiting the Best In The Desert (BITD) web site (www.bitd.com) for the online copy of saftey and race rules. They are a great guide in what is required for a true race truck.

thanx for all the info so far, i am overwellmed by the response, i priced out shocks, i've got a roll cage design figured out, i just have a couple of sample pieces to take down to the bendin shop, i gotta see what radius i get,

i dunno about the rear springs yet, where would i get longer springs, or do i just measure how far i want them and order a set from napa?

now as far as front shock mounts, i make a hoop right?
do i cross brace it to the other side hoop?i can't really tie it into the dash cross bar,all the dash stuff has to stay
and should i make a whole new front rad support outa tube?
i don't mind doin extreme stuff, cause i have the shop to do it all, and right, i just aint to smart bout the build up part, [img]images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]
thanx for any replies

If you need longer springs, get in touch with National Spring Co, or Deaver Springs. You will need to have the weight of the vehicle (back half anyways for your rear springs), intended usage, length desired, (probably 62-70" in length). Of course you will need front spring hangers moved forward, and make your own shackle mounts.

What shocks are you goin to run? Sounds like your gonna keep your coils and run shocks independently in the front?? If so, some simple hoops and a cross bar will be sufficient. If you bite the bullet and do coil overs, much more bracing will be needed due to the stress of holding up the truck.

If you run it hard, you may eliminate the core support and run the radiator on tubing mounts.

ok so i'm gettin smarter here,

i've talked to a few racers now, seen tons of waaayyy cool vid clips and checked out every shock avail,

i have aquired a 78 bronco tub so i can make my bends and welds in so i don't have to gut my bronco for every lil bleap 'n' blunder

i have decided i will buy bilstiens remote rez exo by-pass,
i believe the exo by-pass is the best way to tune a shock for a rookie that is not quite sure of what he is doing, they tell me you can tune it from the out side, coil overs work better for someone who knows exaclty what they are doing,and can set the valving up before using them,
plus a way cool factor is involved [img]images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

i think i will change the front stuff around, the inner fenders are guandi byebyes, the front rad mount can be mounted to a tube coming from one side of the cab to the other in a big hoop from the orginal inner fender mounts,that will be braced to the frame, (bada boom! shock mounts hood mounts and rad mounts all in one,

thanx for all the help guys, a couple of paydays away and i'll have some build up pics [img]images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]
plus a ton of other "Q"s

Not to diminish your enthusiasm...
But for a first timer buying an completed truck is a very good alternative. I speak from experiance on this. Had gathered up what I thought was everything to build up an 80 Toyota. Then some one I knew had this very same conversatoin with me. Wound up buying an older Toyota 7s race truck. While I am still putting work and $ into it, I am time and $ ahead by doing such. Is this my dream rig - no way, but it will get me started and it is something to learn on. When I am done it can be sold to another budding racer.
You can find some great deals on older trucks. Someone else has spent all the $ for the fab work, shocks, running gear, etc. Most of the used stuff sells for 50% or less of new.
PM me and I will send you some links and leads on some Fords.

[writeforus]

National Spring is out of business, last we heard. Deaver is a good resource.

[AJMBLAZER]

Originally Posted by writeforus

National Spring is out of business, last we heard. Deaver is a good resource.

Psssssst...this thread is 7 years dead.

[writeforus]

Deaver came up because we were talking to them about a current project; looked to see what we had done in the past. Came across this thread, thought it had some good info.

Tech info is never "dead" - someone's always looking for help from someone else that's already done what they're trying to do.

Otherwise, we'd purge this board every 6 months.