[Drayke]

My goodness it's been a long time since I updated this.

Let's see, after Baja work moved me to Vandenberg for 6 months so I didnt get diddly done on the truck for progress.
Went to pismo where Andrew got probably my favorite picture of my truck so far.


Then went to glamis with PooPipe Racing + co


To keep his ego in check, this is what it looks like when you finish a badass race truck but you catch yourself + the truck on fire.


Then JV for new years where I broke my upper link but only after we made it all the way to Barstow and back and I snapped this rad picture.


Rain sucks but this is what it looks like when your friends still want to party but don't want to get wet.


Now I'm back home and working on the truck again. New shoes, new rear view, interior dome lights, and the start of a trunk + jack mount brings us up to date.





I'll be at KOH this year helping a buddy in his pit for legends. See you guys on the lakebed!

 

[bf]

great update, cool to see you out there using it! im looking forward to seeing you at koh again this year.

 

[Drayke]

So i kept telling myself that after koh i would tear the truck down for paint. Well once i got it home i realized that if I'm going to paint it, i may as well finish the fab work I've had on my list. So I'm making progress on that still hoping to tear down, paint, and reassemble before memorial day. I'm going to have to be more aggressive with my truck work schedule i think.

Anyway here's the completed trunk. Hard mounted my spare starter and fuel pump so i can hopefully reduce the size of my spare parts tote and not have stuff bouncing around everywhere. I'm accepting ideas to make this thing more waterproof. (Obviously finish welding being step 1)

Next up is the front bumper, finishing my remote fuel filler mount, and mounting a hitch receiver somewhere so i can run the McLean Metal Works hammock mount.

 

[Drayke]

Remote fuel filler plate added.

Rear hitch added, need to finish welding out the bottom tray. Should be good enough to support me in a hammock but not much else.


Then my buddy came over and we tore everything off the back half in a few hours. Baja paint prep is real.

 

[Fordman500]

sweet man I like all the additions you are doing

 

[Drayke]

Thanks Fordman - you're truck is looking bitchin' too.

Time for an update. I've been up to my ears in sandpaper and paint prep for a while now. The goal was ultimately to get the truck nice again and have the body be all one color in the never ending pursuit of finishing this truck so it's nice. All the while i've been trying to keep the paint budget under ~$500 while also understanding that I have no idea what I'm doing and it's still an offroad truck so it's going to get messed up. That means cheap and I need to not sweat the small stuff.

The main stuff I wanted to address was the backhalf tube work since it never had primer and rust was starting to show through the single layer of paint.

Then I got rid of the Penis ball that was plugging up the hole where the factory gas tank filler used to be. My old roommate from the house where I first finished the truck added that ball for me and I never bothered to remove it. I gotta figure out someplace to put that tennis ball, it's been in the truck for 4 years.
Welded in a patch panel I got from LMC truck with some silica bronze filler, stuff was pretty sweet.

Then i had to mask all the backhalf tubes...and that's when I realized that I'm an idiot and should have painted the tubes last to save me hours of masking. d'oh.

Then sanding for a few days & some bondo & primer

Now just tonight I finally got some paint down. I sprayed a single stage urethane paint I had to get color matched from Napa. Only ended up costing me ~$280 in materials and the paint code is the factory Empire Yellow from 1969.
Ended up doing 3 coats.
and then i figured out that i am AWFUL with a paint sprayer. I've got runs all over the damn place, lol. Oh well, it's my first time EVER using a paint sprayer and i'm only youtube educated with some pointers from Russ along the way. So hopefully i can sand that junk out and it looks decent enough for an off-road truck. i'm optimistic.
Next couple days are going to be prepping the bedsides & hood to be painted off the truck.

 

[Josh40601]

looks good man! I'm the same way with the sprayer man. My dad is a wizard at the stuff, me, not so much. the last one I did, I let the air hose hit the paint I just sprayed :homer:

 

[Tuckin15's]

This thing is so awesome!

 

[Drayke]

Thanks guys!

painted the hood and bedsides seperately. Also a crap picture below but I threw down a coat of rustoleum bedliner on the insides of the fiberglass in a hope to make it easier to clean & more resilient.

Then I found myself in a time crunch to get the rest of the stuff done that I wanted/needed to before Baja. So reassembly has started. Just tonight got it to here:

Redid the rear brake lines. Bought way too many expensive tools to be able to do nice lines it makes me want to redo the rest of the system. buuuuut I probably won't do that until some other problem forces me too.

Added a fuel sending unit to my fuel cell. Still need to install the gage but this solves one of my 3 biggest complaints from the last baja trip. Not being able to tell how much gas I had.

Also added a remote filler to solve complaint #2

Put weatherstripping in on the doors to solve complaint #3.

 

[Josh40601]

looks good man. Maybe I could join you on one of your trips to Mexico someday in the future. I really want to go down there, just no idea where to go

 

[Drayke]

looks good man. Maybe I could join you on one of your trips to Mexico someday in the future. I really want to go down there, just no idea where to go

Rad! We've got a couple routes that we would like to do as the years roll on.

This trip is already booked but keep in touch for future trips. We like to keep a limit on # of trucks we go with to keep us moving along since the route is very much point-to-point and there are hotel reservations to hit with margs to be drank!

 

[Josh40601]

yep. that's exactly what I want to do. Shoot me a message next time you're going out. I'm on Race Dezert and Dezert Rangers too, same screen name. Would love to tag along. Both of my trucks are solid axle but ill do my best to keep up

 

[JOAO]

Nice Build Writep.

Are you in Baja Currently?

 

[snowracer]

just had to check in and truck looks wicked in all one color

 

[Drayke]

Thanks guys.
JOAO yeah I was on my way to baja when you posted that, i think.
appreciate the compliment snoracer.

Here's a little trip report from our Baja offroad vacation.

Thursday night, hit SD super late and crashed at one of the guys' house.
Up early friday morning to hit highway miles all the way to santo thomas via TJ & ensenada.

From santo thomas it's all dirt to san quintin (at least that's what we planned). Couple stops along the way for beers and views. Man the sunshine was workin' for us the whole trip. so epic.




Bounced around down the coast again all the way to the point near Rancho San Francisco where the shipwreck is and posted up for a few.



Then we realized that we were all starving having skipped lunch (stupid) and decided to book it into the nearest town of Camalu for tacos. not more than 1/4 mile from the highway, one of our guys dropped a tire.. in that the mother f'er went bouncing off down the road. So some spare wheel studs and a tire swap were in order while the rest of us went on a to-go taco mission. On the way to dinner a guy calls on teh radio that I have a wicked tire wobble going on too. Yeah, my tire tried to run away too. It didn't....but it tried.
NBD. highway the last few miles to the Old Mill with a stop an auto parts store to pick up more spare studs & lug nuts.

Old Mill for dinner. Javier is really upping the game down there.
Killer margs & seafood. woo!



Saturday was the vacation day. We drove out to Punta Mazo and found a secluded beach and just posted up for a couple hours. home made margs & more beers and some more sun. One of my favorite days ever.



Saturday night we changed hotels to the Santa Maria Inn. Excellent dinner and a hell of a party with some locals we made friends with the year before.

 

[Drayke]

Sunday it was back to Ensenada mostly the way we came.

Epic tacos in ensenada at Tacos El Poblano. ooooh buddy. Go there if you're in baja. holy smokes.

Monday was just a day to get back to the states, but not without stopping for Lobster at Puerto Nuevo.

My buddy did a similar writeup with a few more pics over on DR:
Baja 2k17 Vacation: Santo Tomas to San Quintin

 

[Josh40601]

Looks like an awesome trip man. Holler at me when your planning your next trip down. I'm in and will pick up the first round

 

[snowracer]

amazing photos as always :smokin:

would love to do a trip like that one day but just such a far drive, but on the bucket list for sure

 

[Beat95YJ]

Final travel numbers are 18F/22R

What travel front shocks are you running?

 

[Drayke]

What travel front shocks are you running?

16" but i'm not using all the stroke. I just got a smoking deal on them so I decided to run it. 14" would be more appropriate.