I think you'll find that the original motor would have been flatout getting 8t gross to any real speed, while your possible modifications say to a modern 6 cyl turbo would be well capable of getting some real speed out of it. I think the original drum brakes would be well over their safe limit. Some modern drums would probably do the job tho as you suggest.rockcrawler31 wrote:These are the drums that came with the truck designed to pull up 8 tonne. Drums are actually fine and pull up plenty of weight but suffer fade due to heat build up over PROLONGED braking. So therefore not so good in a race car but fine in a truck where it's pretty likely you'll have engine braking for prolonged descents. I don't mind the idea of discs, but if you can find a donor with a solid I beam axle with the same width, stub drop, and spring pad width and bolt pattern as the original 46 jelly bean rims then by all means let me know. I've driven air over hydraulic drum brakes that will put you through the windscreen, and there's still plenty of larger commercial vehicles still running drums.RED60 wrote:Straight 8, 2 stroke birdfrightner..... come on gentlemen... stop playin' with it.... Isuzu or similar straight turbo 6 with the gearbox that comes with them as a unit...also if you want to impress get it from a 4wd truck and swap the lot... you WILL have to go to discs unless you want your widow/kids to get the vehicle when you die, how do you think some drums that were flatout pulling up the original load will go with twice that, so probably the square of the load on them, wake up....... if you want more HP, up the boost and fuel.... it will do the job easily and relatively economically....
I had thought of 4wd driving the front end but really, i'm not using it for that and it's extra unsprung weight, cost and complexity. What's wrong with jimmy diesels by the way? sound absolutely farking horn. But you're right, for parts availability and ease i think the jap option is the way to go.
But from what i've seen i'll be paying minimum 10 grand for a second hand runner donk/box combo of unknown quality.
No, I dont know of anything with the axle you want, hence the 4wd suggestion. I appreciate you won't be wheeling it, but you will be driving it to 4wd functions/parks etc, I just thought 4wd would give it a more unique status. While the jimmy 2 strokes are horn they are also a little offensive on the ears... to get the best sound you nearly have to run them very lightly muffled. My concern was mainly for the general public who may have to put up with the noise on the way to the event... also while some birdfrightner may sound good when it drives by, sitting 2 metres away from it for say 4 hours to get to an event... I think it would soon wear thin..