[Finalist][2020 Build-Off Entry] darkside's hot rod pick up

Thanks for the update.  Take care of yourself.  You'll be more susceptible to the heat for a while.

yeah i noticed that, i was sleeping about 14hrs a night after that too, at least for the 1st 4 or 5 nights after it happened, and i've been staying very cautious about how long i'm out in the heat, if i even feel remotely like somethings off i get inside and cool off, but i have been doing something to the build this weekend, i pulled it out of the garage into the back yard where it's cooler with more air flow and i mounted the tires i got off my brother, they look so much better than the atv tires did, i plan to get the body, steering and engine mounted this weekend, i plan to run a bolt through the front axle to eliminate the pivoting, and i'm going to be welding some bracing on the chassis soon, atm i have 2 other projects to finish, a gas conversion on a golf cart for a friend and a new upper seal on a kohler on a zero turn for a customer, that's the only reason i'm waiting till this weekend to work on the build

well mother nature had other plans for my work schedule this weekend, as in no outdoors work due to rain, and when it wasn't raining it was brutally hot with high humidity, and since i'm not willing to experience another heat stroke i stayed inside most of the time, i did get the bed remounted and the motor sat in place, not bolted down yet though, the mosquitoes are really bad this year so i can't even work in the evenings without being eaten alive, and i can't use off or any other bug repellant because i'm allergic to something they contain and get a nasty rash anyway here's a couple pics to show it as it sits now, sorry bout the pic quality, my lens kept fogging up

well here it is, starting to look more complete each day, still have to get the engine mounted, the steering bolted in, the wiring and the belt, but the body is on and i think it's looking halfway decent

i've started on the paint, i'm going black with red, but haven't decided on how much red atm, i know i'm going with red on the hood where it flares out on the sides, but haven't decided on if i want to do the bottom section of the noma pan red or do it all in black and do the hood flares, seat pan, wheels, and top rail of the bed in red

well i'm afraid i might have to pull out of the comp due to financial issues i'm currently having, i'm still going to try to finish the tractor, but due to my lack of funds i may not be able to meet all requirements, i have however mounted my new seat and done i little more painting, i found a can of metallic silver i had in the garage and in a spur of the moment decision decided to see how it looked, got sloppy with it but i think i'll go with it, not sure about the floor boards though, might do them back in black and just have the hood sides and top rail of the bed in the silver

the engine is bolted down, the steering is reinstalled and i may have found a solution to the problem i was having with the broken bolts for the brake, if i can find some that fit i think i can use a barrel nut to hold the caliper on with the broken bolt as a stud, i think it's long enough to do that with, and would be a whole lot cheaper than a brake kit, i might have to open up that hole on the caliper itself to fit the barrel nut but that's no big issue, and i am going to redo the floor boards in black with just the bed rail and hood bulges in silver, maybe with some red to separate the 2 colors, just have to get the paint to do it with

it runs this engines been sitting for 3 yrs and it basically started right up and ran like it was last run yesterday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRJ7ZlNfGcQ

i drove it today, i side stepped my super long belt issue by using the veri-drive pulley off one of the old murrays we've torn apart, and i found an issue, it's easily fixed with a couple bolts, the control bracket for the hydro broke loose , i guess my welds were weak, but I'm just going to put it in place and drill a couple holes for bolts and nuts, but it is slow, i expected it to be, i may be able to get a little more speed out of it though, and it has an issue with turning left, i think the pitman arm is hitting something and i'll have to check it out, maybe cut a little off the arm itself, but i consider it a win, even with the minor issues I've had, because i actually drove it for the 1st time

Awesome update!

You might be able to do a pulley swap. Like, maybe 5"/6" in the front and leave it at that. As long as the fan is on it it should be fine being that it's a tough little Murray transmission.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brbjgmzzSGk
just a quick video driving it, the wiring needs done, i need to do something with the brakes and the paint needs finished, mostly minor things, but to be honest i'm thrilled with the progress

i changed the engine pulley, went from the stock size up to i believe a 5 1/2, which took care of 2 issues at once, it got rid of the belt slip i was having an issue with and brought it up to speed, while still not fast by any means it goes pretty good for a hydro on a fairly heavy machine and i'm happy with it, not much left to do now, paint, getting the wiring done, and a brake, the steering drag link needs shortened a little, it's actually getting full lock to lock but the steering gear runs off the sector gear when going right and has about 5 teeth left at full lock going left, it's not an issue really, not at 7mph, once i get the brakes and wiring done i'll start trying to do something about the other things i wanted to do, like exhaust, a tailgate, and taillights before i finish painting it

Nice updates!

good news it now has brakes, not great but they will lock up the tire on gravel, i think part of that is the disk is froze to the shaft and i couldn't get it to release, i didn't want to break it and be left with nothing at all, so except for the wiring still needing done, which is nothing more than getting the push button start and kill switch wired in, it should qualify for the finals, so i'm happy, the mosquitoes were really bad today or i'd have gotten that done too

build check list
DONE
tractor based frame
lawn tractor body
push button start
brakes
drives and stops
NOT DONE
kill switch
paint
front hood mounts
head light wiring
WOULD LIKE TO DO
tail lights
tail gate
exhaust
rear inner fenders

so it would seem the charging system on this is bad, or at least there's something wrong with it because it drained the battery completely over night, and since that was the only thing hooked up to the electrical system except the starter button it has to be the issue, i'm not worried about it, i have a battery charger and if i need to i'll just be sure i charge the battery every few days, which won't be an issue since i only have 1 battery to swap between the machines i have currently running

must be the time for problems, i just read hillbillieoffroading may have fried his started generator on his comp build and i think i fried the hydro on mine, i took it for a run around the house today and it suddenly stopped driving, i checked the belts and pulleys and everything is working as it should but nothing happens when i press the pedal forward or back, i had only been running it about 5 minutes and it wasn't hot when it happened, i'll drop it and check the fluid level but i have little hope that it's just low on oil, if it is dead i'll have to pull out, i won't be able to replace it before the comp ends, i'll keep you informed if it comes to that @MightyRaze

not sure what's going on, maybe the pump's going bad? or it had an air bubble i just have no clue, i started and drove it around today with no issues, ran it for about 15 minutes and no trouble what so ever, so now i'm confused, yesterday it stopped and i didn't even get the pump whine common with a hydro, today it's working perfectly, i guess i won't pull out of the comp unless it dies completely

I would try to change the fluid and see what happens. That's all I know to try right now.

@Murraymountain i've actually run a full tank of gas through it, ran it down the road to visit my uncle who lives about a mile away, and had no troubles, it's weird and i can't figure it out, we changed the fluid when we had it on the grass cutter, we only ran it for a season after that put maybe 20 to 30 hrs on it total, so it should still be good to go, but as long as it's working and i can finish the comp, it's getting a 5 speed next year anyway so i'm not going to worry about it much, the only thing left is the kill switch, but because my ranger blew a head gasket and i need to get it fixed it might have to wait, at least the paint, i'm just going to make a simple ground switch like a lot of old mowers and go carts had for a kill

haven't touched it in a month, plan to get the starter button and kill switches fixed today to meet requirements, if the weather stays decent might be able to do a simple paint job to make it at least look half way decent

it's not pretty, fortunately the rules don't say it has to be, and it needs some paint work still but that's as good as it's going to get until it warms up again, it was really to cold to do the painting i did do, i need to get my start button and kill switch sorted out, make sure all the bolts/nuts are tight, then i'll call it done, i didn't get half of what i wanted to do to it done, but it does run, drive, and have brakes

ok i'm calling it, it's done, it starts/shuts down with a key, drives, and has brakes, did i get it where i wanted, no not even close to what i wanted it to be, but i did all i could with my skills and budget at this time, so @MightyRaze i'm letting you know it's finished, i'll try to get the final video of it in the next day or so, if that's all right with you and the rest of the admins

Plenty fine! Thanks for the update!! First one done. We'll be looking for your video.

here's the video, would have had it done yesterday, but the solenoid decided to go bad right when i tried to get the video done, @MightyRaze if there's anything i missed about the build that you need to know let me know
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6psw9zAFXg