Sorry for being a couple days late, I had some trouble weeding thru all the potential ORF members to pick an OROTM for February.
Someone who definitely came in with a bang. And ticked off leather with their very first post....
No no, not lotrat or herbie...
But without further ado, here they are.
Punchdrunk Monkey!
He has to have had one of the fastest builds I have seen around here. Went from a stock thing to long travel machine in what seemed like no time!
Punchdrunk Monkey wrote:So I stumbled upon a '73 Thing a few months ago and some how if followed me home. I've since stripped everything stock off of it and sold it. I currently have the body and pan left. I've been collecting parts for my build and to get going. I am going to build everything but the front arms/spindles and rear arms.
The plan for it will be-
Front - 6" wider beam, 4" longer arms, combo spindles, Fox coilovers and disk brakes. All the parts (that I don't already have) should be delivered this week. Tweed is building the arms and spindles.
Rear - 5x3 arms, disk brakes, T2 stub axles, 930 cv's, 2.0 coilover and 2.5 bypass. At this point I only have the stub axles, which I just found out they are the wrong ones but will work as spares. I'm going to order the arms this week and should have them in a couple weeks.
Motor - 2.5 Turbo Subie. Out of a 2006 WRX STi.
Trans - ?????? Either a 094 or 091. If I ever sell my Rhino maybe a Mendeola E-box.
Interior - 4 Mastercraft Pro-Seats, Race radio with intercom, Hanging pedals, everything else is undecided.
Tires/wheels- I bought a pair of rear Centerline's with Champion beadlocks and 33x10.5 Yokohama's. I don't have fronts yet but some sort of 31" tire. I just bought 5 of the $100 Pro-Comp wheels so tire wheels is subject to change.
I started the cage this weekend. I've got the main outline done. There will be another pillar behind the rear door but I need to figure out the upper shock mounts before I put it in.
I am also building the cage so it will be removalable.
Punchdrunk Monkey wrote:I got my spindles swapped out for the 3" drop spindles. Now I'm ready to make the upper shock mounts and then the front of the car will be off jack stands (or at least could be). I havn't got the shock mount done yet but have an idea on how to make it. Here are a couple pictures cycling the suspension to make sure everything clears. There should be about 2 more inches at full bump (bottom out) but my jack was all the was down. It looks like I should be getting around 16" travel and keep the fenders on. I'll propbably limit it to 15" with a bump stop and limit strap. There will be some minor trimming of the fenders.
What size springs are you guys running on the front? I'm guessing 250/300 but who knows until I can weight it.
DesertGuy wrote:To Go From:
To This:
Excellent work there PDM... !!
...Let me know if you have anymore of those Pro-Am RM2's laying around
Punchdrunk Monkey wrote:Here are a few pictures of the rear fenders. They came in handy with all the mud lately. Also, a couple action photos to prove that the car has really been to the desert.
Mr. P D Monkey, congratulations to a well deserving builder. Geez, you went "Zip-Zap and your sterile" on this build. Did you savor it? The build went so fast, it was like you just gulped it down. I've seen crap go though a Goose slower. I hoped you enjoyed it as much as we did.
It really does look good and you are using it, that is the best of it. Contrats again. Lee
I have to say was not sure at first but I am real glad that PunchDrunkMonkey did come over to the STF, has done some killer builds and has shared his wealth of info to a lot of the dirt pile. Congrats PDM!!
Great pick, great car, congratulations. Keep up the nice work and the sarcasm.
Hot, humid air is less dense than cooler, drier air. This can allow a golf ball to fly through the air with greater ease, as there won't be as much resistance on the ball.
Congrats! It's great to see your Thing out already. I'm amazed at how fast you were able to whip it out. It's gotta be the coolest Thing out there. Ok I'll stop.
Thank you guys for all the kind words. I am very proud of the car and it works better than I had hoped. I'm glad I was able to impress you all with my internet skills. Thanks again!
