that looks like the car from blade.

Nope - I'm career military (Air Force), and Pennsylvania is my home of record.  I'll retire in a couple years and then I'll change everything over to CO.

- S

How does the single diesel muffler sound?

Sounds a lot like a Flowmaster - big, hollow, and 'tin-y'.  Not super loud, not super quiet - three days wheelin' in Moab next weekend will spell the fate of the muffler  .

- M2

Hey thanks BigRam   .  All I can say is where there's a will... .  Nope the single seat is just to get 'er running and tested out.  In fact tonight we got the rear seat brackets installed, the tailgate, and the p-side door weather seal.  I'm going to try to get the console panels p-coated and installed before Moab, make it all nice and tidy inside...and to make sure our sheppard doesn't chew on the battery cables 
We also pulled the passenger seat out of storage - now I just gotta find the hinge brackets to bolt it in place .
- M2

The is looking and sounding great.  Can't wait to see it in Moab next week.l

Dave

You are not wrong   Feb 2000 Mopar Action, by far the highlight of my career.  As hard as I've driven it over the last 8 years I'm actually surprised that I haven't managed to mangle it worse  .

Soon as the RC is complete, and after a little break, the Demon goes into the shop for its cosmetic surgery and a little TLC.  My wife and I are giddy about driving both the Nacho and Demon and showing them side-by-side next year - aught to be fun , especially since the Demon has the original feature borrowed by its big brother...





- M2

Thanks dude 

Alrighty   - today marks the Nacho's first official trip  , and it was to the Colorado Springs Dodge Show -n- Shine today with my car club, the Southern Colorado Mopars.  Fortunately the delearship is only 5 miles from our home so I didn't have to stray too far from the nest.  Beautiful day, truck showed well, and ran well all day.  Discovered a couple things.  First, it has pretty decent bump steer , and second....it needs gears, badly.  Probably 4.10's, and many of y'all said it would and y'all were right on the mark.  I already had the D70 with the 3.55's and I figured I'd try it and see how it does - but yeah, it needs gears.

Here's some pics from the show:











My buddy Andy (the service manager) had his truck too, real nice '89 Ram.





Finally, a shot of the 'Jet Pak' -



Now, it's time for a bit of decompression.  Yesterday was filled with fighting the rear brakes - hours worth - but I finally won the battle at 9 pm, bolted on the jet pak, and came inside at quarter to midnight.
Tomorrow is full of installing the small stuff and trail gear, testing the winch, and getting ready for Moab  .
I gotta say, I'm pretty friggin' stoked about the whole gig.  Very happy with the suspension.  Got to work a bit on steering rebound, but otherwise this truck is a success.  When we get back from Moab, and if the thing survives, I will seriously look at taking my small business (ASA Modifieds) to the next level.  4 years from now when I retire from military service I may begin accepting customers for full custom trucks, with pick-up and delivery available anywhere in the country.  I may just make that my livelyhood, maybe  .

Meanwhile...we're goin' to Moab baby  .

- M2

Sam,
 You did a awesome job on Nacho! You have the right very proud!!! We need a stickies on this build because it is one of the top RCs out there. A lot of great ideas & inspiration. Any bites from the mags yet?

ASA Modifieds made me think of circle track racing, but I remember you mentioning Cummins intakes you make.

Sam--the Nacho looks Great!!!! 

My 2 cents on the gears, if you are going to be offroading in Moab and places of the like I would at least go with 4.56s or 4.88s.  Another option is a Klune or doubler and you could get away with the 4.10s.  Once you start wheeling you will appreciate the lower gears.

MOAB does NOT suck!!   Got back late last night - had a GREAT time!  Truck ran pretty good, learned a lot. 

Best part - The Nacho's first road trip anywhere was 8 hours on 'Hells Revenge', Moab Utah  .  Drove to the trailhead, conquered H.R., and back under its own power - my kind of shake-down run. 
Power steering and front axle issues kept us from wheelin' Sat and Sun, so I rode shotgun with Trevor on Saturday (this was also his first trip to Moab and also his first time on H.R.) and we all called it a 'good, successful trip' and headed back Sunday.  It was a great shake-down run  .  I could have pushed it through the steering and locker issues, but why - no need to damage anything.  One trail, after all the work, was just fine and dandy with me, and not a single scratch on the whole truck.  In fact, the only scurf was on one of the rear clevis hooks - the trucks approach and departure angles seem to be great .

Funny enough, we didn't get any great flex shots of the truck, at least not ours.  No big deal, but we did get some good video that we will try to get some stills from.

As usual, beautiful scenery, great friends, and good times - what it's all about.

Some pics:

En-route along I-70:



'Hells Revenge' - Into and out of the first lake






Lunch stop at 'Hells Gate'





Smart puppy! (our sheppard Kira) 



The gang coming up on a mud hole



- M2

  more pics!

How did the air suspension work out?

good to hear the first run was a sucess 

ha haa - sure, but first let me get the business rolling along the way I want it 


The air system worked great - better than I thought it would.  I was worried about leaks and bags deflating but the only issue we found was the left front bag had air leaking into it from the tank on Sunday.  Must have had a servo valve get stuck just a tad open.
It felt great on the trail - not mushy or gushy at all, felt firm and stable all day.

Very happy overall.  Main issues are these:

Front e-locker works too well.  It's a limited slip when unlocked and has almost too good of grip when unlocked and under torque.  It chirped front tires and fought the steering all day.  On the plus side, when locked it is absolutely unstoppable.  From any angle, any tire at any corner would simply walk up any rock face - absolutely no slip or slide - it was awesome.  Solution, ARB locker.  It's a spool when locked, and a completely open diff when not, and that's what I want.  So, I'll sell the Eaton unit for someone who wants the ultimate set-up in a rear D60.

Second, power streering needs help.  Either not enough pump, reservoir, grip on the pulley, or all three.  Solution, graft in a monster pump, maybe from a Duramax with a remote reservoir and a serpentine pulley, and convert all pulleys to serpentine for maximum grip on the belts.

Third, I'm going to repalace the front 4-link with a 3-link.  Too much bump steer as is.  Not bad when crawling but bad enough at speed.  I'll fab up a simple wishbone upper link similar to the rear.  Bam - done.

Lastly, the fuel pump seems to have picked up an air leak.  Sunday getting ready to load the rig on the trailer it did not want to start.  Finally got in running, but when we unloaded it at the shop that night it sounded like it had air bubbles in the EFI system.  Have to put the manual gauges ont he fuel rails to troubleshoot.  May have  leak i nthe puck up tube.  Have to troubleshoot a bit but I'll get it.

Small stuff, but it all needs addressing.  In the end it'll be bulletproof, but for now, it conquered Hells Revenge on day 1 - and that I'll take.

- M2

It was really awesome to finally see your truck. I didn't have a charged battery for my camera when we ran Hell's Revenge, so be sure to bring the Nacho out again next year. I'll try Hell's Gate if you do!

Very funny! I believe I said I would do it in my dually if you did it in your Big Horn! I'll do it fer sher in the R/C (October 2008) or ZJ (EJS 2008). I'm not sure how far I'll get on the ZJ before EJS though...

Honestly, I haven't really even analyzed the shocks - been so focused on just getting some seat time on 'er that I haven't really got good or bad to report.  Gimme some time and I'll know a bit more, but I can say they are not bad  .

So since we didn't get any decent pics at Moab we took the beastie out for some this afternoon.  My bud Ray (who was largely responsible for the design of the suspension) owns Ram Off Road Park and gave us clearance to go in and shoot some shots of the Nacho flexing its muscles.  It um, flexes a lot 

Our first obstacle - not a bad shot entering the rock garden



...same obstacle, different angle...



Close-up -



Then, my favorite spotter (my wife Tracy) found a really good ledge to really twist things up .  I love this shot -











...air bag nearly fully stretched to max...

wow

Nice

Ooohhh, flexy! 

Flexes nicely.

Great shots!!
Awesome flex

Hey same if you replace those link bushings with Johny(sp?) Joints you will get better flex with less binding. Looks great , awesome job!!