NightMares 01 Sport Build

[NightMares]

So it's 30 days out on the N-Fab adjuststeps, even the harley bars they sell are the same time frame.

So it's custom slider time!

 

[NightMares]

So I haven't updated this in a while. Actually about a month now. Lot's of BIG updates, but not so much with the truck.

I ventured out and went my own route with everything. Got a buddy on board, and we signed a lease on a shop back on the August 1st. So rather than prep for the Rubicon trip, I started prepping to open up a shop. We got our business license done and were able to finally open our doors for our first day of business TODAY.

MPYR Off Road (pronounced Empire) is my new baby. Currently, besides me and my business partner, we have 3 other employee's. One running the books and doing everything on that end, and 2 mechanics. Meanwhile, my partner is running the advertising and business ends, and I'm running the retail store front.

We also picked up a new toy, I got a 1987 Suburban K2500 with a TBI 454 in it, we got some wheels and tires thrown on it and it's currently our "shop rig" type deal. Using it to pull the trailer as we're offering towing and delivery for those who can't get their rigs down here on their own.

So fun venture for me, things have been going awesome with this. Also bought a house the beginning of this month, so between moving to the new house, opening the business, and whatever else I just scrapped the Rubicon trip all together for now.

Update on the truck, its currently having issues. The cheap seal I used for the timing cover blew out again, so I tore it down last week to get it replaced before it got any worse. During that time, I also went ahead and installed my electric cooling fans. After doing this, I chased air the system, among multiple cooling flushes and **** and I cannot get it to stop overheating now.

So today as my shops first project, I passed the keys along to one of my mechanics and had him pull the thermostat I replaced a few days ago. The first thermostat in boiling water didn't open, now today we boiled my "new" thermostat and it as well didn't open. Rather than fight it again and find out it's still not the culprit, I'm going to have my mechanic put it back together without a thermostat and see if that solves the overheating issue. If not, then I'll be able to flush it a lot easier without a thermostat in it so there's plan b.

The only other stuff I've done with the truck is I got the roof rack mostly assembled last week. Before installing it, I'm going to pull the awning off and Raptor Line the camper shell red, then reassemble with everything.

But anywho, here's everything.

 

[Pull Ya]

WOW! And in your spare time---first congratulations on your new business!!!!!! I hope you do well. It's apparent you have the knowledge and the experience regarding 4x4's by the work you have done on your own truck. It is a testament to your abilities in all aspects of doing truck mod's. Sorry you missed your trip, as it seemed like you were really looking forward to it, however, first thing first. Good luck to you and I hope that you are successful in your new venture!
Jay

 

[NightMares]

WOW! And in your spare time---first congratulations on your new business!!!!!! I hope you do well. It's apparent you have the knowledge and the experience regarding 4x4's by the work you have done on your own truck. It is a testament to your abilities in all aspects of doing truck mod's. Sorry you missed your trip, as it seemed like you were really looking forward to it, however, first thing first. Good luck to you and I hope that you are successful in your new venture!
Jay

Thanks man. Our "employee" parking area is filled with some awesome rigs. My truck, my buddy's TJ, two of my employee's have some square body Chevy's and the other employee drives a budget built XJ that's actually pretty sweet. So we can advertise a lot of different aspects for the business by showing everything off.

Hoping everything falls into place ha.

 

[Pull Ya]

You can have the guy's with the Chevy's park behind the shop. You don't want to pollute the parking lot.
Jay

 

[derekp]

Man you did what I always wanted to do. I've been trying to open my own shop here where I live but can't seem to get everything going on my own. I'm super happy for you bro, I hope it all works out and that there is some badass rigs pulling out of yalls place. So when is your Sema build?

 

[NightMares]

You can have the guy's with the Chevy's park behind the shop. You don't want to pollute the parking lot.
Jay

Haha the Chevy's are square body's, which is what I bought for myself as a shop rig so they're welcome. Any of the square body GM's, 79 and older Fords, and 1st gen and older Rams all deserve the same amount of respect.

Man you did what I always wanted to do. I've been trying to open my own shop here where I live but can't seem to get everything going on my own. I'm super happy for you bro, I hope it all works out and that there is some badass rigs pulling out of yalls place. So when is your Sema build?

I couldn't get it going on my own either, that's why my buddy and I went in on it together. Nightmares isn't dead though, we're going to start a small fabricating side and Nightmares is going to be a product line there. We just agreed on MPYR as a common name between us and it's skyrocketed. It's funny, I've already got people following me from my old work over here, and I've had people in the store telling me they're happy I opened my own business as they have refused to do business with Buck's for years now.

Not to mention all of the off road clubs around are sick of Bucks, and my main club I'm a part of has decided to host their monthly meetings at my store the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 7:00 when we close.

I've also capitalized on the open hours ordeal, as the other competitors in town offer the typical 9-5 or 5:30 type deal, we've decided to go 10:00-7:00 as I used to get phone calls all the time from neighboring counties that couldn't make it in after they got off work. Once I get some more store employee's, I'll probably run a wider set of hours like 7:00-7:00 and have a shift overlap mid day when we're busiest. Like 7-4 and 10-7 with everyone getting either an hour lunch, or a half hour and two 15 minute breaks.

Anyways, I guess I'm rambling about something unrelated to my truck haha.

Still overheating, I've been driving my 87 Suburban the past few days now. The truck has also acquired a pretty nasty whine in the serpentine belt, and I'm thinking it's coming from the water pump which is next on my list. I still have the old one chilling in my garage at home, so sometime today I'll try to make it out there and grab it, and give my employee's in the shop a quick project once I explain how quick and easy I've accomplished the entire job now. If that solves it, then I'll return the new pump back to the dealer and probably take the cash and invest in a thermostat system for the e-fans. The small fan is hooked to a live ignition source, and the bigger fan I have hooked to another live ignition source with a toggle in place that I manually control. With a thermostat system, I'll just hook them both up to the same source and they'll both kick on when needed. I'll probably keep the toggle switch wired up with it as well in case any sort of failure comes with it, as at this time both my burban and my truck will be the main shop trucks, and even though the burb has a big block, my truck being geared pulls the 26' flat bed trailer better than the burban does....short of the overheating.

So we'll find out later today or tomorrow if the water pump is the source on the issue.

Also, on a Dodge related note, I've ordered in the suspension for my burban and am starting the build on it. It's an 87 Scottsdale K20 loaded with everything. Power windows, locks, working AC, everything. The burb needed tires BAD when I bought it, so I got a cheap set of Procomp wheels and Procomp AT tires on it for the time being, but I've sold the tires on the burban to one of my employee's for his XJ and decided to go the route of building this thing up. It's getting a 4" Skyjacker with some 35x12.50x17 Toyo RT's, and some 17x8.5 Ultra Xtreme 107's in satin black. Being that it's a 3/4 ton, I thought about regearing and building up the axles to make it a nasty off road rig, but I've altered that and am now in the market for a 1st gen 12V Cummins to swap in it. I know, "Yay, another cummins swap" but the deal is that's the new fad going on to be honest. And swapping a Cummins into an old suburban and using it regularly as a tow rig and shop truck will be awesome to show to incoming customer's what we're capable of doing. I don't want to die out, so opening my doors and telling any customer I can get something done is how I want to keep in business, and not be referring work to another shop...especially if it's a competitor...and especially if it's my old work.

 

[NightMares]

OVERHEATING ISSUE IS RESOLVED! After putting the O'Reilly water pump back on, it's no longer overheating!

Also, big update.

Alright, so I just purchased my first item for my truck as being with the new business which is pretty exciting. Kinda going big with it already, so this should draw some attention from the street view side of things.

All Pro Off Road offer a lot of custom fabricated parts for Toyota 4x4's. Being as how Toyota's are a big competitor of Jeeps and damn near almost as popular, I've setup accounts with several of these big name companies. While browsing through their inventory, I came across something that caught my eye. Something I posted on the last page about wanting to get done.

The Tundra APex Pack Rack is officially ordered and on its way in the DIY weld it kit, arrival time about 4-5 weeks out. I ordered the one for the 00-06 as the bed configurations should be similar enough that I should have some room to make adjustments if need to be. I'm starting with their base kit, and am going to add my own flare of things.

The ARB awning I have will have attachment points that will allow it to be on and off as needed, along with a second one I'll get coming. I'm going to do a slide drawer system under the top that I will house my awnings, touring room and mosquito room for when I'm not using them to keep them off the side of the truck. I'll also keep some fold up chairs and a pop up table up there as well, and it should stay for the most part out of the way.

Down the sides I'm not sure how I want it setup yet, whether it's easy mounting Rotopax, or some form of storage boxes. We will see.

On the top of it I'm going to mount the Go Rhino roof rack I have, but with a twist. I'm thinking I'm going to build a platform that will bolt down on top. On this platform, I'll be able to bolt down my roof basket, but also allow me to bolt down a roof top tent. When the roof top tent is in place, I'm going to add another feature to this bed rack. A slide in platform that will allow me to bolt down my basket on that, and then slide it into the front of the bed rack and place the basket over the cab of the truck. Pretty basic, just going to build the platforms out of some square tube and weld down some expanded metal. On the one that will be placed on top of the bed rack, I'll just build some brackets that will allow it to bolt down. For the slide in one above cab, I'll build a similar platform, only have it slide in and connect to the bed rack mounted platform. I've made some awesome drawrings in paint to explain what I'm talking about on this setup. But by doing this I've become a lot more versatile with everything. I can mount both platforms up there and keep the basket and tent off and have the capabilities of hauling super long stuff. I can just mount the basket or just mount the tent. I can keep the basket in the back and mount the tent over the cab and have it flip off the side of the truck. I have a lot of options for different things by doing these platforms this way.

But this is all to come over time. For right now, I'm going to get the bed rack built as is and just start by getting the roof basket and awning mounted to it. I'll rattle can it for now to protect it for the most part, and once I finally get all these features done I'll then send it off for blasting and powder coat.

Like I said, pretty big stuff with this and I am ******* stoked!

And here's what I'm talking about with the platforms.

This picture shows what it looks like detached. Platform One will always be mounted down on the bed rack, while Platform Two is stored away until use along with the roof top tent.



Platform Two slides into the welded on mounts and then is bolted in, basket relocates to Platform Two and the rooftop tent will then attach to Platform One and flip off the back of the truck.

 

[NightMares]

Well, some fantastic awesome news.

#sinisterscarlet is down, indefinitely. The overheating issue was not resolved apparently, as out of the blue at idle the other day it started creeping back up in temp. Had one of my guys in my shop start doing some more digging and we've come to the conclusion that it's either a head gasket, or a cracked/warped head. There is no coolant in the oil or oil in the coolant, nor is it low on anything...But it is low on compression on cylinder number 8. So at this point, it seems the only thing drive train wise that has not been done to it is the motor, this is my next step of the build.

So, being as brilliant as I am, I went a head and ordered in another 5.9 engine for the truck from a local yard. The motor being shipped to me I got for $430 out of a 2000 2500 4x4 with 87k on it, and is complete from top to bottom including the AC compressor and alternator, serpentine belt still attached on the engine. My plan is to put this motor on the engine stand in my shop, and do a mild rebuild on it.

As of right now, the only thing I've placed an order for on it is some valve covers to spice things up under the hood a bit. I have an account setup with JEGS in order to get some performance parts on the shop end of things, and this is about all I could navigate through and find on there that I see fit to order.

They look cool though.



Truth be told, and I've said this a million times on here...I am not a motor guru. I do not have a grasp on it short of basics and how an engine works. I do not have any aftermarket knowledge on these engines, so I'm extending out a hand in hopes that I could get some help here.

What should I do with this? Bore it out, cam, intake and throttle body? I'm going to send the heads off to a shop to have them checked, if they come back needing work I'd rather just buy some aftermarket heads. If that's that case, which ones should I look into that won't "break the bank" on me. I'm not on a limited budget, but being a brand new business owner I don't want to venture out too far and wind up closing the doors because I couldn't keep my debit card in my pocket for personal truck items.

I'm putting about a $3000 budget on this motor build, excluding cost of the motor. It'll be torn down to nothing but a bare block and heads, both which will be sent out and checked for any issues, and this is not going to be included in the $3000 budget. If any issues with the block come up, I will be reassembling it and requesting another from the salvage yard as it should be covered under the warranty. If it needs heads, that's fine as I'll use it as an excuse for some more performance.

Once I verify the block is good to go, that's when the budget is implemented. Included in that budget needs to make space for brand new accessories including power steering pump, alternator, flex plate, water pump, timing cover, etc.

And yes, even though I have some new parts on my current engine, I'm going to repurchase them for this. I want the install of this motor as quick and easy as possible, which means no pulling my engine and swapping parts over. The only accessory I'm going to reuse will be my AC compressor, as it currently works and is charged and I don't want to **** around with it.

Motor should be here by Friday, which I'd really like to start getting stuff ordered within the next few days so come Monday I can just start tearing into it and get it hopefully all rebuilt by next weekend for an after hours motor swap party. I also do not want to go used with anything if possible, as I want to make sure if a customer of my store wants the same thing, I'm not referring them to eBay or craigslist to find it.

So if any Magnum genius's would like to post up a shopping list of things I can get coming that would be amazing.

Thanks.

 

[dapepper9]

Didn't see this earlier but those valve covers are LA engine. Mags use 10 bolts instead of 5. Should still work fine but you'll need LA gaskets

 

[NightMares]

Valve covers include the gaskets with them, so no worries there.

Funny story, truck is actually up and running now. Cooling issue was a big mess of things, but I put the mechanical fan back on it last night and moved the larger 16" fan in front of the AC condenser and reversed the polarity on the wiring for it. Truck was driving around last night averaging between 172 and 181. I'm thinking it was initially the bad water pump from the dealership, then I just snowballed it down from there with going after everything.

Doesn't change the fact that the motor is low on compression, although it still seems to have plenty of power. So this new motor is in fact getting built for it, I'm just no longer in a hurry to get it done. So, I'll slowly order a whole slew of parts in for it. Kinda one of those go BIG or go home ordeals. Might be next winter when I put it in, but at least when I do the swap it'll be something extravagant over something mediocre.


Onto some random business updates. I sold the Suburban. Guy came down to look at it Monday, paid a deposit on my full asking price that included the lift, wheels, and tires. Wednesday the lift and everything showed up, so we buttoned that up Thursday and he picked up and paid for the remaining portion Friday.

I decided to sell it as I wanted to cut back on some projects. I acquired a Bronco from my in-laws, which is a very long story and something I won't, nor want to get into. But I'm going to build the Bronco up very, very similar to my Dodge with matching bumper, Ultra 107 wheels and more.

Then the Bronco turned into two more projects, which are the truck bed trailer expo projects, both matching my Dodge and my Bronco theme.

Plus my partner's TJ and my employee's rigs. We just don't have the room to store and build all these random ass project vehicles at the moment.

After selling the Suburban yesterday, I wound up buying another truck...kind of by accident. We did an inspection on a 2011 Ford F-250 crew cab XLT with the 6.7 in it. Dealership picked it up at auction for cheap because it was in limp mode, come to find out it needs a particle filter to get it running right, which is fairly expensive. So I threw them a quote and they told me not to worry about it, they'll just send the truck back to auction and let someone else open that can of worms. In turn, i offered to buy it from them for what they have invested, which they agreed to and well....Now I own a burgundy 2011 Powerstroke.

Plan is to do a 6" on 20's with 37's and wind up selling it to invest money back into the shop, some funds for the Dodge engine build and the funds for the Bronco build...plus a 10k diesel shop truck.


Anywho.

Onto some updates for my truck now.

Monday is Labor day, and my shop and I have decided to make a bigger deal out of the holiday. We've put together a large run out on Lost Trail, finishing up with Two Headed Dragon for those who want to continue on with us. I'm FINALLY getting the truck out on some trails, and we're starting pretty damn big with it.

So today, I'm going to get the comp cut in the back done, and relocate the N-Fab Rear Runner to the back of the bed to fill the gap between the hitch. Afterwords I'm going to pickup the shell from my house and put that back on it, and install the Go Rhino roof basket on the top, along with throwing back on my 4 gallon rotopax and such.

Should be a lot of people attending the run on Monday, and I want my truck fully decked out and equipped so they can see what kind of work is representing my shop.

I'll post with photo updates later today!

 

[NightMares]

Alright so update. Never got the time to do the comp cut in the back, but I did get the basket mounted on top of the shell, along with all the other gear mounted back onto the rear rack.

Looks pretty good in my opinion.













She sags pretty hard with all the weight on the back, but for now I'm going to leave it. When I get the Apex Pack Rack built I want to transfer everything over to it, and change a few things up. I want to move the 4 gallon roto pax to the sides of the rack, and put some black storage cans in replacement on the trail rack in the back. From there, I want to fill everything up, so 10 gallons of fuel, 2 gallons of water, then throw about 200lbs in the roof basket and from there adjust the lift height of my truck. Basically get it for the most part fully loaded, then put it in the shop and get a measurement from the ground to the wheel well, then put a jack under the hitch and lift it up until it appears level and grab another measurement. That will tell me how high I need to go up. That way unloaded for daily driver it has a slight rake to it, but fully loaded down with a full tank of gas, all the rotopax loaded and all my gear in it it will at least sit level.



Went out on the trail run yesterday, although apparently the only person who got any decent shots of the truck was one of my employee's sister who had her nice camera out there. She's doing a bunch of editing on them before she gives us a USB, so hopefully soon I'll have some shots of my truck. Unfortunately no shots of it on Two Headed Dragon, as only 4 of us continued through it and the rest of the crew turned back, and none of us 4 got out to snap any pictures. 2 HEAVILY built XJ's and a rock bouncer were what I went through it with.

Truck performed fawking awesome. Lost trail I left it unlocked and it ran great, no issues at all. Couple spots got really narrow and low, so the truck acquired some pretty heavy "Idaho Pinstripe" all over....well, everywhere. I do know on the Pack Rack I'm going to leave it how it is about 4" lower than the cab, that way with the basket it doesn't hang off the top as I was catching it on branches and all kinds of crap out on the trail yesterday.

Two Headed Dragon got pretty hairy at some parts. No body damage, but the underside definitely took a heavy beating. So skid plates are a definite need, including lower control arm and fuel tank. Also need some sliders for sure...but, the truck completed the trail. I set Two Headed Dragon as my goal before completing the Rubicon, as kind of one of those "if the truck can complete two headed, then it can complete the Rubicon" type deal. I made it through with ease, only had to lock the ARB in a few times. I'm pretty impressed with it.

Here's all the photo's posted on facebook that you can...well barely see my truck in haha

Before the trail. Truck is located behind the white 4 door JK.



Beginning of the trail. Truck is 2nd to last in the picture. Hood is open I was showing my buddy the E-Fan setup.



Another angle from the same spot. Truck is in the back of the lineup.



During the trail. 4th rig back, you can see the front poking through the brush on the right of the blue JK



Ending of Lost Trail. 6th vehicle up



Starting of Two Headed Dragon. You can see my truck right above the V of the hills.



And here's some shots of other vehicles on Lost Trail so you can kind of see what all we were tackling.

 

[NightMares]

Couple random shots of the aftermath of the trip. Looks like I did acquire some "damage" although nothing major. The grille looks like it got whacked by something where it meets the bumper, bumper alignment got pushed out a little on the passenger side, and quite a bit of paint work on the front bumper from smacking rocks. The rear bumper took some blows too, but as stated I'm going to remove it anyways so not too worried about it right now. Fender liners need to be pulled out in the front, as my tires grabbed them when I got flexed out and now they rub on them, but meh. Just need to cut them out as my rock lights are mounted to them so they can't disappear all together as of right now. Also knocked the alignment out pretty good.

But yeah, nothing too bad. Just some battle scars.

Bottom of the bumper



Bumper alignment



Light knocked over and small glimpse of bumper on right



Dent and scratch in bumper



Kinda see some Idaho Pinstripe here



Driver's side liner



Passenger



Some Idaho Pinstripe



Chip in bumper. Paint is damaged on top from grille from a while back so ignore that.



Couple scratches



Broken grille



Scratch



Meh



A lot of this is dust so we'll see how bad the clear coat is once I get the truck washed....which probably won't be for a week or two as I'm going to do the comp cut this Friday and hopefully get it back out on some trails Saturday night and most of Sunday.



And she needs an alignment now. But she still drives straight so I'll just adjust the drag link to straighten the steering wheel out. Not going to dink with getting it aligned until I get my DOR steering on it this fall.

 

[NightMares]

So finally some fun updates. I sold that powerstroke already, which is quicker than I thought.

So now that we doubled our money off the truck, my partner and I did a little shopping.

He ordered some fun Poison Spyder parts for his TJ

I ordered the basics to get us rolling on my Bronco project, which took up a good portion of our money but it'll be worth it to have a 3rd show rig so we're not stuck with just 2 for events next summer. Fusion bumper, Rigid Radiance light bar and blue dually's, 92-96 fenders and core support, Keystone hood, 92-96 grille and headlight surrounds in black, black headlights like my Ram's, some maintenance parts and a Rough Country 6" cheap lift (solid axle swap in store for distant future, not investing money in a good quality lift for now).

Starting with the front clip swap and repainting the entire Bronco in a dark charcoal. RCX parts are getting sent over to get stripped and powder coated blue. And my Ram is making a donation to it.

My KO2's and Ultra wheels are getting donated to the Bronco. Plan is to dismount the tires, scuff and spray the face of the wheels in matching gun metal, and leave the imitation beadlock rings black. With donating my current 5 wheels and tires to the new project, I need something for my truck. Went ahead and ordered in some goodies for that as well.

Five 37x12.50x17 Maxxis Trepador
Five 17x8.5 Hutchinson Beadlocks in satin black

Obviously going 37's I'll need some more height, so...

DOR 7" progressive rate coil springs
DOR shackle and u-bolt flip, set for 7" of lift with eliminating the stock rear block

More height means different parts need swapped, so...

Fox 2.5 Remote Resi front shocks
Fox 2.0 Emulsion rear shocks

While talking to DOR, I discussed my previous order that's still being built, which are my custom arms and steering. The steering kit they have produced already, so I went ahead and cancelled the order for that and swapped it over to their drill out high steer kit with the tapered pitman arm bolt. I have the BD Diesel adjustable track bar and bracket, so with their high steer kit I'm going to see if I can modify my current setup to accommodate it. If not, then I'll pull the BD Diesel off and order in the DOR heavy duty track bar and their weld on axle tab to angle the track bar to match the drag link to eliminate the bump steer.

I'm currently in the decision making process of ordering in the DOR Extreme Torsion Sway Bar system. Having to disconnect these JKS on my truck has proven to be a pain in the ass on the drivers side, and their kit is supposed to make it so disconnecting is less frequent. Plus, badassery. It's good in stock, so I have about 2 weeks until my arms are done to make my decision on that one.

But before installing or tearing apart my Dodge, I'm going to begin building the Bronco for the time being. Paint and parts swapping will be about a month long project, which is fine as my Hutchinson's are about a month out on getting here. So hopefully by the time my wheels get here I'll have everything ready to swap the tires and wheels to the Bronco, start driving the Bronco as a daily and start dedicating the Ram to shows and wheeling. That's when the heavy tear down will happen, replacing almost all the suspension and steering, and building and customizing that All Pro Pack Rack.

But anywho, here's some cool photo's that you guys like to look at rather than read my essay's.

The Wheels: Powder coat red beadlock ring



The Tires



Coil Springs: Powder coated red



Shackle & U-Bolt Flip



Front Shocks



Rear Shocks



Steering



Torsion Sway Bar System (still in consideration)



And just to refresh everyone's memory

Custom built lower double adjustable long arms, upper double adjustable short arms: Powder coated red



Steering stabilizer

 

[Lil_Ram]

Dude that's gonna be sweet. What model is that bronco and dos you think about doing the colored bed lining of the body on it?
So what's the deal on the motor swap gonna proceed with that of just call it off?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Pull Ya]

How is the business end going? Is your customer base increasing? Any neat projects on customer trucks/jeeps? I like the new ideas on your truck, sounds like it will be fun.
Jay

 

[NightMares]

Dude that's gonna be sweet. What model is that bronco and dos you think about doing the colored bed lining of the body on it?
So what's the deal on the motor swap gonna proceed with that of just call it off?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Bronco is an 88 bricknose I'm converting to the newer 92-96 style. The tubs are the same from 80 till the end so everything is interchangeable. Not doing bedliner on the body of it, I'll be painting it a dark charcoal. The front and rear bumpers, along with the top will be done in a matching charcoal Raptor liner, like what my front bumper is to my truck. I honestly hate bedlined trucks, it looks cheap to me.

I thought I posted it here, although I'm too lazy to check back. Here's some pics of it.











Motor swap is currently on hold now that I've got the cooling system figured out, however it's still low on compression so a motor swap is in the future. I'm going to get flamed hard for this, but I'm considering an LS swap into it rather than building up the 5.9 I got from the junk yard earlier this week. Thinking of a 6.0 and a 4L80E setup.

Just a thought, I'm unsure what route I want to take with it.

How is the business end going? Is your customer base increasing? Any neat projects on customer trucks/jeeps? I like the new ideas on your truck, sounds like it will be fun.
Jay

The truck is taking a HUGE step for me, so I'm pretty stoked for getting it finished up. I got other priorities in front of it right now, as I'm going to use the Bronco as a daily driver and finally retire my Dodge from that duty. Once it's officially just a shop truck for off road and show use, I'm going to start building it harder than before.

Business is picking up pretty good. Nothing exactly fun yet, I've found that lowering my prices cheaper than my old work and the tire shops is bringing more business in the doors, so even though I'm not making a ton off each job, I've got the quantity coming in the door. So far since being open I've installed about 4 lift kits, quite a few Jeep accessories like bumpers, winches, lights, etc, and a ton of tires, some sets with wheels. Not to mention all the dealer drop off's that have come in for inspections and repairs. Also, in the past 3 weeks of being open I've done 12 leveling kits at $350 each, profit being around $150 per job. Not a ton of intake, but you kinda get the idea. My old work was charging $495 per leveling kit, and we'd do maybe at best one a week. So a profit of $295 per week of installing that, vs $600 is making me double the amount as they are with almost triple the business. For right now, getting people in the door is my main concern, as being a brand new business word of mouth and social media are my main sources of bringing customers in. I don't have 4k a month lying around for a TV commercial to be aired on local channels, and all the radio stations really aren't any better. Not to mention how many people use DVR and netflix and crap to skip the commercials, and in the cars majority of people listen to music off their phones or satellite radio, etc. I also do not have a tire machine or an alignment rack, so I use Discount Tire for my mount and balance which works perfect, because they don't do leveling kits or suspension kits, so they refer all their business to me now for that. And I use Meineke up the road for my alignments, who can install everything I sell but do not have the distributors I do, so they're now buying all their parts from me and giving me a discount for my alignments sent over. So I also have all the referrals from those coming into me as well.

There's still more events coming this fall that I've already got booth space purchased, so the Dodge and my partner's TJ will be featured at those to try to get our name out there a little more. We've hosted several BBQ's already, and already hosted 2 separate trail runs in the last 30 days, plus another small one coming tomorrow for the more experienced wheelers in the valley.

I've also purchased reservations at a few events for summer 2017, which includes the Northwest Motorfest which is a 3 day car show that usually features about 1000 cars, and a booth for the Boise Music Festival as well. I'm trying to get a booth for the Boise Roadster Show as that is another massive indoor car show, but I haven't heard back from anyone on that one.

I also just put my registration in for All 4 Fun's event next July-August which is a week long series of several trails in Colorado, which we'll have my Dodge, my partner's TJ, and I reserved a 3rd space just in case I have the Bronco's solid axle swap done. I'm really looking forward to that event, even if the Bronco is not in attendance.

I'm also going to make an appearance at the Easter Jeep Safari in Moab next year, and try to make the Jeeper's Jamboree on the Rubicon as well. There's a few more events taking place in the northwest that I'm also going to try to make it to, although if events conflict at the same time, I'll take the larger of the runs to try to get my name out, particularly out of state events to try to break out of Idaho.

 

[Pull Ya]

Do you have a web site yet? Also a lot of communities have some sort of "yellow pages" on the computer that list businesses in the area. Word of mouth is sometimes the best and cheapest type of advertising you can have, along with plenty of business cards to hand out to everyone standing still--LOL
I hope you have continued success with your shop!!!!
Jay

 

[NightMares]

Website is still under construction, but it's up.

MPYR OFFROAD

 

[Kpearson]

Page book marked, took a while but the whole thread has been read! Nice build up again and I hope your business goes well.

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