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Hellraiser 79's Spirit 23 Build day one

Ok guys, I got my kit on Monday. Got it all unpacked this morning. I took some before shots after all the cardboard came off, but then the batteries in the camera died. I got alot assembled today, i pretty much have a rolling chassis done. Ill post some more pics of stuff assembled tommorow. Check my gallery for some early photos. Everything from Spirit looks great.
 
Hellraiser, You have a great start. I just received my gauges today (isn't UPS great!) My favoroite truck when it comes down the street!. Good luck and hope to see more pics as you progress.:razz::razz::razz::razz::razz:
 
Ok, i couldnt wait till tommorow. I stole the batteries out of the tv remote, put the sneaks back on, trekked through the 4" of snow(rare here), and took some quick pics of where i stopped today. Enjoy. You know im serious about this thing because i had to park the vette outside in the snow to work on the bucket. Its prob gonna stay out for a while too because theres so much snow on the ground now, i dont think i can pull it back in :sad:. Also, check out how Spirit packages the hardware, makes it way easier!
 
You know, something just doesn't look right. :think:
It's not the claw hammer. :think:
.............................................
:doh:I got it. It's not in my shop! I'll be right over to pick it up.:dance:




Looks great. (had you going)
 
WOW! Great start! Isn't it easy when you have everything laid out in front of you? Oh, is there a record for building one of these? I know Spirit did one here in Houston a some years back at our AutoRama. Think they did it in a few hours! WHEW!
 
Thanks TfeverFred, i followed your build and i learned alot.
The claw hammer was only for breaking down the pallets everything came on. Dont worry guys, I bought a new rubber mallet for use on the bucket. My dad might stop by to help me, so Ill have to hide the claw hammer. He likes to force stuff:surprised:
 
Claw hammers are a good thing. Just make sure nothing valuable is in the way when you throw it.:eek::dance:
 
tfeverfred said:
...is there a record for building one of these? I know Spirit did one here in Houston a some years back at our AutoRama. Think they did it in a few hours! WHEW!

We did it in 21 minutes here in KC at World of Wheels a couple of years ago!! Of course, the car had been pre-assembled at Spirit then broken down into sub-assemblies. But 21 minutes from a collection of parts to starting her up and moving under her own power is still pretty impressive. We had quite a crowd around us and got a big cheer when she fired up!
 
20 min and 5 sec.What took them so long?:razz:
 
Build times

After doing the show build about 100 times we got it down to 14min. That was to fast for what we were trying to do. We now try to keep it at about 30 min.

When we debuted the 27 at the first Tbucket event in Mountain Home. We built the entire bucket body,frame, etc. Had it done Turn key and did it all during a 10 day auction on Ebay. We set up a live webcam so people could see what they were bidding on as we progressed. Only problem was that when the auction ended you seen a picture of an empty space in the shop. We had moved the bucket to the fairgrounds.

When we do a turn key 23 in the shop we figure about 130 hours. That includes paint.
 
Why dont you tape every build you do turn key for the buyer?
 
Can you believe that the heater in my house crapped out tonight after all the home depots and lowes closed? So guess what, the awesome portable heater i just bought to heat the garage while im working on the bucket is heating the house right now. If i cant get the part to fix the house heater tommorow, im bringing the bucket in the house.:) Its either that or me and the wife are gonna have to sleep in the garage. Its a bummer i didnt get to to work on the bucket tonight.
 
todd...you've come along way from the plastic claw hammer jim and i gave you 20 yrs. ago.....lol

Ron
 
HELLRAISER79 said:
Can you believe that the heater in my house crapped out tonight after all the home depots and lowes closed? So guess what, the awesome portable heater i just bought to heat the garage while im working on the bucket is heating the house right now. If i cant get the part to fix the house heater tommorow, im bringing the bucket in the house.:D Its either that or me and the wife are gonna have to sleep in the garage. Its a bummer i didnt get to to work on the bucket tonight.


Ah yes, the addiction is strong, my friend.:lol: I can remember nights, when I'd wake up with an idea and go work on my car. The thing is, I was building it at work. So, I'd get dressed, drive to work at 3 in the morning, try out my idea and either come home or just sleep in a chair at work. The sickness is strong, but welcome.

Heck, I've felt it coming during the rebuild, but I'm rebuilding at a friends garage and I'm sure he wouldn't welcome the early start to the day.:lol:
 
HELLRAISER79 said:
Can you believe that the heater in my house crapped out tonight after all the home depots and lowes closed? So guess what, the awesome portable heater i just bought to heat the garage while im working on the bucket is heating the house right now. If i cant get the part to fix the house heater tommorow, im bringing the bucket in the house.:lol: Its either that or me and the wife are gonna have to sleep in the garage. Its a bummer i didnt get to to work on the bucket tonight.

Just thinking I would mention this about the heater. I hope it is a vented heater or electric. Please don't use an un-vented heater in the house. The carbon monoxide will kill you plus it depletes the oxygen in the house.
 
Youngster said:
todd...you've come along way from the plastic claw hammer jim and i gave you 20 yrs. ago.....lol

Ron


and it still gave me nasty bruises :eek:
 
Yes , i vented the heater to the outside and i only used it to warm the house up to temp then turned it off. Ive been seeing on the news that alot of people are dying from using heaters like this while they are sleeping. So i am very careful when i do this. I did fix my heater today, it was a thing called a triple aquastat by honeywell. i dont know heaters but i tested the thing with a multimeter and i had power going in but none coming out. So i found one locally and sure enough after screwing down all 8 wires in the right spot on the new one, the heater roared to life. It feels like something is trying to keep me from working on the bucket. Last night it was my heater, this morning my dads heater(he sometimes comes over while i work on the bucket), and tonight i got a flat in the snow on my daily driver. And its 18 degrees here which we are not used to in New Jersey. So barring anymore interuptions, after working 10-8 tommorow, im gonna work on the bucket and get you guys some new pics. The highlight of the day was getting my tank and headlight stands that i ordered from RPM !!!
 

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