2014 Sema project

[jordan572]

Wow! Did I miss what size wheel and tire setup you're going to be running? Or is it still a secret? Lol. They look like 26" or bigger in the rendering. Could be because I'm looking at it on my phone.

We'll be running 24's on 40's, yes the wheels may be to big for some. Personally I think it is perfect.

 

[01pwrstkr]

That's what I figured they just looked bigger for some reason. I think it looks great! They fit the build perfectly! Can't wait to see the actual truck!

 

[jordan572]

We got a a start prepping the horns, these things were in rough shape when they showed up. One can't expect perfection though as supposedly brand new Nathan's can't be bought, only remans. All the internals look brand new so thats all that matters to me. Take a look at these beauties when they showed up, there was so much paint on them it was unbelievable.

We dunked a cap in gun cleaner/stripper, it took off the cheap black paint than the original blue they must have been painted but only to be stopped by the final layer, which was powder coat. Off to the soda blaster they went,

I couldn't believe how nice they turned out. I almost thought of just clearing them how they came back. Minus a few very small dings and the casting seams in each bell they were flawless.

 

[Cobra 19 & 54]

The headlights are bitchin!!!! I really like the back lighting idea.

 

[08TitanSE]

This would be my daily driver if I ever win millions in the lottery

 

[jordan572]

Now that all the paint was off the horns we got to see what we were working with. Like I said very there were a few minor scuffs and then the obvious grinding marks on each horn from the original casting.

Yes, we decided it would be best to sand all the minor scuffs out of each horn and then fill all the grinding marks from the casting seams. They sanded very well as the horns are all aluminum, some parts were too deep to sand out so they needed to be filled. Overall they should look quite a bit better than new once everything is said and done.

Next we set them up for paint, I thought it would be cooler to give them a little two tone instead of just blasting them red. The inside of the bells are going black along with the mounting pedestal/air manifold. The outside of the bells will be sprayed Ruby Red. Took some extra time to tape them off but I think they'll look awesome in the end.

A few of these first pictures are just the sealer we use, they look like crap during this stage. The last ones look straight wet, for all out looks and shine paint>powder all day long.

 

[CAT35niner]

Looks so good!!! Makes me want a set for mine again. Truck that big definitely needs horns to match. Love it. Nice job.

 

[MorganY]

Those headlights are the best looking ones I have seen IMO.

 

[FaSSt9602]

Not to discredit any of the other SEMA builds here (or any builds for that matter), but the attention to detail on this thing is AMAZING!

 

[Spatel23]

Agreed.......this appears like its gonna be hard to top.

 

[smcox1]

Updated rendering, proud to say I am running rigids lighting on the entire build now. Although many don't approve of the roof light bar stuff and I somewhat agree were going to be modifying an add roof mount to accept two 54'' rds curved light bars. I already have them preordered so if they ship before the show they will make it to the build. We're hoping a custom mount combined with the curved bars will flow a lot better with the truck than the typical hang them way up there straight style bars. Lets hope they look cool because they weren't exactly cheap.

Wow!! Just wow!! This thing is amazing

 

[jordan572]

I appreciate the positive comments by everyone, it definitely is more meaningful hearing them from people on this forum. I'll be posting up more pictures tonight, thank you.

 

[Josh@DirtyDiesels]

I appreciate the positive comments by everyone, it definitely is more meaningful hearing them from people on this forum. I'll be posting up more pictures tonight, thank you.

Can't wait for more pics! This is hands down the coolest build I have ever seen.

 

[jordan572]

We got to painting some more parts a little while back, we're only painting parts that won't be handled many times before the truck is complete for obvious reasons. All the grille guts and some other miscellaneous trim were sprayed first. I absolutely love the platinum grilles so I won't be moving away from those. The mesh in the grille bars also went black, there will be plenty of red on this truck I figured. We also decided to lay down a matte/satin finish to try to tone things down just a little bit. I've personally always been a fan of a black satin finish. Like the horns we used a sandable sealer to promote adhesion and fill any last imperfections. Takes quite a bit more time but it pays in the end. For example, the platinum brushed trim piece on the tailgate looks rather warped and tweaked from the factory. It turned out quite nice after we finished I thought.

We made sure to paint the backsides of all the grille pieces black also to prevent any unnecessary glaring when things get bright behind there.

A little sealer action going on,

Yep that looks like show quality :rockon:,

And for the real deal

 

[Crack85]

Looking good on the chrome delete

 

[zporta]

Bad ass

 

[vrog]

looking good!

 

[Josh@DirtyDiesels]

This keeps getting better and better... hurry up and finish it lol

 

[jordan572]

We're back at it, I finally got the headlamps dialed into the point where I am quite happy with them. Just like the test light I posted earlier, a Morimoto D2s 3.0 projector will be used in the bottom headlamp bucket. I sanded them and shaped them for ever it seemed this time, finally got around to testing them in the truck. I used a relatives truck to test fit and aim these things, to my surprise they lined up very well after the horizontal rotation was set. Only one minor issue was one was aimed about 10'' higher than the other. The vertical adjusters took care of this no problem, I couldn't help myself though. I took the one reflector bucket out that was aimed slightly lower and again sanded it and shaped the bowl. I test fit it again and nailed it. Now when the vertical adjusters are at the same adjustment the cutoffs are nearly perfectly aligned, just a few turns on either headlamp adjuster and the cutoffs line up perfect. The "steps" in the cutoffs were also very good, they lined up just right. About 4-5 more hours into playing with these stupid headlamps but I got them where I wanted them.

High Beams

I also marked the horizontal rotation of the projectors onto the reflector bowl so I can get a close as possible to a perfect horizontal cutoff once everything is painted and reinstalled. The little things....

 

[jordan572]

The guys at PMF suspension are making good progress on the kit, there is major design work and detail so things are taking quite some time. Needless to say Trevor has some of the first parts on the way, I'm jacked to get these parts as there is a ton of work left.

:thumbup: