Hot Rod Drift Truck: The Project

Aug 20th 2012 was the official start date of my latest project.  The task, to take my truck, the 1947 Studebaker M-5, and rework it into a drift machine.  I listed the engine and transmission for sale on KSL.com a few days prior, and had a guy come out and check it out, hear it run, and take it for a spin so he could get a feel for the motor and tranny before pulling it.  He decided to purchase it all for his El-Camino project, which meant I finally had some spare change to get started!

Ultimately the truck will get the following: A racing spec roll cage, LS engine, Tremec tko 600 5 speed tranny, custom fabbed front suspension, new rear axel, coilovers, double adjustable shocks, beefy swaybars, rack and pinion stearing, racing seats, quick disconnect stearing wheel, fixed steering column, wilwood pedal assemblies, custom dash and guages, hydraulic e-brake, and maybe way down the line a few turbos...

But for now I have purchased some of the basic tools to get the fab work started, such as a tubing bender from Pro-Tools with a 1-3/4 inch bending die, a Tubing Notcher, small stock tubing bender from Woodward Fab, and a few tube holding clamps from Van Sant Enterprises.  It should keep me and my welder busy for a few months.

Realisticaly I plan on the project taking 2-ish years mostly because of cashflow, but that is no big deal as I really enjoy working on it as much as I like driving it.

I tore into the truck that night at about 5:30 p.m. and had the motor out and my mess cleaned up by 12:30 a.m.  Unfortunatley the memory cards in the cameras were full about 15 minutes before I had it all out, but the video below still takes you through some 5000  pictures all in about 3 minutes.  Enjoy!

Scott

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