Yesterday, the Jeepspeed finally returned to it's owner and is going under the knife, prepping for the October race in Sweetwater, Texas.

Fluids are drained and disassembly has started on the stock burban drivetrain.

Ted has been working on a Chevy 1500's ignition system and looking over a Cavalier for maintenance. I got all the prep work done for my XJ's maiden voyage at Trees Ranch this weekend.

Kevin Shelly just pulled up with his YJ, so it's back to the grind.

Friday we worked on John's Jeepspeed. Chris finished the rear bump stops and I bent some tubing for the front bumper. Today, Chris did the prep work for mounting the 32 gallon fuel cell and I tied part of the bump stops to the cage. He also replaced a steering column in a YJ.

Ted did a lift on an FJ cruiser. We stayed late and got the 3" rough country installed on my budget XJ. Tomorrow he will do a clutch on a TJ and look at an AC system on a Sidekick.

We're trying to clear as much work as possible before we go to Trees Ranch this weekend for Labor Day.

Some more goodies... the NV4500 parts!

Chevy NV4500 with Dodge input shaft
[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album258/jake_006.jpg[/img]

Diesel swap care package
[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album258/jake_019.jpg[/img]

slave cylinder, master, and stainless clutch line
[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album258/jake_021.jpg[/img]

pedal assembly
[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album258/jake_022.jpg[/img]

bell housing, adapter plate, clutch fork
[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album258/jake_023.jpg[/img]

14mm turbo housing, shifter, 12V crossmember
[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album258/jake_024.jpg[/img]

Jake's 12V suburban progress...

We've made some headway, but I have been slacking on the pics. Got a ton of parts today and the motor will be pulled on monday. hope to have the drivetrain sitting in the burban by the end of next week. The suspension is mostly done, with the front D60, ORD highsteer, PSC box, 4" tuff country springs, stainless brakelines, ORD shackle hangers and greasable bushings, and a rear shackle flip...

Boyce D60 w/4.10's and an ARB

[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album256/august_20_012.jpg[/img]

POR 15 the frame

[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album256/august_21_008.jpg[/img]

PSC 2wd ported box

[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album256/august_21_012.jpg[/img]

ORD cross over high steer kit

[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album256/august_21_013.jpg[/img]

4" Tuff Country springs

[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album256/jake_011.jpg[/img]

ORD greasable shackles and poly bushings

[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album256/jake_012.jpg[/img]

mounted steering box

[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album256/jake_013.jpg[/img]

warn premiums

[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album256/jake_015.jpg[/img]

Boyce D60, 4.10's, ARB

[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album256/jake_016.jpg[/img]

crossover steering

[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album256/jake_017.jpg[/img]

SKY u-bolts and spring plate kit

[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album256/jake_020.jpg[/img]

Austin is such a small community that everybody runs in to each other eventually. I met Dave Carpetyon some time about a year ago. He is probably the youngest premier driver in American rally racing and is a local 21 year old driver; a very laid back guy.

There was a rally in Paris, Texas and his usual co-driver couldn't make it. I sat in for Rob and after a crash course and no sort of in car practice, we ended up winning both races in the open (highest) class in a Japnese only, imported Lancer Evo.

While he is young, Dave is no novice to rally racing. Last year he won Pike's Peak and the Snow Drift challenge in his tired Evo. This year he got a new car... and won Pike's Peak Rally for a consecutive year in the open class. The man has serious talent!

Which brings me to his next milestone. His company, Rally Ready Motorsports is moving to a larger shop off of Ben White. He will be sharing a portion of a 15000 square foot warehouse with another company. This gives Dave the space he needs to build and maintain more rally cars.

The new shop will also be the head quarters of Rally Ready Driving School. Their team is building a full rally training course with a skid pad and several miles of track in San Marcos. Details are still in the works, but it looks like classes will start as early as October. In the beginning, it will be a two day weekend class... run what you brung. There will be classroom and field instruction, driving and braking techniques, and an intro to stage notes.

Hopefully, I will be in one of his preliminary test classes. Eventually, Rally Ready will offer race prepped vehicles to rent for the class. After talking with Dave a bit about it last night, his preference is a stock front wheel drive beater to teach people the basic skills of this kind of driving... acuras, hondas, vw jettas and gti's. This can be a very fun low budget "beater" kind of racing if you don't go high tech on an all wheel drive turbo car. Honestly, any car can be rallied. A lot of people race escorts, festivas, old bmw's and other $1000 vehicles. I'm looking at it as training for desert racing. With the Texas desert racing scene starting to take shape, there may be the same opportunities for hosting rallys on these properties and start a Texas rally circuit...

We are making some progress on the suburban. The steering box, old suspension, and shackle hangers have been removed. The frame brace has been welded. Most of the frame has been POR15. Today we will work on mounting the 2wd PSC box for the crossover steering and hopefully get the D60 from Boyce swapped in.

We will also see what's up with Mike's CJ5 and try to figure out why he keeps blowing up u-joints.

This has been a tough week with Chris out due to illness. but, we have fixed my old Prerunner's rough running, Chris' squeaky clutch and worn bearing housing, and finished Michael's TJ transformation (4.88's, ox lockers, 4.5" rubicon express, sye with cv drive shaft, 35" KM2's on black Alloys, an Rockhard tire carrier).

Krawltex on the move to North Austin!

It's official... got the signed lease back today! Krawltex will be moving to North Austin between the end of October and the end of November. The new shop is a 3500 square foot facility built in 2006 and has never had occupants. The location is 500 Brushy Creek, Suite 4 in Cedar Park. We are the building next to the Fastenal. This is two exits north of 620, off the 183 toll road. Look for more updates here and on the blog.

We get the keys on October 1st. If they have all the eletrical built out, we will start to outfit the shop with our shelving, work benches, and air lines. There WILL be a grand opening celebration... although I can not promise strippers or carnies.With more space, we will be able to take care of our customers and patrons much more efficiently... especially in the custom fab area.

Once settled, I will be building a hot rod classic truck or a tube buggy. More than likely we will be redoing Chris' buggy. Ted will probably be building a J20 to serve as a daily driver and tow rig. And there are other additions and suprises in the works.