'89 Stepside "Way Cool Jr."

What a bout making a custom tent to fit your truck bed? You're pretty creative. But don't know if time is on your side.
Google search shows some decent ideas.

One of those pop up sun shades and back the truck under it. Just an idea, don't know if the truck would actually fit under there.

89RCLB said:

What a bout making a custom tent to fit your truck bed? You're pretty creative. But don't know if time is on your side.
Google search shows some decent ideas.

Click to expand...

The thought lingered in my mind about two and a half seconds. I'm currently working on rewiring the rest of the top end of my son's Chrysler 300. I'd replaced the passenger side coil wiring a few years ago, and now the driver side coil and fuel injector wires are crunchy. A new harness, if you can find one, is $950, so I'm buying new connectors and splicing wiring. I dragged both riding mowers out and am giving them tuneups, and I need to do a tune up on the church mower this week. My buddy's picking up his trailer this afternoon (he stores it at my place), and I need to talk with him about doing the wheel bearings. I popped the caps off yesterday, and they're okay, but they could use repacking. I've also started reassembling Roscoe. Next weekend I'll be in Dallas, prepping the car for the race.

So, yeah, building my own is out.

0xDEADBEEF said:

One of those pop up sun shades and back the truck under it. Just an idea, don't know if the truck would actually fit under there.

Click to expand...

Popup sun shades survive about five minutes in the Oklahoma wind, and we'll be at the top of the hill at Hallett. That's why I'm more in favor of a tent than a tarp. We have secured a powered pavilion paddock spot, but the car's going to be under the pavilion. Also, if it's rainy and windy, the pavilion is tall enough that it won't be much protection.

Maybe I'm overthinking it, and I should just borrow a tent and camp under the trees next to our spot. Maybe I should just put a cot under the pavilion. I'm still interested in hearing if anyone has experience with a stepside tent.

Try measuring the dimensions of the bed and look for a tent that fits. You can make tie down points for it with some metric threaded eyelets, to replace the upper bed brace mounting screws like these:

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074K53HRB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I did this to make lift/tie down points in my bed. Worked great!

(edited after I looked at it...)

I pulled into the gas station yesterday to top off on 91 octane at $3.39 a gallon. I had so carefully maneuver in front of a Toyota truck and back up to the pump.

When I got out the owner was grinning and said, "That thing sounds badass!"

We ended up chatting about WCJr the whole time we were pumping gas. It was pretty cool.

I have probably a thousand miles on the new transmission, and the truck's running great. It's just shy of daily use, and I'm exceptionally glad I swapped the rear springs so it can do truck stuff again.

Next weekend my wife and mother-in-law are having a garage sale at my mother-in-law's house, so today my wife asked "Do you think these bins will fit in the Mustang?"

You bet dear. Lmao

We needed to move my son's stuff today, so we drove over there at the hottest time of the day and he and I loaded WCJr up. Then we loaded up my mother-in-law's minivan. Then we loaded up his car. We hit the road and the temperature on my rearview mirror read 103*F. The truck's coolant was running comfortable at 193*F at 65 mph down I-40.

And then the Sniper's display shot to 24:1 AFR, the RPM dropped to 300, and I lost power.

I got over and made it to the nearest exit as the engine died. If I let it sit it would restart and immediately die out. The fuel pump's dead. The EP381 wasn't available when I put the truck together, and I used a RockAuto cheapie. I haven't troubleshot it - it was way too freaking hot, but I went ahead and ordered the pump. Even if it's not bad, I'll need one for Roscoe.

The tow home was $200, but it was way too freaking hot to drive home and grab his sketchy-running truck, hook up the trailer, and boogie back to the highway to grab the truck before it gets stripped bare - it was in a really rough area.

The real downside is that I'll have to empty all his crap out of the bed so I can lift it and change the pump.

So it's been a couple weeks and it's been crazy busy. I discovered the fuel pump is fine (ish). One of the Sniper's harnesses dropped onto the header. I went ahead and swapped the pump anyways because it takes several seconds to start every morning - the check valve in the pump isn't keeping the fuel system pressurized. Everything's back together except the receiver hitch and the alternator's not charging. I'm guessing I popped a fuse, but I'll have to check.

We got my son moved, but his truck also died while carrying a load of furniture. Once I get the alternator charging and the receiver mounted, I'll hook up the trailer and drag his back to the house.

A picture from Saturday.