New look, new attitude!

After dropping the front a few inches and giving my truck a flat-black spray can trim job, my truck has an all-new "police cruiser" look. And it's not just to look cool, either (well, I guess the paint was...). I managed to pick up an extra 3-4 mph in third gear since the drop. Not to mention, it really does look awesome...

To go along with the whole "cool" thing, my truck also doesn't squeak anymore. Having replaced the u-joints, my truck is much more fun to drive. Plus I don't have people saying "I don't like EVs because they squeak."

And this is all just in time for my truck to tick over the magic 1000 mile mark. That's right, I now have 1000 gas-free, quiet miles on this machine. I have about 500 on it since the motor rebuild, as well. So far, that's 40 gallons of gas I didn't have to buy!

Now that I'm becoming more and more comfortable with it, I'll be driving it much more often too. It has no problems whatsoever in the rain, and cold weather doesn't seem to be much of a problem either. So that 2000 mile mark is coming up pretty quick...

I am, however, going to have to work out some sort of a heater... These 40 degree mornings are starting to get to me. I'll probably install an electric heater of some sort... I'll make sure and post about it when I figure something out.

I've also been doing a bit of work on motor cooling. Here's a pic (albeit a cryptic one) of my electric radiator fan:

So far, this has been doing an excellent job of keeping the motor cool. I've got it wired to turn on whenever the ignition is on, so even when I'm sitting at a stop light the motor is cooling down. I think that's very important. The original fan, attached to the motor shaft, only turned as fast as the motor. That meant that when I needed it most (low rpm situations) the fan wasn't doing anything! This one works much better.

The Tercel is coming right along. I'm currently working on eliminating the unnecessary engine wiring, which accounts for the majority of the underhood wiring. Should be a lot neater when I'm done. Plus I'm going to find some cool color of electrical tape to wrap it with!

The motor is scheduled to arrive later this week, so I'll be able to start working on the adaptor plate. It should be very simple. This transmission doesn't use a pilot shaft, so I don't have to incorporate the pilot bearing in the hub. This does mean, however, that I have to be extra careful with alignment.

Anyway, that's all for now. Make sure to check back soon!