THUNDER BEAST!

[jwstrand]

In September,  Chris did a show in Great Falls.  I was on my way there with
Thunder Beast when the dually broke down in Conrad, Montana, about 50 miles NW
of Great Falls.  I found out later that some of the piston skirts broke, causing
the engine to knock loudly.  It just wasn't drivable anymore.
 Chris towed the dually and trailer to Great Falls, where we bought a used Ford 500
car for $300 and swapped the engine and transmission into the dually.
Bill Payne was there with Jeff Bainter's Jeeps, Hot Stuff and High Voltage, which he had
just bought. Bill rebuilt the transmission in the dually for me.
I did the show and gave rides for hours afterwards. Thunder Beast was running hot!
Then the next day we started out for home, but the dually could hardly pull the trailer.
I was also having problems with my new assistant... who just wasn't meant for traveling and
was giving me all sorts of problems all weekend (like I really needed more of them)!
We made it as far as Conrad again, where I dropped the trailer (with Thunder Beast) and
took my helper all the way back to Libby so I could rid myself of him.
Then, I took a friend with me back to Conrad so we could get the trailer.
I wanted to make sure the dually was ready for the trip over the Continental Divide pass, and
had the brakes inspected at a local tire shop.  The wheel seal on the left rear had failed
and there was gear oil all over the brakes.  This is the same wheel that broke off on a
mountain pass in Utah many years ago (remember that?). I had put a ready-sleeve on the spindle
but it still gave me problems from time to time.
 After waiting for the tire shop to finish the job, which took a few days, we hooked up the
trailer and headed for home.
 The dually really struggled pulling the trailer.  This engine I bought just wasn't up to the
task.  It was worn out when I bought it, but it was the ONLY 460 I could find at a moment's
notice.
We made it over the Continental Divide pass and all the way through Kalispell, and Westward
on Highway 2.  The engine was going through 2 quarts of oil every 50 miles!!
We made it as far as Happy's Inn, a little hole in the wall town between Kalispell and Libby.
I dropped the trailer there, it was as far as the dually would go.
The trailer sat there for several days until I hired a tow truck to go get it.  I was really
worried about it sitting there, 50 miles from home!!
Finally, I had the trailer and Thunder Beast back in the driveway.
WHEW!!


Sorry!  I have no pictures from the entire trip!

[jwstrand]

Well, October came up, and Chris came to pick up my truck and take it back to his place
in Western Washington, where he would put it in his shop and finally repaint it back
to it's original color of red (since I've had it as Thunder Beast).
Knowing that my dually wasn't running, he brought an unusual truck to haul it with...
a Fire Truck with a motor home conversion...




But first we stopped in Couer D' Alene, Idaho to do a show and use my truck in the show
to give rides.  Giving rides with my truck was my way of paying Chris for the upcoming
paint job.
I have a lot of pictures from that weekend, but none of them are usable here... they are
pictures of Chris's house, yard and shop, which I am sure he would rather I not show on here,
so I won't.
There are no pictures of the show, either.  Sorry.

[jwstrand]

After that show was over, Chris told me to find a new bed for the truck... the old one had
seen enough body filler and wasn't usable again.  So I start searching the Seattle area
for another bed..  I found one, a 1979 bed, but it would require drilling for the new holes
a '79 bed has over the old '76 bed that was on Thunder Beast.  I had a friend of mine
help me deliver the bed to Chris Roy's shop.  Here is a pic of the new bed the day I
bought it...




After the weekend was over, my friend and former crew member Don Robison and a friend of
his gave me a 460 engine and a C-6 transmission!  We loaded them into the back of my
S-10 Chevy truck and on the 16th Don and I took off for Montana, and home for me.
First, we stopped at my favorite Chinese restaurant and loaded my cooler up on food.
I always did that every time I came to Seattle, and still do!
We started out East on I-90 and were going up the pass towards the Snoqualmie Summit
when I noticed the oil pressure had dropped really low!  I pulled over and shut the engine
off.  I opened the hood to add some oil, and there was a FIRE!!  I told Don to gather his
things and get out of the truck.  I got my laptop, luggage and camera out and we went some
distance from the truck, which was really starting to burn now!!

An off duty Fireman stopped and helped us...





He called for a fire truck and set out cones...





While we moved down wind...






The Fire Department showed up...





This is what was left of the truck... the gas tank exploded with a loud POP and the
fire really took off!  But after it was out...









The heat from the fire crumpled the fenders!!





We got a ride back to the nearest town by a Washington State Patrol where I called my
dad for a ride back to his house, saving of course, the Chinese food!

[jwstrand]

After the fire my S-10 was in, I borrowed my father's car and had a trailer hitch intalled.
I was my intent to rent a trailer and take the 460 and C-6 transmission to my house in
Montana, which I did. When I got home, I had found that one of my cats, Punkins, a really
sweet girl, was in her final days, suffering from cancer!  After I got home, I took her
to the Vet and she was eunthanized while in my hands, it was VERY sad!!
I took her to Kalispell, where she was creamated.  I cried and cried over my loss.
Then, after gathering my wits, I traveled back to Washington to use my truck in one of
Chris's and (hopefully) my last show before he repainted my truck.
This time the show was in Elma, Washington, a small town on a highway out towards the coast.
Chris and his company put my truck on display at a NAPA store.  One of the tires was going
low, so it wasn't the best display I've done in my opinion.
There in town, I met a really nice guy who had a Ford truck on 48" military tires....








Here are the rest of the pictures from that weekend...





















This was a lawn mower race..  but my camera couldn't pick it up and it looks blurry...





After the show...

[jwstrand]

Well, the Winter came, and dragged on, it seemed, and I heard nothing from Chris about the
truck...  until I received these pictures from his friend and worker, Richard "Native"
Stevens.  Richard sent me these pictures to let me know all was well!

Here are the pictures...

[Psycho 86]

 

[eventually]

 

[jwstrand]

Well, the time FINALLY came!!  Chris Roy was going to do a show in Great Falls, Montana, and
he took my newly repainted truck with him!!  Since I live Libby, far off on another highway,
he did not stop by my house to show me.  Rather, I was to drive to Great Falls and drive the
truck as a ride truck in his 2 shows there.

I took off on the long drive to Great Falls.  This time I thought I would save a little time
and drive there taking a different highway.  It was windy and snowy and I passed through
several towns WITHOUT gas stations!  It was a good thing I filled up in Browning.

I finally arrived in Great Falls and headed toward the arena...   there it was!  There was
my truck parked at the Town Pump gas station accross the street from the arena!

It was snowing, and I took a few pics...












I then went to the arena, where Chris and company were working on putting things together
for the show.
Chris explained that after they drove Thunder Beast into his shop and painted it, they
couldn't start it to drive it out when they were finished.  They didn't understand why,
so Chris installed a points distributor and ignition in the truck.
My truck had a High Performance MSD 7-AL-2 Ignition System in it.  In fact, my ignition
box had a serial number of #2 and also a note: "Prototype" engraved on it.
Chris thought that my ignition box was bad.  I couldn't say.

So the week went on...  I helped out "Native" (Richard Stevens) do a display at a
car dealer...




Then, while the sun was out, I took a couple more pictures of my truck on display...








Then we moved inside for the show...












My truck ran poorly while I was giving rides.  There was something wrong with the
points.  And I took the truck outside... 





Chris's guys fiddled with the truck while I went to the auto parts store for another
set of points.  Then they got the truck running again.

Here are a couple pictures from the show...







The rest of the pictures of the show were too blurry to post here.

After the show...





And then we went home...

[jwstrand]

Shortly after returning home from Great Falls, and having a newly painted truck, I
decided to move to Kalispell, Montana, about 90 miles farther East on Highway 2.

Kalispell is a medium sized town with a population of about 30,000.  But there are about
100,000 living in the entire valley.  There is a Wal-Mart, a K-Mart, Shopko, and several
grocery stores plus a new mall being built, including a Best Buy, Target, Borders, and
several other major stores and restaurants.  The two things I wish we had are an Olive Garden
and Jack-In-The-Box.

I found a house, a 14x70' mobile home on a huge lot.  The landscaping was included in
the rent, but the rent was very high.  There was also a large garage on the lot, big enough
to put Thunder Beast in it with the small tires on, but it wasn't available, as there was
a boat stored in there, so my truck had to stay outside...





  For a while, I couldn't keep my trailer on the property, so I had it parked in a field
down in Bigfork, a town about 20 miles from the house.  It drove me crazy worrying about my
trailer, out there stored in a field, and eventually I was able to bring it home.

But anyway, I soon got tired of my poorly running engine, and decided to do something
about it.  It was a high compression engine running on points, and it ran poorly.
So, I sent in my MSD 7AL2 Ignition box to be tested by the factory.  They sent it back and
stated that it tested as a good unit.
A friend of mine suggested installing one of those new HEI systems for Fords, which were
basically a GMC or Chevy HEI distributor, that had all the ignition system built into
the distributor, including the coil, which was installed in the cap.  The whole thing only
required one positive wire to install.  I thought that sounded great, so I ordered one.
 It eventually arrived, and I installed it.  Then I ran the engine.
The engine ran and sounded like it had 1200 horsepower for about 30 seconds, and then
suddenly there was a loud BANG and a tingling noise! The engine had exploded!!
There was a large hole in the right side of the engine block, and oil and pieces of the
camshaft and pieces of lifters all over the ground under the truck!!
My heart sank...  what was I going to do now?

[eventually]

 

[jwstrand]

Well, a few months went by and I was trying to find a way to buy another
engine for the truck.  I wanted the same thing that was in there, but I
knew I couldn't get it, because I didn't know exactly what I had in the
first place.  If you recall, I had a falling out with the engine builder
and he never told me the specs on the engine. Only that it was a bored and
stroked 428 Cobra Jet with various components from other engines.
So after I got a loan, I looked for another 428 and found one at S&S Engines
in Spokane, Washington.
It was a long block rebuild, with an RV cam and double roller chain like I had
asked for.

It was delivered on the 6th of November, 2007, at 7:30am...








Meanwhile, I ordered a new intake manifold for the engine, an Edelbrock
Performer intake, made from aluminum and much lighter than the heavy cast
iron intake that gave me aches and pains everytime I had to remove it...





...then I painted the engine and installed the intake...







It was windy out when I painted the engine, so some paint got onto the
timing chain and valve springs, but not enough to cause problems.

How do you change an engine in a Monster Truck??  It wouldn't have been
a problem if my truck was inside a shop, I could use a ceiling hoist.  But
my truck was outside, so I went and rented a high-lift forklift...









After being hooked up, it came out like a loose tooth...







It was all brown and corroded, from the fire.  We worked into the night, and
the new engine was installed...





Now, with the engine installed, I took the forklift back to the rental store and
said goodbye to some of my friends and continued on my own.. I had a long way to
go yet!!

 

[Psycho 86]

 

[jwstrand]

Well, I pressed on... adding components back onto the engine, such as the
power steering pump, water pump and carb, etc.





I was working by myself now, with no one to help me.

I gave my old engine to a person who I thought was a friend, but he later abandoned me!
I told him the engine was junk, but he thought he could do something with it... LOL!!

I bought a new oil pan, since the old one had turned green from the corrosion...




I also had to buy a new pickup tube, because it was stolen by the "friend" I gave the
engine to!!





Then the oil pump, pickup tube and pan were installed...





After that, I installed the rest of the engine components...





But I found that my harmonic balancer was damaged from the fire, so I ordered a new
one from an online store that does nothing but harmonic balancers.  I got a NEW balancer
for a reasonable price, and after sending mine in, got the core charge back.






After that, my engine was ready to start!!  I primed the oil pump and pre-oiled the engine
and broke it in, using a hand held tachometer I had put together.

Thunder Beast was back again!!

[jwstrand]

Well, the new engine was running, but I was having some problems with the power steering
pump.  The pump is a Vickers vane pump, normally used in commercial fishing boats to control
the rudder.  It puts out a lot of volume and pressure, but it was leaking after many
years of use, so I took it out and gave it to a hydraulic repairman in Columbia Falls
to fix.  He got it working again and I installed it on a REALLY COLD day!!!  My hands and
fingers were painfully numb after just a few minutes of handling the pump, but I got it
installed again.  I had gotten a touch of frostbite, and my fingers were sore for a few
days.
 Then, another problem arose, the engine was running poorly.  I tracked the problem to the
carburetor, and replaced the venerable Predator with an Edelbrock 600 CFM carburetor from
Summit Racing for awhile.  The engine ran much better.  The accelerator pump on the Predator
was worn out.





I got the power steering pump back just in time for my next show...  A Checkered Flag
show at the Majestic Valley Arena, here just North of Kalispell.  About a 10 minute drive
from my house.

So, we loaded up the trailer, and a friend offered to pull it to the arena...





When we got there we got the truck ready and parked it in the pits next to Bigfoot and
the ride truck...







Chris Roy was there with his vehicles, and they were parked in the other corner...





High Anxiety was sporting a new body...





Here are the rest of the pictures from Friday night...













The blizzard went through the night, and ended by morning,
and we came back to take care of the truck and put it on the battery charger and so on.
Ready for the next show that day!

Saturday night, I decided to take video of the show.. which I did, and you can view it at the
end of this post.  Also that night, the following pictures were taken by an unknown
photographer.  I can't remember who found them, but THANK YOU to whoever did, and a big
THANK YOU to the photographer!!

























Here is the video, compiled and produced by my good friend GMTGMT from the
Monster Mayhem website!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaVaqntNx_M

[Psycho 86]