Eco-Rod Not many updates on the ECO Rod. I bet you thought we were resting on our laurels. On the contrary my friends! Besides trade shows every weekend for past two months, we have been busy with TONS of new solar installations! Thank you for your business! We have been able to sneak in an hour or two here and there and have made some nice progress. We liked the clean look of the door handles so much we just kept shaving. We cut out the factory firewall and installed a shaved firewall to clean things up under the hood. We couldn't resist the temptation to "dry fit" (there’s those words again,) the cab on the chassis and good thing we did. New clearance issues came up with the change. If you look closely you can see the engine is too far back causing the "shot gun" scoop to hit the firewall. This also caused distributor clearance issues and would have made service very tough. The solution: Move the engine forward and install new motor mounts and replace the headers. Argh! The finished product will be worth it but today, not much fun. ECO-ROD Update 2.9.11 My new least favorite word is DRY FIT. ( DRY fit not to be confused with "Dri-Fit" as in athletic clothing.) Dry Fit is the term used when building a vehicle with major modifications and you install a part, remove the part and make some adjustments, reinstall the part, remove the part and make some adjustments, reinstall the part, remove the part and make MORE adjustments............. We installed a new transmission cross member and trailing arm cross member. Because of the amount the ECO-ROD has been lowered, we've created a few challenges for ourselves in the clearanc department. After we got all of the geometry correct and resolved the clearance issues, we installed a high performance 700R4 transmission from Danny's Tranny's in Hudson. The 700R4 replaced the old TH 350 and 400's. The 700R4 is an overdrive transmission with a lockoout torque converter that will help the ECO-ROD turn lower RPM's in 4th gear at highway speeds. LOWER RPM's = BETTER fuel mileage. It is an ECO-ROD after all! November 10 update: "The Old Man Got a Shave" With some hard sweat, we've completed some repairs to the cab of the ECO-ROD and decided to shave down the door handles! What to do? You own a renewable energy company and love cars. A Prius just doesn't fill your primal urge for raw V8 power? You can't, in good conscience, build a gas guzzling monster that spews CO2 into the atmosphere. That would be a hypocrisy! The solution: an enviromentally friendly vechile that fills the DR. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in you. A ground pounding vehicle that won't run on gasoline. An ECO-Rod! The goal will be to build a 400+hp V8 that will run on alternative fuel. We don't want to spoil the surprize so you just have to have blind faith on this one. The frame is recycled from Ocala National Forest. It is 41 years old, thus now it can be used for a good cause. It may be slow going as the parts can sometimes be challenging to find, and my wife isn't always excited when I find them, but we'll get it done. Stop by often to follow the build of the ECO-ROD and we'll also give you some great tips for your own car! | 
