Twister Jeep Build

[rockosocko]

Did you work in the "movie" industry?
My step-father n-law ran the generator trucks out in Cali, and worked on the Twister set (and many others in 40+yrs)

Beautiful build.

[oregonphil]

nstevic01, what voltmeter did you upgrade with? It looks perfect. I would like to make the same change.

[rang-a-stang]

nstevic01, what voltmeter did you upgrade with? It looks perfect. I would like to make the same change.

Looks like Sunpro CP7985
Click here for a super good How-To

[inkedmonkey]

I got excited with Kevin Bacons new TV commercial and you can see the truck in the background, but if you pause it you can see it's not like the original at all. At least its still a jeep.

[inkedmonkey]

Wait, I'm thinking Tremors. Keep it moving, keep it moving, nothing to see here

[oregonphil]

Thanks Rang- I knew somebody had the info. Sunpro / Bosch same difference.
I may give this a try.
I found Smiths makes them also for vintage Jaguars, Minis, MGs, ext. Expensive.

[nstevic01]

Did you work in the "movie" industry?
My step-father n-law ran the generator trucks out in Cali, and worked on the Twister set (and many others in 40+yrs)

Beautiful build.

I did not, pretty cool about your step dad.

[nstevic01]

Time for some LONG awaited updates. Putting these together took way more time than I thought. Luckily/unluckily, there are almost no pictures which take up even more time to organize, link, and post.

Thursday May 13th, 2021

Stop 1 Wawa in Lutz, FL
2.3 Miles from home
We load up on road trip snacks like we are 10 years old with money to burn and get the journey started. We get on I-75 northbound and begin the trip. At this point it’s about 6:30pm, so we are definitely driving through the night. Due to the 12 gallon capacity of my tank, and the average 10-11 miles per gallon, our effective range before refueling was about 90ish miles. We decided to keep a log of the fuel stops, which kinda helped determine the total cost of the trip in the end, but more on that later.

Stop 2 Sunoco and Walmart in Gainsville, FL
117 Miles from home
Trip 114.7 Miles traveled, 12.31 gallons consumed, 9.5 mpg
Overall 12.31 gallons consumed, 9.5 mpg
On the way to the second fuel stop, we thought it would be a good idea to stop in Walmart and pick up some spare fluids for the journey. Seeing that almost every single thing was brand new, I didn’t think it would be needed, but this was the first time the truck had gone more than an hour from the house. We made it to just outside of Gainesville around 8:30pm filled up with fuel and swung in to Walmart. Got a giant jug of oil, some coolant, trans fluid, and some drinks for the ride. I checked the oil and it seemed to be down about a half quart. We topped it off and started the journey again.


Stop 3 Sunoco in Valdosta, GA
215 Miles from home
Trip 98 Miles travelled, 11.7 gallons consumed, 8.37 mpg
Overall 24.01 gallons consumed, 8.95 mpg
Our last fuel stop for the night was in Valdosta, GA around 11:22pm. Truck is still running hot. Had to turn off the AC to keep temps in check. Truck also stalled just before the turn to get on the offramp, Lee managed to get it started again to get steering back JUST before we went over the edge.


Friday May 14th, 2021

Stop 4 Circle K in Unadilla, GA
320 Miles from home
Trip 105 Miles travelled, 11.7 gallons consumed, 8.97 mpg
Overall - 35.71 gallons consumed, 8.96 mpg
1:08am, fairly boring fuel stop unless you count the group of guys crowding around the front of the store. The one holding open the door was wearing a tank top that was pulled up for some reason and pants around his ass. Usually I wouldn’t care except he was openly carrying a firearm in his waistband, no holster. Luckily Georgia is an open carry state, so he wasn’t really doing anything illegal. It’s just different from Florida, we have to conceal carry in our state so it stood out. Other than that, we grabbed our snacks, checked the fluid levels, filled up and were on our way.

Stop 5 Quick Trip in Morrow, GA
426 Miles from home
Trip 106 Miles travelled, 11.5 gallons consumed, 9.21 mpg
Overall 47.21 gallons consumed, 9.02 mpg
3:19am, nothing to report here. Quick fill up, driver change, and back on the road. Truck is running cooler, but mainly because the temps outside are in the 40s and its drizzling. Actually have to turn the heat on.

Stop 6 Mapco in Eastaboga, AL
538 Miles from home
Trip 112 Miles travelled, 12 gallons consumed, 9.33 mpg
Overall 59.21 gallons consumed, 9.08 mpg
5:21am, nothing to report here. Quick fill up, fluid check, driver change, and back on the road.

Stop 7 Shell in Carbon Hill, AL
641 Miles from home
Trip 103 Miles travelled, 10.9 gallons consumed, 9.44 mpg
Overall 70.11 gallons consumed, 9.14 mpg
7:09am, nothing to report here. Quick fill up, driver change, and back on the road.

Stop 8 Pilot in New Albany, MS
740 Miles from home
Trip 99 Miles travelled, 11.01 gallons consumed, 8.99 mpg
Overall 81.12 gallons consumed, 9.12 mpg
9:01am, Finally something interesting. While filling up with fuel we noticed a screw in the tire…



So now we had to find some place nearby that can fix it, and fix it same day. I will say this, small town hospitality is a thing, and everyone here was super nice. They told me about a tire place right around the corner so we went. Walked in and asked if they could fix it, they said they were fully booked for the day and would call a place right down the road for us. We went over to a place called D.C. Tire Town. They put aside the current job, fixed our tire within 30 mins and we were back on our way.

Stop 9 BP in West Memphis, AR
836 Miles from home
Trip 96 Miles travelled, 11.8 gallons consumed, 8.13 mpg
Overall 92.92 gallons consumed, 8.99 mpg
11:43am, nothing to report here. Quick fill up, fluid check, driver change, and back on the road.

Stop 10 Shell in N. Little Rock, AR
966 Miles from home
Trip 30 Miles travelled, 10.8 gallons consumed, 12.03 mpg!!
Overall 103.72 gallons consumed, 9.31 mpg
1:58pm, not sure how the hell we pulled off 12.03 mpg out of that tank, but it happened. Other than that, standard stop for fuel, fluid checks and driver change.

Stop 11 Love’s Travel Station in Ozark, AR
1077 Miles from home
Trip 111 Miles travelled, 10 gallons consumed, 11.1 mpg
Overall 113.72 gallons consumed, 9.47 mpg
4:22pm, when I popped the hood, oil was all over the intake manifold and Sniper EFI. Where in the hell did this come from?? Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the oil filler cap was wonky and not sitting flush. Apparently there was oil blowby and the heavy duty fan was just blowing it everywhere. I got under neath and it looks like there is oil leaking from the fuel pump mount and dripping down the back of the block. We do some quick roadside repairs, top it off with oil, fuel and head back out.

Crazy story time. JUST before this fuel stop, we were stuck in construction traffic. 4 lanes of travel divided by steel cabled fencing. As we are sitting there at a dead stop, in the left lane, a car comes FLYING on our left in between the fence and my truck and comes to a complete stop just before plowing into the semi in front of us. LUCKILY I keep my distance from larger trucks in case they roll back. I you not, the guy keeps talking on his cell phone, stopped in front of me, like nothing happened. I have zero clue how the hell he missed me, let alone the divider or the truck. ing idiot.

Stop 12 Conoco Phillips in Porter OK
1190 Miles from home
Trip 113 Miles traveled, 11.4 gallons consumed, 9.91 mpg
Overall 125.12 gallons consumed, 9.51 mpg
6:57pm, Not much longer to go. Should be one more fill up after this, then we will be in Jet, OK.

Stop 13 Shell in Red Rock, OK
1309 Miles from home
Trip 119 Miles travelled, 11.5 gallons consumed, 10.34 mpg
Overall 136.62 gallons consumed, 9.58 mpg
8:09pm, LAST FUEL UP before we hit Jet, OK. This gas station is out in the middle of literal nowhere, on an Indian reservation, and has a casino inside of it. According to the GPS, we only have about another 90 mins of driving. After that, we are crashing.

Twin Springs Lodge Jet, OK
1380 Miles from home
9:46pm, Jet is a VERY small town. Like you can drive through it in about 5 mins. There is only 1 gas station which doubles as the town restaurant I think. It’s late, some of the gang is already at the AirBNB, time to get some sleep.

The follow up posts to this may take a bit of time, there are a TON of pictures and the story back home gets even crazier.

[devildog80]

When are you posting the return trip?

This is like reading Tom Sawyer.......what happens next.......

[sierrablue]

Well how gas it been? Also, any pics with Dorothy in the back of it?

[nstevic01]

When are you posting the return trip?

This is like reading Tom Sawyer.......what happens next.......

Lol, soon. Each one of these posts takes hours to make cause I have to dig through the notes, host the photos and create the img codes for them and of course write the story.

[nstevic01]

Well how gas it been? Also, any pics with Dorothy in the back of it?

Since the trip? I will say I am not happy with how much I put into this Jeep for brand new things to be breaking and leaking so soon. But I will get into all of that later as part of the story.

As far as Dorothy, she sits in the garage. Currently working to upgrade her to be a little more screen accurate without losing too much of what made her a Theme Park Dorothy.

More to come.

[rang-a-stang]

...I will say I am not happy with how much I put into this Jeep for brand new things to be breaking and leaking so soon.....

THAT right there is the most succinct statement to FSJ ownership I have EVER read. I don't really know if that is unique to FSJs but ultimately, it was one of the drivers for me to sell my cherk and reimagine the plan for my next one. It gets so old chasing fluid leaks. It gets so old calling tow trucks for failures you have "fixed" already. There are few things as frustrating as replacing an exspenive part that had a 1 year warranty, 16 months after you bought it. Several times.

[cu4whln]

Lol, soon. Each one of these posts takes hours to make cause I have to dig through the notes, host the photos and create the img codes for them and of course write the story.

Such a true story...

BUT - "We" appreciate the effort as we live vicariously through your experience.

Thanks for sharing.

[sierrablue]

YES. I absolutely HATE having to do the same job over and over again. When you finally wear something out that's clearly been there for 50 years or so, and then you have to start replacing it every three months...may or may not have just put in my warranty wiper motor after replacing the first one in late August or September...and then there was last year when I went through three radiators and two heater cores in a month and a half even though there was nothing wrong with my cooling system...

I feel your pain.