Yoshi

No, it's not just you. Last night was the first time I saw the rail working since he got the suspension dialed in and the first thing I said to him was it looks like it needs to have the rebound adjusted a bit to kick the wheels out a little faster. He'll just turn it in about a 1/2 turn and see how it does. It needs a little fine tuning but he said it just plows through the rough stuff no problem.....

Federal took the rail out for a little video after he got the suspension adjusted. Looks like it's doing really good, especially since it's in hard pack with 17" rims and lower profile tires. I can't wait to see how it does in the sand with 15" rims and the softer/bigger side wall sand tire setup. He sent me some of the raw footage last night and I spent a little time editing it. I'm taking an SR2 to the dunes this weekend and will get some video of that, and Federal will be getting some more footage shortly, so we'll have some better video's up soon. Everyone's been asking for some video for a while and this is the best we have for now. It's prob. not as action packed as you'd like, but be patient and we'll have some really good footage up before too long....... So, here it is, let us know what ya think....

Thank ya much. I spent a few hours breaking the rail up into 3 layers, chassis/suspension, panels and rims, after that, I can create pretty much do any color combo I want in about 3 or 4 min., so it's actually pretty quick after the initial setup is done....

I was playing around in photoshop and made up a color chart of a few options.. Click once for medium version, twice for full size version... resizing new sig pics.. and resize for avatar..

really depends on how you set them up, if your looking for trails, i'd suggest the reverse diff and a turning break, also a little lower gearing. If you go with the short, have him install the extra bracing for the b pillars, if you go with the king, not much you can change, he's been at it long enough to have pretty much perfected his design..

She's pretty much done, had a small photo shoot last night in the shop. Taking it to the dunes this weekend for Sand Fest, then it's heading to Cali for the SSSS on Mon....

thank ya much.......

Made some more progress, and I fired it up a few hours ago. If the axles were hooked up and the brake lines were bled, I could drive it outta the shop. It's hard to tell by the pics, but I wrapped the interior side panels with vinyl.....

frame, rims, and suspension are gloss, panels are satin black but they have some reflection to them, completly flat black has a gray tint to it and I wanted black.

Got the rail back from the powdercoater Thursday, so this is the last 3 days progress... I'm picking up the wing and gas tanks from the powdercoater tomorrow, and i'll grab the vinyl in the morning to cover all the interior panels....

I haven't even got to the fine tuning yet, still trying to get the ride height correct. We basically guessed on the springs. I started off with a 375/475 in the rear and a 250/350 in the front. The rail was sitting 3" above what I wanted for ride height when fully loaded, and when you stood on the step bars and jumped up and down, it didn't budge, even with no air in the coilovers or double bypass, and all the compression and rebound dialed out of the double bypass. (and no, I didn't drive it with no air, just when I first put it together). The last go around (after the video was taken) put the rear at 275/350 and the front at 125/200. Now the rail squats 3" when 2 people get in and it sits at the correct ride height with air in the shocks, so we're getting closer, just trial and error for the first go around. The rail is gonna be in the SSSS next month if anyone wants to see it in person.. In the video, the shocks cycled about 2" total for all that I put it through believe it or not, thing was rough as a mo fo, but i'll get it dialed in.....

Got a new movie program uploaded on my computer and did a little test slide show. Under the right of the video, there's a "watch in high quality" button to make the video better. I'm having problems uploading video off one of the cameras into the new program, so I haven't redone the videos (the old ones are still on you tube, just click the view other video's by poster, or do a search for Sinister Sand Sports, and all 3 will come up) but here is a link to the slide show, lemme know what you think......

sorry bout that, just replying to some comments you and some others made about my rail, didn't mean to come across all sales pitchy, lol....

I'm not saying Larry is making stuff up, I didn't mean to imply that, I was just curious where the number starts from, and how much, if any, ground clearance there is under the frame at full bump. The sprocket appears to hang down quite a few inches below the chassis, so I would assume that the sprocket hits the sand sometimes (not that it matters as long as the chain doesn't have wax or lube on it, you should use dry lube or nothing at all). You have a lighter rail, so you prob. don't need as much ground clearance at full bump. It doesn't really matter, as long as it rides good. 16" of properly setup, usable travel, is better than 24" of improperly setup travel... And you'll get to see my new rail at the dunes before to long, besides the Federal car nearing completion, I have a full roller shipping out to your area on Fri, and it will be completed fairly quick when he gets it, so i'm sure he will be more tha happy to show it off, and give some rides to people interested. So you got to see my old model in the dunes? What did you think about it? The only difference (handling wise) in the new rail, is a better weight distribution, more travel, more ground clearance, bigger front tires, the option for coils vs airshocks, and double bypass shocks all the way around. I think you will be impressed with what you see and how it handles if you get to go for a ride. Not talking bad about the short stuff, I build a different class of car that is obviously more expensive, it's not gonna be in everyone budget, and I get the whole "I haven't been in the game as long as others" mentality that some people have, which is why i'm sure you went with short, they've been around for years and you've had a great experience with them, so you stick with what you know and trust. But at least i'm cheaper than king and Tom Pro. And the reason I say i'm cheaper, even though my base is 2k more than their base, is because I have a 4k reverse diff, as well as some other stuff, standard on my rail, so if you upgrade to the same unit with them, (which most people want) than I am cheaper, ain't that something, lol....

Wheel travel and usable wheel travel are 2 different things. If you raise the rail up so the wheels are barely touching the ground (lets say 18" at that point), then you lower the car as low as it will go (lets say the frame is completely bottomed out) then you have 18" of usable wheel travel. Now, if after you have dropped the rail so the frame is flat on the ground, if you can lift your wheel up off the ground (lets say 5") then your overall wheel travel would be 23", but your usable travel is only 18", because after the frame bottoms out, the extra 5" does nothing for you, therefore it's not usable. And yes, the shock does work both ways, all rails should sit on some wheel droop. In my setup, You can raise the frame up, and with the wheels still touching the ground there is 26" ground clearance. Drop the rail down to 18" for my 9" droop at ride height, then down to 6" for my ground clearance at full bump, and I have 20" of usable wheel travel. I could have more usable wheel travel with less clearance at full bump, but I figured 20" was plenty of wheel travel, and the more ground clearance I have, the more likely I won't bottom out the chassis on jumps, or nose dive into the side of a hill when I hit the bottom to go up at a high rate of speed...

lol,..I was just curious, not saying Larry did it, but I know some manufacturers, that claim 24"+ of travel that is not usable travel. One vehicle I remember had to have the frame bottomed out and the wheel up 10" above the frame to hit the number they claimed, which means it was not usable travel. I also know some builders have their rail bottom out flat on the ground to claim higher travel numbers, when loosing 3 or 4" will actually make it handle so much better when the frame bottoms out above the ground, since it's not a dead stop, and the tires actually become bumpstops and have a much more progressive compression for the last bit of wheel travel....

I read that it has 18" travel in the rear with a 85" wide track width with 930's, is that correct? How much clearance is under the frame at full bump? The reason I ask, 930's should be limited at 24 degrees, i'm running my u-joint axles to 34 degrees, have have my center drive flanges lower than your sprocket drive center flanges, and have a 90" track width (94" track width if I used the same wheels you have) and I only have 20" travel in the rear, so that number seems incorrect unless there is no clearance under the frame when the shocks are bottomed out, and if the wheel may actually go above the frame to hit that number......

How does it turn with the smoothies only on the front end?

Biggest compliant I had about those rails was the lack of a B pillar, looks like you got that covered, and they actually build a really nice looking car. I like the satin black frame, i'm building 3 rails right now like that..

Japan, big difference..... They may be assembled in Arizona, but the important stuff like welding of the chassis and suspension, materials used, quality control, etc. is done in China..........

Getting close. The new aluminum airbox should be in Tues. or Wed. Also waiting on the new brakelines to show up. Then I gotta plug up the harness, run the power steering lines, fuel lines and radiator lines and she'll be ready. This rail has gone from design stage, to where it sits now, including building fixtures to reproduce the frames, suspension, and all the aluminum work, as well as building 5 other chassis off the jigs and a few full sets of panels in about 7 months, which I think is pretty good considering the amount of prototype work involved, and that it has actually been as complete as it is now for almost 2 months, waiting on things like the motor, airbox, and other odds and ends. Build time will be a lot quicker once I move into production, but prototypes are never fast, especially when your trying to build something so detailed...... There are a lot of people waiting to see this thing, and a lot of potential buyers lined up as well, so I am not gonna rush it . I wanna make sure it exceeds all the expectations people have, and I expect a huge response from the public when it debuts...........

I built a storage compartment for the nose, and set the hood up to hinge forward to give a lot of access space. The black part is the first piece off the mold I built, I will modify it, then build a new mold to reproduce the final parts that will then be shot with bed sprayliner..

It looks taller than it is thanks to the design. The center of the floor is the lowest point, which is 17-1/2 to 18" at ride height, but since you see the bottom of the side panels (which is 4-1/2" higher, it appears to be 22"+ high, which gives it the cool appearance without the drawback of such a high center of gravity. 17-1/2 to 18" clearance isn't that high when you consider the rail has a track width of 90 to 94" (depending on which rear wheels you go with) and a wheelbase of 112". I've never even had a close call, the rail is very stable, soaks up the terrain amazingly well, and corners awesome... It is crouched down a bit, as it sits on 9" of travel at ride height. There is 6-1/2" clearance under full bump below the chassis....

I've been working with my machinist to build our own. We'll use the busa heads, and some other components, and build our own lower block. I have a couple really cool ideas for it that haven't been done yet that allows you to switch from 4 cylinders to 2 cylinders on the fly, as well as a little different arrangement that will actually be less work for us, and use more off the shelf parts from the motor, it will be cheaper than what's available.......

If your handy with the tools, you can get a starter package that requires minor welding for misc parts like lights, battery, radiator, etc, do the assembly yourself and have under 23k total in the rail with a reverse diff, that's just over 9k off what I sell the base turnkey for....