Amateur Storm Chaser 2023 Edition

[Jack R. Jester]

Fourth time the charm:

A High School Amateur's Storm Chase Vehicle

I am a total amature high school student who is planning a chasing trip this season, so I probably need all the help I can get here. Other than being a storm spotter, I am a car guy, so I have some opinions on what an Ideal chase vehicle would be. My Ideal chase vehicle would be a 5 speed 4...

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Amature Storm Chaser Budget Chase Vehicle 2021 Edition

Last year I started this thread: https://stormtrack.org/community/threads/a-high-school-amateurs-storm-chase-vehicle.31227/page-3 And sort of made myself look a bit reckless. Everyone told me I should rent a car or something, and that my 25 year old 340k original enigne/transmission Suburban...

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Amature Chaser Budget Chasing 2022 Edition

So if you saw my two previous threads: https://stormtrack.org/community/threads/a-high-school-amateurs-storm-chase-vehicle.31227/post-364607 https://stormtrack.org/community/threads/amature-storm-chaser-budget-chase-vehicle-2021-edition.31649/ You'll know that I'm a dickweed who claims to be a...

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Over the last few years my plans have been dashed by life, like bad forecasting followed by transmission failure, a new job I couldn't leave, and most recently a suspended drivers license.

(notice something in the background?)
This year, though, I'm going out come hell or high water! I got a drivers license, a wproven reliable vehicle, a job this is okay with me taking time off, and actual cash.

Even though my Busurban isn't too good on gas, paying for gas/maintenance is still way cheaper than a car payment on a newer vehicle (I hear that the average car payment in the US is $700 a month). With that being said, if gas goes back up to $5 a gallon, I'm probably going to pick up something like a Chevy S10/Ford Ranger solely for Storm Chasing.

Anyways, I look forward to storm season 2023.

 

[Jonathan Scrogham]

I see TIV 1 in the background. Are you chasing with them or just happened to be there?

 

[Jack R. Jester]

I see TIV 1 in the background. Are you chasing with them or just happened to be there?

I wish I was, but a few months ago I was driving through Hays and decided to stop and visit it.

 

[James K]

Cool that you got to see the TIV 1 (even if it was just sitting in storage).
Hope you get a good chase season in 2023.

 

[Jack R. Jester]

So a cooler line blew and killed the transmission on the 'Ol Burban (No gears whatsoever).

That isn't going to stop me from chasing this year, though, I'm going to pull it this weekend and have it rebuilt (I'm also having the T-Case rebuilt since its original). Some people say it isn't really worth putting this kind of money into a truck this old, but you got to remember that I don't have a car payment. I paid $900 for this truck 2 years ago, and this is the first time it has properly let me down in over 30,000 miles pretty tough miles. I'm talking towing cars across the country multiple times, going up Pikes Peak, Burnouts, exc. The amount of money I've put away not having a car payment more than make up for the repair.

Despite having 316,000 miles, I think it'll be more than up to the task this storm season (once I get it fixed).
I got a couple more things I want to do to it though, first off I finally have to install myself a camera mount/laptop mount in this unit.

I also want to maybe get myself a 70CM transceiver for it (I might canalize my Ham Can for that).
What do you guys think about 70CM? I already got a Yaesu 2980 80 watt 2M Transceiver, do chasers use 70CM that much?

 

[Jack R. Jester]

So I've made the executive decision that I'm building my own camera/laptop mount for my truck.

I had one of the commercially available ones at one point, and as you might be able to tell by the bailing wire supporting it, it was pretty wonky and shaky. Now I could pay up for a nice one, but that isn't really that fun, and I have the metal fabrication skills to make a pretty nice unit. I have this very old, well built aluminum tripod that I think I'm going to use as my base since its very adjustable and sturdy. I think I'm going to take the legs off, and just TIG weld the center support pole to a homemade aluminum bracket that I'm going to bolt through the floor. That'll be pretty simple compared to the laptop mount since I'm going to make it custom to fit my Lenovo Thinkpad X201 [I have Installed a 4G modem in it].

I think I'm not quite sure how I'll implement this yet, but it'll probably end up using the docking station as a means of attaching the laptop. Space is going to be at a premium for me since my truck has a bench seat, but I think I'll make it all work.

 

[Warren Faidley]

Don't forget when you are mounting things that airbag deployment (or even minor collisions) can propel objects at dangerous speeds. You might be better off getting an inexpensive or good used dash cam and use that instead. If you are driving solo, you might want to nix mounting a laptop in a manner that might cause your eyes to be taken off the road. This has proven to be fatal for chasers and others. I might suggest, again, a used, inexpensive iPad or similar tablet and use a RAM windshield mounting system to hold it up to windshield level, without blocking your view. Just some suggestions than can be done for a reasonable price.

 

[Jack R. Jester]

Don't forget when you are mounting things that airbag deployment (or even minor collisions) can propel objects at dangerous speeds. You might be better off getting an inexpensive or good used dash cam and use that instead. If you are driving solo, you might want to nix mounting a laptop in a manner that might cause your eyes to be taken off the road. This has proven to be fatal for chasers and others. I might suggest, again, a used, inexpensive iPad or similar tablet and use a RAM windshield mounting system to hold it up to windshield level, without blocking your view. Just some suggestions than can be done for a reasonable price.

You've brought up some good points.

I already have a windshield mounted dashcam, so the only reason I want to install the camera mount is for my fleet of vintage television/super 8 cameras.
View attachment 23447
When it comes to the laptop thing, you got a really good point. Since I own GR Level 3, maybe I should pick up a cheap Windows tablet and use a windshield mount like you said.

 

[Jack R. Jester]

I just finally got the truck all fixed up, but its not quite ready for storm season yet. That's why I want to address a few things (other than the aforementioned interior modifications) before storm season.

1. Marker lights/beacon.
[Partly because I absolutely love how they look on these trucks, but mostly for safety reasons when pulled over at the side of the road.]

2. Fog lights.
[The truck could really use them.]

3. Maybe a visor?
[It might be useful for deflecting some hail off the windshield, but I'm torn on whether or not it would look good on the truck.]

4. Lettering/Graphics.
[People have objected to me doing this in the past, and I understand what they're saying. My issue is that I happen to be trained in painting cars, and doing these graphics is a little too fun for me to resist.]

[As you can see when I had to replace the door, I decided to letter it up with my YouTube Channel Logo, and a fake company.]

[I think I'm going to confine all the graphics to the rear doors as demonstrated in this mock up I made in GIMP.]

What do you guys think?

 

[Jack R. Jester]

So I got the camera mount almost finished. I decided to use some 1.5 in square tube as center.

Now I attached the mount to the square tube by slipping it over the end and using panel bond adhesive (some of the greatest adhesive known to man).

I was going to TIG weld it, but I got this piece of steel square tubing for free, so I decided to just bond the aluminum to the steel (it's very sturdy).

Now instead of welding this directly to the base, I'm going to get another piece of '2 in tubing for the tripod to slip into so I can remove without unbolting the base from the floor.

 

[Bobby Little]

So I got the camera mount almost finished. I decided to use some 1.5 in square tube as center.















Now I attached the mount to the square tube by slipping it over the end and using panel bond adhesive (some of the greatest adhesive known to man).















I was going to TIG weld it, but I got this piece of steel square tubing for free, so I decided to just bond the aluminum to the steel (it's very sturdy).















Now instead of welding this directly to the base, I'm going to get another piece of '2 in tubing for the tripod to slip into so I can remove without unbolting the base from the flor.

Good ideal to make the post fit in a sleeve. Just a note on the sleeve. Make sure you cut some 45' gussets to strengthen up the short sleeve to the base .

 

[Jack R. Jester]

So I got it almost done.

Since its pretty light, I ended up not getting a piece of tubing to go on the outside of the base (I would have had to buy 96 inches of tubing for just that little piece I need for the base).

(The weld kind of looks shitty on this side since I forgot to turn on the gas on the initial pass).
What I did instead was find a piece of 1.75in OD tubing to fit inside of the 2in OD stuff, and welded some of it into another piece of scrap 2in OD tubing. I then welded the thing to the plate. Now the camera mount slips right into the base pretty well. All it needs now is set screw, paint, and holes drilled into the base in order to mount it to the floor.

I might be doing all this later today given the outlook for Sunday. My target area is about 9 hours away, so I'm not quite committed to a chase this early unless the outlook gets upgraded.

 

[Jack R. Jester]

The 'Ol Burban let me down again (Transmission).

I'm not having it rebuilt again, I'm done.

I'm manual swapping the truck.

This might sound like a pipe dream, but I've already made some headway with the swap including installing the clutch pedal and cutting the hole in the floor.

I'm planning on driving it to work next monday.