I haven't used any of those heat shields or intakes but it looks like you might not have enough clearance for the bolt on flange if you lower them. I've built a few drums over the years and I don't think you'll have any performance issues if the intakes don't line up exactly with the holes in the heat shield. You could PM Frank if you want to make absolutely sure but I think you'll be fine with the layout that you are using.
Yeah Big T going to source would probably make sense [emoji2357] Haha. I did get the weld on intake tubes so no issues with room, guess I could be overthinking it a little given it's only 1 1/2 difference. Just wanted to throw it out there so see If anyone else did a build with all the fancy parts [emoji41]
Your job here is to produce a good build thread and great detailed pictures as you go. No pressure but I don’t think anyone has used all those new parts and detailed them yet.
I'm gonna try my best to get a good thread of the build going. Hopefully I dont get sidetracked, still have a list of stuff to finish on my RF lol!. I am seeing mp4 used the parts on his drum I didn't see any issues mentioned in his post from what I can tell. Always like getting advice when I can from you guys [emoji106]
Thanks guys, well got the drum together over the weekend enough to season it up and do a test burn. Man let me tell ya, I've read post on here talking about long burn times and set it and forget it but dang never thought it would run so good! I dumped about 3/4 of a 18lb bag of kingsford in the basket then a full lit chimney in the middle and loaded it in around 3:30pm Saturday. I set the pinwheel to 30% opened the intakes and vent to full open got up 300°f in no time. Then I closed one intake all the way then the other to around an 1/8 open settled to 250 with no problem. I kept checking on it every hour and was amazed that temps didnt really move so I decided just let it go! At 12:30am I opened the lid to check the coals and couldn't believe that there was 3/4 basket left so I closed it up got back to 250. So I called it a night and just let it run without touching anything. I woke up around 8:30am Sunday checked temps they were at 200 I opened the lid and the coals were kinda dying down so I moved them around a little and closed it up. In about 15mins or so it got right back to 250 and that thing ran all day until 6pm! I cant wait to see how it does loaded up if it runs that well my RF may be doomed lol!
(See photos )
Digital redi chek probe was my top grate (3in from drum top)
Thermoworks probe was bottom grate (8in down from the drum top)
Few more things done on the drum over the weekend.
Fabbed up some handles for the lid and sides. I used some 1/2" tubing and slip fit a 1/4" rivet nut insert into the ID of the tubing for the grabs then cut the rest out of some flat bar I had laying around. Also started on a cart, made it out of 3" flat bar and put some swivel casters under it just need to make some gussets to mount to the sides to lock it all in. Next might be some shiny high temp paint.
Learning generally boils down to "Repetition or the avoidance of pain", some people learn by doing, some by watching and some just have to pee on the electric fence.
Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right. Henry Ford