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Baja 1000 Live!
We are South of the border racing in the legendary Baja 1000. We are bringing you daily updates of our adventures all week!
Coverage brought to you by Motive Gear, 10 Factory, and National Drivetrain
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Cooling Tech
The cooling system - deceptively simple yet devilishly complicated. Like many things - your rig’s cooling systems is one of those things that seems simple, that most people think they understand, but which, behind the scenes, is actually a lot of fairly complicated stuff working together in a fine balance. Or not working together well - which is often the problem.
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Join Us LIVE for the November Pirate4x4 TV Live! Webcast
Hosted by Camo & Charlene
This Tuesday November 10th
5pm - 8pm PST
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2009 Off Road Expo
We head down to Pomona, CA, to check out all the cool stuff at the Off Road Expo show.
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Driver Feature: Jason Scherer
Kurt interviews the 2009 "King of the Hammers" Jason Scherer.
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Product Review
Billavista puts the JMR MB1000 Manual Tube Bender to the test in his latest Technical Review.
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W.E. Rock Grand Nationals!
Check out the coverage from Choke Cherry Canyon in Farmington, NM, for the "Superbowl" of rock crawling - the W.E. Rock Grand Nationals.
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Strategies of the War on Access
Let there be no doubt: We are at war over our access to public lands and waterways. Further, we are at war over our basic freedoms like gun ownership, political views, consumer monitoring, and vehicle ownership. The list goes on, but more importantly, there are strategies we can employ to preserve our freedoms, keep our access, and protect our way of life.
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Pirate4x4TV - BITD Primm
Take an intense ride in the 1705 Pirate4x4/Shaffer's Offroad Jeepspeed at the Best in the Desert Terrible Town 250 in Primm, NV.
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XRRA Finals Video!
Doug put together a great 22 minute video of the action in Colorado Springs at the XRRA Finals.
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Camo and I were lucky enough to attend the the official launch of BFGoodrich Tires' new social networking project, "Nation of GO" at the K1 Speed go cart facility in Orange County. After an informative presentation about the new website, it was time for a little "GO" of our own. We got to put our skills to the test against some of BFG's best drivers - Casey Currie, Jason Scherer, Jeff Mello, Drift stars Sam Hubinette and Verana Mei, and more.
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Hard Core Trail Wheelin' in Farmington
We rolled into Farmington, NM, late Friday afternoon beaten up from driving in thunderstorms all afternoon. Loren Healey and the 667 Rockers were our hosts for the weekend so we headed over to his house that is literally a stone's throw from Choke Cherry Canyon. As soon as we arrived at the house, Scott Maiden of the BTG Crawlers out of Phoenix announced we were going to do a night run so we unloaded and off to the trail we went.
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RC World Championships
They might be small, but they fully get it just like their big brothers! We are doing live coverage of the ProLine Radio Controlled Rock Crawling World Championships at Donner Ski Ranch, CA.
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Wheelin' Fordyce with BFGoodrich
The BFGoodrich Outstanding Trails Program recognizes multiple trails each year with grant money to assist with preserving the trail and continuing conservation efforts. Since 2006, BFGoodrich has recognized 19 trails throughout the US and Canada, granting over $70,000 to keep your tires in the dirt! This year, they recognized the Fordyce Creek Trail, and we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to show Gary Enterline the uniqueness of the trail they chose.
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Vegas to Reno!
Charlene and Jon brought you some unbelieveable live coverage of the Vegas to Reno race. If you missed it, don't despair. We've posted a great recap of each day, a photo gallery, and if you'd like to relive the live updates, you can replay them!
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Product Review - JMR TN1000 Tube Notcher
The ability to bend and notch tube is one of those watershed capabilities in your fabrication arsenal. Second only to the leap you made when you went from not being able to weld to sticking metal together, nothing opens up more possibilities than being able to work with tube.
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XRRA Eastern Finals
Congrats to Adam Carter for taking the win in Jellico, TN, at the XRRA Eastern Finals. The Rock Midget and Nate were out there capturing all of the action. Be sure to check out the excellent story and photos of this great event.
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WEROCK Oroville
Andy was in Oroville, CA, for the WEROCK West Coast finals. Check out the recap of the live coverage.
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Nor Cal Rock Racing, Round Two
Once again, John Goodby and the rest of the folks at Nor Cal Rock Racing did a great job with the track, and this time to make it a bit more exciting, there was a Pro Purse of $3,000 up for Grabs.
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CalROCS Donner
Bonus lines. This last CalROCS event at Donner Ski ranch was about "pucker factor" bonus lines. Once again, Glenn Bonner and the CalROCS crew out did all expectations and delivered a rock crawling competition that amazed fans and frustrated competitors.
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Product Review
Welcome to a visual tour-de-force examination of one of the best engines you can put in an off-road rig - the awesome 525hp Turn Key Engine Supply LS2.
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Reno Rocks!
Pirate4x4 stepped up the game in Reno with a live broadcast of Reno Rocks action at the Sands Regency. Check out Andy's blog and Jason's photo galleries here.
Coverage brought to you by Poly Performance |
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Nor Cal Rock Racing
Jon was at Prarie City for the much anticipated event #1 of the Nor Cal Rock Racing Series. |
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XRRA Jellico!
Nate went down to Jellico, Tennessee, to bring us live coverage of events #3 and #4 of the XRRA East series
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Baja 500
Check out our daily blog of Torchmate Racing's race effort at the Baja 500. |
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CalROCS Does Mustang Ranch!
Glenn Bonner and Kurtis Harryman continue to impress me. Not just impress me, but amaze me. I have been to my share of rock crawling events. I have been to a few rock races. I have even been to the legendary King of the Hammers race. With that in mind, from a spectator's point of view, this last CalROCS event will go down as one of the greatest 4x4 events I have ever been to.
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W.E. Rock Hannibal
Jason captured all the action, and Chicky Barton, Shannon Campbell and Jake Good took the gold in their respective classes. See the photo galleries here. |
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The LS Primer - Part 2
Part 2 of the BillaVista LS Primer article continues our look at the latest GM small-block V8 engines - the Gen III and Gen IV motors. We pick up where we left off with Part 1, starting with a look at the so-called "truck" engines. |
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The LS Primer - Part 1
The purpose of this article is to introduce you to the third and fourth generation GM V8 engines – the so-called "LS motors". I’m calling it a "primer" because the topic is so vast that it would take several hundred pages to cover every single aspect of these motors. Instead of drowning you in trivia, I’m going to concentrate on the basic and most important information. Of course, it’s still a BillaVista article, so there’s going to be plenty of technical detail.
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KOH Rausch Creek Qualifier
If you missed the live coverage of the East Coast KOH qualifier, you missed out! But don't despair, we've got all the blow-by-blow coverage and photo gallery for you to see at your leisure. |
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CalROCS Browns Valley
We don't know what Glenn Bonner and Kurtis Harryman did to piss off the "Rain Gods", but the Gods sure did bring the rain on Saturday during the first CalROCS event of the 2009 season.
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W.E. Rock Cedar City
Check out Andy's coverage of event #2 of the W.E. Rock West series.
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XRRA Gray Rock
Nolen was down in Gray Rock, AL for event #1 of the XRRA East series. Check out the action and gallery here. |
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W.E. Rock Dayton!
Jason got some killer shots of the action and even a few mud wrestling pics. |
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Pirate4x4TV Episode 15
In this episode Dirty Doug captures all the action at event number one of the XRRA West Rock Racing Nationals in Moab, UT. |
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Fabstock
Back in September of '08, Dan Dubose of Blue Torch Fab in Birmingham, AL, received a private message about Viktor Whitlow, a young Army Reserve Veteran who had his Jeep vandalized in the parking lot of his college campus. The vandals broke into his Jeep TJ, destroyed the interior and cut up the seats, slashed the tires, spray painted all over it, including painting "Soldiers are Murderers" on the hood. |
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XRRA Moab
Check out Jason's photos from the the 2009 XRRA season opener in Moab, UT. |
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W.E. Rock Tucson
We are live in Tucson, AZ, for event number one of the W.E. Rock West series with live streaming video and audio |
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King of the Hammers Movie Trailer
Here is your exclusive sneak preview of the King of the Hammers Movie, "The Second Crusade". |
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The Rocky Road to the King of the Hammers
The 2009 King of the Hammers winner, Jason Scherer tells his story on winning the world's roughest one day desert race here.
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Coverage of the 2009 King of the Hammers
Check out our in-depth coverage, blogs, photo galleries and video here.
Coverage brought to you by National Drivetrain |
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Atlas and TH400 Tech
Billavista demonstrates how to swap the input shaft in an Atlas-4SP. He also shows the finer points and considerations in mounting one behind a TH400. |
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IFS Rock Crawler?
Say it ain't so!
Shannon Campbell is making quite the stir with his new Monster IFS KOH rock racer. Pirate4x4.com brings you an exclusive sneak peek of this work of art. |
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Pitting 101
So you've been spending every last waking minute prepping your rig for the big race, and you think you have it all dialed in. But what about the big picture? Do you have a complete race plan including a pit strategy? In this article I will give you a few tips for operating a safe, and efficient pit. |
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The Plumbing Bible
Simply speaking, plumbing is the collection of components involved in moving a fluid from one place to another. The fluid could be a liquid (fuel, coolant, etc.) or a gas (compressed air, etc.) What all plumbing shares in common is that its importance is often overlooked. |
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KORE Suspension in Baja
Lance takes his Dodge Megacab equipped with KORE Suspension down to Baja to pre run the 41st Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000. |
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Featured King of the Hammers Rig
Check out John Reynold's tricked out and refined KOH Bronco. |
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Pirate4x4TV Episode 13 - Part 2 of 2 of the KOH Special at Off Road Expo
Special host Jessi Combs joins Lance and Camo down in Southern California for some King of the Hammers interviews and a little bit of smack talk. |
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The Pirate4x4 Game!
Compete in King of the Hammers, or beat up camo. It's all possible in this text based, addicting time waster! |
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Product Review
There aren't many products that are equally desirable whether you're a novice in a bone-stock 'wheeler or a hard-core rock racing pro with a six-figure buggy - but the Ready Welder II is just such a rare beast. It might just be the coolest tool ever. |
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Shifter Tech
Fact: Nobody makes a commercial, off-the-shelf automatic transmission shifter that is ideal for serious off-road use. That’s hardly surprising since one of the key requirements for a hardcore off-road shifter is the complete opposite of what anyone would want for street or drag racing use. |
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Product Review
Billavista installs a set of 16" Ballistic coilover racing shocks in this detailed technical review. |
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Wheelin' in the Black Hills
The Rock Midget heads to the Black Hills of South Dakota to do some wheelin' with the Twisted Customs Boys. |
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Product Review
Often frustration leads us to do dumb things we later regret - it certainly has with me - more times than I care to admit. Every so often, however, frustration can lead to an unexpectedly awesome result. This article is a story about just such a rare occurrence. Seats so good you'll want to design a whole rig around them !! |
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Fuel Cell Tech
Billavista discusses the tech behind modifying, installing, and plumbing a fuel cell. The article Includes a detailed look at the F.A.T.S. system designed by Frank Daless to eliminate fuel spill at any angle. |
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Campbell Enterprises 1 Week Buildup!
Watch LIVE, as Team Pirate4x4 builds an LS7 powered Campbell Enterprises rig in a week! |
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The Coil Over Bible!!!
Thought you knew everything there is to know about coil over shocks? Think again, because professor Billavista is going to take you to coil over grad school in this series of articles. Brought to you by Poly Performance.
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The Brake Bible
At first glance, it may seem that an article on brakes isn’t a terribly sexy idea. After all, brakes don’t make you go faster, look cooler or sound meaner. But, few things are less enjoyable than driving a rig with lousy brakes. Billavista "brakes" it all down for us in this massive tech article. |
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Double Beadlocks!
Why have only an outer beadlock when you can lock both beads and run any rim? Lance installs a set of Staun Products beadlocks on some Alcoa forged aluminum rims. |
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Got 60° Steering?
Dana 60's are so 2001! Check out Twisted Customs' bitchen 9" front end that is capable of 60° steering! Who needs rear steer? |
