Builds Box Rocket 1990 SAS Pickup (1 Viewer)

[Box Rocket]

Current pic as of March 2024
Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

I've got two other pickup threads going already for the two other trucks that I've been building with my boys. Well the third son will be driving in a couple years and we decided we better get moving on a project for him so it's ready for him when he can drive. My oldest son wanted a first gen pickup so we have been building a 1980 truck for him. My second son and I have been building a 1985 solid axle 2nd gen pickup with a 1UZ swap. So it was only natural that my third son wanted a 3rd gen and so here we are with this 1990 pickup.

Got this truck from a friend that had already done some good work to it. It had previously had a little bit of a neglected life as a hackjob crawler. My friend had started to clean things up and get it into better shape. The truck is almost completely rust free. It's only got 143K miles on it and the 22RE has been completely resealed and new piston rings etc to make sure it's in great shape and ready to run for a long time.

It's obviously already been SAS'd and it's got transfer cases, 5.29 gears, a rear locker, custom bumper and winch, some classic MT wheels and a set of nearly new Super Swamper SSRs. It came with tube doors, perfect factory doors and a second set of factory doors that we plan to turn into some half doors. It also came with a second bed and free-wheeling trailer axle to build a matching trailer. It drives great and mostly just needs body work and the interior put together. It's gonna be a fun project! We plan to bob the bed and get it ready to paint soon.
1990 Hilux by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

1990 Hilux by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

1990 Hilux by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

1990 Hilux by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

1990 Hilux by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

1990 Hilux by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

This has brought back a lot of memories of my old 1993 pickup that was nearly the same build. Solid axle swapped, dual cases, locked. It even had the same MT wheels. It was one of my favorite trucks I've had. So this one is going to be a fun one to make our own.
_MG_6495 by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

 

[Box Rocket]

spent the day yesterday improving the departure angle on the truck.
Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

I spend about 2 hours measuring and making marks until I was happy then started cutting.
Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

In the end, I removed 12" from the bed. This way if we ever wanted to put a topper on the bed a 5' topper will still fit.
Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

you can see that the frame had already be cut and capped just behind the shackle. This saved us a step of having to cut the frame.
Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Instead of just butt welding to back end back onto the bed I removed a strip about 1.5" wide to use as a backing plate. Drilled lots of holes and plug welded the strip into place, I'm sure many of you have seen this method before.
Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

the test fit.
Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Then got it all welded up. Next up is to sand the bed and do a bit of body work to prep for paint.
Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

 

[aztoyman]

Nice job. No more tail dragging.

 

[Box Rocket]

Cleaned up and de-chromed the grill and installed some new LED headlights.
Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

 

[Box Rocket]

I'm working on several things with the truck right now. One minor thing was I bent and welded up a bolt on light bar for the front bumper. Still working out what lights we're gonna use but the tube to mount them is there now.
Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Also, I've been teaching myself how to do vinyl wrapping and I've got the front fenders and hood wrapped now. I'm really happy with how it's turning out. We'll see how it holds up but if it is good for a couple years while I build up my space and equipment to do a full repaint that will be enough. The vinyl is from Avery Denison and the color is Carmine Red. I also did a satin black overlay for the center of the hood.
Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

We're getting the bed sanded down to bare metal and ready to do a skim layer of filler to finish it off before wrapping it.
Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

 

[gnob]

That wrap looks good. The red is LOUD.

 

[brettk]

We need you to update more often. You do killer work.

 

[Box Rocket]

We need you to update more often. You do killer work.

Haha thanks! Sadly I just don’t have enough time to work on it to make more frequent updates. But…. there is another thing we’ve been working on that’s nearly done. So I’ll post that soon hopefully.

 

[PAToyota]

Also, I've been teaching myself how to do vinyl wrapping and I've got the front fenders and hood wrapped now. I'm really happy with how it's turning out. We'll see how it holds up but if it is good for a couple years while I build up my space and equipment to do a full repaint that will be enough. The vinyl is from Avery Denison and the color is Carmine Red. I also did a satin black overlay for the center of the hood.

So, any recommendations on tips/instructions and where you got the vinyl? I've been thinking about getting some to at least better visualize color options on a vehicle, but don't want to end up with something that just looks like crap.

 

[Box Rocket]

I got the vinyl from Metro Restyling. You can get samples of several different sizes to see them in person.

 

[Box Rocket]

ok. a few more updates. First off, I've been fabbing up a rollbar. I wanted to do something kinda unique and I like the lines of a lot of prerunner cages. So this is "inspired" by the lines of a prerunner cage. The plates connecting the main hoop to the angled legs obviously are not upper shock mounts like they would be for a true long travel prerunner. But it will provide some extra bracing. I decided to make it somewhat modular and have it mostly removeable. The main hoop is the only permanent part and the rest can be removed pretty easily. Sleeved bushings at the top of the main hoop, Plate braces are bolted to main hoop. It's also tied into the frame with matching foot plates under the bed. I could have done more traingulation but I wanted to keep the bed as open as I could. There will also be an in-cab cage at some point so I feel pretty comfortable with it.
Roll bar by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Roll bar by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Roll bar by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Roll bar by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Roll bar by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Roll bar by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Roll bar by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Roll bar by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Roll bar by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Roll bar by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Roll bar by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

 

[Box Rocket]

The other update is the rear bumper. This was a "make-it-up-as-you-go" design. I just built it from whatever steel I had on hand. Main bumper is 3x4" rec tube. Wings and center section are 3/16". DOM corner guards. Full 1" thick recovery points. I still need to finish up the frame mounts. I wanted to reinforce the bumper where the recovery points are, but I might have got a little carried away. 3/16" plate and split piece of DOM to spread the load of the recovery points.
Rear bumper by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Rear bumper by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Rear bumper by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Rear bumper by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Rear bumper by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Rear bumper by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Rear bumper by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

 

[jynx]

@Box Rocket I may have missed it, but what front bumper is that?

 

[Box Rocket]

@Box Rocket I may have missed it, but what front bumper is that?

It’s sort of custom. It was on the truck when I got it and I I like it. The center section is a Trail Gear winch mount. The wings were made by low range off-road for some other truck but the previous owner got a hold of them. Some modifications were made to the winch mount to add some sides and close in the front. The sides allow for the wings to be bolted on. There were already holes for a bolt on light mount or stinger so I just needed to make the upper hoop and bolt it on.

The more I look at it the more I like it. Someone could start making them and probably sell quite a few.

 

[jynx]

Interesting. I saw one very similar on another build thread somewhere and thought maybe it was some kind of modular bumper system.

 

[SFROMAN]

Truck is looking awesome.

 

[Box Rocket]

Little more progress. Did some basic bodywork just to clean up the weld seam from the bob. There are still a decent number of small dents in the bed but I'm not too worried about them at this point since this will be used in the rocks. So it's not gonna win any shows but I got the bed wrapped finally. Now onto the cab and doors.

Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

 

[Woodini]

Wow, awesome!!! You do killer work indeed

 

[changingground]

What are you going to do when you run out of sons? (Jk, of course) my son has a black rattlecanned rust free 98 4 runner. Wrap looks like a great option. How is the learning curve for a tool-oriented person?

 

[Box Rocket]

Haha, when the sons are gone I can actually get to the list of things I’ve neglected on my cruiser.

The learning curve isn’t bad with the wrap. Just have a few good wrapping tools and maybe practice on something else small like a laptop case or something. It does help to have an extra pair of hands when doing bigger pieces.

I watched a bunch of YouTube videos. Some were first time wrappers. Others were pro that really new what they were doing. The pros were obviously helpful. The first-timers were also helpful to hear the things that tripped them up.