Just the type of inspiration I needed! Awesome resurrection!
Build 1987 Toyota Xtra Cab - From Scrap To Truggy - Build
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Nice out of the box thinking, interested in seeing how it performs
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- #23
Chapter 6: Front Shocks, Articulation Testing, Brakes, & Battery Box
It’s sitting on all four tires! No gas tank mounted, no front driveshaft, no battery location, no exhaust, no shocks, and no brakes. I was real gitty to flex this thing out, but before I did, I wanted to build up some front shock mounts to get those in place. I purchased some pre-bent tubing to use as my upper shock mounts and added those in.
It’s sitting on all four tires! No gas tank mounted, no front driveshaft, no battery location, no exhaust, no shocks, and no brakes. I was real gitty to flex this thing out, but before I did, I wanted to build up some front shock mounts to get those in place. I purchased some pre-bent tubing to use as my upper shock mounts and added those in.
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- #24
Ok. There is still plenty to do, but I couldn’t stand it anymore. It was time to jam a battery in this thing, slap a makeshift fuel container on it and see how it flexes.
The highly scientific testing for proof of concept with the suspension was complete; at least for now. At this moment, my cup of ambition was overflowing to get this to a point where I could actually take is out wheeling for the first time so I start to move on to brakes. This will be picture light, but full of some potentially important info.
In some of the past images, you can see the rear axle has a pair of GM calipers mounted to it on either side. These came with the axles when I purchased them, and I had planned to reuse them. These required a much larger capacity of fluid to operate and ultimately would require a larger master cylinder. I ended up sourcing a master cylinder for a Toyota supra and putting a bias valve in line to the back brakes. That seems to work well. In a pic of the exhaust below, you’ll see this new fella.
For the front, I opted to stay Toyota, but I did want to get away from the solid front rotor and upgrade to a vented rotor. To do that, I ended up buying an FJ rotor (I think) and using the calipers from the IFS setup. I also had to tear the front calipers apart and unseize them. I did this without replacing the seals. My thought was to get them working to see if they had enough holding power first, then replace them if they did. However, after cleaning them up, they have never leaked or done anything odd, so I have left them alone.
Once I had brake power, I turned to modifying a stock front Toyota driveshaft in length to fit my application. At this point, I knew I probably wasn’t done fiddling with the transfer case location or the front 3rd member, so I just cut a driveshaft in half, found an old driveshaft that would slide over the halves of the Toyota shaft and welded it back together. Pretty temporary but it also had never failed me.
On to the battery location. I opted to build a box that was decently sealed so I could feel good about putting it behind the passenger seat.
The highly scientific testing for proof of concept with the suspension was complete; at least for now. At this moment, my cup of ambition was overflowing to get this to a point where I could actually take is out wheeling for the first time so I start to move on to brakes. This will be picture light, but full of some potentially important info.
In some of the past images, you can see the rear axle has a pair of GM calipers mounted to it on either side. These came with the axles when I purchased them, and I had planned to reuse them. These required a much larger capacity of fluid to operate and ultimately would require a larger master cylinder. I ended up sourcing a master cylinder for a Toyota supra and putting a bias valve in line to the back brakes. That seems to work well. In a pic of the exhaust below, you’ll see this new fella.
For the front, I opted to stay Toyota, but I did want to get away from the solid front rotor and upgrade to a vented rotor. To do that, I ended up buying an FJ rotor (I think) and using the calipers from the IFS setup. I also had to tear the front calipers apart and unseize them. I did this without replacing the seals. My thought was to get them working to see if they had enough holding power first, then replace them if they did. However, after cleaning them up, they have never leaked or done anything odd, so I have left them alone.
Once I had brake power, I turned to modifying a stock front Toyota driveshaft in length to fit my application. At this point, I knew I probably wasn’t done fiddling with the transfer case location or the front 3rd member, so I just cut a driveshaft in half, found an old driveshaft that would slide over the halves of the Toyota shaft and welded it back together. Pretty temporary but it also had never failed me.
On to the battery location. I opted to build a box that was decently sealed so I could feel good about putting it behind the passenger seat.
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- #25
Chapter 7: Winch, Exhaust, & Gas Tank
I had a Smittybilt winch sitting around from a friend’s project to use. I chose to build a box for it under the frame. Now I have a couple reasons for mounting it here, but I’m not sold that it is the long-term location. My thoughts were steering and axle protection, frame rigidity, and open cooling capacity for the radiator. I have yet be hung up by it being this low, but it puts the winch in any water pretty early. In time, it could still get changed.
I had a Smittybilt winch sitting around from a friend’s project to use. I chose to build a box for it under the frame. Now I have a couple reasons for mounting it here, but I’m not sold that it is the long-term location. My thoughts were steering and axle protection, frame rigidity, and open cooling capacity for the radiator. I have yet be hung up by it being this low, but it puts the winch in any water pretty early. In time, it could still get changed.
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- #26
The exhaust plan I had was just simplicity. I wanted a header and a muffler with a dump out just behind the driver’s side of the cab. I bought a cheap header off eBay. From there, I just welded some odds and ends I already had to feed to a cheap welded muffler I think I bought from a local farm store.
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- #27
Last hurdle, fuel; or so I thought. Now up to this point I had been having trouble keeping the 22R running. I kept thinking it was due to an unsound fuel supply. I fabbed up a small platform on the back over the rear axle where I expected the rear platform to be long term. From there, I put a round fuel tank from a sand rail I had sitting around at the time on that platform and more permanently routed a fuel line to an electric fuel pump.
I was thinking I was all good to go, but I was not. At random, the engine would die and would not be willing to restart. I went down the carburetor rabbit hole and gutted from anything it didn’t need to run. Once I was convinced the fuel side was on the up and up, I started poking around the spark side. I ended up building my own bracket for a 12v coil and a gm ignition module. Guess what? It still had issues running. I ended up finding that the wires running from the distributor to the fender had an stretched area that intermittently caused signal failures. I replaced those wires and the problem was solved. It would have been a lot easier to do some real troubleshooting instead of parts throwing, but I’m now wiser for it.
If you look in the pic below, you can just see the universal 12v coil on the fender and the new Deutch connector mounted on the valve cover to supply the new trigger from distributor to the gm ignition module. That module is out of picture just behind the coil.
I was thinking I was all good to go, but I was not. At random, the engine would die and would not be willing to restart. I went down the carburetor rabbit hole and gutted from anything it didn’t need to run. Once I was convinced the fuel side was on the up and up, I started poking around the spark side. I ended up building my own bracket for a 12v coil and a gm ignition module. Guess what? It still had issues running. I ended up finding that the wires running from the distributor to the fender had an stretched area that intermittently caused signal failures. I replaced those wires and the problem was solved. It would have been a lot easier to do some real troubleshooting instead of parts throwing, but I’m now wiser for it.
If you look in the pic below, you can just see the universal 12v coil on the fender and the new Deutch connector mounted on the valve cover to supply the new trigger from distributor to the gm ignition module. That module is out of picture just behind the coil.
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Those OEM GM modules are pretty good units and work on just about anything. Available just about anywhere too. Small enough to pack a spare easily.
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- #29
Chapter 8: Diffs & Ripping!
The last official thing to do was put some 5.29 gears in and lock up the diffs. I found that the rear had already been locked “professionally” with a welder. I have always been curious about welding a front diff and decided to try it, knowing that later this would later get replaced with proper lockers. So, I set some gears up and buzzed up some gears!
Now it was time to start my testing. I loaded it up and took it out a couple times on some trails and at the silver lake sand dunes to give the suspension a real rundown and find out what doesn’t work. It was really overall hard to decipher how well it worked because the damn rear was so bouncy! It all seemed to action pretty good considering. I enjoyed it like this for the rest of that summer.
The last official thing to do was put some 5.29 gears in and lock up the diffs. I found that the rear had already been locked “professionally” with a welder. I have always been curious about welding a front diff and decided to try it, knowing that later this would later get replaced with proper lockers. So, I set some gears up and buzzed up some gears!
Now it was time to start my testing. I loaded it up and took it out a couple times on some trails and at the silver lake sand dunes to give the suspension a real rundown and find out what doesn’t work. It was really overall hard to decipher how well it worked because the damn rear was so bouncy! It all seemed to action pretty good considering. I enjoyed it like this for the rest of that summer.
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- #30
I had a really hard time getting these military tires to bulge out at this point in the project with no weight. With no power to boot from the stock engine, I found the most success running at 0 psi! It was lovely to be bead locked inside and outside for that purpose. And yes, the ultimate test was making sure my wife could manage driving it. She did great!
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- #31
Chapter 9: Designing the Rear Cage
This next phase of the build was hard for me to start because I was enjoying having the ability to use this rig a little bit. I brought this to my house back in 2016, building it on and off until this point in 2020 without any ability to play with the thing. Now, I was about to put it in a position to be inoperable for some time again. I put that off until the winter, then started to work.
I had a sketch or two, real rough, not much detail of how I wanted this cage to be, but I was very much relying on my skill here to build it out as I went. I purchased some sticks of 1.75x0.120 DOM for this cage. I always had the plan to put a little rumble seat in the back, so I moved forward with my tube work with that in mind. I figured the most logical way for me to start was to create a main hoop behind the cab.
This next phase of the build was hard for me to start because I was enjoying having the ability to use this rig a little bit. I brought this to my house back in 2016, building it on and off until this point in 2020 without any ability to play with the thing. Now, I was about to put it in a position to be inoperable for some time again. I put that off until the winter, then started to work.
I had a sketch or two, real rough, not much detail of how I wanted this cage to be, but I was very much relying on my skill here to build it out as I went. I purchased some sticks of 1.75x0.120 DOM for this cage. I always had the plan to put a little rumble seat in the back, so I moved forward with my tube work with that in mind. I figured the most logical way for me to start was to create a main hoop behind the cab.
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- #32
You can pick on me for all the bends if you want. This hoop was definitely as much of a fashion statement as much as it is a safety device. This looks cool, but it is not as safe as it could be. If you can’t read between the lines on this, I’m suggesting that if you are building a rock bouncer or a cage you will be depending on, don’t follow my lead here.
Once I had the hoop mocked up, I moved on to a horizontal hoop. I played with how far back and how wide to make the back and just went for it.
Once I had the hoop mocked up, I moved on to a horizontal hoop. I played with how far back and how wide to make the back and just went for it.
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- #34
Once I had this where I wanted it, I really started to boogie on this because it was so satisfying to see the next tube drop in place. Once I had the rear uprights in place to support the horizontal hoop, I started on building out two upper hoops.
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- #35
Once the uppers were where I wanted them, I wanted to support those bends, but I also wanted to do something a little fun and kind of add a rear spoiler look to it. This is what I ended up with.
At this point, I felt like I was warmed up with my bending technique and I was ready to challenge myself. To do that, I bent up the outline of how I wanted my wheel well to look. This took a lot of time and patience; I think I have five bends in each tube. Five bends once, not so hard, five bends twice that look identical, whew!
This is where you could really see the shape start to come along. Now it was time to start figuring out how I was going to design the exo portion.
At this point, I felt like I was warmed up with my bending technique and I was ready to challenge myself. To do that, I bent up the outline of how I wanted my wheel well to look. This took a lot of time and patience; I think I have five bends in each tube. Five bends once, not so hard, five bends twice that look identical, whew!
This is where you could really see the shape start to come along. Now it was time to start figuring out how I was going to design the exo portion.
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- #37
Chapter 10: Front Bumper Build
So like I said, earlier, I’m warmed up now, in my groove. It’s funny how you really settle into something. At least I do, this is like welding to me. I have welded miles of wire, but if I stay away from it for a few months, it’s funny how I need to get back into practice again. I digress; onto more of the story.
I was getting to a point where I needed to understand where I was going to plug in the exo cage in the front portion of the truck. I decided I wanted to plug in to the front bumper, that way I could oversize it from the grill and support it. I figured the best way forward was to weld up a front bumper first.
To start I had a big chunk of rectangular tube, I think like 7”x1”x0.25”wall. I cut that in half as you can see from a side view and started with that. I built some supports up to it from the frame. I wanted to keep the area between the frame and grille as unrestricted as possible to help keep airflow to the radiator in good standing. This is part of the reason I put the winch so low too.
So like I said, earlier, I’m warmed up now, in my groove. It’s funny how you really settle into something. At least I do, this is like welding to me. I have welded miles of wire, but if I stay away from it for a few months, it’s funny how I need to get back into practice again. I digress; onto more of the story.
I was getting to a point where I needed to understand where I was going to plug in the exo cage in the front portion of the truck. I decided I wanted to plug in to the front bumper, that way I could oversize it from the grill and support it. I figured the best way forward was to weld up a front bumper first.
To start I had a big chunk of rectangular tube, I think like 7”x1”x0.25”wall. I cut that in half as you can see from a side view and started with that. I built some supports up to it from the frame. I wanted to keep the area between the frame and grille as unrestricted as possible to help keep airflow to the radiator in good standing. This is part of the reason I put the winch so low too.
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- #38
I decided I wanted to reuse the OEM turn signals and cut in some holes for fog lights, so I made a panel to allow for that.
This thing is awesome.
Love the tube work, love the front bumper.
Following for more.
Love the tube work, love the front bumper.
Following for more.
Very cool design.