txgringo
SILVER Star
After two and a half years, I'm finally about to perform the body swap to get my 80 back on the road. I've discussed it a couple times in a few different threads, but basically I turned it on its side and the body is toast. The frame, suspension and powertrain were unharmed, so I thought about several potential routes to get it back on the road in various forms (caged out truggy, fully bedlined with doors, restore it to its original configuration). Since it was a Sage 40th and I absolutely loved it before I wrecked it, I finally decided that I would find a body with a clean tub, doors, etc., swap that tub over to my chassis and have it repainted to the original Sage.
I found a Sage 40th that was totaled in a front end collision, so the front clip is pretty much trashed, but the body tub and doors are all great. A friend of mine had a 94 with a blown motor so I picked that one up for the hood, fenders, etc. Once I had the required body parts I called two toyota/cruiser shops near me and got estimates of $3000 and $5000 for the labor for the body swap, which was less than appealing. I wasn't crazy about the idea of trying to do the swap in my garage without a lift, so I've kind of been in a holding pattern for a while now. I found a localish member with a lift and experience with frame-off work and we've worked out an arrangement that is a lot more budget friendly and enables me to do some some simple "while I'm in there" work without having to pay shop prices for something that I can easily do myself.
I am looking for some guidance on what I should replace while I have the body removed from the frame. I need to have the parts on hand by 6/19 so I'm getting ready to place an order from Amayama or Partsouq probably tomorrow for any OEM parts needed.
I found a Sage 40th that was totaled in a front end collision, so the front clip is pretty much trashed, but the body tub and doors are all great. A friend of mine had a 94 with a blown motor so I picked that one up for the hood, fenders, etc. Once I had the required body parts I called two toyota/cruiser shops near me and got estimates of $3000 and $5000 for the labor for the body swap, which was less than appealing. I wasn't crazy about the idea of trying to do the swap in my garage without a lift, so I've kind of been in a holding pattern for a while now. I found a localish member with a lift and experience with frame-off work and we've worked out an arrangement that is a lot more budget friendly and enables me to do some some simple "while I'm in there" work without having to pay shop prices for something that I can easily do myself.
I am looking for some guidance on what I should replace while I have the body removed from the frame. I need to have the parts on hand by 6/19 so I'm getting ready to place an order from Amayama or Partsouq probably tomorrow for any OEM parts needed.
- Brake Booster (OEM, or are there other options?)
- Fuel Filter
- All body mount cushions (OEM, or are there other options?)
- EGR Delete (may not remove the whole EGR; may just plug it and use a resistor so it can be reinstalled later if need be)
- Rear heater hoses (should these be OEM, or just some generic hose material and play with the routing?)
- Heater Core (debating on spending the money on this as I will have the dash mostly apart to do it and it looks like there is one available in Dubai, buuut that's just more money going out right now when my existing unit is just fine, for now anyway)
- All hoses penetrating the firewall (gotta look at those and figure them out in the morning)