94 Pop-Top Build (1 Viewer)

[HoustonFj80]

This build is finally starting to grow some legs, its past time I started a build thread to document the progress. I purchased this particular 80 series as a package deal with a chopped up 60 series for a price I couldn't pass up. It really wasn't the exact 80 series I was looking for but the body was in good condition and I figured I could rehab it fairly easily, turns out I was wrong on that account!

The plans for this truck are to turn it into a dedicated camping truck that will be reliable to drive around the country. I've been looking at all the troopy and Maltec conversions lately and while those are way out of my budget, I figured I could replicate something along those lines. So the roof will be getting chopped and a pop-top grafted on top, similar to the Matlec or CampTeq conversions.


The day I picked it up:

The Inspiration:

 

[HoustonFj80]

While the body was in decent shape, I quickly found out that the motor was not so great. Smoke out the exhaust and oil in the radiator was a bad sign. Pulled the head off to do a head gasket swap. Rust and pitting on the cylinder walls were the nail in the coffin, pulled the motor and sent it off for a rebuilt. While the head was off it was evident that someone had used a lot of stop leak product, all the cooling passages were completely gummed up. Unfortunately the head was not salvageable due to severe corrosion pitting at the #6 cylinder. I did get lucky though and find a completely rebuilt head for a great price in the mud classifieds. So now I have the motor back on the engine stand waiting on parts to arrive.

 

[HoustonFj80]

While waiting on parts orders to arrive we went ahead and cleaned up the engine bay and prepped everything for paint. Going Toyota 6H9 green for the repaint.

 

[HoustonFj80]

Couple pictures of my currently daily driver 100 series, previous 80 series, the chopped up 60 series that was part of the package deal with the black 80.

 

[DIESELJEEP]

I like the idea of a pop top cruiser and the DIY aspect even more! Scouring the net looking at all the designs I could come up with.Will be watching this build! Thought you may find some interest in this diy build Calypso the Poptop 3rd Gen 4Runner Build - https://expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/calypso-the-poptop-3rd-gen-4runner-build.214077/#post-2762477