Builds Inglorious B@sterd Build Thread

[YMT]

It's been a while since I've updated this.
I got moved to CA; it was quite the adventure without any photos of the cruiser while in transit, but I had it welded enough to get it on a Uhaul car dolly and hauled out. I did use some ratchet straps from the seat brackets to the oh-sh!t handles for added peace of mind since I didn't want any issues with the roof while towing.

Unfortunately, I haven't done very much in the past few months-just a little more welding when I get some free time.

Since I have a cross-country trip planned later this year, I decided it was necessary to find another FJ80 that didn't need near as much work . I picked up a second 1991 TLC that will be my weekend driver and will still keep the rolled FJ80, but am contemplating going a little more wild on the body work; it will definitely be a longer term project.

 

[YMT]

Some photos the PO took of my new-to-me rig. The rocket box wasn't included, but the racks were. 2.5" heavy lift, 33s, 256k miles.

I've already been working on baselining it, since it was running rough when I bought it. Already replaced o2 sensors, and am going to start troubleshooting the code 71 EGR system that is acting up. I wish I could delete it, but I need to keep it intact for smog. I assume the bypass that folks are doing won't pass smog, but has anyone tried to smog test it with the BB bypass?

 

[YMT]

Most of the very little free time I have has been spent baselining my new to me rig. However, I got a wild hair and figured I'd get more work done on the project, so back to the IB!

I kept the original doors, and have been planning to make half doors out of them- for the fronts; the rears will need to keep the sheet metal for the kiddos.

I gutted the window glass, hacked off the window frames, and pulled the motors/channels. I will keep the rear doors mostly stock, and cap the window gap with some sheet metal.

 

[YMT]

Those who have already made half doors, and those who are good at Photoshop, what are your suggestions on where to cut the fronts, especially given the damage. I am leaning towards the upper contour line, middoor, just below the big dents on each door.

 

[YMT]

Wow! Over 2 years since my last update.

There's been many changes, but also, not near as much progress as I'd like. This is still going to take a while to finish. But, on with the update:

After moving to California, I had some issues with the DMV, getting the gold rig registered. Long story short, she has been relegated to being a parts rig.

While baselining the silver rig, the more I dug into it, the more wear and tear I found- I had much better parts on the gold rig. But, it has good registration.

I was second-guessing my decision to weld a new roof section onto the gold rig. Thankfully, Brad, @YoYoHo, had an extra body, in good shape, that needed a new home, which I got late Sept, 2019.

 

[YMT]

My plan had changed to using the rolling chassis from Silver rig and the Black body (1995). Interior parts and miscellaneous bits from Gold rig. This has involved stockpiling a ton of parts, selling extras, pulling and selling parts from 3 different rigs to keep my sanity and have room in the garage.

Random pics of silver rig getting ready for her weight loss program:

 

[YMT]

That escalated quickly (for the silver rig)...

Recap of 2020: f***-ing COVID, divorce, wrenching, parts pulling and selling, and trying to jockey 3 (okay, more like 2.5) vehicles between my garage and driveway.

 

[YMT]

Around the same time, I decided I didn't have enough on my plate, and that I needed a 5th Toyota in my fleet.

Picked up this beaut for cheap, with a bad HG. Bought with intent to either flip it, or possibly make as my daily.

 

[YMT]

Black 80 body in the garage, wanting some love. Unfortunately, she got pushed further back due to green Taco.
After sorting out the HG, I have a spare Taco engine, a 3.4. I guess she'll make a good garage decoration until I get to it. Or decide to sell it. Or find a 3rd gen 4runner or 1st gen Taco for it (most likely).

As you can see, it's fairly cozy in my garage. The storage racks to the right of the black body are 80 parts. Yeah, I think it's time to admit, I have an addiction.

 

[YMT]

I don't have any overall photos of the body dolly, but here's the details on it. A side note to the design, is that I wanted it tall enough to slide my engine hoist/cherry picker under the front, to lift the body of needed.
I bought some 6"casters from Amazon. I could probably find a link of anyone is interested. All four came with brake levers, which was a huge saving grace for moving it around the garage solo. And getting it ready to put into the chassis (more later).
The base unit uses 4x4s, 8' long on sides, and 4' long in front. I added 1x6" treated lumber (had laying around) under the 4x4s, to give the front and rear clearance for the hoist. I braced the corners with some steel shelf brackets I had laying around (black brackets, pictured above).
I then added a second level, using 2x6s (I forget how long they were, or how wide I cut them) to fit between the rockers. I did this to make it a more comfortable working height.

Edit:
On another design note: I should have made the sides and front tall enough for the hoist to slide under, instead of just the front and back. Several times I wanted to lift the body from the side, but couldn't, due to the 1x6 base.

 

[YMT]

A few weeks ago, I sold the green Taco. I kept the extra engine, trans, and t-case to convert my black Taco, a PreRunner, into a 4x4, using the axles from Gold rig.
I sold the engine and t-case from Gold rig, and decided to tear apart the transmission from Silver rig (due to higher miles, and, more importantly, I've only ever swapped entire trans units before, and wanted to see what the inside looked like.

I had a helluva time getting the trans pulled apart. I had another post discussing tear-down. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it apart. I ended up cutting the MF-er in half, length wise, to check out the inner workings. I then scrapped the entire trans.

I learned a valuable lesson: I can swap entire trans units all day long. But I will leave tearing into, or rebuilding, or virtually everything else relating to the trans (other than fluid or pulling the oil pan), to a pro.

 

[YMT]

Over the past year or so, I have contemplated ways to marry the body onto the frame. With all my searching, I found @donutfj80 's thread, where they used a tree limb and straps to lift the body. Unfortunately, the tree out front of my place wasn't near big enough to suspend a 600# vehicle body from.
Another thread I found, in: 80 Series Body Swap? Anyone done this?
where @strictlyRUM used CMUs and boards to suspend the body.
The idea of suspending a vehicle body about 3' off the ground, with no backup system, scared the s#!t out of me, since I have a pre-school aged kiddo running around. A couple weeks ago, I had the plan to use about a dozen people to help me lift the body onto the chassis, however, that plan fell through.
I had picked up 16 CMUs, all standard 8x8x16" cinder blocks. I also got two, 8' long x 2" diameter, schedule 40 galvanized pipe, to copy strictlyRUM's design.

 

[YMT]

How it looked last week, after having pulled all excess parts in anticipation of 12 people lifting and moving the body

 

[YMT]

Yesterday's progress, as Plan B progressed

 

[YMT]

A note if anyone chooses to copy the "cinder block spider legs" (what my neighbor called it, but I like the phrase) technique:
The set-up I did required the rear tires to be removed, using car dollies, and, due to my poor planning, does not allow me to install the rear tires, since the rear cinder blocks are in the way. Therefore, I have to lower the body onto the frame, about a foot or so, rather than only a few inches.
A better option would have been to have the rear pipe/block setup further back. But, I chose to make wooden cribbing around a cross member under the body to prevent slipping forward (note the goofy wooden block setup on top of the rear pipe), since my driveway is about 2-3* sloped down.

 

[Tank5]

Lots of changes and different rigs. What are you actually building now?

 

[YMT]

As she sits today:

 

[YMT]

More from today

 

[YMT]

Lots of changes and different rigs. What are you actually building now?

Just trying to build a mostly clean, sort of resto-mod, at this point. Thinking weekend camper-hauler, mild off-road, on 39s, with a V8 in the future

 

[YMT]

Time for the biannual refresh on this thread:

A few months back, I got the 2" body lift I ordered from 4crawler (excellent experience purchasing from Roger) delivered. A few weeks ago I finally had kid-free time to get some tinkering done. I decided it was finally time to mate the body with the frame. I pulled the rear heater, heat shields (chassis and exhaust is 91 and opposite the 95 body).

It was nerve wracking, lowering the body onto the chassis, using an engine hoist/Cherry picker to lower the body. I lowered the front first, and aligned the body lift with the bolts, going excessively slow, but made sure I lined things up correctly.

Moving to the rear, I had to raise the frame onto jack stands, then lower the body onto the frame. This was fairly uneventful, other than aligning the rear body mounts, which took several attempts to get it right.

Third picture shows the approximate gain, both in replacing the factory body mounts which were really compressed and crumbly, as well as adding the body lift.