Builds Just another 79 build.....

[c2dfj45]

Took the plunge on modding the ARB to house some fog lights. Nothing like trading some of our speaker pods for these cool things from @sleeoffroad......Christo needed what I had, I needed what he had. What a deal.

We worked on getting them in the bumper today......if you need a way to devote a full day to your Land Cruiser....adding these will do it. I've spent 2 decades cutting up cars worth more than most people's houses, one wouldn't think cutting an ARB bumper would stress me out. Well it did. I was flip flopping on this since the inserts arrived. Today I had to man up and just get it done.

Lots of measuring and fiddling around with placement...

My goal was to just barely cut out the stock turn signal. Slee provided a template to use....I believe these were designed for replacing the fog light inserts that come with ARB bumpers. The template made it easy to figure out how far back I was going to cut it. The insert and outer mounting flange sandwich the bumper. The outer line in this pic is what I needed to cut. Inner is where the frame goes.

I cut out the area that needed to go under the blade so we had some protection on the painted areas.....and a crisp line to cut on.

We drilled the corners with a stepped bit....and dug in.

 

[c2dfj45]

And that was that. All that worrying was a waste of time.....our little air saw took care of business. Used lots of blades to keep it cutting easy.

Used some of our different metal finishing tools to clean things up and drilled the holes around the perimeter....

Test fit it.....all good.

Repeat on other side.....

We touched up all of our edges with some Master Series coating and then black paint on top of that so the cut edge is well hidden.

Got pretty late in the day by the time I was ready to pop them in for final so no pics but plenty tomorrow when we head out into the boring FL woods....

 

[AirheadNut]

That white bumper is a thing of beauty.

 

[c2dfj45]

That white bumper is a thing of beauty.

It's too nice Never used to worry about my bumpers being bumpers, now I think about whether or not I should wax this one. Lol.

 

[coldtaco]

Oh man, now I have something else I might need to do

 

[c2dfj45]

Oh man, now I have something else I might need to do

This kit from @sleeoffroad is really on point. It all fits correctly, the templates are great, the materials are top notch. Been doing this stuff a long time and when you get a kit this complete, it's really nice. Again, not sure they're intended for my use but they worked

Looking forward to getting the lights mounted up and wired but Diode Dynamics is a little bit backed up so a few more weeks for those to get in. Going with a fog light for this application in clear. Diode Dynamics makes some impressive lights.

 

[c2dfj45]

Got to spend some time in the woods today about a hour north of Tampa. Ran a lot of miles today and came across lots of controlled burn areas that were still smoldering. Truck did great....happy with everything. So much different driving a diesel vs. the supercharged 1FZ. I'm so glad I went down the diesel road with this truck...should have done it from the start.

 

[cruiserdan]

Epic.

 

[c2dfj45]

Finished up the fog lights last week. Kind of. Didn't wire them yet. Still thinking about how I want to wire them..... I may install a Switchpros controller in the truck to control a variety of things since I am nearing the end of space for switches and things. Not sure I have room for the Switchpros piece but I'll come up with something(thinking overhead console may be a good place for it).

Went with the Diode Dynamics Pro 4" fogs in white. Grabbed some yellow covers just in case.

Supplied brackets weren't the right size for what we needed so we fabbed up the one on the left...

Sand blasted them

Powder coated in our little oven...

Installed

 

[c2dfj45]

Ran up to Ocala National Forest for an overnight over the weekend. Not the most interesting place but the weather was beautiful and we had a pretty good campsite.

Dog is ready for breakfast.

Truck is really doing well....happy with everything so far. Really happy with the automatic. Turned 15.5-ish MPGs on this tank. Range is comfortably 360 miles with mixed driving. Thinking about putting in a 10-15 gallon tank that I could transfer fuel from to the main tank. I've got lots of room under the bed and a spare filler.....maybe we'll dig into this down the road.

Only a few things left to address.....turbo and intercooler upgrades(turbo is in DHLs hands as I type), 2nd battery, Armax snorkel.

 

[Gun Runner 5]

All of the above photos are great but this one is the “money shot” in my opinion.

 

[c2dfj45]

All of the above photos are great but this one is the “money shot” in my opinion.

View attachment 2572242

Agreed....mainly because my dog is in it

 

[Gun Runner 5]

If there is ever a ‘MUD Ute calendar that photo should definitely be one of the twelve.

 

[c2dfj45]

If there is ever a ‘MUD Ute calendar that photo should definitely be one of the twelve.

Certainly enough trucks here in the states that we could probably do it

 

[c2dfj45]

This thing of beauty arrived today.....

 

[c2dfj45]

Had to put the camper truck into the shop today.....my 6 week run of driving it is over

Fortunately, it's electively being placed in the shop.....time to get the new turbo on

All the stuff that goes here came out

This stuff goes out to get coated. Should have coated it from the get-go.....should have put the Gturbo on from the get-go. A lot of 'should haves'.....

Using a new thermal coating shop......these guys do a lot of race coatings. They have a stainless colored thermal coating that is good for very high temps and provides the best thermal properties according to the owner. He said the shiny silver/polished coating will typically turn dull on high heat/turbo applications. Seems a little weird to me but I'll trust him. I'm going with the middle color.

CT26 will need to find a new home.....thinking I'll just make a turbo kit for one of the NA 1HZs.

 

[c2dfj45]

Started on this project at the other end of the truck.....not sure I'm going to do it now but I figured while we're down for the week, might as well start wrapping my head around what I want. I've never built a bumper before. So many things to consider.....kind of freaks me out. I've been thinking about this far too much.....hours and hours of research on what I want and I still don't know. Ha. Might just start cutting and welding and seeing what I come up with. Then make the one that I'll use.

My goal is to get the spare off the roof to reduce weight up there....I'd also like to get the traction boards on the roof rack over the cab. Maybe move them to the spare. We'll see. Hate the idea of having to open the swing out every time I want to get in the back of the truck but I don't want that tire up there so I'll have to suck it up.

Wanted to start with the swing out pin....this thing is a monster. Summit Machines kit. Beautiful quality.

Started with some wood to kind of get a rough idea of what I'm about to do......this is a huge chunk of metal that will be off to the side of the bumper to clear the tailgate when it lowers.

I'm going to run a 1.5" tube from the bumper up along the quarter panel for some protection(longer than what is in the pic obviously) and for some strength to the spindle area .....I'll tie it into the side of the frame. My #2 79 has a bumper that ties into the frame on the side....I like how it cleans up that part of the truck and it will be nice to have some protection back there. Still a little unsure how I will tie the tube into the bumper's corner. Very very difficult to get this thing looking pleasing to the eye.

 

[coldtaco]

I've been thinking of making a copy of the factory bumper out of some real steel tubing, kind of imitating the original. But that's for some time down the road when I run out of things to do

 

[c2dfj45]

I've been thinking of making a copy of the factory bumper out of some real steel tubing, kind of imitating the original. But that's for some time down the road when I run out of things to do

I think that would be a great idea.....probably not really hard to do either. I don't mind the look of the OEM one....my poor truck was once a totally stock looking rig

 

[c2dfj45]

Moving a little further along with the side.....I think this may be what I end up with.

Not too horrible on how far outboard the spindle is.....might be a little weird on a non-flared truck. I would think a bumper mount dual shear swing out would be a little better on one of those.