Builds Let's build a 79 Series from parts... (7 Viewers)

[c2dfj45]

Sometimes it's the little things that make these big projects turn a small corner. Felt like we breathed some life into the truck today.

This power window conversion has been pretty involved.....lots of parts, lots of money and lots of time. I think we got them figured out. I think we'll start 'our' journey into the scary world of electrical things. And by 'our' I really mean my lead tech. I know when I need to take care of office work and leave him be. Ha.

 

[c2dfj45]

Trying to tie up a lot of little loose ends...the loose ends always cause issues in long term builds. Too many at the end and sometimes they don't get dealt with properly.

Since we converted to a grab bar on the passenger side, there was some concern about how it was tied in to the dash(plastic dash...not like the non airbag metal dashes). I was able to buy one bracket but the other one is discontinued(I find that weird to have discontinued parts on newish trucks...not sure what the deal is).

In any event....we were able to mount the one we had to a bracket we made. We'll clean the 'bespoke' bracket up tomorrow and check it off the lift.

 

[Ingtar]

Next question is what is going above the grab bar. Are you going to fit the airbag module that came with the parts, or fit the upper glove box?

And how do airbags work on a build like this? Are they all functional?

 

[c2dfj45]

Since this dash uses different bracing to the floor(both passenger and driver vs just driver on the non-airbag dash), we had to cut the vinyl flooring to fit the passenger side. Not an easy task.

Here's the brace on the passenger side(we had made a plate for the inner trans tunnel similar to what the driver's side came with OEM).

Made an outline of where I wanted it.

Punched a couple of holes so the material wouldn't tear...just like OEM. Used a section of brake line with a sharpened end and punched it out on some wood. Very satisfying.

Gave it a slice...

Carefully slid it over the bottom of the bracket.....I left it in position since it would be hard to bolt it in with the mass loaded vinyl under the flooring.

Not entirely happy with it....looking at these pics I would probably do it differently the second time which generally means I will be buying a new liner. Fortunately I get these as take outs so they are relative cheap. It may end up being OK as we're probably going to have to do some creative sectioning on the top of the tunnel when the trans goes in and the boots move around. Probably will do some kind of low profile console or cupholder deal. Similar to what #1 has in it. This liner doesn't fit so well but I think that might be because of all the sound dampener stuff on the floor boards...the shape of the floor is slightly different.

 

[c2dfj45]

Next question is what is going above the grab bar. Are you going to fit the airbag module that came with the parts, or fit the upper glove box?

And how do airbags work on a build like this? Are they all functional?

We have the upper glove box to use.....and all airbag stuff will be removed. We started picking at the harness yesterday which is exciting. Lots of differences in the 76 vs the 79....maninly that the 76 harness runs inside the body to the rear whereas the 79 goes outside to get to the back. So some moving around of a few things. I like making wiring stuff like this to sound easy....just a "few" things to move around. Ha

 

[c2dfj45]

This guy got the wiring love today...

 

[c2dfj45]

Took a look at my vacuum reservoir and how all that stuff goes....inner fenders got some work around where they were rough cut for the shock towers of the 80 too.

 

[SNLC]

Body looks pretty low in front. Those shock towers look almost the same height wise to Tony’s Troopy body.



Cheers

 

[c2dfj45]

Body looks pretty low in front. Those shock towers look almost the same height wise to Tony’s Troopy body.



Cheers

Funny you say that.....I kept looking at those shock towers yesterday because something was catching my attention. I think the body does sit lower on this truck than on my other one.

Here's #1 for comparison....measured it out and its about 3/8" lower on number 2.

I have been contemplating a 1" body lift on this truck to aid in clearance. I have no idea on how or where they set the body on this thing when they built the mounts but coming up an inch wouldn't be a huge deal.

 

[divemedic]

Wouldn’t a lower body be theoretically advantageous due to COG? What, benefits would you see doing a body lift?

 

[c2dfj45]

Wouldn’t a lower body be theoretically advantageous due to COG? What, benefits would you see doing a body lift?

Additional clearance for exhaust routing...transmission tunnel clearance....would help with clearance for larger tires without having to go with a huge suspension lift. Need to see how the gas tank fits up in the 79 body and within the 80 frame(front take is mounted under the cab...strapped to the cab actually). The frame kind of pinches in a bit on the 80 so it might be close. That was our initial thought when we tried to put the tank in....might have to raise the body a touch. Rear tank is frame mounted so no biggie there.

 

[c2dfj45]

Started to mess wth a few things at once on the truck...call it ADD I suppose. I played around with the gas pedal and cable for the 1HZ.....no issues there. Ordered a few new brackets for the throttle cable....the 1HZ had one missing and one is beat up. Cable feels good...no need to replace it.

Missing some linkage to the pump....had to order all of it from across the globe. Cheap stuff.

 

[c2dfj45]

So with some simple stuff(gas pedal) comes some more complicated stuff. Not really complicated necessarily, just time consuming. I had bought a 79 series e-brake cable...same thing I run on the #1 truck. It was always a little bit of a mystery on that truck how things were routed. It works just fine but in my pursuit of trying to make things all Toyota, I figured I'd buy everything on the diagram and sort it out.

Found a great pic on mud with the bed off a 79(maybe a 75) and it was like a lightbulb went off. "That's where that goes...." was mumbled.

So my frame lacks a rather crucial cross member where all this stuff bolts to. So we made one. Nothing fancy...it was actually more of something that the young kid in the shop could fab up and maybe learn a little. Beats cleaning some greasy part.

Tomorrow we'll do a drop down bracket for the E-brake support and finish it out. This bar will also be really good for hanging the exhaust which will run on the left side of the truck....just like stock. One of my bigger issues with the #1 truck was the exhaust...it was tough to make it fit the way I wanted it too...never realized having a cross member back there would have been WAY easier to hang an exhaust off.

 

[c2dfj45]

Got our e-brake bracket bracket cut out...going to hold off on welding until we get a few other things put together.

 

[c2dfj45]

Started in on this mess...

 

[c2dfj45]

Fewer parts in the bed means more stuff is on the truck.

Or in the container.

 

[c2dfj45]

A huge thanks to Rob from Odd Iron Off Road.....he delivered me this ARB commercial bar for a 79 series WITH fender flares....who would have thought ARB would have that exact bar in stock in the US. Great to meet him and chat about Cruisers today.

Definitely not a straight bolt on....

 

[Mr Cimarron]

A huge thanks to Rob from Odd Iron Off Road.....he delivered me this ARB commercial bar for a 79 series WITH fender flares....who would have thought ARB would have that exact bar in stock in the US. Great to meet him and chat about Cruisers today.

Definitely not a straight bolt on....

View attachment 2048651

Looking forward to seeing how you modify the ARB to fit. Its on my to do list to pull the Slee off the 80 and see how it looks with the 70 body. See how much I would need to hack off the sides to make look right. ARB is still my 1st choice.

 

[c2dfj45]

Looking forward to seeing how you modify the ARB to fit. Its on my to do list to pull the Slee off the 80 and see how it looks with the 70 body. See how much I would need to hack off the sides to make look right. ARB is still my 1st choice.

I did some quick measurements today and it seems the 79 series bar is about 2.5" wider where it will mount to the 80 series frame horns. We'll probably have to cut the inner portion out of the bumper to get it on the frame....then rebuild the portion we cut out. Not a huge deal.

I really wanted this bar because it is wide enough to sit flush with the OEM flares. The Kut Snakes will be a touch wider but I think it will be OK. I considered a Dobinsons bar but they don't do a version to deal with the flares. Plus they do a cradle mount for the winch....I like how the winch mounts to the ARB for clearance. We'll be running a M12000 on this thing.

The 80 bar would have been easiest but I didn't want to take the chance that it wouldn't match the lines of the 79.

 

[Gun Runner 5]

@c2dfj45 ...... "but I didn't want to take the chance that it wouldn't match the lines of the 79".
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"Matching the lines" is indeed important. The "resurrected" guys installed this brushbar which in no way is correct thus the large gaps between the brushbar and the body. Thankfully Rob has the correct one sitting on the shelf and this brushbar will soon join a lot of other parts in the surplus pile.