My POS build thread!

[MikeBoyle]

Combat Chuck requested a little more info on my build, so here it is!

First a little history,

Picked it up in Nov. '08 from a guy in Denver, CO.
4" Rancho lift
Crossover steering
5.29's (lockright front, welded rear)
Longfields (stay tuned)
5 spd.
Dual cases w/4.7
35's
20r w/ Webber carb
lots of oil leaks

 

[MikeBoyle]

Things quickly went downhill from there. When I went to reseal the front axle I found this:

These were supposed to be Longfield's according to the PO. They are an aftermarket birf but they aint Longs.

Luckily it didn't hurt the inside of the knuckle too bad.

So after getting frustrated I settled down and got to work.
Added a set of knuckle gussets (Welds look like crap!),

and some ring gear protection.

 

[MikeBoyle]

After resealing the front end and getting it drivable again it was time for some fun!

Bobed the bed 13" today. Didn't turn out too bad for 2 guys that have never attempted anything like this before.

Plasma cutter made the job go a lot faster.

Yes, I love having my picture taken!

Added in a crossmember

Welding her up.

Finished product!

At this point I called it good and wheeled the fenders off it for the summer and early winter.

 

[MikeBoyle]

Febuary of this year the real fun began!

Day 1

There's no turning back now!

After driving the Toyota around this past summer I discovered that the lack of leg room just wasn't cutting it. It was ok for around town and on the trail, but when driving long distances my right knee would cramp up. So I decided to do something adout it.

First step was to remove the back half of the cab from my donor truck and trim it 6" longer than where I planed to cut the other cab.

Next remove the bed, seats and fuel tank.

Then it was time to mark the cab and cut the floor.

While I was cutting the floor I decided it was a good time as any to remove the rusty parts of the floorboards. In the process I "tubed" the firewall back to the front cab mount to add tire clearance.

 

[MikeBoyle]

Rust on the driver side isn't near as bad as the passenger side.

I also decided to fix this monstrocity! This is the PO(S) attempt at trimming the floor to fit the shifter for the rear case.

All trimed and ready to go.

That's where it sits as of tonight. Monday I need to get the sheetmetal to redo the floors and we'll make the final cut across the roof and remove the rear of the cab. Then its time to relocate the rear cab mounts and attach the new rear. Yea its a lot of work for six extra inches of leg room. Any more and I feel it would throw the proportions of the cab off and make it look really odd.

 

[MikeBoyle]

Day 2

Got the cab mounts relocated (no I didn't weld it, a friend did this side)

and set the new rear on to get an idea on what it looks like/what I need to do to make it one peice again.

 

[MikeBoyle]

Day 5

The 2 have become one! Cab 1/2's are permanently attached to one another.

The roof seam is just tacked, but the rest has been welded solid.

Didn't realize how much bondo was on the roof of the blue truck.

Just means more work.

Cut the floor out the rest of the way.

and built a new sub-floor to support the seats and replacement floor.

Used 1.5x1.5x.188 wall tubing. Slightly overkill, but its what we had on hand, so I can't complain about the price.

 

[MikeBoyle]

Day 15

Passenger floor/ firewall tub finished.

Driver firewall tub finished.

New floor and driver seat mounts finished (still need to finish the tunnel). Floor is 11ga. (1/8") plate. Figured that should be solid enough to mount the seats/ belts to since I'm not running an interior cage.

New seats thanks to BTF.

Instead of trying to tie the mangled rockers together I cut them out and added a 2x6x.25 wall tube slider. This will be tied to the frame and serve as the base for the rear of the exo.

 

[MikeBoyle]

Day 21

Its got color!

Finished floor and tunnel.

Didn't turn out bad for a $15 paint job with very little prep work.

 

[MikeBoyle]

And this is where we are to this point. Progress came to an abrupt hault when work dried up, bills kept coming in and the credit card laughed at me. Here's where it currently sits.

Added a FROR '84-'95 front crossmemder reinforcement plate to the front frame ralis so I can mount my bumper.

Bumper from Addicted Offroad

Mounted the PRP's (I have actually moved the seats forward from this picture as they were a little too far back)

Mounted some LED tail lights. They are a neat little light that has dual circuits for the brake lights, which made it easy to wire one circuit for the brake and one for the turn. The three that are on in the picture are the tail lights. The four on the outside of the light are turn and the four on the inside are brake. They are BRIGHT and best of all DOT approved. All for $15ea.

After looking at all the pics in the *Official* Toyota Flatbed Thread (on Pirate4x4), this is the final plan on the flatbed design. (The roll cage portion will be different)

Simple but still somewhat functional and best of all fairly cheap to build!

Installed a set of these:

Current plan is to build the exo and flat bed over my Christmas break and get the thing back on the trail. After that the 20r is getting retired and replaced with a much stronger 22r.

 

[2ndGenToyotaFan]

Nice build!!! Sorry you had to do so much sheet metal work, but it looks like it was worth the effort!!!

 

[GarageRat]

Looks killer so far! Are you going to extend the doors as well? Looks like the way you extended the cab would make the doors not too tough if you made them into half doors to avoid the door glass length issue.

 

[MikeBoyle]

I was origionally going to do a set of half doors, but they turned out to be more work than I wanted to put into something I'll likely destroy. Current plan is to make some tube doors.

 

[1BADAWD]

This is an awesome thread man. I love reading threads with this much work involved. Really gives me ambition to get moving on my 86 truck. Now just to get a welder and some skillz, lol.

 

[dlucky894runner]

That is an awesome looking truck. Great thread and keep the pictures coming.

 

[MikeBoyle]

Finally getting back to working on this (need to get it done for Cruise Moab)!
Truck is currently at a friends shop getting the cage/ flat bed work done.

A few teaser pics.

Will update as the cage work progresses.

 

[MikeBoyle]

Little update.

Its a little further along than the pics show. Just have a few more bars to tack in than its comming off to fully weld. Next is swapping in the 22r I have sitting in the shop, then it will go back to get some door bars and the rear down bars installed. Current plan is to have it trail worthy in early April.

 

[Combat Chuck]

NICE!!!
How'd I miss this thread? I look forward to your next mods!

 

[MikeBoyle]

Out with the old!

In with the new(er).

Not a major power increase, but it runs 100andfiftybillion times better than the over carbed 20r, it doesn't leak oil like a fountain and the timing chain isn't trying to rattle its way through the front cover.

Cleaned up some of the wireing while I was in there.

Before:

After:

 

[MikeBoyle]

Where it sits as of tonight:

Detail shots of the cage:

Turn signals are temporary (gotta keep it somewhat street legal)

Trying to get everything finished so I can shake it down before Cruise Moab!