Finally decided to start a build thread as I have found myself modifying the vehicle beyond what I had originally thought. I would love for this thread to provide value by explaining some technical tips along the way that I'm having to learn on the job while performing mods/upgrades.
This truck has an incredible story and has had an insane amount of time and money put into it. My goal is to take this vehicle to new heights and let it reach its fullest potential. BoltRipper did an incredible job on the initial build and I cannot speak highly enough about him or his work. This can serve as a continuation of his build thread as the vehicle is going to continue to be modified.
It all started when I saw a rather bizarre listing in the classifieds back in December and like most, thought it wasn't legit. I had been looking for one of the ten Slee 4.7 V8 swapped 80's for a while checking every nook and cranny of the internet, so when this truck popped up for sale I knew I needed to act fast. After trying multiple ways to get in touch with the seller, I finally got ahold of him via text. I immediately wanted to get on a call with him to check the legitimacy of the situation. While this is happening I am literally in the car driving to the mountains with my wife where I know I will have limited to non existing cell service. For the next two nights while in the mountains, I tried my hardest to strike a deal with the seller with one bar of cell service while standing on the highest point I could find in the driveway at midnight. I was starting to think the deal wasn't going to happen as our conversations seemed to be about anything other than the vehicle in question and we couldn't agree on a price. After a few days of playing hard ball and not hearing back from the seller, I knew I needed to make a serious offer to get this deal done the next time we spoke. I went into the next phone call with Vito Corleone's voice in my head saying "make him an offer he cant refuse". Needless to say we struck a deal and I immediately bought a plane ticket to California for that Friday. I was taught in my business "time kills deals" So I wanted to get possession of the cruiser ASAP.
On Friday I flew out to California with a cashiers check in hand. Low and behold he actually showed up at the airport to pick me up and we headed off to get the cruiser which was in a garage on a farm 2 hours away from the airport. As we pulled into the farm it all came together, things became real. I was in the middle of nowhere in northern California with this unicorn of a cruiser in front of me and a check in my hand. I gave the vehicle a quick lookover to make sure nothing catastrophic was wrong but I knew my options were limited on which way this was going to go seeing I really didn't have a way back to the airport. I shook the sellers hand, handed him the check and loaded up in the cruiser headed for Georgia..
Easy enough right? Except for one small detail.. the cruiser didn't have plates and still had an Alabama Title... Not something I was excited about but I was up for the challenge. Not many people have driven an unregistered 25 year old vehicle coast to coast by themselves and I was about to become one of them.
After 2700 miles and a few cups of coffee later I made it home to Georgia thankful that the truck wasn't impounded along the way.
After arriving to Georgia, I had the ability to really dive in and look at what the truck really was. I was nothing short of impressed. The truck is 1 of the 8 2UZ V8 Swapped 80's that Slee has converted. This one happens to be number 8 of 8 and is the last 80 series Slee converted. To my knowledge it is the only conversion they did that utilized a new short block from Japan (The other conversions had donor engines with mileage on them). This was truly an open checkbook no expense spared build and my hat truly goes off to BoltRipper.
At the farm in California.
At the Auburn, CA Toyota dealership getting a quick inspection before the road trip home. Shoutout to this dealership, they were awesome.
This truck has an incredible story and has had an insane amount of time and money put into it. My goal is to take this vehicle to new heights and let it reach its fullest potential. BoltRipper did an incredible job on the initial build and I cannot speak highly enough about him or his work. This can serve as a continuation of his build thread as the vehicle is going to continue to be modified.
It all started when I saw a rather bizarre listing in the classifieds back in December and like most, thought it wasn't legit. I had been looking for one of the ten Slee 4.7 V8 swapped 80's for a while checking every nook and cranny of the internet, so when this truck popped up for sale I knew I needed to act fast. After trying multiple ways to get in touch with the seller, I finally got ahold of him via text. I immediately wanted to get on a call with him to check the legitimacy of the situation. While this is happening I am literally in the car driving to the mountains with my wife where I know I will have limited to non existing cell service. For the next two nights while in the mountains, I tried my hardest to strike a deal with the seller with one bar of cell service while standing on the highest point I could find in the driveway at midnight. I was starting to think the deal wasn't going to happen as our conversations seemed to be about anything other than the vehicle in question and we couldn't agree on a price. After a few days of playing hard ball and not hearing back from the seller, I knew I needed to make a serious offer to get this deal done the next time we spoke. I went into the next phone call with Vito Corleone's voice in my head saying "make him an offer he cant refuse". Needless to say we struck a deal and I immediately bought a plane ticket to California for that Friday. I was taught in my business "time kills deals" So I wanted to get possession of the cruiser ASAP.
On Friday I flew out to California with a cashiers check in hand. Low and behold he actually showed up at the airport to pick me up and we headed off to get the cruiser which was in a garage on a farm 2 hours away from the airport. As we pulled into the farm it all came together, things became real. I was in the middle of nowhere in northern California with this unicorn of a cruiser in front of me and a check in my hand. I gave the vehicle a quick lookover to make sure nothing catastrophic was wrong but I knew my options were limited on which way this was going to go seeing I really didn't have a way back to the airport. I shook the sellers hand, handed him the check and loaded up in the cruiser headed for Georgia..
Easy enough right? Except for one small detail.. the cruiser didn't have plates and still had an Alabama Title... Not something I was excited about but I was up for the challenge. Not many people have driven an unregistered 25 year old vehicle coast to coast by themselves and I was about to become one of them.
After 2700 miles and a few cups of coffee later I made it home to Georgia thankful that the truck wasn't impounded along the way.
After arriving to Georgia, I had the ability to really dive in and look at what the truck really was. I was nothing short of impressed. The truck is 1 of the 8 2UZ V8 Swapped 80's that Slee has converted. This one happens to be number 8 of 8 and is the last 80 series Slee converted. To my knowledge it is the only conversion they did that utilized a new short block from Japan (The other conversions had donor engines with mileage on them). This was truly an open checkbook no expense spared build and my hat truly goes off to BoltRipper.
At the farm in California.
At the Auburn, CA Toyota dealership getting a quick inspection before the road trip home. Shoutout to this dealership, they were awesome.
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I hope I don’t have an issue.
