Builds TRDdrew's build: let me introduce Waffles (1 Viewer)

[TRDdrew]

I acquired this 91 3FE 80 series with 212k on the clock in september of 2022, It was a surreal experience of how I came to owning it and will do my best to document the build as i go along. Ultimately the story goes as followed.....

I had seen this 80 sitting at a local repair shop for about a month. I finally called them to see what was going on with it. The shop said it had come in for a new sunroof glass and the owner was supposed to supply the part, they did release the owners phone number to be because they did believe she was interested in selling it. Well i called and left a voicemail and about a week later i got a call back from the owner Nancy. We spoke in lengths about the truck and the other vehicle she had. Some belonged to her and some where her husband's Ken. Ken unfortunately passed away a few years prior to our meeting. She said that she was getting up in age and she wasn't going to have the time to give to the vehicles that were in the barn and was interested in selling everything, she really didn't have the expertise to list them in front of the right audiences either. Well it turned out that in the barn there was an 73' porsche 911T targa, 88" porsche 924, 59 BMW R69S motorcycle, 76 R90E BMW motorcycle and an 85' K100RS BMW motorcycle. We came to an agreement that i would help her sell off the vehicles for a commission. I was able to find a buyer for the all of the vehicles over the course of the next month. After the sale of the first 2 vehicles she sat me down to speak about my commission for helping her get her barn cleared out. well that commission happen to be this 80 series! By the end of it i will have a TON of hours cleaning this barn out and selling off all these vehicles so my time is not free. She was very excited about the fact the Cruiser was going to someone that would love it as much as her Late husband did. I really enjoyed doing some "automotive archeology" pulling these cars out and giving them a new chance at life. Overall the whole experience has been surreal and i was blown away that she wanted to give me the cruiser as payment for all the work, i tried to offer her some cash for it and she firmly told me NO and that i didn't understand how much this is helping her.

She told me some stories of how Ken loved this cruiser so much the dog was only allowed to ride in his porsche 924 but not in the cruiser ( he didn't want to get the seat messed up ) lmao, Ken sounded like an amazing person and someone i really would have liked to meet. Next time your having a few, have a cold one for Ken another cruiser head that has unfortunately passed on

As far as plans for it go I already have a pretty heavily built 100 series and i dont need 2 built trucks so this one will probably stay pretty mild, slightly bigger tire and maybe a small lift. , really just going through an baselining it, taking care of all the little things and getting in perfect running order. Don't get me wrong it runs great but all the belts need to be done and i believe one of the idler pulleys is going bad (i'll tackle that stuff shortly) Tires need to be done due to dry rot and i'll be rebuilding the birfs as they are starting to seep.

I appreciate you taking the time to give this thread a read and ill do my best to keep it updated

a few of the vehicles that came out of the barn

 

[TRDdrew]

The day I brought the 80 home, which has been named Waffles by my son for obvious reasons lol

 

[voodu3]

Awesome story Ken had some cool vehicles.

 

[TRDdrew]

Awesome story Ken had some cool vehicles.

ya he did, so the cruiser, 924, r90 and k100 were ken's

the 911 and the r69s were nancy's
She is an awesome person and i still go over to her farm as she has a shooting range that she lets me use, Good people.

 

[TRDdrew]

remember the whole reason i was able to spot this thing was it was sitting at a local repair shop waiting on a new sunroof glass. Well turns out nancy had sourced one from cruiserparts.net IIRC and had it in her house. She gave it to me with the truck. I small branch had hit the original and cracked it so first order of business was getting that swapped out

 

[TRDdrew]

The only modification that had been done was at some he had a car phone / early alpine security system installed . 4 -5 beers later a friend and I had the interior apart and about 50lbs of useless wiring and control boxes removed. my buddy was nice enough to snap this photo of my frustrations

 

[TRDdrew]

next up was to replace all the drive belts with OEM. for some reason the alternator tensioner bolt was missing so my good friend @ToyotaMatt at vintageteqparts.com hooked me up with brand new one. He is definitely the guy to see for those hard to find parts. also got a new washer tank. Did a fresh oil change and started gathering parts for the desmog. The engine bay needs so TLC but ill get too it. getting a blast cabinet for my shop and ill be able to really start cleaning up bits and pieces.

 

[TRDdrew]

about a month went by from that point its been running great but the tires where so dry rotted i had to make that my next priority. i was just about to purchase some when these matte bronze F5's popped up locally on marketplace. Was a set of 5 wrapped in 285/75r16 falken wildpeak at3's. I couldn't say no to the price and i think they complement the truck great

 

[TRDdrew]

Was able to score a set pair of OME 850 springs from a club member and a set OME L shocks from another mud member. Already had some rear 860's laying around from my 100 series so had a lift for under 200 dollars and man did it need it the original where so worn out. Truck rides 100% better even with a little altitude adjustment.

 

[TRDdrew]

We have the greatest group of guys in our local TLCA chapter! I had someone give me a set of early SLEE sliders that had been sitting in his backyard, they are rough but couldnt argue with free. they where for a late model 80 so i had to modify them a bit to get them to clear my cats. set them to blasting and then painted them up at my shop. You can still see all the rust pitting but again i have like 150 dollars into them so im happy. the sliders are the only "armor" i plan to add to the truck.

also had another club member sell me a home built full lenght roof rack for 100 bux and i couldnt be happier with it.

 

[Wermz]

Nice start. Waffles is also a cool name for a truck!

 

[TRDdrew]

Nice start. Waffles is also a cool name for a truck!

haha ya i heard my son say it and that was it. very fitting

 

[TRDdrew]

The undercarriage has some surface rust but nothing serious that i have found, the body for its age and mileage are in fantastic shape with only a little bit of rust on the upper hatch
NOTE: I'm on the hunt for a rust free upper hatch if anyone near MD has one. color doesnt matter
and a small spot on the rear of the driver side lower rocker. it was minor but needed to be addressed. I cut out the rust, fabricated a patch, welded it in and did the body and paint work. I treated the inside of the rocker with cavity wax so the rust should not return. I thought i had photos of the patch welded in but i cant find them but you get the idea

EDIT: found a photo of the patch welded in

 

[simple]

Great story and project!

 

[TRDdrew]

Great story and project!

thank you sir i appreciate it, been a good truck thus far

 

[TRDdrew]

With no future plans to add any type of rear bumper/ swing out i had to come up with a good place for the match spare and wasn't too keen on placing it under the truck. Was originally going to fabricate my own in-cab tire carrier but landed on the BellFab one, really well built piece. i painted it standard toyota black but added some champagne pearl to it just because. Had the old weathertech truck mat out of my 100 and with a little trimming it fits nicely

 

[fjbj40]

I would have had that 911 in my possession also!

Cool story mister and Koodos to you for helping that lady out

 

[TRDdrew]

I would have had that 912 in my possession also!

Cool story mister and Koodos to you for helping that lady out

she was happy and i was happy was a good deal for all, ill tell ya she walked away with a really nice chunk of cash

 

[fjbj40]

she was happy and i was happy was a good deal for all, ill tell ya she walked away with a really nice chunk of cash

I’m sure she did, that’s a nice 911, as we’re the bikes

 

[TRDdrew]

One thing i've alway hate about every 80 i've ever had was the ergonomics, the center consoles are just to low and its even worse in the early models. I bought a Tuffy console and its by far my favorite upgrade, idk why i never did it in any of my other trucks. Plus you can never have too many cupholders i did find a NOS relay under the factory console along with about 1.50 worth of change so that was kinda cool