Builds TRDdrew's build: let me introduce Waffles

[fjbj40]

Bit of an interior upgrade, I was able to snag a set of brown cloth seats from a 94 in a fairly local salvage yard on the cheap. Got them extracted and cleaned up. The driver seat has some bolster wear but I'll keep my eyes out for a better condition one in the future. Gave me a chance to deep clean under the seats as well

I like the factory interior but due to the truck sitting outside most of its life the sun has faded the original seats out and it bothers my ocd.

For anyone interested my original seat are in very good shape for their age (minus the fading, idk probably could be dyed or something) and are currently for sale in the classified section

For Sale - Port Republic MD, 91 80 series brown cloth Manual seats

UPDATE 12/10/24- Seats can now be picked up in Severna Park MD 21146 and price has been reduced to 250.00 for the set !!! I have set of good condition manual brown seats out of my 91, one small tear in the vinyl on the driver seat, missing both reclining handles, and the are a bit sun faded...

forum.ih8mud.com

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The man, the myth, the legend @DC470

The bolster wear is the foam. $100 and change and 30-40 mins work to change.

 

[TRDdrew]

The bolster wear is the foam. $100 and change and 30-40 mins work to change.

ya i've changed the bolster foam on seats in the past, not that bad of a job, if i can't find a seat that's the route i will go. The actual cover has a bit of wear as well hence the reason for just looking for a better seat but that's definitely an option

 

[TRDdrew]

Not much to report other than been driving it. Gathering parts for the front axle rebuild, once MD starts brining and salting the roads for no reason is when it will get parked for the season.

However @CrabCake gave me his old escape gear tire cover after he went to 35's. the weather has faded it to the perfect shade of beige, thanks again buddy

 

[CrabCake]

Not much to report other than been driving it. Gathering parts for the front axle rebuild, once MD starts brining and salting the roads for no reason is when it will get parked for the season.

However @CrabCake gave me his old escape gear tire cover after he went to 35's. the weather has faded it to the perfect shade of beige, thanks again buddy

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Really happy to see it back in the right place and not folded up in my basement for eternity!

 

[TRDdrew]

Picked up a warn vr10s off Facebook as a "none working" winch for 250! Thing looked practically new. Turns out the remote for it was bad so that worked out well.
Got it all mounted up using some small spacers between the winch and the bumper for clearance and made some new bracket to secure the trans cooler a bit better. Left the control box mounted to the top of the winch, the control port is easily accessible so I don't see a problem with leaving it like this. Other than that just driving it occasionally as some house projects have been taking up a bunch of my time

 

[Wermz]

Nice find!

 

[TRDdrew]

Mileage 214605

Oil change day, making the switch to Rotella T6 15w-40, after expert recommendations from the MUD gods. The 3fe's seem to like it

 

[TRDdrew]

I really wanted to know what coolant temp it was actually running at, I run scangauges in all my other vehicles, not an option in this truck. I decided to go with the koso gauge. The small digital read out is perfect for a quick glance.

Install was pretty straightforward. I used a 40mm glow shift rad hose adapter for senor. Bought a new upper rad hose ( one in the truck was a little swelled) and cut about an 1.5" out of it for the adaptor. I installed the gauge itself directly to the left of the steering wheel for a clear view with out having to really look down. I will say if you are installing one get yourself a good quality double sided tape like 3M, the Velcro that comes with it is worthless.

Findings:

The truck has always run fine, I've had no cooling problems to mention. Now with that said I finished the install and let the truck warm up in the shop for a few, all while waiting the numbers rise on the gauge. Took it out for a 30ish min drive and the hottest it would get while driving 169*, this is moving at 60 mph with the ambient temp around 56*. Drove it home and proceeded to let it run in the driveway at idle for another 20-30 mins, hottest I saw was 174* So it running cool ( better than hot ) I'm starting to wonder if the thermostat is stuck open but again this is kinda a case of "creating a problem out of nothing"

What do y'all think?

 

[TRDdrew]

SHOP UPDATE:

a few weeks ago I got the over hang painted finally. I really wanted to get it painted before winter but time got away from me like normal. @DC470 brought over is sprayer which made quick work of it but man that thing uses some paint! I think in total we used 8 gallons of paint and im sure 2 of them were just floating around in the air, still beats a roller any day though! Really nice to have the shop all one color again.

And been working on my man cave inside. Just making the shop a nicer place to be, since I spend a lot of time in there anyway. Reorganized, move the tool boxes side by side. Hung up all of my signs and ads. And the pièce de résistance, a new 43" smart TV. So now all my projects can take twice as long lol

 

[CrabCake]

New belt moldings from Mr.T

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Shouldn't this post be on your "100 wanna be a rock crawler" thread....

Waffles is looking great and I'm jelly about your refreshed garage space!

 

[TRDdrew]

Shouldn't this post be on your "100 wanna be a rock crawler" thread....

Waffles is looking great and I'm jelly about your refreshed garage space!

Hahaha yep, thanks man come on over anytime

 

[TRDdrew]

Ever since I acquired waffles it's has a small drip coming from the rear diff cover. Ken must have known this because there was a new OEM cork gasket in the glove box lol, I decided to take it one step further and order new studs, washers and nuts as well. Some of the factory hardware gave me so grief due to rust but the turbo sockets made quick work of that.

Everything is back together minus the drain plug. I of course forgot to order a crush washer. It's always the 50 cent part that holds up the job. I'll Grab one tomorrow and hope for no leaks. The FSM only calls for 9ft lbs on the cover bolts I would assume to not damage the gasket, just didn't seem that tight. I'm sure mr. T knew what he was doing lol

Finished off the night with some GT4 racing ( TV In The shop was a horrible idea lol )

 

[TRDdrew]

Filled up and apears that we don't have any leaks, all and all is a win. and some original hardware carnage. If you don't have a set of these extractor sockets do you even own a old Toyota?

 

[TRDdrew]

Some period correct ARB IPF901 lighting showed up today. I know there are a lot better lights out there, but these are gonna look awesome hanging off the front

 

[suzuguru]

I just went down a little rabbit hole on the 924 SE…I never realized how few of those cars were imported.

Very cool car indeed

I drove a 924 in high school.

 

[CrabCake]

Some period correct lighting showed up today. I know there are a lot better lights out there, but these are gonna look awesome hanging off the front

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Very nice! Same as mine, but I don't have the ambers or covers....they do look good on the ARB!

 

[TRDdrew]

@CrabCake I'm liking them, time to get them wired up. Scored them for 80.00 off marketplace

 

[TRDdrew]

Spent Memorial Day weekend in Winston-Salem NC for a wedding. On the way home was able to link up with @landcruiserjunky and score the unicorn 91-94 passenger grab bar in BROWN !!

I was super excited but a bit nervous to cut through my perfect dash. For this piece of awesomeness it was worth it. Install (while nerve racking) is pretty straightforward. A one job.

1. Remove the glove box
2. Locate the predefined hole in the back of the dash and poke a hole through them. I did this by bending a nail, this worked well since there isn't a lot of room
3. Slowly trim the hole almost big enough to fit the metal sleeve of the handle through. The dash has some give so if you get the hole close, you can push it though just fine
5. Tighten the to 10mm nuts and reinstall the glove box

A great write up can be found here

91-94 Passenger dash grab handle install

I finally found and had time to install a gray grab handle I purchased from @landcruiserjunky. It is probably about a 30-45 minute install if you aren't taking pictures and wandering around looking for tools. I started by removing the two screws on the bottom of the glove box, and then the...

forum.ih8mud.com

I'm stoked with the out come

 

[S.CarolinaFZJ80]

Looking good Drew. Those dash bars are super useful for the passengers.

 

[TRDdrew]

Looking good Drew. Those dash bars are super useful for the passengers.

Ya I'm sure my wife will love it on the trail