vandert

From stock to not

Slow progress will be made with some changes already made.

Bought

196k recent head gasket fix, and some top end work, came with stock running boards, and rusted out exhaust.

So Mod's started.

Currently at 203k

First was Manual Hubs, followed by Dynomax mandrel bent exhaust, followed by Husky floormats front and rear and then Weathertech in-channel ventvisors. Then more maintanence stuff, did Oil cooler gaskets as they were leaking, new belts, discovered I'm missing the bottom pully for the A/C ie the tensioner, dropped the cat and welded in test pipe, then seafoamed it, just tons of crap like that, now's when the fun begins though

Currently waiting to go on 2 inch BJ spacers and matched skyjacker shocks up front.

Looking for panhard drop bar, and Cruiser springs for the rear, then will be a Roger Brown lift of 1.5 or 2 inches to make room for the pending engine swap That will do it for lift until I SAS it or go long travel

Done today

285x75-16 on Taco rims - got them for a steal

So, onto pic's

Just a couple of phases to current - not much done yet, but looking to get a rack, a pair of lockers, then an engine swap is in the very near future, still trying to figure out what type of engine though I will be getting sliders very soon, and then f&r bumpers will be one of the last things I do, but want to get a tent on the top as I camp and fish alot - bought to get back into hunting as well.

Putting stereo in it this coming up weekend as well, kenwood excelon head unit with 30g ipod, then Infinity component's f&r followed up by two pioneer 12's

Ball joint spacers will be put in next weekend I don't have my kids, so will ride like this for a few weeks

2nd Day I owned it, on a camping trip


Camping trip a little later down the road with a fresh wax job, recently gone out A/C, and we are at Ft Pierce in Florida in this one


Flexing first time without swaybars


More fairly stock pic's




Then, went through all the trouble of striping my stock rims, and painting, then while searching for tires, came across these 285's, so my newly painted rims with my new rims and tires in the back of the 4 Runner, hence the sag



And, how she sit's right now

vandert

Haven't updated this in a bit but was waiting on the cash for an alignment and a trackbar relocation bracket, got them both in today, and tomorrow I have to go in in the morning but am off in the afternoon so hope to have before and after pic's of me flexing with the 285's on stock height and then the 285"s with the 2 inch BJ spacer, new BJ's, and Landcruiser springs in the rear, not to mention finally putting the new longer Superlift shocks on

She's growing up a bit more tomorrow, after that, will be the body lift, then engine, then locker.

I picked up my welder on Sunday as well and am making an extension cord so I can actually plug it in and use it from my dryer plug, but it's a stick welder and I'm just doing sliders and bumpers and maybe eventually the SAS with it but the SAS is after a bunch of other stuff.

vandert

Well, got alot done today, pic's will come tomorrow as it was after dark when I finished up.

New CV joints - well, one new and kept the other as a trail spare.
New Upper balljoints
2 inch BJ spacers
New Properly matched front shocks
Landcruiser Springs
New properly matched rear shocks
Trackbar relocation bracket - didn't realize I needed bolts, so it's not attached right now

Loosened the torsen bars off but will tighten them back up to where they were at, currently i think the front sets a little lower than the rear, but it was higher so that my daughter couldn't get in, so that made me happy, she ended up using the back tire and climbing up.

Once I do the body lift - getting moved up actually so I can go ahead and weld up my body protection/sliders and grip tape the top for a step to get in as well for my kids

Picked up quite a few tricks today on how to do the BJ spacers, and also the rear suspension, rear only took like 15 minutes, but front was another story mainly because of the cutting and I didn't place a block in the suspension to give me space on the first side, but knew for the second, anyway, pic's tomorrow

coryc85

Great looking truck. I like the black Taco rims. I see you are in Melbourne. The big FL4WD Campout is this weekend in Brooksville at the Sertoma Campground. Several of us from FL TTORA are going to be there. Come on by if you can.

Lumpy

Can't wait to see some pic's!!!

vandert

Lift is on, but no pics as I worked on it till dark last night, and then didn't get out of work till after dark tonight.

I'll try to get the pic's up tomorrow evening.

As for the thing this weekend, don't think so, wish it was next weekend, I have my kids this weekend, but where is it at? I might try to do it with them, they always loved it in the past

vandert

Here's some lift pic's

IFS flex, and my daughter, son was taking the pic's though, have to get a alignment so I can't go too far right now, alignment is WAY off Oh well, got the rear all buttoned up a few minutes ago with the trackbar relocation before I took it out to test the flex.

vandert

Well, figured it's time for an Update:

Got a 1995 Cobra Engine, Harness, ECU, Injectors, etc everything that I'm taking out right now that I got to test drive before that will be going in.

Picked up an AOD on Sat that has 3k on it since rebuild and have the adapter to make it work with the Transfer case

Picked up some Hella 500ff;s tonight

Have a Roger Brown/4Crawler 2 inch Body lift in the mail, expecting it in the next few days.

A while back I threw 2 12's in it with an OLD punch amp, amp is going out and my mids and highs are from stock, so that will be the next order of business after the body lift and lights are on. Have Kenwood excellon deck with Ipod control on it so tunes are Nice right now

Ton's planned, and coming together slowly, will be getting Wet Okale's for it SOON, and a rack because picking up my new Longboard this week, and will be hitting the beach a few times a week now

Updates to come

vandert

Oh yeah, did the EGR removal on this beast and helped a TON as mine was malfunctioning.

Also since last post have did some maintanence but nothing big other than EGr, started a new Job on Feb 1st so things slowed down except for ordering haha.

And I have the forged 306 I picked up not too long ago as well, so I have a shortblock built, and a complete engine with 120k on it from the Cobra - will be putting the cobra in as I don't need much more than the 245 it's rated at, and it has a cam and headers on it already

Toreador

looks good

i'd like to see a side pic of the stance after

graduatedpine

Looking good, can't wait to see more.

vandert

Thanks guys,

Pretty pissed right now, looks like the 95 cobra motor that I went and test drove in the car etc.. Well, on his way to the shop to have it removed he rear ended sommone, so I have to look at it and see if I want it, he said it hit freaking hard so I might still be doing it, but not sure if it will be in running order as it was

I'm low on motivation right now too because this thing drives like CRAP right now - the EGR removal helped alot, but you can only bandaid for a little bit, has no power, exhaust manifold leak is so freaking annoying and I have to tinker with the 3.slow constantly.

I'm close to just selling it as it is, then selling the stuff I haven't put on it yet, and buying a newer Tacoma or Tundra and starting over on it.

Plan was to do this then buy me a newer Harley after this was dialed in with the 302, but it's not the easiest swap for the 302, and i don't feel like messing with the wiring to do the 3.4. I'm sure I'll end up keeping it, and doing the swap, just seems like I get kicked in the nuts everytime I get something going with this thing

To top things off, my longboard doesnt' fit inside, I Have to have the back window down, which kinda sucks as I take the board to work with me, and I love to surf on rainy days so need windows closed, and during the normal summer I don't want my board sitting on top of the truck all time, and dont want the rear window down all the time - prob just end up bying a funboard - 7ftish and keeping it but love my longboard and prefer to hang ten and walk around on the board.

Bitching rant over, help me on motivation guys.

Dr.Trevorkian

Tell you what, I'll get my lift and 285s on asap and we'll take both trucks to avon park and run them, see which you like better and that may affect your decision making one way or another.

I cut the top off my 84 because I hated the rear power window, did the same to my 86 Bronco too come to think of it.

vandert

Well me and Trevorkian met up and did a run, well he rode with me and I followed a older Cherokee on 5 inch lift and MTZ's and well lets just say it's crazy how good this thing did.

No more on the edge of getting rid of it, did GREAT Some insane steep little up and downs, some off camber stuff, and some overall great trails, as in the best I've seen in Florida period. And it's only an hour away in Ft Pierce

Can't wait to go again

vandert

Kissed a tree on that trail run in and off camber spot, not to bad actually but sucks as I didn't notice that night, I heard it but my spotter said I didnt' hit so didn't worry about it. Oh well, it's not too bad and it's on the back fender on the passenger side.

In other news, still haven't heard from Roger on the body lift but I'm expecting it in the next few days, I figured around 3 weeks for it but we'll see I ordered a roof rack - have a tracking number for it and should be here soon

Got some flex pic's of it yesterday but they are phone pic's and I haven't uploaded them yet, when I do I'll upload, made it to the top of a little rock stack here I've never made before, had the tire off the ground in the back a good 10-18 inches and completely tucking the passenger side rear, decent travel out of the front as well

vandert

The roof rack came in yesterday, and the body lift came in today. Supposed to go 4 wheeling this weekend but thinking about making it a wrenching weekend?

Hmm, what would you do?

One last weekend at this level, or get er dun!

graduatedpine

IMO i would take this last weekend to wheel it at this level, because once it changes its done for good, BUT!!.....................you gotta take lots of pics

vandert

Well decided to wheel it on Sunday, have plans all day saturday, but I now have a Rack on the Runner Pretty stocked as this means way more surfing for me

It's just a stock rack and I put it on with the rivnuts and siliconed them in, feels really strong and I'm looking forward to using the hell out of it. I'll be getting a safari rack for it soon and will do the typical highlift/shovel on one side, fab up a way to carry my bikes, and a spot for my surfboard as well

It was a fun project, now for some action shots before the body lift, can't wait till Sunday now

Kuntryboy

can u post pics of it just sitting somewhere so i can see your lift from the side with the 285's if u dont mind.. thanks

vandert

Let me know if this works

http://pbckt.com/sG.FVc