Box Rocket

New member here, but I've been around on other forums for a long time, so I may recognize some of you or you may recognize me from places like IH8MUD, Expedition Portal, TacomaWorld, TTORA, Pirate etc.

Anyway, picked up a 1st gen a few weeks ago that I'm in the process of cleaning up and building for my oldest son's first car. I'm not totally new to these, but I'm sure I'll have some questions. I've had an FJ40, 1985 PU, 1993 SAS PU, two FZJ80s, 2004 Tacoma and now add this one to the mix.
I'm finding the truck is a bit of a mongrel. The VIN tags in the door say it's a '79, but it has a state issues VIN (Utah) and is titled as a '80. Looks to have had a 22R swapped in at some point with a new Weber 32/36. I believe the trans is the stock L series 4 speed along with the stock t-case. Both the trans and t-case are going to need a little work which is where most of my questions will be.

We're in the middle of doing a little refresh of the body and at the same time acquiring parts for some of the changes we have planned. Those plans include:
63" Chevy spring swap
3" TG front springs ? - still debating the size. Trying to keep it low.
315/75R16 Goodyear MTR's (being donated from my Cruiser)
FZJ80 factory wheels (also donated from my Cruiser)
High Steer. (truck is currently manual steering so I've gotta gather everything for this swap)
Need to rebuild the front axle. I think the birfs are bad but won't know exactly until I get it pulled apart.
Dual cases
We'll be building all our own armor.
Bedrack, with RTT (I'm a Tepui Tent dealer, hit me up if your looking and get a 10% discount)

Other plans down the road include:
3RZ or 5VZ swap
5 speed tranny swap
V6 rear axle with elocker or ARB
High pinion front diff with elocker hopefully or ARB

Here's few pics.
When we picked it up.


Got a new grill from an '83 with a few mods to work with the round headlights.


Body sanding


Primer


My son getting after the bed with the wire wheel




Current condition. Passenger side has been cleaned up and primed. Need to finish the driver side, then hopefully get paint on it before it's too cold.

Box Rocket

Does anyone have any info on these fiberglass fenders??? I have not been able to find any info on them anywhere other than that they might be from Canada?

ToyotaDon

Hey Adam, that pic's not coming up. Could the fenders be from this guy? https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f209...-build-285276/

nothingbetter

Placing a year can be confusing. it depends which month it was built. If it was built in 02/79 it will be a 79 if it was built in 11/79 it will be an 80. I'm not positive which month it changes but I believe its at the end of June.

There are a few companies that build fiberglass Toyota parts. Corey in Penticton, BC has a company called toyotafiberglass.com. I've bought his box, fenders, tailgate and cowl and its all great stuff. I can't speak for the quality of the American companies but I've heard people who have bought both say its lower quality than what Corey puts out. It will be a nice looking truck when its done!

Box Rocket

Yes that's the one. I already sent him a PM and got a response. Looks like shipping a single set from Canada isn't very cost effective. I suppose I could try to put a group buy together since it sounds like 5-sets would cost the same as a single set to ship? It's not a critical part of my build, although I'd really like to do it. Just gotta give it a bit more thought and see what I can do to get a set.

81 4X4

Nice looking truck! Put some safety glasses on the kid! Those wire wheels throw stuff everywhere. Especially little pieces of wire that like to find eyeballs. Rockauto has the correct grille. They have a lot of parts for these trucks. I've bought parts for mine from them and never had a problem http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=704106&cc=1277120&jsn=364

Box Rocket

Some updates.
Phase1 of paint is done with first base coat complete. This was a few nights ago.

Box Rocket

from last night.
More progress last night. Base coats are complete. After a couple days of curing I'll spray the clearcoat.

Box Rocket

I've forgotten to update here for a bit so this is from a couple weeks ago.

been a crazy few weeks. Had a huge deadline at work and have been doing 14-16 hour days. My Dad had a massive heart attack when his heart completely stopped. My mom saved him by doing CPR and keeping blood flowing to his brain until the EMT's got there. They were able to get his heart going again in the ER! Total miracle. Half of his heart is dead from a previous heart attack that none of us knew about (including him), and he needed 4 stints in the arteries on the good half. He spent a week in the hospital and has actually recovered amazingly well and is home now. So I spent several days in Idaho with them. But the craziness of that is over and Friday we wrapped up the deadline at work and I've been able to take a breath.

My wife and kids were in Denver over the weekend to visit my wife's sister so I had some uninterrupted time this weekend to fiddle with the truck. It was some much needed therapy.

I got the clearcoat sprayed. It came out ok, but it's a $150 paintjob so definitely not perfect. It's a "ten-footer", looks good from ten feet away. I think we'll do a bit of wet sanding to smooth out a few spots and call it good.

Also got some sliders built and mounted. These are massive overkill on this truck but I guess that's not a bad thing. We wanted a bit of a step to make getting into the cab easier and still have good rocker protection. Round tube could have worked but it's the best step. I decided to use 5x2 3/16" wall rec tube. They are heavy duty! I have no doubt they are stronger than the sliders on my 80. Anyway, simple no frills, descrete and good protection with full coverage of the rockers and should keep the doors away from rocks. Welded to the frame with 4 gusseted legs.

Next up is a suspension overhaul, and addressing the front axle that has numerous issues.






Yes I know the camber looks completely wonky. Likely bad bearings but I need to check for a bent housing. It's not as bad as it looks in this photo because the wheels are slightly turned which seems to exaggerate the effect. Look at the pic from a few weeks ago with the front wheels straight and you can see it's definitely not as wonky.






Sliders

Box Rocket

This first pic was from last week. Little old school style with the double-single rollbar. I got this from the PO when I bought the truck but it was in rough shape. Also I hated how these were a little tall. It was probably more "functional" with the main hoops being about 2" taller than the roof, but just looked weird. I cut the main tubes down a little and I'm much happier with the look. We cleaned it up and repainted it and now it doesn't look to bad.


Today, my wife and I took a drive down to Low Range Offroad and picked up a bunch of stuff.
63" Chevy spring Kit (hangers, shackles, shackle hangers, ubolt flip)
3" Trail Gear front springs
Front ubolt flip
Ford shock towers
IFS steering box mount
Front spring hanger
Front axle truss
New mirrors
Marker lights
New rear shock mounts

Also picked up a couple used parts from some local guys.
'83 front axle housing. Needs lots of cleanup but it's straight and has the lower truss that mine doesn't.
Complete IFS rear axle with welded diff (won't be keeping the welded diff)
Longside front axle/birf
IFS Steering Box
DC front driveshaft.

All in all a good parts run. And it all fit in the back of the 80.

flg8r22

iTrader: (1)

That's one heck of a parts run! I'm digging the two tone paint. Are you going to two tone the interior as well?

Box Rocket

The interior was mostly redone by the PO and it's pretty good. A few things that need to be cleaned up but it's all been done in black and looks good. Keeping it black inside.

ToyotaDon

Yeah, what a haul!

dirtdobberoffroad

very nice the paint looks good!