he is @racersonly on IG
https://www.instagram.com/racersonly/

 

Makes sense

 

Tommy Morris (PPI) guilted me into working on the Toyota yesterday......well, the wheels anyways. I'm currently waiting for a few parts to show up for the Chenowth so i put in some time on the Toyota. I have 6 wheels that had just went to the polisher and i have 5 more to go. I have to take the backing plate off of the beadlock (yes, you heard that correctly) so I can put new silicone on the wheels so they will hold air. The old silicone is over 30 years old and is hard as a rock. Soooo, let the fun begin...




The above picture shows the bolt holes on the inside of the wheel. Once removed I had to break the seal of old silicone around the sides of the backing plate that attached to the sides of the wheel...




This was going to be fun...




WD40 and scotchbrite seemed to do the work but i had to use a razor blade too. The wheel cleaned up nicely...




The backing plate was next and it too was a lot of fun but turned out great...




The wheel still needs to be polished but for now they are just about ready to be put back together, just need to get some new hardware...




Here's the wheel with the beadlock ring if the first photo was throwing anyone off...




I will try and squeeze in little projects like this when waiting on parts for the Chenowth which seems to happen from time to time during these builds.

 

nice job cleaning up the beadlocks. I am sort of surprised they don't have a few more bolts.
But they had to have worked or they would not have gone with so few fasteners.

 

I just read this whole thread in 3 days on my off time. GREAT WORK and cannot wait to see the finished product. I remember watching Ivan on TV back when I was a kid and always drooling over his trucks.
did the t-shirts ever happen? I'd be interested in a Large if they even happen.

 

The t-shirts haven't happened yet and I haven't touched the truck in about 8 months. That is all about to change after you read the following update..

Not really an update but my buddy Dave Baldwin made me aware of this old school MTEG fender from either #003 or #004 that was available in Long Beach for $20! Consider it SOLD! Big thanks to my high school buddy Chuck Soper for picking it up for me yesterday...






Photo credit for screenshot unknown.

As for an actual update on #001, the Ivan Stewart Chenowth 1000 tribute buggy is almost finished and delivery to the new owner should be at the end of April during the NORRA Mexican 1000 where it “Might” be sitting on display at the Bilstein Shock Absorbers booth. We will then be on the #001 restoration 100% and no stopping till it is finished. I think I speak for everyone when I say this build has been going on long enough.



Above is a picture of the Chenowth as of now, it should look like thie (below) in about a month....



Photo credit Kurt Scherbaum

 

I check my email everyday hoping there's an update from this thread, I cannot WAIT for updates!!

 

Any update?

 

Time for a well deserved update. I have been meaning to talk to someone about making another body for the Toyota as I only have 1 body. The plan was to have a race body, a spare race body and a museum body. Anyone who has ever had molds made knows it can be very pricey. I made a post on Instagram (my IG signature is “Racersonly”) concerning a body....



weston from McQueen fiberglass reaches out to us and said he might be interested...



I’m very familiar with their work and craftsmanship...







I can’t risk destroying these panels and I truly believe there is a market for them. I’m pretty sure most would agree with me that this fiberglass body built for Cal Wells III and PPI is the best looking fiberglass kit ever built. There are a few that are close but they don’t look this good. As far as I know there MIGHT be a few front fenders lying around somewhere but I haven’t been able to find any....and I’ve been looking.

so, my thought process is to have a couple bodies built and whoever builds them can keep the molds to sell to whomever. Any of you 1984-1988 Toyota SR5 owners interested in a body? By the looks of my inbox over the past year or two there is. Well boys, you are in luck. Weston came over today to look at the truck...



he was pretty happy with what he saw and next thing you know....



This might take a little time but a realistic goal would be the Off Road Expo event (if it isn’t cancelled) in October. I suggest you guys that might be interested in a body to check in with McQueen and put in an order.

We’re pretty excited about this, not only for us but for all the Toyota fans out there.

The move to the new race shop starts at the end of the month. The Chenowth 1000 restoration is done and the Toyota is getting 100% of our attention from here out.

 

Awesome! Glad to see work continue on this! Can't wait to see the finished product.

 

Busy year in 2020, not much of anything got done on the Toyota as I finished up the 1976 Chenowth 1000 Ivan Stewart replica. The Chenowth was finished in Early July and delivered to Lynn Chenowth and now on display at his Chenowth Museum in Puercebu (South of San Felipe) Baja Mexico.



Now a Little update on the #PPI001. Weston and Jose are busy working on the bodywork to massage it and add support so it is ready for the molds. To remind everyone, McQueen Prototype Design (MPD) and myself worked out a deal to make these body panels available to the public with the blessing from non other than Cal Wells (Owner of PPI and original builder of the truck). Once the molds are complete they will be available through MPD so you can contact them directly, check them out on their website www.mpdfiberbodywerx.com.

you can see in the following photos that they have taken the original body that was a little dinged up and have tightened up the body lines a little.




There was a little too much of a gap on the 001 chassis between the door and the front fender so they are massaging that also...



the hood needed a little support where it butted up against the windshield so that was handled....


I’d say they are close with the front end, then they will focus on the rear glass that needs some TLC. So excited to be back on this project after a year long hiatus....



I’ll try and keep the updates coming, probably one every couple weeks......I hope.

 

Super cool keep the updates coming!

 

Not sure why the story didnt show up with the update a few days ago so I'll try this again and see if this works....

Little update on the #PPI001. Weston and Jose are busy working on the bodywork to massage it and add support so it is ready for the molds. To remind everyone, McQueen Prototype Design (MPD) and myself worked out a deal to make these body panels available to the public with the blessing from non other than Cal Wells (Owner of PPI and original builder of the truck). Once the molds are complete they will be available through MPD so you can contact them directly, check them out on their website www.mpdfiberbodywerx.com.

you can see in the following photos that they have taken the original body that was a little dinged up and have tightened up the body lines a little.




There was a little too much of a gap on the 001 chassis between the door and the front fender so they are massaging that also...



the hood needed a little support where it butted up against the windshield so that was handled....


mid say they are close with the front end, then they will focus on the rear glass that needs some TLC. So excited to be back on this project after a year long hiatus....



I’ll try and keep the updates coming, probably one every couple weeks......I hope.

 

Fun thread. I remember going to the LB Grand Prix in 86' iirc and they had Stewart's Baja vehicle on display. It must have just finished a race, as I remember more than a few damaged body panels. After all the cover shots I'd seen with the vehicle flying through the air with the suspension pulled out it was surprising to see how low to the ground it actually sat. The crew man watching over the vehicle just commented that low center of gravity with long wheel travel was the key. A lesson that higher isn't always better.
Toyota was into the long distance rally racing bitd, mostly around the AE86. Stewart was kinda like that, but much more exciting, with a lot more truck enthusiasts to tap into.

 

Ok, another update. Just got back from a quick trip to McQueen Prototype Designs in Gardena California to pick up the #001 PPI Toyota. Weston and Juan are finished using the truck for mock up so it was time to get it out of the shop to give them some room. The front fiberglass is now complete and ready for molds to be made.






They strengthen the hood and front fenders adding support where the hood and fenders meet and also along the back of the hood where it meets the windshield...





Here’s the support on the front fenders...





Another angle





Another...





Looks like the original rear fenders I had for the Toyota were a real train wreck. They are actually better than they were as we tried to fix them with some fiberglass a year ago but they lost all their strength and were too far gone to actually make molds from. I have molds for the rear but those were also in bad shape so McQueen really has their work cut out for them. Luckily they were able to squeeze one more set of rear panels out of those molds before they threw them in the trash. From their they started smoothing and fine tuning the lines and also adding strength.





Juan paid special attention to the 1” lip that seemed to have gotten lost in the molds over the years. The lip of the fender wheel was added in and he is in the process of fine tuning them...






The panels also needed some length adjustment so Juan added some more real estate...





It’s funny how good of shape I thought my fiberglass was in (well the front anyways) until all the flaws were pointed out to me. They have done a lot of work and you can see the passion they have by the quality of the product.


The Toyota is back home at the race shop so I can actually get started on getting this project back on track. Weston and Juan said they would need another 4-5 weeks to finish up the panels and then make the molds. Once the molds are finished I will get my bodies mounted and they will be ready for paint.


If ANY of you guys have a 1984-1988 Toyota SR5 and was some original Ivan Stewart fiberglass, contact McQueen and get your orders in.

 

Big day for the Toyota and anyone that owns a 1984-1988 Toyota SR5. McQueen Prototype and Design has finished the molds for the PPI 001 Ivan Stewart Toyota and they are AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE! Contact Weston at (310)-327-2337.

The Finish on the panels are fantastic and they went out of there way to strengthen them by adding a lip to the quarter panels and hood to make them more rigid.



Hood:



back side of hood:


Front fenders:



Inside front fenders:



Rear fender:





Can’t wait to mount these up and see the final fit and finish. Unfortunately that will have to wait a few weeks as Challenger IV is being cleaned up for a show in Monterey in 5 weeks...

 

Beautiful town, Monterey. I grew up just up the coast from it, and did a lot of scuba diving in Monterey. Beautiful town, and the area around it is amazing. Pretty good diving, although the visibility can be lousy at times. The surfing isn't half bad, either

Enjoy the show! You've got something great to show off.

Pat☺

 

that Challenger is cool! But those panels are down right sexy

 

that Challenger is cool! But those panels are down right sexy

 

Long overdue but here we go. The plan was to start the Toyota within the next month or so but like they say, “there is no time like the present”. Not only that, Jeff Furrier motivated me with his post on Instagram about getting ready to start the Larry Ragland #Grasshopper race truck. I still have to finish up Challenger III but that won’t take much, mostly cleaning it up and waiting for the rear shocks to be finished. I will juggle the two until Challenger III is done.



The Ivan Stewart PPI 001 Toyota was taken off the lift and moved to the “Fabrication” side of the shop.







First step is to mount the NEW Body that McQueen Fiberglass recently made molds for. All the mounts are there, I just need to make sure everything lines up straight before punching a bunch of holes in the fresh fiberglass....



Once I get that done I will concentrate on getting a few more things fabricated up including the front bumper and altering the rear bumper back to original. Baby steps right now until I start checking some stuff off the list. Stay tuned......