Just a heads-up, for some reason your text color was set to black, making it camo'd to the background (viewed on my computer; not sure if different on mobile version). Took me a sec to figure out you had not made a post that was pics only lol. Went ahead and recolored it to yellow in the quote.

The new fenders look slick on the wall. No doubt will look glorious on the truck.

 

I know, I have no idea why it is doing that. I went to edit the color of the font but it wouldnt let me for some reason. Any Admin guy help?

 

Anyways, here’s an update for today. After mocking up the body and rigging it into place a few weeks ago, I was able to start mounting everything once I was happy with the layout.

First off I had to carefully drill holes in the fiberglass without screwing it up, that’s where the painters tape came in....



I was drilling one at a time and using the Dzus tool to help locate exactly where I wanted to drill the holes...



I was pretty happy with the way the body mounted to the car, just need to clean up some gap lines in the body as the door has been fixed a few times and needs some love....



The hood was next, it went fairly easy and only needs some slight massaging to make the fit a little better...



The rear fiberglass will be mounted AFTER I make some new rear mounts. The old bedsides were so screwed up that the mounts didn’t line up with the new glass. If you look at the passenger side door, the bottom window line should be level with the top of the rear fender. If you look closely it is bending down towards the rear...



Looking at the drivers side you can see I lifted up the rear of the fender and now the lines flow with the rest of the truck....



That’s the update for now, hope to keep making progress, even if it’s just little things. Stay tuned...

 

New glass is looking great!

 

Pretty exciting news (believe it or not) for the #001 Toyota. Allen Russell was kind enough to sell me the PPI #004 stadium truck of Steve Millen.




credit unknown..

Now, you might be asking yourself how is owning ANOTHER PPI truck going to help with the Ivan Stewart #001 truck? In one word......SPARES.



Transmissions, bell housings, axle tubes, hubs...


Ring and pinion sets, body panels, misc hardware...


Huge win with 2 steering boxes (right), ton of torsion bars, axles and sway bars...


Headers, A-arms, rear cantilever arms, drive lines....


And 42 totes of specificity labeled spare parts including Ball Joints, engine parts, shifters, ignition systems, calipers, brake pads, sway bar arms, suspension hardware, TRD plug wires, distributors, engine mounts, alternators and a crap ton more stuff...


Thanks to Cody Swanty for letting me borrow his Dodge diesel and 32’ trailer. I don’t do much heavy hauling anymore and I’m sure my 1/2 ton Chevy would have been none too happy with trying to pull that crap all the way home. Cody likes to say I’m a “1/2 ton guy who likes to do 3/4 ton stuff” hahahhaha.

I would have had to have about 5-6 new torsion bars made, new steering pinion, new bell housing and a host of other custom one-off parts for #001. The cost of having all these CUSTOM parts made (minus the bell housing) would have cost me close to $5-$6k alone. I just made sense to buy it all.

Example: the steering box alone would most likely cost $6k to duplicate today (if not more). I now have 2 spares! Here’s a shot of the one out of #001 in pieces before assembling...


#001 thru #004 we’re all built on the same platform, basically the only difference was the 2 desert trucks were xtra cabs and the 2 stadium trucks were standard cabs. All the parts were interchangeable.

No plans for #004 just yet, basically it will be used as a template for parts sourcing, layout templates for wiring, plumbing and anything else we have questions on about #001. That alone will help immensely. All focus right now is on #001, and finding more money to actually be able to do more work.

 

Three updates in one post. Here's the first:

Getting ready to send the Toyota to my buddies place in Boulder City. Erik Dickinson who did a lot of work on the Toyota when it was at Collins motorsports is going to do some quick fab work to the front and rear bumpers next week. Both bumpers need a little work but not much. I have the equipment to do the work (welders, tube bender and notcher) but my tig welding skills are horrible and the front and rear bumpers are focal points on the truck. The last thing I want to do is screw up this work of art with bogger welds.

Here is a picture of the front bumper now, all it needs are the 3 hoops added to the main tube and a few light tabs...



Here's what the front bumper should look like when completed...



The rear bumper is a little more tricky. As you can see the majority of the bumper is still there, the old owner just had it simplified by cutting off the wrap around bars that went around the rear fenders.





Here's what it should look like when completed...



One other thing, the drivers side rear hoop will be cut off so you can get a better angle at refueling the truck during pit stops. The fuel filler is located to the left of the spare tire (drivers side in the photo) and is hidden by the spare tire in the action photo above...



I'm hoping that once this work is finished I can start concentrating on taking the truck apart and getting it ready for paint. I will most likely put the 18RG motor back in the truck to double check and make sure everything lines up. Still moving forward, although not as fast as I'd like but progress is progress.

2nd update:

Erik is getting some work done on the #PPI001 Toyota. First he made a jig to hold the McQueen rear fiberglass into place...


Then he had to cycle the suspension to full droop to make sure everything cleared...


Darryl Putman made the original rear mounts but I gave him some HORRIBLE rear glass to
Mount and the new glass shows how far off they were....not Darryls Fault at all. As
You can see the mounts are a little too far away from the fender...


Luckily I grabbed the mounts for the stadium truck (they are smaller and made from thinner material so they would break away easier) but they are closer to the correct distance for mounting...


Erik will modify Darryl’s thicker mounts and add about 2” to them. Here’s the clearance after mocking everything up...


Can’t wait till he done with that and then starts on the wrap around rear bumper! Stay tuned.

3rd update:

Erik is working hard on the Toyota, he already has the front bumper tacked up and ready for welding. He started with the main hoop...



With the main hoop in place he was ready to start the outer hoops...



Here it is with the outer hoops in place...



Another view...



And another...


I couldn’t be happier so far with the way it’s turning out. Erik will be moving to the back bumper in a day or so, can’t wait to see it when he finishes his work.

 

Couple more updates....

With the front bumper finished it was time for Erik Dickinson from Dam Custom Fab (Boulder City Nevada) to move to the rear. In the last post he mocked everything up and cycled the rear suspension for clearance, now it was time to make the rear fiberglass hangers...



After squaring everything up the rear glass was on...



The rear wrap around bumper was next on the list, tying into the existing bumper and attaching to the frame just behind the rear tire. Here’s the first bend...



And the second, you can see it attached to the frame...



Frame mount...



Here’s a shot of it complete on the passenger side...



And a couple shots of it with the rear McQueen fiberglass installed...





This thing is really starting to come alive. After this I don’t thing there is any more major fabrication that needs to be done to the truck. I should be picking the truck up early next week so I’ll be able to get the full effect of the work done. Anyone else getting excited over the progress?!?!?



Here's the last update, you are now officially caught up!

he Ivan Stewart Toyota is back home after spending a few weeks up in Boulder City getting some fab work done (Thanks Erik For Dam Custom Fab). Erik did a fantastic job (as usual) and it’s not the first time he has done work for me....last time he was at Collins Motorsports.



The picture above shows how much better the rear glass looks since the mounts for the old glass (bad fiberglass) didn’t look right. Truck looks great with that fresh McQueen fiberglass mounted.

Here’s the drivers side rear corner. Notice Erik cut off the upper tube on the rear bumper (drivers side) just like it was in 1987 to make room for the fueler...





Passenger side rear...



Closer look at the front push bar. If you look closely you can see the stock Toyota bumper hidden in there. I still need to mount the orange bumper lights and side bumper skirts but you get the idea....



Closer look at the tig welds...



Pretty happy with the results, now it’s time to move onto the next phase. What is the next phase? Well, I’m gonna drop the 18RG motor in and make sure everything fits. If all is well then I’ll probably have the exhaust built, then start taking the truck apart and start on body work and paint. Still a long ways to go but I’m starting to knock some stuff off the list.

 

YES!!!! I can't wait to see this thing after paint! Thank you for the update.

 

Thank you for continuing the updates on this, truly interesting content, your updates are epic
keep it coming!

 

This Is so Very cool thanks for all of the great pictures. I have an 86 factory turbo xtra cab I want to wrap with this paint scheme

 

Awesome!!!

 

Been a while since I've updated this thread so i will post a couple back to back updates.....here it goes:

Did a little work on the Toyota yesterday, nothing major, just a little. My Grandson is in town (for a month) so I can’t send all day in the shop and I’ve been juggling the Raceco and finishing up #ChallengerIII. I stumbled across the bumper ends for the front bumper and figured you know what, those should be easy to install after a little trimming.





Well, about 3 hours later I was finally finished. If you notice, the lower 1/4 of the stock front bumper has been trimmed off, just like PPI did when it was built. The bumper was also pushed back almost flush with the grill and is only for looks. The bottom 1/4 of the side bumpers needed to be removed and also notched for them to fit around the front hoop on the tube bumper...



Here’s the result, not too shabby really. I wish I could have notched the plastic tighter but you can’t get them on as there needs to be wiggle room to get them into place.....trust me, I tried.



I will probably cut the length a little more so it stops flush with the back side of the side blinker.



Doesn’t make a HUGE difference but it does to me.


Carrera Photo.

My plan is to put the trans in and then mount the motor along with all the tin work. Once that’s all in I need to set up an appointment with REF Unlimited here in Kingman and get the exhaust made. I will do all this while going back and forth between projects.

Good news is the #ChallengerIII project is almost completed and then I can focus 100% back onto this build. I’ve screwed around long enough, this truck needs to get completed.

 

Update #2:

Well, I was at it again for a few hours today, looks like you guys are motivating me a little. Just like yesterday I looked at the trans that needs to go in the truck and said “that should only take me about an hour to put in”. After tearing the shop apart for approx 2 hours looking for the freshly powdercoated trans mounts I strategically placed so they wouldn’t get lost.......they got lost in the move. I ended up finding them and of course went “Oh yea, I remember that now”. In the mean time I jacked the truck up on all fours so I could adjust the ride height as the truck is sitting a little low. Once I put the trans and motor in the truck will look like a stadium truck sucked to the ground.





After I re-adjusted the torsion fingers (front and rear) I took the truck off the jacks to see how she looks....

Before....



After (look at the wheel clearance in the fender wells)....





It’s almost at full droop, maybe an inch lower but once I add the weight of the motor and trans it will settle down a few inches. That is most likely where I will keep the ride height as it looks similar to the way it was set up when Ivan was driving it at the 1987 MINT 400...


credit Dave Baldwin

Trans is under the truck now waiting for me to put it in. Maybe I’ll feel a little froggy next week and put the motor in and see what crazy stuff I’ll have to do to make it run again....

 

Update #3:

Back in the shop today, good news and bad news. Good news was I got the trans in but it was a chore. Working by yourself sucks sometimes but I’ve been doing it for years. Trying to balance this trans on two floor jacks is nerve racking so I used some ratchet straps as safety’s. Took approx 2 hours because I was fighting the front mounts a little bit she finally was mounted in the chassis...



After patting myself on the back I decided to pull the motor out and take a look at it as I needed to see if I actually have motor mounts buried somewhere. Lucky for me I found them....




As I was looking at the motor something didn’t look right. I went back to the trans and looked at the bell housing again. $&@!, I put the wrong bell housing on the trans . I looked through the pile of parts I had and there it was...



So, long story short I changed out the bell housing and mounted the trans back in the car. My bad not lining up the motor and trans when I first got it, shame on me. Oh well, that’s why I’m doing what I’m doing now.







One problem I noticed was the mid mount on the trans has some soon-to-be stripped out studs in the housing. I will get that fixed soon but for the meantime I need to get the motor mounted to see about the exhaust layout and also the aluminum panels...



Next is putting the motor in. I have the motor mounts on the engine side but not on the chassis side. They might be buried in one of the boxes I have but I’ve been through every box over the last couple years and I don’t remember seeing them....I’ll look again. Anyways, I’ll see what happens next week when I get a chance to drop it in...

 

Always wondered if the engine was still in the front on these trucks, and now I know. What's the status on the engine? 18RG and not a 152e, right? I know this was a desert truck, but did any of the other manufacturers/teams run a 4 cylinder in the MTEG trucks? Hard to find much tech info out there about the MTEG stadium trucks from that golden era.

 

We will run the 18RG engine but we also have a 152e sitting in the stadium truck we could use. I’d rather use the 18RG for when we race the truck at NORRA as parts will be easier to find compared to the 152e. Then again you never know.

 

Wow, I can't believe I have let this thread go this long without an update. I've done a little work since the last post in July of 2022 so I'm going to post them here now separately. Hopefully you guys are still interested.
Here goes:

History lesson- Race #21, The 1986 Frontier 500:

I’m skipping the Riverside Off Road World Championships because Ivan didn’t race the #001 truck, he raced the #003 short course truck.

The fifth annual Frontier 500 course would NOT be a point to point race as in the past (basically Vegas to Reno). Instead HDRA decided to do 4 laps around a 111 mile course where they basically run the MINT 400 now (Jean area).



Ivan Stewart was leading the points in class 1 as he had already chalked up 2 wins so far this season (Great Mohave 250 and the Baja 500). Ivan would start in the 19th position (#119) and was already replacing a trans after the first lap. After replacing it they found out that the clutch was bad. It took Ivan 6 1/2 hours to do his first lap! After that he would have a smooth run and be the last finisher in class 1 (6th place), dropping him to 2nd place in season points behind some guy named Mark McMillin.

Meanwhile some 17 year old kid wanted to race his first race in his dads prerunner so dad said “Ok, but I’m going to have you split the driving with a seasoned veteran (Frank Arciero Jr)”. Frank would drive the first and last lap while a young Robby Gordon would drive the middle two laps. The rest as they say is history as Robby and Frank would win the Overall and class 2 race in Robby’s first desert race…….in the family prerunner!



More class winners……















Results:



Points standing after the Frontier 500:



Total starters 193
Total finishers 65
33.7% finishing rate
Race distance 444 miles
Time allowance 18 hours
Fastest overall time:
Robby Gordon/Frank Arciero Jr- 9:40:45 (class 2)
Fast lap of the day:
Frank Snook 2:10:10 (class 1)

References:
1986 Dusty Times magazine
1986 SCORE Baja 1000 program

 

Update from February of 2023:Ivan Stewart was asked by someone if he would be interested in racing the truck again when it was finished and he said no, "been there, done that" type answer which I respect. Once the truck is finished my plan is to race either the NORRA 500 or the NORRA 1000 (maybe both). We will see if he changes his mind and wants to do a stage or 2. Then again, maybe he might want to drive it testing or something like that once it's finished, just for nostalgic reasons.

I dropped the motor in the truck to have it measured for new motor mounts. Looks like the red motor mounts might have been for a different set up as they don't line up with the existing mounts on the chassis.



With the motor in I was able to assess what was needed...



First up was the red motor mounts that came in a box with the Toyota did not match up to the chassis...



As you can see by this photo, the mounts are located on the chassis circled in red....



Here's how they look once in place...





Also, the front crank pulley is very close to the steering box...



Luckily for me I can use the #004 short course Toyota as a reference and it too has the crank pulley located very close to the steering box (no photo, sorry). Sooo, it isn't a stretch to think that this is correct but I need to do a little more investigating before pulling the trigger on fabrication. I could be something as simple as I have the wrong bell housing on the trans as I have a couple to choose from. I think I have the correct one though but I will look into it again.

Challenger II and Challenger IV are going onto "Bring-a-trailer.com" soon for auction so if they are sold the #001 PPI Toyota will be getting finished a lot sooner than expected. Cross your fingers......

 

Update from February 2023:

Well, we had to hold off getting the motor mounts built until I can figure out how to get a little more clearance for the front crank pulley. I have a few options but need to research them a little longer.

Anyways, I still dropped the truck off to my local buddy Rob Clouser, he works for Greg Holman at REF Unlimited (custom headers). Rob does a lot of side work and is a GREaT fabricator…..and did I mention local? I have him working on the section where the doors mount to the cab. The original trucks had a lot of material taken off to make sure the tires cleared the cab. The fact that it is possible we could run the class 10 35” BFG’s on the truck when we race it, I had to make sure the tires cleared. Here’s the area we are talking about….



Rob started trimming the fat…



As you can see compared to the first pic Ron has trimmed 3-4” off the cab….








Rob will soon be enclosing the area for strength as it was done originally on the #001 Toyota. When he’s finished I’ll pick the truck back up and figure out the engine mounts and return the truck back to Rob.

In the meantime, John Elton contacted me through Instagram and asked if I was interested in another 18RG motor. I told him it would be nice to have another one but I didn’t think I had the budget for one at this time. He explained it was a running motor when he pulled it but it has been sitting outside under a tarp for quite a while.

Long story short, John gave me a price I couldn’t resist and I picked up the motor the weekend of the Swapmeet. The motor will need to be gone through of course but a couple quick looks inside told us it wasn’t as bad as we thought. The engine also came with some spare cams and a brand spanking new set of pistons!!





Oh yea, and a set of Mikuni side draft carbs….



Here’s the pistons still in the original box and wrapped in plastic….



Soooo, as you can see we are getting back into it. The Mickey Thompson Challenger IV racer is scheduled to debut on Bring-a-trailer.com on March 2nd (Tentatively). Cross your fingers, if CH4 sells the Toyota could be finished by the end of the year!

 

Update from March of 2023:

I had Rob Clouser do some clean up work on structure connected to the A-pillar. The clean up work included taking approximately 3-4” of material off so it would help clear the front tires and possibly BIGGER front tires. This work was done on the original body and had to be duplicated on this one.

Here’s a picture of the truck being built back in late 1983 or early 84…..




Here’s the finished product….





Probably doesn’t seem like much but their is a bunch of little things like this that need to be done before we send the truck to paint.

It’s not much but it’s something….