I was looking at some pictures of second-generation trucks, like a 1984 Xtra Cab I have, that people had made into buggies with 40” tires. It got me to thinking that instead of scrapping my rusty truck, I should get a new frame for it and do some rust repairs on the body and stick some full-size axles under it. I don’t wanna go as wide as absolutely possible, somewhere in the middle. So what front axle should I be looking for, considering that I would like to keep the cost down and use mostly junkyard parts? I assume, a Dana 60 of some kind. I have heard that I want to look for an axle from a Chevy to get the right spring spacing, although, I am leaning towards a coil spring suspension, in which case that wouldn't be an issue. I believe that the Chevys are mostly low pinion and the Fords are all driver side drop. The most desirable axles from Ford, the 1977 to 1978 models are very expensive, even from wrecking yards. The later model Ford axles have ball joint type knuckles, which are said to be less desirable than the king pin type and they also have the differential on the driver side. And then there are the Dodge axles which have other problems that make them undesirable for my purpose. Maybe I have to build a hybrid; Buy a cheap late-model Ford and swap the axle tubes around to get the differential on the passenger side. Or just run with the Ford as it is and swap out my transfer case for a lefty or a Dana 300?

I am thinking that a GM 14 bolt is what I should have at the rear.

In any case, that 1984 is my favorite truck of all time. I'd love to see it on the road again.

I have decided to give up on the old girl. There're too many other exciting possibilities for projects and she is too far gone, with a leaky upper cowel which caused a rusted out floor pan. Plus I've got other things on my mind. I'm getting ready to swap a Volkswagen diesel into my 93 pick up. And then I have an automatic to manual swap for my first generation 4runner, after which I'll be thinking about replacing the 3VZE in that truck. My next thoughts after that should be around securing and maintaining some kind of towing vehicle, something I can pull a car trailer with. When you drive oddball vehicles that have engines that didn't come from the factory, it seems like a really good idea to be able to self-rescue, in other words, to be able to go out and recover your vehicle, no matter where it has broken down. This is an especially good idea, as it can be difficult to find shops to work on your vehicle when you have unusual parts configured in ways that are unfamiliar to the technicians who you would have to rely on to make repairs when you are away from your tools and your shop. If I like the way the TDI runs in my pick up truck I may look for a third-generation runner to do a big power diesel upgrade with a 2.0 L Passat Engine and a target of producing around 200 hp with torque in the upper 300 pounds-feet range. I have a couple of ideas for projects for sportier road-going cars as well that could involve hot rodding the 1.8 L turbocharged gasoline engine in an Audi A4 Avant Quattro and/or a Porsche 944. The Volkswagen/Audi 1.8 L turbo Engine looks like an underrated, overlooked, little engine that you can get for pennies and build to make 300 plus horsepower while weighing a feathery 236 pounds. Now imagine putting that featherweight dynamo into a Porsche 944, with it's front engine, rear transaxle layout, that has been lightened substantially. We are talking about a car that you could buy for $4000 with an engine that would cost about another $4000 to build. Add tires and wheels, suspension upgrades, transaxle swap, a tube cage and some carbon fiber body panels and You might have another $20,000 into the build, but for less than $30,000 dollars you would have a car that performs at supercar levels. And most importantly, for folks that don't have supercar budgets, you could enjoy this car from the first day that you owned it and make these improvements as fast or slow as you want. Sound like a good plan? I don't know how far I will get, but I'm sure I will have fun no matter.



Porsche 944 with Broadfoot body kit and Hoosier slicks.