So close now, literally down to a few minor things. I just wanted to have the brakes sorted for when it rolls out of the garage. Has not been outside since the day I bought it.

 

Yes and I’ll be re chroming them once it is driving.

 

Literally nothing on this build has been straight forward or come without a hitch.

I pulled the diff out a few months ago to do a solid pinion spacer, new pinion seal and install the repainted flange. Upon removal I found the pinion nut had come loose at some point (probably in the 90’s) and the pinion gear ground into the original 4 cylinder carrier. The axle housing was full of gear teeth and metal shavings. So I ended up buying all new marlin gears, bearings, solid pinion spacer along with the 50mm conversion bearings to convert to V6 internals. The V6 carrier came from a spare diff laying around. Since the old flange was 27 spline and the new gears are 29 I used a triple drilled flange for now. I’m going to buy 2 blank flanges, drill the holes then have them turned down close to the flange size. After that I’ll have them painted to match.

 

been way to long since the last update so here we go. A lot of life happened right after I got the diff in and I left the truck covered for months. I picked back up on it in March and first thing I did was throw on these 15x14 alcoas with 40” fun countries. Much much much needed and I absolutely love the wide look. The scorpios look great on it but it was begging for some wide wheels and balloon tires. Will be polishing these and gonna swap back and fourth with the weld wheels and 44’s it originally had.

 

Next thing I did was switch over from the B&M cable shifter to a lokar 2 bolt trans mounted shifter. The problem with the ratchet shifter with cable is that it had to be positioned so far back that it would be too awkward to operate. I was so undecided on how I wanted to setup the shifter that I ended up using this lokar setup.

This works so much better for a handful of reasons:

•Number one the shifter position is 10x better than before but it too close that I can’t have a console under the dash.

•The direct shift of the trans mount is much nicer to operate than a ratchet.

•Getting rid of the bulky ratchet assembly which would also be tricky to cover and detail is a good problem to have behind me.

•This setup now leaves room for a console between the seats which will also be able to hold speakers.

•Since I am trying to clean up and delete any visible wires or cables I have one less cable on the transmission. In addition to having a gps speedometer that really cleans up the trans area.

•Now the transfer case shifter matches the transmission shifter.

 

While waiting on the shifters, steering arm parts and drive shafts to come back from the chrome shop I started wiring up the windows, doors pops and bed tilt. Took the extra time to chase each connector crimp with a little solder and cover with resin heat shrink. Don’t want any chance of a failed connection. Once the truck has been started and checked I’ll go back, clean up the wiring and bundle it all up.

 

Now finally we have the dash completed, the gauges sorted, fully functional door pops, windows and bed tilt. I changed the switches from inside both doors to where the center console will be. The blue lighted billet momentary switches are just the look I was going for. The trans shifter, t case shifter and steer arm are all
back on for good. This means that all is left to be able to start, run and drive is mount the drive shafts then install the Baer master cylinder. I ordered a fully polished GM remaster master cylinder a few month ago and it should be off back order any time. The big day is almost here.

 

It's looking good!

 

Awesome update!

 

I ordered a fully polished Baer remaster brake master cylinder over 2 months ago and it just came in. Now to bend some stainless brake lines then polish them.

 

I have been trying to make this wheel tire combo happen for over 5 years since I found the truck. After countless hours and a thousand hoops to get over the truck is finally ready to roll out of the garage and fire up. Unfortunately my Dad passed away last month and won’t be here to see the big start up. Looking at the truck in the garage is a little bit different now. Once it’s ready to drive I will pull these off the 4Runner and put them on the monster pickup.

 

Sorry to hear about your dad, I lost mine a few months ago, and he was the original person to get me into Toyotas.

Can't wait to see this beast finished!

 

Sorry about your dad passing. My old man is also the one to blame for my addiction. Thanks Dad!

This truck is so cool and every time I see an update I can't click fast enough. Please keep them coming no matter how long it takes!

 

It finally happened! I just started it up a few hours ago! Extremely emotional time and I still cannot believe it actually happened. I would love to share videos with you guys that have been following for so long.

 

Hell yeah, that is awesome! This truck will absolutely destroy at a car show.