Unfortunately, she lives in Santa Clarita, but we're making arrangements to see each other as often as we can ( or rather, as often as we have gas money...) She DOES however, claim to know how to weld, so I might have to put her to work soon! lol, j/k She's a great gal and will definitely make my monthly, or bi-monthly shooting competitions much more enjoyable!

Anyway, I actually managed to get a few things done today! Upon further inspection of my parts truck, I found that it had SR5 seat belts in very good condition! and a few sets of very handy "Oh crap" grab handles (as I like to cell em)
Both we're very much needed items for my rig since 1.) my seat belts were old and tattered and come to find out, didn't even have all the required hardware to make them effective! After removing the interior panel surrounding the drivers side belt, I notice that in place of a bolt for the upper belt mount, someone used a simple little SHEET METAL screw!
So it was a huge relief discovering the SR5 seat belts because they had all the necessary hardware, all bolts, washers and spacers. Not to mention, they match my grey interior far better than the brown belts ever did, lol.
My truck now has new-er and better seat belts ( but will still be switching to harness in the future) and some solid grab handles for those scary moments of loss-of-traction. Hooray for safety devices!

Thats all to report for now, this weekend will hopefully see the half-top put on after a day of prep, primer-ing and painting, and if theres time, I'm gonna try and finish applying the role-in bedliner

 

congrats on the new girl
seat belts are important especially if all the rumors are true as to how you drive

 

Get as much as you can I left way to much on mine and a lot of it I could use now that my plans have changed
some. Looking forward to seeing you half top on.

 

Haha! Perhaps the rumors are true! Though I haven't been airborne in quite a while. Been more interested in getting the rig built than breaking more parts, lol. Truth be told, I haven't wanted to to some serious pre-running/ jumping since the control arm bushing are completely bad.

As for recent progress! Despite being limited due to a dirt biking injury saturday afternoon, just a twisted ankle, nothing serious, but I still have to ice it occasionally and keep my weight off of it. I did manage to get some work done on the half top:

It was in less than good condition at first...




I believe the previous owners of the parts truck used the top as a work bench...it was riddled with gouges and scrapes. But, nothing a little bondo can't fix!

Cleaned it off and cut the excess chunks off, also completely sanded it smooth. Its now ready for bondo, more sanding, and finally painting! Heres how it sits now:




And had a photo opp while up in Keysville which is by Lake Isabela up in the Sierras. This was from the Dirt Biking trip saturday, overall a good ride, even if I did fall pretty hard once, lol:


Thats all for now. More work will get done on the top this week, so long as the weather isn't bad...

 

OMGOSH, I can't wait to get back up to Isabella and North Kern, Upper Peppermint, ETC! Sorry you got hurt, man! Nice work though. You gonna do the UCA and LCA bushings soon? That next?

 

Not just the bushings buddy! Next month will see a whole new front and rear suspension! Gonna just be doing small projects until then, this month hasn't been good for me financially so buying the parts will have to wait a few weeks. Its like waiting for christmas! lol

 

Well, all I managed to get done today was to start removing the rest of the headliner in the half-top, cause the previous owner already ripped half of it out, so to keep it pretty I have to finish removing it, sand it down smooth and slap some interior grey on it before flipping it back over and finally getting to the bondo work.

What delayed me today was what started out as a simple repair on my chevy silverado, turned out to be an all evening project. We thought the master cylinder was bad so we replaced it, discovered a seized and rusted shut brake line bleeder valve, but even worse, also discovered that my power brake booster is bad too...The chevy's still drivable but needs parts more than my toyota does. Its all too often that a simple job on my truck turns into a huge undertaking, lol, and that goes for both trucks!

The good news is, its a matter of having the money for parts to do the repairs, so I can actually get some work done on the runner in the mean time, since I already have everything necessary to finish the half top, and the bed liner.

My ankle is killin me and I'm covered in brake fluid, so I'm calling it a night. I DO have a random tech question for everyone because I'm sure some of ya'll have had to deal with this before: Does anyone know any trade secrets, or effective ways of removing old carpet/interior/vehicle insulation foam adhesive goo from say...a fiberglass top? Cause so far, a scraper and wire wheel are taking way too long and way too much effort, so I thought I'd see if anyone has a better idea of how to remove that stuff?

 

Well, after yet another grueling night of working on chevy brakes, its finally fixed. NOW I can finally get back to the yota....tomorrow, lol.

Still not sure of the most effective way to remove old interior glue, but I'll go through all the chemicals I can until I find one thats most effective.

On a similar note. I'm having trouble deciding on how to mount the Chevy 63" springs in the rear of my yota. I'm torn between spring-over, or spring-under. I see a lot of baja/prerunner trucks go with spring UNDER conversions for desert race trucks, but I've also seen fewer but still effective spring OVER modded desert rigs. What are the real pros and cons between the two? I know spring OVER would allow more flex, and definitely more lift, but I'm not sure about stability in hard turns and drift corners. I also know that UNDER would be more stable in high-speed turns but not allow as much flex or lift. Am I right in these assumptions?? Would really like some input!

 

Hey moze not sure on removing that glue man but I do have a ? about your top, I have an extra top I am going to make a half top out of but I was wondering in the back of yours is still pretty solid or do I need to figure a way to beef it up some? Not sure on your springs either sorry but I'm really looking forward to you getting them in a seeing how you like them.

 

Thanks Jason! As far as the top goes, mines still pretty solid, even without any of the windows! I cut a LOT of it off but only up to a certain point, where the rear slant windows start, I'll post a better pic of the cuts later, but the top is pretty rigid. I'll be adding a light bar/ roof rack to my half top eventually as well.

 

I've come to a conclusion...If toyota had used nothing but the headliner/carpet glue it uses, to put the ENTIRE truck together...it would never fall apart...ever...

I've tried 3 cans of brake cleaner, starting fluid, lacquer thinner, a wire wheel on a power drill, 120 grit sand paper, a scraper, and even WD-40...and the headliner glue WILL NOT come off the half top....

So I'm gonna go the lazy route and use roll-on bedliner to cover up all the glue residue and call it good, lol.

Also did what I was supposed to and did some searching and found multiple threads on chevy 63's. I'll be doing the spring-over-axle method for sure, and going with custom mounted reservoir shocks. SO far I have a pretty good plan in my head of exactly what to do with the front and rear suspension. Soon as I measure suspension travel with the 63's I'll know exactly everything I need, and start ordering parts next month!

List of things still needed to be done:
1. Finish the half-top
2. Finish the roll-in bedliner
3. finish interior grey paint job
4. replace both output seals on the transfer case
5. rebuild/ clean/paint spare rear axle
6. mud flaps
7. Finish front bumper
8. fix or replace drivers side window regulator
9. buy bolts and install LCA truss

Then its all suspension work after that.

 

Again, not much to report. Did manage to get some primer thrown on the half-top though:


And as requested Jason: Heres the pics of where I made the cuts








I made the cut (rather sloppily with a sawsall....) Just before the curve on the top to prevent sagging in the middle. I'm almost pretty sure that the curve on the edges add to the structural integrity, so I wasn't about to cut it comepletely flush.

More work will get done this weekend for sure.

Anyone have any input on the rear spring-over-axle idea? Would like to get some outside opinions cause my buddies only care about dirt bikes now. >.< and are no help at all. Even the fabricator buddy thinks I should have done an SAS, lol

 

I'm gonna have to look at that I was really hoping to cut mine flush across the back, maybe I will have time when I get home to look at it and get a plan, yours is looking good.

 

Bondo's on and the sanding process has started, The tops about...75% complete....maybe 80, lol. I forgot how time consuming body work was since last time I did ANY was years ago when we first painted this rig. Kinda wish we still had those pics....If I find em, I'll post em up!

Trying to keep up the progress but ever since my and the guys got into dirt bikes, we've been doing a lot of riding. Well, riding AND falling for me, bruised my leg AGAIN pretty bad yesterday evening. But work must go on!

 

Woot! You doing LT Suspension?

 

Yep, More than likely getting the Total Chaos Gen. 2 Caddy kit!

Goodbye Torsion bars!

 

It seems the half-top is becoming more trouble than its worth....after a few hours of bondo work and sanding, what I though would be a quick rattle-can paint job that would come out clean and smooth....turned into a grainy and rough "epic fail" of a paint job....

The primer I used was supposed to "fill in" small imperfections and scratches and rough patches. As it turns out, it came out rougher than the 120grit sand paper I used for the bondo >.< . Though the sides came out smooth, but the top was horrible. So I decided to see how the new high gloss enamel black top coat would look and painted the smooth sides....which promptly cause multiple runs, and for some reason I can't figure out, more grainy/rough patches.

I'm not sure it the slight breeze every so often played a role in complete ruining the paint job. But I've used this paint/primer combo before and it came out SUPER smooth! So I can't figure out why the combo suddenly turned out so bad. The high gloss enamel black even came out bad on the smooth portion, likes its rough in some spots and then like glass on others. Then when I go to add another coat, it got WORSE!

I might be making a bigger hassle over this than it really is. but I spent a long time sanding the top down smooth, and I mean it was SMOOTH. Soon as the primer dried though, it was as rough as sand paper. Smooth as glass might be asking a lot from a rattle-can, but for the prep work I did, it SHOULD have come out better than it did....

Only solutions I can think of, is try wet sanding the whole thing with fine grit sandpaper, or seeing as its not a very big body piece. take it to a pro auto painter and see what they can do. Though if its anything over $100 its probably not worth it...

The paint I used was Rust-O-Leum: PRIMER FILLER and same brand High Gloss Enamel Black. Does anyone know if these are actually bad quality paints? or maybe I did something wrong? Though I know for a fact, the top was sanded down VERY smooth, and WELL cleaned before I painted it. So either I'm terrible with a paint can, or something else went wrong. any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Problem solved! Wet-sanding worked perfectly. Now the half-top is finally black! after I sand and re-paint one corner, it'll get wet-sanded all over very lightly, and then some rubbing compound slapped on it for a glass like finish! Should be done by this weekend hopefully!

 

cant wait to see it.

 

X2, ...can't wait to see it on there! Way to 'keep at it', lol.....

PS> Thanks, regarding the trans thing... I found a place out in Sun Valley that has been there a long time, ...he offers used with 6month full guarantee for 495$ for a W56. Rebuilt ones, same warranty, 695$???? lol.

Oh heck, just drive down and give me yours hahahaha.