Gone surfing...

Wow!!!

 

Wow- very nice.

 

wow, great job!

 

Thanks, trust me she has her battle scars but that silver paint hides it all great in photos

 

I've had a few people ask me how I put the rear bucket seats in so here you go :

It is not an easy bolt in job but not too hard either...

• first I ordered an extra set of the front seat brackets and sliders from Corbeau.
• We cut the legs off of the seat bases and simply custom fab'd new legs for the seat bases.
• The rear legs are nearly flat so that the seat base sits almost completely flat on the floor and the front legs are simple L's as well.
• You want the seat brackets almost completely flat against the floor so that you leave as much headroom as possible.
• You will need to weld some flat plate to the inside of the storage cubby area, place the seat brackets, mark the holes, pre drill the plate and then weld nuts on the back of the plate.
• Technically speaking if you do not want to replace or patch your carpet you could leave the cubbies in place but you will not be able to access them anymore and I would not suggest leaving them in because the lids would push your seat brackets up about an inch and you do not want to lose that headroom.

Note - One big pain in the ass that I did not foresee was that I made my rear seat bracket legs the same width as the seat bracket itself which in itself is not a problem...buuuut that width just happened to land the rear inside bolt going through the floor right into a reinforcement channel under the cab. So, I marked and drilled my holes from inside the cab and then had crawl under and hole saw a that channel big enough to be able to get my large washer and nut on. This is a piece of cake on the passenger side but the gas tank makes it a bucket of fun on the drivers side so I had to partially drop the gas tank.





In this photo you can see the new carpet covering the old cubby location eliminated and the new carpet pre molded carpet kit from CAC, it is charcoal closed loop carpet :

 

Received another question last night so I figured that I would do another how to for anyone interested. So, the question was how I got my fender and flares cut to so closely match the curve of the OE flares ?

Here is the secret ingredient :

• Replace the pointy end with something dull or cover it up with something dull. I swapped mine out with a tooth pick and sanded the end of the tooth pick to be dull and smooth.

*Note - do all of this with the flare on the truck

• Cover your fender flare with masking tape around the area where you will be marking your line. I always use either yellow or white masking tape because your line will be much easier to see and follow while cutting.
• I suggest using a fine point pen in your compass because if you mark a fine line and follow a fine line while cutting you are more likely to cut a nice clean straight line. If you mark your line with a sharpie you can stay within your line while cutting but still end up with a wavy cut.
• Place your tooth pick end of the compass on the edge of the rubber seal between the flare and the body or where the rubber seal hits the body and set the width of the calipers where you want them.
• I found it best to focus my eyes on keeping the dull end firmly on the rubber edge AND it is very important to keep the compass at 90 degrees to the edge you are tracing and always hold it at 90. When you approach the corners you will see that the position you hold the compass in severely affects the radius you draw.
• After you are happy with the line you have traced then remove the flare from the fender.
• I highly suggest using a jig saw ( with variable speed if possible ) with a wood blade to cut the flare. Why a jig saw ? Why a coarse wood blade ? IMO for the average Joe it is an extremely easy tool to use and to control and the larger teeth on a wood blade stay much cooler longer which is a key factor is make a clean cut through plastic. If you have ever cut through plastic with any saw or dremel tool you have undoubtedly noticed that the plastic will start to melt and stick to your blade resulting in a messy cut and then you spend a ton of time sanding to clean it up. To avoid this you use a coarse wood blade AND even more important - only feather the trigger a couple seconds at a time to keep the blade form heating up. If you take your time and keep the blade cool your cut will stay clean and straight with minimal sanding required to clean it up.
• If you want to go full OCD on the flares you can wet sand and polish the cut edges.
• Next step is to cut the fenders and again I suggest you just stick with a jig saw but of course use a fine metal blade this time. Why use a jig saw ? Again - average Joe this is a far more stable easy to control tool AND similar to my reasoning for the plastic a cold cutting method leaves a cleaner edge. IE: if you cut the fender with a cut of wheel you will heat the metal and cause the paint to bubble at the edge of the cut and with a cut off wheel it is way too easy to "float" off of your line.
• In addition to covering the cut area on the fender with masking tape I suggest that you tape cardboard to the base plate of your jig saw too.
• After you have finished the flares put them back on your fenders ( but only use a couple of clips ).
• Use a pen to trace the cut edge of your flares onto the fender, again use a fine point pen to give yourself a fine line to follow. I suggest cutting the fender an additional 1/4" so hold your pen on the edge of the flare at an angle to mark your line.
• Chop chop
• Clean up your edges with a file if needed, if your run a fine file along the inside and outside edges lightly it will easily de burr it.
• Grab some self etching primer and spray it into the cap and use a q-tip or brush to coat your exposed metal edge.
• Go to @SMKYTXN 's thread here https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/a-better-edge-trim-from-trail-toys.376005/ and order some of his edge trim for a real clean professional look for those fenders.

Hope this helps, feel free to ask questions.

 

This build is incredible man, you've put a lot of solid work into this thing, I especially love the bed cage while maintaining a sealed bed.

What are you planning to run off that air tank? Air tools? I always wonder why people get them.

 

As it has been said - nicely done! Seen bits and pieces of your truck in other threads and had been hoping you would post a full run-down.

 

Awesome build. Glad you made this finally! Always wanted a better look at your rear link.

 

Subd!
How do you like towing with that setup?

 

Thanks, the whole sealed bed thing was the #1 goal. It took us a couple days of laying under the truck and measuring...and measuring and mocking things up before we realized that it work and still yield some solid travel numbers.

Yes, for air tools and the tank gives the compressor a head start when airing up tires too IMO. I also have a line running from the tank to a pressure regulator that keeps the water tank at 5psi at all times. So, one line to the front bumper, one line to the back bumper and one line to the water tank.

 

I have only towed twice since doing the 3 link and it felt solid as a rock because there is zero axle roll in the rear end

 

Super Clean!

 

I love how clean everything is. Great build!!

 

I love this build. Been eyeing your threads lately, wondering when you would create a build thread.

 

WoW!

 

Holy shit that's a setup. Mine is all setup for the beach but you took it a few levels above and beyond..

 

What a freakin' awesome truck! You have an explicit attention to detail!

 

Any feedback on the DEI Exhaust Wrap? Gains? Reviews?

 

You’re not going to see any performance gains from wrapping the Y pipe but if you have done a high clearance Y pipe reroute then it will greatly reduce the temps that transfer to your tranny, u-joint and the floor of the cab too. My trans temps went up with full skids robbing them of good airflow and I could feel the trans hump getting warm even with all of that dynamat at I have.