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Tacoma chinook adventure camper

Discussion in '1st Gen. Builds (1995-2004)' started by Grapevine12, Feb 7, 2018.

  1. Feb 7, 2018 at 6:47 PM
    #1
    Grapevine12

    Grapevine12 [OP] Member

    Joined:
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    Male
    First Name:
    John
    Vehicle:
    Multiple tacomas
    Just want to share my adventure vehicle build with others.

    I wanted a vehicle for traveling with my wife. We just want to take weekend adventures up and down the eastern part of the country like to beaches, mountains, concerts, swap meets, and the such. We like to explore with our kayaks and bikes. We are not interested in cooking any more than microwaveing now and then. Who wants to cook and clean dishes on vacation? I also will probably just use truck stop and campground showers. I wanted to be nimble enough to jump off the road quickly like a regular car (unlike a motohome or towing a camper) in order to pull into dinners and overlooks and such at the last minute and be able to park in a regular parking spot. It needs to be equipped for two people. Needs to get decent gas milage, be 4x4, room to sleep for 2, Have a sink for brushing teeth and sponge bathes and refrigeration and a microwave. I want to be able to tow small trailer for jetskis or four wheelers or whatever. Want to be able to transport my kayaks and bicycles. This is what I came up with.

    I bought a 2003 tacoma extra cab 4x4 with 3.4 and automatic. Removed the bed, and am putting a camper body from a 1977 Toyota Chinook. The roof pops up when you reach a destination and lowers for better mpg and being able to go under trees and into parking garages. I am going to moernize the camper coach with new interior, USB ports, air conditioning, led lighting, and an eterior shower. I will have a 2000watt Inverter generator on the front (in a winch bumper or something). I will be able to plug in at a campground or run off an inverter from batteries if needed. I am gong to have a six gallon water tank and a six gallon water heater.

    So far my research has defined some of my details. A regular rv roof a/c would take up too much space on the roof (kayak space) and add too much weight up high. Besides that the smallest one is 13,000 btu and way too big for my 48sf space. The wattage that it would draw would negate the use of an inverter generator wich I really want to stick to because of the noise level and lightweight. I found that a newer 5,000 btu wall ac unit would be more than enough and would only draw 445 continuous watts (890 to 1335 upon starting). That would work but would look hideous hanging out the side. More research reveals that I can hide it in an interior cabinet and only expose a grill on the side. I will show those details when I get there. I do not want to have onboard lp gas so I will need an electric water heater. I do not have 220 so i will need one that runs on 110. After careful research ( and purchasing the wrong thing) i found that an on demand water heater will not create enough temperature rise to work. What i came up with is a 6 gallon marine water. It uses hot water from the engine to heat the water while on the road and then i can switch to 110 when I stop. All these details need to be sorted before I paint the thing because I will need to know the interior layout so I know where access panels and such will be cut in on the outside. I am still in the process of all the layout.

    I have to this point repainted the truck frame and built a rail system to hold the camper leval on the truck. I made it from angle and used all thread and large nuts to be able to adjust the height of the coach to the truck cab.

    I feel like I am getting too wordy for now so I will stop for now and continue my progress in other posts. Enjoy the pics for now. 6050DFFD-3A7A-4AC7-BF06-4DD7816C6CB6.jpg1DBD5F80-CC2C-4848-8AC0-86237F1E5B68.jpg9479CE05-8710-43DF-9987-9B968BF08B58.jpg 99DF6CE2-7EDD-4ED8-9AC2-7B730CE0372D.jpgA24BB2F1-EA9D-4BD4-BF8B-B776A0C61B03.jpg 82A32C41-308E-42D9-8F02-3A2FC32C1652.jpgBF147DE8-E3D4-4BE0-9352-00C86A7CAD47.jpg 12F7C1E8-8859-40DC-970A-C71582FC1360.jpg
     
  2. Feb 7, 2018 at 7:47 PM
    #2
    Grapevine12

    Grapevine12 [OP] Member

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    Male
    First Name:
    John
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    Multiple tacomas
    Upon researching the truck I wanted to use I found out that the regular cab tacoma would place the wheels too far back to be centered in the existing wheel wells. Essentially I would have to shorten the frame, exhaust, driveshaft, brakelines and other mods. I found out that the four door and the extra cab trucks frame were exactly the same lenth (as each other) but would put the wheels too far forward of the wheel wells. That would entail lengthening the frame and the rest. I did not want to do that either. I would have to shorten the box of the coach then but I did not want to do that much fiberglass work either. I already have to do quite a bit of fiberglass work as it is, so i opted to cut the coach and slide it over the cab and reduce the interior by eight inches. I also had to take out the back window and cut the back of the cab out at just the right height to get the floor inside the cab. It was a process of putting the coach on the truck and taking it back off several times to get everything just right. I am going to have to take the thing off a couple more times yet in order to paint the truck and install the water tank under the coach in the truck frame. I am also looking to find a place in the frame for batteries so as to keep as much of the weight as low as possible as well as not take up valuable interior space. The rear frame also needs to be extended about two feet for the bumper and tow hitch as well as be support for the rest of the coach ( only six feet of the eight feet is on the original frame).
     
  3. Feb 19, 2018 at 9:02 AM
    #3
    Grapevine12

    Grapevine12 [OP] Member

    Joined:
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    John
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    Multiple tacomas
    5F6473D4-0BAD-4E8B-AC82-897B7C72D8CB.jpg E32645F4-81D1-4886-AE5D-999CDEC29BCC.jpg 821196F4-068F-449B-81D7-CFEC723CEB70.jpg Ok, I have cut out the front of the coach to be able to slide it over the Tacoma cab 8 inches. This gets the wheels centered in the wheel wells so that the tires can have ample travel. My floor was in great shape except for an area where water got in at the back of the refrigerator. I will patch the floor in that area but now one of the legs that supports the top has nothing under it. To fix that, I welded a new leg to the frame and transferred that load to the cab of the truck. Did it on both sides since notching out the floor will weaken the floor area on the other side as well.9462181C-0E5C-4996-BD63-3CAE56859A8E.jpg25AAE612-368F-44AE-ACCC-6532FFD9471C.jpg 9AE4A50E-E2FF-491F-887A-F964FA35D1B3.jpgB9ACA7ED-BAF7-48D2-A1FA-9D21A315B40A.jpg 3BA8FCA0-CEAD-453C-A223-8DD0EDBD4876.jpg5F6473D4-0BAD-4E8B-AC82-897B7C72D8CB.jpg
     
    Last edited: Feb 20, 2018
    970btu and DriftingPanda18 like this.
  4. Feb 19, 2018 at 4:35 PM
    #4
    Jaybashant

    Jaybashant Well-Known Member

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    Congrats Grapevine... glad to see another fearless glutton for punishment! It looks awesome...
     
    Grapevine12[OP] likes this.
  5. Mar 14, 2018 at 4:21 PM
    #5
    Grapevine12

    Grapevine12 [OP] Member

    Joined:
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    Male
    First Name:
    John
    Vehicle:
    Multiple tacomas
    47C6FDCD-3D68-43C0-BCA2-83D73B23FCD2.jpg E7A739A4-F471-4E5C-869B-691346083CA9.jpg 2BBAEA45-07D8-44A3-B17F-4B786ECA80A2.jpg 77037A72-111B-468E-A892-D9FF7E0EB59C.jpg A69BB78A-A532-4B69-9AED-C44E44E4757B.jpg AFE953D9-ED19-4716-BCBC-F31704392498.jpg 85248FAC-5852-46BB-BB90-1B24CE3415C3.jpg F07061B1-0079-4AFB-87F6-99E0164400D5.jpg 31096C4D-F3E4-4071-9F33-A911DF8B7E22.jpg Have done a some fiberglass work on the floor, cut out a gas door, a hole for the exterior shower fiberglassed in some of the extra holes, rough cut out for the new taillights, fiberglassed the steel frame to the exterior fiberglass walls
     
  6. Mar 14, 2018 at 4:25 PM
    #6
    TacoIII

    TacoIII Mr. Boombastic

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    Albuqerque
    Vehicle:
    10 Taco 4x4 off road package
    3" OME 886 coils, ARB bumper warn M8000, Lightforce 240's and 255/85 16 KM2, Redline hood struts,arb twin air compressor, 4.88's, Tepui kukenam, Pelfreybilt bed rack and rear high clearance with swing out, and custom offroad bodywork
    Super cool, I am looking at some old tacoma RV's. I found a 78 for 2500 today and it would look good the take the shell off and put in on my 2nd gen.
     
  7. Mar 14, 2018 at 4:42 PM
    #7
    Muffdiver

    Muffdiver Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional

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    Elkhart, In
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    970btu, Grapevine12[OP] and TacoIII like this.
  8. Mar 14, 2018 at 6:13 PM
    #8
    Grapevine12

    Grapevine12 [OP] Member

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    I have been watching that build every day too! Jay is truly a skilled fabricator.
     
  9. Mar 14, 2018 at 6:32 PM
    #9
    Jaybashant

    Jaybashant Well-Known Member

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    You are making some great progress! Keep up the good work John!
     
  10. Mar 14, 2018 at 7:16 PM
    #10
    Grapevine12

    Grapevine12 [OP] Member

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    Thanks jaybashant! Your posts are my daily motivation! And you where right about cutting out for tailights! Uuug!
     
    Last edited: Mar 14, 2018
    Jaybashant likes this.
  11. Sep 22, 2020 at 6:07 PM
    #11
    chaos316

    chaos316 Well-Known Member

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    285/75/16 BFG KO2 Ditch Lights
    Did this ever get completed?
     
  12. Sep 22, 2020 at 6:20 PM
    #12
    fatfurious2

    fatfurious2 IG: great_white_taco

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  13. Sep 22, 2020 at 6:25 PM
    #13
    HomerTaco

    HomerTaco also HomerTaco Vendor

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    HomerTaco
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    HomerTaco ...................................................................................................................................................... Core-Hurst short throw shifter & T-handle / Carbon Fiber Interior / custom console light / De-badged / leather interior / Heated Front seats / Red Line Hood Struts / Painted speaker grills /one-off TRD Satoshi Grill with 12-15 front-end swap/ Pioneer AVIC-X920BT HU / Scangauge II / Black LED Tails / Dash Mount for iPad mini / Safari Snorkel / Auto-pilot mode / Leer 100XQ Cap / 4x Innovations sliders / Rear Diff Breather Mod / front windows tinted to 35% / Brute Force Fab Hybrid Front Bumper / BAMF Rear Diff Skid / Budbuilt Skids / CBI Trail Master 2.0 rear hybrid bumper / Fox rr coils/ TC UCA's/ TC spindle gussets/ TC Cam Tab gussets / Dakar leafs / Defined Engineering shackles / All pro U bolt flip / Timbren Rear Bumpstops / BAMF LCA skids / Exhaust re-route / Fog Light anytime Mod / LowRange Off Road extended rear brake lines / ATO Shackle Flip / sectioned Bushwhacker flares / re-geared to 4.56 / ARB Front & Rear Locking Diff / ARB CKMA12 compressor / PrInSu full rack system / 1" body lift / Inchworm 4.7 crawlbox / twin stick FJ t-case / Davez off-road triple-stick kit/
    Seen a few builds similar to this.
     
  14. Sep 25, 2020 at 11:20 AM
    #14
    Sogoku19

    Sogoku19 Well-Known Member

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    What a legend. This is goons look super cool. Love the vibe.
     
    970btu likes this.

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