BassAckwards' AWD Turbo 2TR-FE

Swapped my shift knob out for a white one tonight. Also the core shifter for the R156F came in as well. Theyve been sold out for a few months until just recently. Adding that to the 4wd conversion box of goodies

 

How do you like that ball in your hand? I've got a wrx knob in mine and I think it fits the truck quite well.

 

I like this one a lot. I have the TRD shift knob in my other truck and it feels too big. This one is a little smaller and feels just right

 

Well i've gotten the itch lately to buy an old project car/roller that i can build from the ground up. So, I've been doing some research the past few days and i'm going to be adding the 7pin connector and build a harness to add a brake controller and make the 7 pin functional so i can find a car hauler first. I already have a Curt flat 4 harness in place, so i'm going to use one of

$25 Hopkins Towing Solutions 47185 Multi-Tow 4 Flat to 7 Blade and 4 Flat Adapter

these and build the remaining harness for the power, electric brakes, and brake signal inputs since my truck didnt come with the factory tow package. I opted for a Tekonsha p3 and the plan based on what i've found is to mount it here:

 

Good morning John

 

Mornin' Rob

 

Good morning Bill!

You as well good sir!

 

Any ideas for what project car you're going to tackle? Would love to do that someday but I'd need a much bigger garage.

 

I've been seeing some nice 65 Pontiac Lemans projects somewhat close by, but i still havent quite decided yet. I was looking for a 67-68 Dodge dart originally but i keep changing my mind. Whatever it is, it's gonna be mid-late 60's or early 70's. Plan is to drop a junkyard chevy in it and see how fast i can make it for 10k or less. It will be a slow going project, but i've always loved 60s muscle cars so it should be pretty cool eventually

 

Good mornin John! Have a good one buddy

 

Got the 7 pin connector mounted yesterday. The bracket they sent with it came with a 90* bend on it, so i cut that off and welded on a little piece of steel flat bar so i could mount it in the stock location.



Then got the brake controller mounted this morning. Went back and forth on where i wanted it but ultimately i didnt want to drill into the dash and couldnt figure out a decent looking bracket to mount it near the ebrake. So i ended up putting it in the center console since i have to build a harness for it already. Speaking of which that is next. I’m going to run three wires for the 12v+, electric brakes, aux 12v power from the plug to the cab. And then another smaller wire from where i have already tapped into the driver side tail light harness for the camper shell 3rd brake light. I am going to use this for the 12v cold side brake switch input to the controller so i dont have to cut anything under the dash


Edit: went back and actually read the directions for the brake controller and had an oh shit moment lol. It has to be mounted horizontally so the sensor in it can work to determine how hard you’re braking so, i relocated it down below the coin tray. Not really thrilled with how it looks here but it will have to do

 

Evenin' Rob

 

Good evenin Bill!

Howdy John!

 

Got the header off tonight and to my surprise, i was able to easily remove all of the header studs. I guess having all of them out 5k miles ago when the head was resurfaced made a big difference. I was expecting them to put up a fight. Ill chase the threads and install the new studs tomorrow morning if all goes as planned

 

That's lucky... I'm not looking forwards to mine

 

I think mine came out pretty easily last time too, but i hit them with pb blaster and let them sit overnight before trying to break them loose. Hopefully yours dont give you much trouble

 

Reinstalled my honeycomb grille and color matched the emblem


Then moved on and chased the holes and installed the LS1 ARP header studs. They were a little longer than the stock ones but i decided to roll the dice and see what happens. It does appear that they bottom out before being stopped by the lip on the studs in the middle, but i didnt figure it would be an issue since they dont require much torque. Also went ahead and replaced the exhaust manifold gasket while i was in there as well

 

Nice work Rob

 

Thanks Bill!! Have a good one my friend

Howdy John, have a great Thursday buddy!

 

Your turbo is facing the wrong way....

Need you to bring that truck down!