Building the Badger

Well dang, its been a busy past month. The passenger head on that motor was toast. I got a JDM out of Texas and finally got it installed and running for the first time tonight. Swapping a JDM 5vzfe is soooo much more work thank the 3rzfe. The new motor had a coolant leak under the intake so I tore it all the way down and sealed everything new front back top to bottom. Anyways wanted to post an update. Now I'm back on the rest of the truck.

 

I wanted to update this thread with some pretty good progress. So far...
- all new glass
- 1" body lift
- pulled the two rear crossmembers, cleaned off the rust and painted
- fixed most of the body damage dents and such, removed all body rust
- painted the entire body with 3 coats of thinned Raptor in the factory Lunar Mist
- stripped off all the old front suspension and replaced with Rock Auto LCA, JBA uppers, 6112's with 650 coils (set for 2.4")
- replaced steering rack bushings as well as all tie rod ends, upper and lower ball joints
- rebooted the cv axles, one is kinda clickety so I may end up replacing it
- replaced blower motor and cleaned what I could of the condenser
- new carpet
- got some new interior plastics as the old ones where stained beyond cleaning
- new fuel tank nd pump
- "new" JDM motor
- flushed trans with new OEM fluid
- flushed front diff and fitted new inner axle seals
- cleaned and lubed the cam adjusters
- polished the headlights and replaced the side markers
- painted the grill and side mirrors satin black
- disassembled the doors and window tracks, cleaned out the broken glass and lubed everything
- Tundra brake upgrade
- rebuilt rear drums
- flushed brake system
- removed the automatic shifter and replaced with one from my parts 4runner (old one was rusted real bad)
- removed and de-rusted various brackets and painted
- extended rear brake line

I am going to have to deal with the missing bed here shortly. My wife found some cool Gelandewagon tail lights so it looks like its going to be a flat bed.

The rear driveshaft is toast so I'll have to deal with that soon as well.

Still need to put on the rear suspension. I'll be tackling some more rust when the axle comes loose.

I picked up some 17" Tundra wheels so those need painted. I also need another one for a full size spare. Need to decide on a tire. Leaning on 255/85/17.

Stereo. I picked up a Scion t1718 but it doesn't fit so I'll drop it in the 4runner. I'm still looking for a factory upgrade...

Anyways, here is how it sits. I had to pull it out so I could have the shop back for work.

 

Finally got time to work on the truck a bit. Its been pretty cold so the learning curve on welding aluminum has been rather steep. Any way, I got my subframe completed and the tray mounted. Working on mounting the fenders I got from Summit Expedition Trucks as soon as I get the new rear springs on. I won't know how high to set them until those are installed. Then I'll mount the filler neck and start on the drawer and rear swing outs. Very excited now that its on the truck. Ready for winter to be over.

 

Looking good, I rebuilt my 2004 double cab back in 2021 so I can appreciate this build!

 

I got the bed finished enough to pass inspection. Rear suspension is on as well as the front fender flares. I go for alignment next Wednesday. Pretty excited. Kinda bummed about no heat or ac due to the ducts being clogged with some type of nest material. Gonna have to pull the dash most likely. I'm going to hit it with a new heater core and AC parts while its out. When I scoped it with a camera the fins are all bent to shit on the cores.





Still need to fab the rear drawer and side storage. I'm gonna take a break for a while lol before that happens.