blueberry.taco build and adventures

I appreciate your meticulous attention to details and wish I had a fraction of your skillz

 

Took a bit of work to make these skid plates work (not sure why it wasn't a direct bolt-on as advertised from the manufacturer) but it looks and fits good now.


This t-case skid came with a big step down to clear the stock exhaust crossover pipe, which I relocated previously, so I got to chop it up to make it flat and give me back all the ground clearance.

 

Now with a seatless back wall panel from a utility grade SR trim truck.
it's nice and quiet with the panel + all the extra sound deadening i added compared to a bare wall!

 

been slacking on updates, but really the only thing I've worked on in a while is a shelf system for the rear seat delete

havent taken a fully complete pic but this was 90 there. since then i added hinges and slam latches to the openable hatches.
framework out of 3/4" x 3/4", 0.065" wall aluminum for lightweightness, and then panels out of 1/2" plywood
both materials which are outrageously expensive now!
The dog will have the whole "60" section behind the driver's side, which is why I don't have an upper level on this side.
I don't work with wood much but quite happy with how this all turned out.



last night i whipped up a quick bracket and stud plate to mount stuff in the bed rails.
I ordered t-nuts from Amazon but looks like I'll be able to return them before i even get them delivered!
all of this material was from scrap pieces i had laying around, always happy when i successfully recycle from my hoarding.
bent aluminum bits are the pieces i cut off the front skid plate, so nice to find a home for them again.

 

I pretty much never throw away scrap material, it'll get used eventually! It's amazing what I've built for free or basically free.

 

I do in general but i did get rid of a ton (literally) a couple years ago when i moved to a new house with a tiny garage. Regretting that now that raw material prices are nuts!

 

Never been off road
Hi lift mounted
Maxtrax mounted
Now definitely an overland rig!

Also picked up a bed mat because the plastic floor was killing my knees!

Ready to go break it in soon!

 

You are ready to start collecting patches.

 

Duuude, this entire thread...

Let's be friends (see: "please build my entire truck"), you will never want for beer again.

 

the side effects of recycling parts from "leftover" bins...

I thought I had wired in 3 LED strips leftover from the dome lights I added to the miata and then also leftover from the cargo lights I added to the disco.... but turns out 1 of these was exaclty that, but 2 of them were leftover from the brake lights i did through the spare tire spokes in the miata....

so now i have accidental mood lighting.
this is a temporary setup anyways so good'nuff for now



the miata dome lights

can't find pics of the Disco's lights so just a beauty shot to drop in here


aand you can't see the brake lights but the inside of the spare glowed red at night when braking. i thought it looked cool

 

Finally got around to doing some soft roading to break in the new setup.
Just a quick weekender, nothing special, nothing difficult.

Snagged a nice campsite along a river, didn't catch any fish though.



Sleeping in the soft topper was warmer than I expected. lows were supposedly in the low 40s but was quite comfortable with 2 people and a dog heating it up.
although the dog is basically a heated blanket as he likes to sleep on top of us.


finally got a chance to play with the drone we picked up for christmas last year.
i can't wait to fly this in bigger areas out west.



the wood i found was apparently covered in sap, lit up super fast and the dog was unsure about it.


but eventually he found the perfect distance to take a warm nap


never ended up using any charcoal, but we bring it just in case we cant find dry wood. We always cook over the fire.

 

and of course pics of the truck.

 

Looks like an awesome weekend!

 

Holy moly, just went down this rabbit hole of a thread. Amazing build and what a great attention to detail. I feel as if I've accomplished nothing in life at this moment!

I'm still trying to process some of the mods. What antenna is on the bumper?

 

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe it’s a WeBoost antenna.

 

yup, Weboost and a GMRS antenna on the bumper (both not wired up to anything yet, that's the current mini project)
ran the antennas and power/ground wires here yesterday.
Super happy I was able to fit all of them in the stock pass side door sill trough

 

That door sill sure does fill up quick. I've got 3 runs of RCA's, 2 runs of speaker wires, a power cable for my pop n lock, and probably something else in there and it's pretty much full. Miles and miles of wires!

 

went out again for the weekend.
found some even better campsites this time.
drove up after work on friday and snagged this perfect little horseshoe bend in the river





had 'fancy feast' for dinner


and got some rain overnight.
Soft topper needs another coat of seam sealer as it definitely drips water through the straps, and then gotta do something about the front bed corner to header area that everyone knows leaks water.
glad i have the bed mat so im not sitting in a puddle of water though.

 

on saturday we woke up to just drizzle for breakfast before hitting the trails and came across a familiar puddle again, and drove over the worst washboard roads I have ever encountered, but that was the perfect opportunity to dial in the BP51s.
they are set good for <5mph washboards now, at least in current setup.



we had eyed this spot last weekend and it was as good as we hoped for.


had great clouds all evening and a good breeze to keep the bugs away although flying the drone was a little tough


tried and had good success with pie iron quesadillas



I have a great cloud/sunset video but not sure how to share it here, you'll just have to go on instagram @spectacolar.adventures to see it.

 

bonus: tired out pooch on the drive home on sunday from all the adventures.
he fully approves of his little backseat shelf/platform