Burt, The Old Man With friends Daryl and Donna

My Tacoma wasn't awful but it wasn't fun either, especially solo. 2nd gen bumpers are about the same difficultly.

 

Now I just need to find the best price on an ARB for my Ranger.

 

If you were in Colorado I would say we could order one for you at BVO but it would be a bit of a trek.

 

Do you retain the Ranger factory skid plate with an ARB?

 

Yes the FX4 bumper fits right back up. It over hangs just a touch, but if you don't mind, then its not a bit deal. ARB also released a full skid package for the Ranger that they "recommend" to make it look right.

 

You are making it easier to spend my money.

 

I'm just here to provide "information"...

 

@Phessor So far it looks like ARB has been embracing the New USA Ranger. I picked up a compressor mount for an ARB single that goes behind the rear seats and is pretty trick. Just another item to spend money on I guess.

 

Welp looks like I neglected this forum AGAIN

 

Alright Quick Update of eventful things with Burt and a couple things of the Ranger (Ragnar) thought in there.

Haven't washed Burt since March I think

Paint is still Crap, Wheels still look fantastic, and then I kinda just stopped driving Burt cause he was running like $h!t.


Got a RTT on Ragnar, I did measure and the bed rack MIGHT just fit Burt...


Cracked the Transmission Pan on Ragnar in a water crossing. So I drove Burt for a few days during that time. Surprisingly a cheapish fix and wasn't to hard, no major damage was caused.

Built a couple cool Third gens. (Still wouldn't trade my ranger for either one)


Mits Alloy Tray, 5.29 Gears, Magnuson Supercharger, Powerbrake 300mm kit, BP-51 Kit, Twin Locked ,34s, Skids, Sliders, Dual Battery, and everything else you can imagine.

More Simple Build,
ARB Bumper, VR-10S, OME Sport kit, and 285s.

Then did some overlanding and overwatering?
Ragnar also got an OME Sport Kit and Maxxis RAZR AT 285/70R17 No regear needed at all, eat your heart out Tacomas


And started Wheeling Ragnar a bit harder.

And that brings us to Yesterday, and after wheeling Ragnar and coming up on an obstacle I could do because of wheelbase and no sliders, I had to go back with Burt tonight for redemption.

 

Took Burt up Pole Hill which also happens to be my local trail since moving out of Gunnison and back to Longmont. Oh also I graduated and now work for Boulder Vehicle Outfitters full time as well as still with Off Grid Engineering.
But anyways Pole Hill in a open diff Tacoma on 31s, its not the hardest trail but in a long wheel base truck you need a locker to take on the harder lines, Burt's short wheel base and surprising amount of flex let me crawl up the trail without much issue.
I am a bit rusty wheeling a manual but I was able to make my way through with few stalls.


This obstacle looks way different with the smaller tires and just smaller truck.

Based on this, I need to get a but more lift in the front, maybe time for OME Coils in the front on my 5100s


There is something that just looks amazing with the black truck and graphite wheels. I still absolutely love the way the wheels look and wouldn't change a thing.


Some how wheeled into the PWN

The first half mile of the trail is the hardest part of the normal trail, climbing up the rock gardens is fun and you can turn around at the top for a super quick trail run with tons of different line options and way to challenge yourself. Once a the top you can do a couple easy loops and then find one extra credit hard loop with a fun double ledge and a could narrow shelf sections around a few large rock outcropping.
I did end up wheeling the hard line on the extra credit obstacle, and got some videos of it, so I need to figure out how to put those up.
Until then here is exiting the trail.

Nice to be back wheeling Burt. It gave me a lot of motivation in the big plans I have for him now that Ragnar is close to where I want it to be while Burt is under the knife getting a full refresh and rebuild. It will be damn close to building my dream adventure/weekend warrior truck. Potentially I will start on all that this winter but time will tell.
Also I post up to date pictures and information on both trucks and my dirtbike antics on instagram: bvo_wyatt

 

I did what I am considering the start of the rebuild/"restomod" of Burt.
I will try my best to document everything I do but likely will forget something at some point.
This is going to be a long slow draw out process working on it when I can and doing everything myself, including forcing my self to learn how to do certain things.
Hopefully in the end I can build my dream Truck. To me this truck is the perfect start to achieve that.

I will reveal the grand plans soon.

I started off by pulling the interior out to put sound deadening EVERYWHERE. Roof, Floor, Doors, and Back Wall. I also have new carpet on the way to get a clean start since the old carpet is pretty nasty.

 

Hey man! I just put together that you’re in Longmont now (duh). Not sure which part of town you’re in, but I’m down on the southwest side of things near 119. If you ever want a wingman on the trails up here, let me know!

Pole Hill is one of my favorites with it being so close, but there are a few others that are fun too.

 

Awesome Sounds good! Yeh I am down just south of town a but closer to Niwot on 95. Pole hill is also one of my favorites now.

 

Don't Worry, Burts not dead. Just on the back burner for a little until I have time to replace the head which I am 99% sure is cracked. I am either thinking of going through Yota1 Performance since I can select the 8 Port With Dual Coil option vs Toyota Truck Engines where its only 8 vs 4 Port and I am not sure than will work on this inbetween year on the 3rz.

I have been driving Burt on occasion and it's running a bit rich since the idle had to be turned up slightly for cold starts and will get a misfire every 40-50 miles.
My hope is that come February I will have the time to pull everything apart.

With Colorado finally getting some snow I thought it was only far to have some fun in Burt. I drove it to work today as we are supposed to get more this afternoon.



Hopefully I will have some more Updates in a month or 2 but till then know Burts not going anywhere and will be starting to transform a bit.

 

If you swap to an 8 port from a 4 port, you'll have to get the lower intake manifold runner to match

 

I have an 8 Port so Im gonna pick up the 8 port head. the 98-2000 Motors are really weird in what some have and some don't.

 

Interesting.
So you're saying you currently have a 4 port head with an 8 port runner?

 

The Head is a 8 Port, with an 8 Port Runner, the difference compared to the pre 98 head was that there is no distributor. It has the Dual Coil ignition. So the 98-00 head comes with a plug that you install in the distributor location.

 

Update Time:
Lets see if I can't get back to actually posting on here.
Finally found time in the middle of July to swap the head. To my suspicions it was not cracked however my second guess of burned exhaust valve was true. On 1 and 3 they were burned pretty badly.

Everything was actually pretty clean under there. I took a moment and looked through everything I took apart and it all looked great. There was even still Cross hatching in the cylinder bores which was cool to see.


Everything went back together nicely, no leaks to report in the last couple months and 2000 miles.

Feels great to have the truck back and running. It picked up a lot more torque, power, and response.