My Big Can of Worms Build

Best picture so far - it's a driver baby!

 

Is it full LT yet

 

Update now that there's down time:

Champion all-aluminum radiator with a 16 psi cap.







I was getting an idle that would begin around 1500 and slowly increase to near 2500. I also couldn't get as much air out of the coolant system as I thought I should be able to so I grew concerned that there could be air entering the system possibly through the water bypass tube (though not likely) but to confirm that wasn't a problem, I got down and dug down to it under the intake.



Nice and dry. Kept working through the night - this pic I took at 3am and thought how glad I was living in a place where you can work outside through the night without losing a finger to frostbite!



Rebuilt and painted the throttle body from my donor engine with Seymour Stainless Steel Paint and replaced the Philips head screws with allen socket cap screws.



Took a break from dealing with the engine so Anthony and I could start in on the rear suspension. Got Fiberwerx 8" bedsides.



Saw a gnarly tr-imo.




Last pic with the rear axle.



Rough install on the besides to partially gauge rear axle placement.



Used a 1st gen Tundra axle to mock up leaf springs - currently front hangers are tacked in place.




Got 2/3 of my skids in the mail - also got some lights.

 

Few things in the works - cheap 01-04 clip change maximizing engine clearance for a removable x-bar. Grill and hood $175 together. Might restore some faded 2 piece headlights on offer-up for $20.



Had to rewire / splice together rear wiring harness. Got bisected during the slider removal.



Modded my trail gear bumper w/ a valence (haven't shaped it yet)





Haven't spent much on the truck lately - we'll see if that changes over the summer...

Now thinking a mellow blue like the cavalry blue 3rd gens would look cool.

 

That would be cool. That’s one thing the 3rd gens got right. Was the color choices. I’m going with something like @FlapJack935 3rd gen dark blue for my taco.

 

You're no longer part of the 98-00 group

Looks good tho

 

I know I had really wanted to keep the original clip especially since Anthony250's truck would have been a near twin of mine. There's barely any clearance over the supercharger with the original hood - I couldn't even lay a piece of tube on it and get the hood within an inch or closing though.

 

its spicy

 

Got lights woot!

 

That valence is huge

 

9"

I think my top speed should basically be like a trophy truck's now that I added one like they have j/k. They do increase top speed on those trucks and since it can only be because they make the truck cut through air better it must increase my gas mileage some on long drives I'm planning on taking it on to the desert haha

There will be a middle section cut to clear the winch, but it'll wait until I measure the fairlead it comes with.

 

But you are planning on trimming the whole thing right? It's huge

 

No just a notch for the middle. Presumably the greater surface area it covers the more advantages it'll bring. I thought about trimming it more but this is kind of a nod towards form following function - I want to keep the truck looking sleeper, but some stuff is going to have to give for functionality. I almost replaced the corner lights with pods, but it looked too out there even for me. Looking like the hood is going to have to be modded when I add an x-brace over the engine.

As much as a regular prerunner would be a really sweet vehicle to drive, this was supposed to have a specific purpose in mind - head way out into unknown places and make it back on its own power. I'd like to do 16" bypasses through the bed, aluminum skid and a traditional prerunner bumper, but losing a sealed-in bed and not having a winch would hurt the overall usefullness of the truck for my purposes. Cantilever rear suspension and aux fuel tank are in the works as well - just gotta get to a place that I feel comfortable ordering a fabbed axle for the rear financially and I can finish the rear up.

We'll see though - nothing is completely locked in.

 

Finished *really* installing the front clip and got all the fender bolt holes finished. Panel gaps didn't come out perfect, but at least they're similar on each side.

@Nicklovin now every time I see that valence you're "emperor's new clothes" call out on how big it is, is in my head lol - I'm not sure how to change it - cutting the whole thing may not come out super clean. There's this one Solo did:



But I still have to cut the middle for the winch and it might look silly with all the cuts. Way too much thought put into this lol

Here's the progress so far:



Still not a pro even a little, outside corner weld:



Gotta improve on vertical though.

 

So dark, wish I could see what ya did

 

Truck's looking cool, I gotta drive over and drool over it sometime hahaha

 

lol saving a good pic in the light for the final product.

Didn't you buy a new truck?

Spent a lot of time over the past few days making this happen - think it's going to turn into a small bed rack / bedside stiffener with threaded holes that will allow me to bolt plates to the top of the bedsides in the future.

 

Ya got a 4x4. Really need to start laying out plans for it