Shifty's PlainJane Build

The time has come,

I've finally done enough work to her and slowed down enough with life to take sometime to put a build thread together on Not-so-Plain Jane.

I'll be needing some serious time to figure out how to organize this as well as to rummage and find allllllllllll of the photos.




Here she blows Capn' - The day she came home to me. $5000 at a sketchy mom and pop loan shark dealer in Colorado springs.


The shitty rust bucket to the right here - my first pick up ever. Loved this 87' Nissan D21 with my whole heart. I bought it for $700 2 years before this photo. Coming from the childish life of a 240sx, this Nissan popped my 4WD cherry and I was changed for ever.

This poor bastard served me well for 2 years until I slung a road through the block heading up floyd hill to ski one day in January 2015. That little carbed v6 did its very best. Took it to Andersons in Greeley and got $600 for the carcass - wonderful investment. The cap was a perfect fit from the Nissan right on over to the taco!


First time camping, in good ol plane Jane up storm mountain. This location has come to serve as my testing grounds for all things that need a quick proof of concept.



First dirt road trip with some college buddies, Pole hill road, Today I would absolutely roach my rack and pinion and trash my passenger front tire driving home on said rack- I was still quite uneducated on how to drive over rocks and was figuring it out quick for myself.


A month later I hit the scenic over look section on Storm mountain and puckered real good. This was a solo run and I was in heaven. Really learning what I can and shouldn't do on a stock tacoma with 32's



Fast forward a few broke college of playing with this stock and boring configuration. I had a college dream to build a rack, to fit outside of the shell, so I may mount all the things on the outside. Before broke college me could afford a RTT, I was either sleeping in the bed with my partner in crime (Alma, the blue heeler mutt you see here) or in a hammock near by.




I slapped some thule ski racks on the side, Worked most excellently, Left ample room for me and the mutt to sleep on hwy6 before the no camping signs arrived outside of keystone and A-basin.



December 2018 - College graduation, Pony keg on the cap for the sunset, Leftover beer I drank for a week after the party lol.



Summer of 19' I picked up the dorkel for free.99 off a dude in Southern California while i was visiting my family - Ebay company shipped him 3 when he bought 1. Split the cost with his buddy for one, and let me have the third. What a guy.



October 19' I finally bought a RTT, Dude off of TW as well! I loved this tent with my heart. Used it religiously.



My awful, friendly reminder that I worked at O'Reilly's for almost 6 years.



Another TW Find, Guy in Aurora was fixing to move back to Kansas, Needed a tow hitch, so we traded bumpers with $150 on my end. Fresh coats of paint and bolted into its new home.





New Drums, shoes, hardware and wheel cylinders were in order. I was driving up the Poudre when suddenly I lost brake pressure 1hr into the canyon. My camping trip ended before it began, I had to engine brake out of the canyon and get the truck home to the garage to figure out what happened. The wheel cylinder pissed all my brake fluid out. good times.




My first trip down to BV. Did a lot of wheeling in these years with a good work buddy of mine. Showed me a lot of good spots, and the ropes. I've since lost him to fatherhood.




Trip with some college buddies out past Ned, I stepped on a 9" nail as soon as we got here. I was not pleased, Nurse friend cleaned it out and wrapped my foot. I didn't get my Tetanus shot until i got home on Monday lol.



Cool double rainbow the spring I moved into my house.



4 Tacoma's in my driveway... Lol



My DIY hoist almost killed me. the eye bolt ripped out the back wall releasing a ton of slack. The cap came crashing from the ceiling to the floor. I've re-engineered it since, without fail, but still scares me to use it lol. Also big shocker the rack and topper was undamaged from an 8ft fall.



Headgasket failure identified. (later on at least, in this moment. the truck was overheating and I didn't see this coolant yet).
During a 9hr drive to my best friends house in NM. My truck began overheating near Trinidad. This probably marks the start of my active engagement with the TW community.

Luckily the outside temp was so cold (blizzard @ -5 the whole drive) I was able to limp the truck another 4hrs into NM to his house to sort out the problem. I then harassed the Colorado BS thread for what could be the cause of my overheating issues. After a new Toyota waterpump, Thermostat, Full core aluminum radiator. I found that I had incorrectly installed the headgasket on the driverside head. The port was plugged by gasket material, and coolant wasn't circulating properly. It's a wonder how I built this engine 2 years prior and it took that long for it to fail.



SO - all of this engine work actually took place AFTER. the next set of photos. Nothing crazy in these 3. Just my tear down and troubleshooting before realizing the head gasket assembly failure.





February 2021- I had driven down to See Jake who was living in NM at the time. I bought him this Tube bender as a house warming/birthday/thank you gift for the following work.
He taught me how to weld here, and we skillfully built sliders in a day... A very long day.




I think this photo was at 04:00. lol


I then drove through another blizzard home to paint these bad boiz.







AND HERE WE HAVE - you guessed it! Another TW find. 200$ bumper from a cool cat in Thornton IIRC.




Mounted in no time, and taken up to storm mountain for my proof of concept. ALSO my neighbor gave me a set of 33s he was looking to offload. So here is their debut.



February 2022- Jake did the bult of the leg work on the topper as I was travelling for work to much, and the shop space being used was his. A quick test fit on canvas, needles, and rope, And bombs away.






Summer 2022 -Jake and I chopped up the bumper to squeeze this 12000lb bitch in there.



April 2023 - It was now time for 35's and new rims. - though these pictures skip the entire suspension remodel which was done in Feb2022. We will get there later.

The rims took FOREVER to come available. I spent forever trying to spec out my rims and tires for optimal fitment. I wanted to move on from wheel spacers, having 1.25" spacers i needed -39mm offset to replicate the tire spacing I was already running to proceed without spacers. SCS F5's were the best bang for the buck and I liked the look. Just had to wait for them to come into stock. The tires are purchased, mounted and balanced, here's the look.



Fenders come off, hack saw comes out, 16ga 4x8 sheet of steel was purchased. And with the help of the Colorado BS thread I made some shit happen. Did the washer reservoir mod due to the need for space.

 

With the fire walls chopped and welded back in, I then chopped the fenders bare and clean to fit. Lastly, being a single adult with no children, I purchased the bushwhacker fender flares because, fuck it, I've gone this far, whats another $400? What's despicable is I chopped these brand new fender flairs up just the same as the body.




This is how my truck sat for the better part of 5 months lol. January to May.

What is skipped here that I can't seem to find photos of is the suspension/driveline upgrade. Photos will be dropped as soon as I get em'.

I picked up a factory elocker axle from Tim with 4.88s I ordered a front pumpkin with an ARB locker to match, for coilovers we went to Toytecs, durobump stops and durobump bushings for the front axle mounts. full body bushing change on Energy PU bushings. New LBJ/Tie rod ends even changed the steering shaft seal on the firewall as well as the rack and pinion ujoint. New leafpacks as mine had disintegrated with time, and rear shock relocation/ubolt flip. Lifted the truck 2" and went to a front and rear locker set up in a weekend of assembly.





As previously stated, Proof of concepts - Trip to storm mountain, first time out on 35s AND camping in the Ripchord DIY wedge. I was on cloud 9. Tonka toy did MARVEOUSLY.



On my way to my first trip to the San Juans this weekend with the girls and some friends.
Truck performed EXCELLENTLY on every trail. Where it was not so excellent was trying to hit 70mph on the interstate...




So then this happened. another 6k later I had slapped a Cx racing turbo hardware kit into the truck with a haltech 650cc injectors and precision for BOV and WG.


This little injector arrived damaged, I photographed it before installing it should it give me trouble in the future I wouldn't forget which one it was.



Skid plates fit with the intercooler safely housed inside. The piping however sticks out a wee bit.



Broke the cycle, First test drive was on old flowers road this time. Not storm. Not a problem was found.

 

Saved for later dates

 

Saved for later datess

 

Saved for later datesss

 

Yeah, buddy!

 

I'm impatient, hurry up

 

I have questions... what happened to that green injector pintle cap?

 

Sorry for the delay.
Ended up seizing my motor while on the interstate. Have been on damage control. Oil return line melted off the tube.. no oil no running lol

That injector came out the bag with a no.4 sharpied on it and had that damage to the face. I documented it in case it gave me trouble. Considering it was away from the spray face I didn't think it needed replaced.

What happened is unclear to me besides bad qc

 

Wow I'm sorry to hear that, and that's some odd timing too. I literally just replaced my drain line because I felt it the other day and it felt crispy where it was close to the header.

I used some Parker hydraulic line and some DEI heat shield sleeve this time. I hope you can find a good swap engine.

 

It's certainly a big sad, very very frustrating. I'd be curious to see pictures on how yours is all set up. I will be reworking this now to avoid this problem ever more.

Luckily for me I'm a bit of a hoarder, The motor that seized was swapped in 30k miles; bummer, I built the block and only got 30k out of it. But on the other hand, My perfectly fine OEM engine has been sitting under my work bench for the last 2 years. I'm getting them both on stands next week to start clean up and heart transplant. I already pulled the block. Pics to come

 

Engine took the long nap.

Northbound i25 leaving the airport coming home from a work trip; I noticed what I thought was smoke out the rearview camera, moments later the Oil pressure light came on, I kicked the clutch threw it in neutral and promptly before I could shut her off the motor seized itself.

Coasted off the highway, off of 120th and i25, Popped the hood and found the oil line as pictured.

Met a really cool dude named Chris, He offered to help, went home for a tow strap, came back in a bad ass Xterra, Proceeded to hang and talk shit with me while i tried to refit the line, add oil and pray it started. IT cycles, but somethings dead, wont ignite probably slipped the timing? - Chris ended up towing me home the next morning on his flatbed. What a fucking GUY. Refused any form of thank you/payment. I will be buying him whiskey when this is corrected.

Pushed the truck up the driveway/into the garage with my roommates jeep. Lol
peep the engine stands pre assembly.

As of Monday night this is how things are now.

My meticulously cleaned engine bay is PAINTED in motor oil now, really the entire passenger side underbody. Shits dripping off the bed in the garage still.

 

That’s a shitty deal, bud! Sorry it happened, but it’s cool to hear that there are still good folks out there in the world. I’m glad you found one and you got her home safely.

Looking forward to hearing about the next iteration!

 

Bummer dude. Glad you're on your way to resurrecting the truck though.

 

Let me know when you want me to park Lusilver in your garage and you can help me manual swap the truck at the same time

 

After waiting 3 weeks on holiday shipping, I received my AN hose and fittings. Had to chop the bung off the oil pan and glue a new one on, bought an AN style flange to replace the bung style. Went with nylon braided hose for the toighter' bends, and went fucking mad with heat wrap and insulation tape this time.

While the motor is out I replaced My torn to shit difftube mounts with a new set with PU bushings. As well as tack'd in a few new nuts for skid plates as the bumper ones stripped out and the belly side(back of LCAs) disappeared entirely

I ripped the PS pressure sensor off the wire on engine removal. Gotta hit a yard to find one to solder in, then I'll drop it back in

 

Well I got the truck banging the road again last week!! Here's your update yall.

https://youtu.be/9JrHk8UJfuo?si=zEppDSaZCKko_rsB

I didnt take any pictures of the motor reinstall. I just behaved like an idiot when once I got the coolant cookin.

 

Sweet!

 

Couple little odds and ends this weekend.

Added a chineesium oil catch can. A favor from the Amazon.

The plumbing for the dorkel needs redone. So when that happens I'll add a bunch for vacuum on the can






Cut up some steel to mount my solar panel. I was 1/2" off in my measurements on v1 design. Ended up just flattening them out to make it work. Once I sort the wiring out pictures of it mounted will come.