Stretch's First Gen Build

Yeah I know its a first gen, but it has Tacoma wheels so .

1980 Long Wheel Base Truck
20r Motor

It rolled into the shop on some 35x15.50 Boggers, no power steering, a rusted out frame and some 3" Trail Gear Leafs up front.



Started removing all the stock steering...


And Installed Some Trail Gear High Steer and swapped out the 3" Leafs for some Rears up front


The got to working on the frame...cut and ground off the bed mounts and prepped the frame for plating.



As more parts came in I got back to work on the front end. Welded up the thirds, 30spline Longfields and plated the frame for the steering box.



Next up was addressing the gearing. I am running 38x13x16 TSL's so the stock TCase wasnt going to cut it. Marlin Crawler Duals w/ a 4.7 Gearset in the back case.


Had to convert the front box to a TopShift case



Reassembled everything then built the flatbelly xmember


Plated the frame




On went the 38's



Had it ready for a shakedown then had issues with the carb so I put the project on the back burner for a while until I could get some propane on it. Just finished that last night. Had to make an adapter plate to mate the 22r throttle plate to the Impco 225 mixer.





Still left to do is:
-Weld a new flange on the rear driveshaft.
-Gusset shock mounts
-Chain Motor Mounts
-Repair front axle fill plug and fill the axle.
-Have new exhaust made.
-Pick up, mount and bob the new bed.
-Mount tank brackets.
-Wire in new LED tails, reverse and KOH style amber marker light.

 

sweet
i wish i had a 79-83 4wd yota

 

Wow...That's a labor of love right there. Nice work.

Silly question- but what you are doing with the propane??

 

Thanks! The propane mixer replaces the carburetor. By doing this, the entire thing runs on propane. The entire stock fuel system is gone. The benefit to this is that the truck wont cut off on extreme angles like carburetors do. The truck could run while turned on its side as long as it maintains oil pressure.

 

woo hoo

 

Nifty...What is the weight trade off for taking the fuel system out and putting propane in?? What is the flow rate for propane??

 

Weight would probably be a little less. I never did a before and after run through the scales. I run 1 8gal propane tank at a time as opposed to a 15 gallon fuel tank. No idea on the flow rates, I just know it burns around 100-110 octane and works a ton better than a carburetor ever will.

On a side note...DarkKnight...that custom user title is awesome! haha

 

How long does a 8 gal tank last??

 

A couple of us run the same setup on 20/22r's and regulary go through a tank per day and a half of trail riding. Depends on how much baja'ing we do and how much skinny pedal is needed that weekend on obstacles.

 

probably my favorite movie of all time! and I just noticed you were in Boone. Bad ass, I'm just over the mountain in Johnson City

 

Ah cool. We will be rolling through there tonight on our way to the April Fools Day Crawl in Harlan, KY.

 

Nice...Thanks for the info. Never seen a propane set up before. Sorry to clog your build thread up wit hall the questions!!

Awesome work!!

 

No problems...glad I could provide a little tech.

 

woo wee wish i could go to that! but gotta work Saturday in Charlotte

 

Got it running and all the leaks found the other night. Still need to modify the idle adjustment screws and re-route a few vacuum lines. Other than that its running on propane now.

Got my temporary mount for the tank. A big sheet of 3/16 plate. That will do until I can find a long wheel base bed. Then that plate will become the belly pan.

 

idk if this is any help to u but i seen a lwb 79 2wd toyoa truck at a junk yard about 11 mi. from my house if ur desprate for a bed
i didnt really look at it but i dont think it had too much rust on it if u want i could talk to the guy about it

 

That would be awsome if you could. No big rush as I am going to be in DC until Saturday but I sure dont mind driving down there for it, or throwing some compensation your way for finding it.

 

no prob man is there anything else u need for it ill be glad to ask 4 u

 

Nice build!