Did some first time body work on some nasty dents on my junk yard find 4wd fenders. 1 down, 1 to go. I'm also having some heavy debating on whether or not to buy some starion wheels for $200. Im going for a jdm-drift truck-flush look and I dont know if I can pull it off with these rims. Any advice/suggestions?!?

 

Any year any style of car or truck just seems to fit starion rims. Especially if using any of the 8 or 9" castings for a front. The 7" front is sort of mild looking. I love how similar they are to the celica supra era 4 spoke 4 lug stock Toyota rims. They also remind me of the 6 lug 4 spoke 4wd truck rims. I say get them.

 

Today I finally bought myself the missing link to building my truck. My own wire feed welder! I got a coupon to get the 90 amp flux wire unit from harbor frieght for $90. So I decided I need it. Ill be using it tomorrow. I've heard they are pretty good with better brand wire; like any HF tool, its their weld wire or abrasive that's really the issue. Tools themselves are pretty alright lol.

So tomorrow I'm gonna dial it in on some various scrap then fix all the holes in my header. If that goes well, its time for a freaking notch! I have a 2" square tube style I built and have some plate to lay over the joints. Should be plenty burly. Ill have to make the wheel tubs taller and make a notch cover but who cares, ill be able to install my 4 link finally. I've had it three years I can also fix the low hanging carrier bearing crossmember and tuck my exhaust better. Id like to raise the front engine crossmember by lowering where it bolts to the frame rails. Then put new frame holes for the steering box and idler arm. Ill just modify the column floor plate to line up with the box after its higher. I'm debating if ill lower the engine back down, probably not. It should still clear the hood fine but it'll pull the header collector above ground level. Trans tunnel should fit okay, if not ill deal with that. Small pie cut shouldn't be tough to make and reweld.


So yeah, expect some big changes to my trucks and another 2nd gen hilux in the coming weeks. Anybody needs any work done, let me know. I've got a nice big shop and 5 acres.

 

Washed the mud off of her. Tree branch recycling place was a muddy mess a week ago when I got rid of all the downed branches after the ice storm.

 

Took advantage of almost 70 degree weather with low humidity to spray the wheels. Went with gold centers because Dupli-color's Paint Shop ready-to-spray doesn't make a dark gray. Lips are fully polished on 3 of the wheels, The 4th still needs a little work.

 

They look great! Can't wait to see them on the truck!

 

I put in my sub and amp today! It sounds soooo good!

Only downside is that it feel like your sittin on bleachers on the passenger side.. I may make a new box to try to fix that.

 

Had a similar problem in my 85. Spent a ton of time building a cardboard template to mold behind the seat of my truck and match the crazy back of the cab. It fit perfect. Built the box to match, had to counter sink the sub so it didn't rub against the brace in the seat. Fit awesome. Wired it all up, climbed in to test it out, and Corner of the box right through the seat and into the middle of my back. Box fit awesome without anyone in it. Ordered a new shallow sub, but just haven't had the desire to rebuild box and try again.

 

I built mine to downfire to keep a butt off it, but I think it might be better to just get or build a strong grill to cover it.

I'm thinking I could make the bottom of the box out of sheet metal to save on the height, then cover the inside with sound deadener to reduce resonance, and have an overall height of 3"(not including grill) compared to my current boxes 6"..

For now it will be fine, it sounds good and hits pretty hard for being a super shallow 8"!

 

Some bump is next on my list too. Debating flattening the cab wall or not. I have a nice old school 200ish watt amp ill run so whatever will work with that I suppose. I've never run my own subs so anything will be a step up. I usually jus have door speakers.

 

200 watts max or rms? If rms you could probably run the same sub I am!

 

what kind of wheels are those???

 

lets see, yesterday i finished chaning the front and rear universal joints on my truck.

the front, center ujoints were fine, even the center support bearing was fine, the rear u joints was efffed the **** up!!!!

good thing is now with the new u joints, i can grease them. the old ones were 32 years old anyway lol....

 

They are some AC Schnitzer type 1 replicas I took in trade on a set of BMW M3 seats I had for my project Volvo. Kid had them on his E36 BMW M3.
They were pretty rough when I got them. All but 1 of the lips cleaned up pretty good.
I propped the wheels up against the truck & just used a metric steel ruler to get an idea on what size adapters to run. The wheels are 17x8" with an offset of 35mm. I'm going to need a 1.25" adapter set all around for them to fit nearly flush with the outer fender lip.

Non-hubcentric adapters run about $100 for the set on E-Bay.

I'll most likely run a 225 40 or 45 tire.

 

Well I did the necessarys today: Cleaned the wheels, cleaned the windows, and fixed my exhaust.. Looks soooooo much better with shiny wheels! And I can see again

My exhaust hanger(giant hose clamp) broke and my exhaust started rattling but I fixed it.

 

Replaced shocks today. Camaros up front, air shocks in the back. Rides waaaaaaaay better now.

 

Started a vacuum line delete and planning the wire tuck. Pics to come in my build thread.

 

Been busy as all hell these past few weeks. TONS of research and new information coming this way.

recently redid my front suspension, upgraded to 1ton torsions, 1ton front sway bar with all new energy suspension bushings. i also came across a 1ton rear sway bar im just waiting on bushings for it to go on. full write up will be coming soon.

also, im gonna do a 84-88 front suspension upgrade for my buddy's 87 pickup. most of these trucks came with 18mm front torsions and 18mm front sway bars. all 89-94 trucks came with a minimal 23mm sway bar and torsions. so, given that, they are a substantial upgrade to the older trucks for those of you who didnt know, these bolt straight on.

im working on a tailgate project too. this will be a sweet upgrade im sure some of you will like. write up will follow of course. lots of stuff coming soon... so stay tuned.

 

Saturday I finally got my drop spindles on. So now I'm running DJM LCA's with belltech drop spindles and a BJ flip. 6" of drop and sitting just about right. Today I shaved my first chunks of asphalt on way to alignment shop. Stupid sinking shoulders on back highway.

 

Went racing on sunday finished 10th out of 54 car's

It's truly fun beating sports cars in a silly truck