not even that bad.

 

i know a guy with a s10 with those same rims, he got them from a guy from Mexico for like 200 bucks with tires.

 

lookin good!

and the eagles on the datto are pure sex!

 

i got these rims off an s10 they are dual lug pattern made the truck to fit them rim! and i traded a stock set of 14" steel s10 wheels for them haha

 

I like it. Looks good dogg

 

Ok, tonight i took the calipers over to my friends house (who does sand blasting and powder coating if anyone is interested, and building two toyota minis himself); anyways.. He sand blasted my front calipers which i posted about a page ago. After sandblasting they came out great!

Here are the Toyota front's after blasting.


We didn't get around to the Mustang rears calipers because they require a bit more dissemblance. We tried to get the caliper brackets done but one was being a PITA! I put pliers on it, channel locks, WD-40, even a propane torch until it glowed red, but the pin would not come out. So I'm just going to order a new bracket.
I'm going to order all new hardware anyways, bleeders, rubber seals, gaskets, grommets, etc.

Here is one of the mustang brackets that got done, next to the other which didn't get blasted due to its stubbornness.



The front rotors looked rough, so a new pair of those will get ordered. Powder coat will get ordered in a week or so and the calipers will look fresh.

 

nice! i was thinking about cleaning mine up for paint but sandblasting seems much easier lol

 

yea i have cleaned calipers in the past for paint by hand.. such a waste of time. It took my friend maybe 5-10 min each in the sand blasting cabinet to get those looking fresh and new. It's hard to believe those are the same calipers in the photo on page 8. It would even be nice to leave them clean, until they rust and get nasty again..

 

Got my rear Mustang calipers back.



Then decided to work on the truck. The suspension was hanging up and i wanted up unbolt the upper ball joints to see if the truck would sit down, to prove that this indeed was my hang up.






When the truck sat down, you can see the the two bolt holes closest to the ball joint do not quite sit, and the ball joint in fact was the fault. After a little examination, i tried a ball joint flip for the uppers.. It worked, moving the plate that the ball joint is pressed into up, released the stressed angle of the ball joint slightly, allowing it to sit lower and the transmission cross member on the ground using the stock components.





Then it all ended with a little Christmas lighting..

 

Today i unbolted the cab, removed both doors, raised the cab up and cut the tops of the transmission cross member.









Then i raised the whole truck back up, crawled under and cut the rest of it out. The truck does sit a little lower now, since it was laying the cross member on the concrete, but the front still does not lay out yet, could be the 19's on the front and suspension just binding again. When i put the drop spindles on it, the problem will be solved.

 

only had to work half a day today due to Christmas holidays, so i enjoyed my Winter yet Summer afternoon, having a cleaning day in the shop, Yes it was very close to 80°F outside today here.
Cleaned out the yota some so i could actually see what i'm working with.



Filled up a trash bag and found some loose change.. You will never know what it means to ball this hard.. ha



Found out with the truck laid out as far as it will "currently" go, cutting the wheels i still have clearance issues to resolve.





Test fit the hood and 4wd fenders on to get a feel of the character of this truck.

 

Last night picked up a front bumper from a friend for $50 with amber turn signals. So far with deduction of things sold off the truck, i have only $515 invested into the truck.

 

Ok, now on to this bumper business.. gotta figure out how to make an adapter, or new bracket to mount this bumper, threads i have read say you can make an L bracket, or modify the stock one. I see no way of modifying a stock bracket in order to work, simply because they are spaced so far apart. Mounted to the front support is the original bracket to bumper, in my hand is the bracket for the new bumper, about where it would sit if still installed on the bumper itself. You can imagine.



I sat the new bumper on top of the old brackets, and it places it at "about" the correct height, i guess when your building the brackets, there is no right or wrong when it comes to the height as long as the bumper curvature lines up with the fender curvature and transitions correctly.







here is how the old holes correspond to the bumper, but that does not matter anyways seeing as how new brackets will have to be made.

 

damn looks good keep it up

 

Earlier this week i brought my unfinished calipers to my friends house, today i got them back, he powder coated them. We went with Blue Ice Explosion BLUE ICE EXPLOSION
but the color does look a little off, so maybe the distributor mixed it up or something, but either way i like it. It almost looks like it changes between a deep dark purple and blue, and in the first few pics it has a black look but i took the last picture under a fluorescent daylight bulb as opposed to the other lighting, and you can see the true color.
This costs me nothing, just gave him my old fenders for this.

 

Looks good man

 

Yea, its looking very good!

 

looks great! can't beat the price either

 

Thanks guys!