Kinetic Customs shop truck - '87 Xtra long

Discussion in '1984-1988 Build-Up/Project Threads' started by OneOffStroker, Sep 1, 2015.

  1. OneOffStroker

    OneOffStroker Newbie

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    87 Xcab Longbed
    I've had this truck for about two years now. It was a total pile when I got it. I traded some hippy dude a '90 Mazda Miata for the truck and $100. I got the Miata for free, so basically I was paid to take this truck. It's a 22R and had an auto trans. I almost backed out of the deal because it didn't have a 5-speed, but I was ahead of the game money-wise, so I figured I can jam in a 5-speed cheap enough some time down the road. Anyway, the truck is used as a daily driver, parts hauler, badass bike hauler for my race bikes.

    Fast forward a bit and it now has a 5-speed (W-56), Belltech 2" drop spindles, 3" blocks out back, and wheels from an S2000. There are some things here and there that also happened, but it's in the past, and this thread is going to be about the future.

    So...future plans (next few weeks) include 'bagging the front and rear, adding power steering, and making an ITB setup out of some CBR900RR carbs. I will start making the brackets and welding in the small notch and whatnot starting Friday of this week. NONE of this stuff is coming from any vendors or shops, it is all being designed and fabricated by me, so stay tuned for either some ghetto fab, or some actually pretty decent fab.

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  2. jetas

    jetas Grand Toyotaholic

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    Welcome to TM. Il looking for some updates
     
  3. Da_Roach

    Da_Roach Toyotaholic

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    Welcome. Great to see another VA person. I'm up north about 3hrs away. Look forward to the progress.
     
  4. TRUCK ACTION

    TRUCK ACTION Grand Toyotaholic

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    Welcome!
     
  5. OneOffStroker

    OneOffStroker Newbie

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    Well, as promised, I've made some progress, but not as much as I would have liked so far. I did get the rear suspension swapped out. I took the trailing arms, torque arm, and pan hard bar out of a '96 Camaro to use as the new setup. The torque arm is highly underrated, but is actually an amazing setup when dialed in properly. I designed all of the brackets for the install myself and went to work.

    The Camaro pieces. The Panhard will be shortened, as will the Torque arm.
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    Frame ready for some teardown, but first, mark axle centerline!!!
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    Leaf springs and axle removed. It had a 4.10 rear gear in it, and with 205/50-16 tires, that was too much gear, so I pulled a 3.48 from an '89 at the local PnP.
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    I designed my brackets in CAD and cut them out on a water jet from 3/16" steel. I make as many pieces have tabs and slots so that they kinda act as their own jig while assembling and TIG welding them together. Work smarter, not harder.
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    Trailing arm and shock mount brackets. Note the multiple holes for adjustability.
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    Panhard bar bracket (axle mount)
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    Panhard bar bracket (frame mount) Again, there is adjustability designed in.
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    The stock leaf spring pads on the axle were exactly the right width for these trailing arms, and since I was going to adapt the frame's front spring mount for the trailing arms, the axle pads helped me put the brackets in the correct spot. Just needed to grind away a little excess factory weld. Too easy!!
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    Used all four limbs to get a clean weld. Hands and right foot for the TIG, and left foot to rotate the axle as I welded around the tube.
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    Shortened the Panhard bar.
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    Torque Arm bracket welded on the Axle housing.
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    Used a vacuum pump to compress the bags and hold them that way so that I could get the mounting points all centered and even.
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    Made these large 'washers' to take up extra space in the stock spring bracket as well as to make the mounting holes slightly smaller to better fit the trailing arm bolts.
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    Got everything welded in. Panhard bar and trailing arms sit dead level at ride height, like they should.
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    That's about it for the pics and stuff. I still have a little bit of work to do to button it up and put the bed back on her.

    Next is to mount my compressor and switches, then pull the front fenders and design the brackets and stuff to 'bag the front. Stay tuned.
     
  6. MrDinkleman

    MrDinkleman Addict

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    1988 standard cab, long bed
    Any progress?

    Also, a couple of questions:
    1. Where did you mount the front of the torque arm? On the center bearing mount cross member? If so, did you have to reinforce it? Any pics?

    2. Since longer is better when it comes to panhard bars, why didn't you make the axle-side panhard bar mount part of the right-hand side trailing arm mount?

    Thanks.
     
    Last edited: Oct 7, 2015
  7. OneOffStroker

    OneOffStroker Newbie

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    I have had some progress, but this seems to be the least-trafficked forum on the internet, so I haven't gone out of my way to post much. lol
    I have been driving the truck for a few weeks, and it's good so far. I have some small air leaks that have been a nuisance, but I'll chase them down some day. I have since powder coated my AP1 wheels and reinstalled them with new tires, and also powder coated a spare valve cover to match. I will be installing that valve cover this afternoon, so I'll take some pics of that as well as the compressor setup and switches in the cab.

    Answers for you:
    1) I did mount the torque arm to the crossmember. I did not reinforce the crossmember because I don't see it getting enough force to mangle anything as-is. However, this setup isn't perfect, so I'm going to make a new one. I will use DOM tubing with a heim joint on the frame side and build a better mount under the crossmember. The reason is that the setup I have now does not extend fully to the u-joint center, which is where it should pivot to ensure no binding (about 1.5" short). There are a few other things that bug me about the one I put in there, so I'll just build a better mousetrap.

    2) I agree with you about longer bars, but this one is where it is for clearance reasons. In the Camaro that I pulled it from, it is mounted to the trailing arm bracket, but on the truck, it would have been fighting for space with the airbag, proportioning valve, and shock. None of those items are in that picture, so I can see how it may look like I just cut it short for no reason. When I drive at ride height though, it's dead level, so any bumps and stuff will cause minimal deflection to the drivers side, so it's not a big deal. I haven't noticed any ill effects while driving it, so it will stay as-is.

    I'll update later today or tomorrow sometime with some additional pics. Thanks for looking.
     
  8. MrDinkleman

    MrDinkleman Addict

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    1. Instead of fabricating a new cross member, why not just attach the torque arm with a link instead of directly to the cross member? Some torque arm suspension kits come with such a link and, after reading your build thread, I did a little research on torque arms and read that there is a "dogbone" part from a BMW that seems to be a popular, low-cost mod for some...

    2. Looking at your welds and fabricating abilities, I didn't think you made the panhard bar short for no reason. I just thought it might have saved a little welding if you incorporated it into the arm mount and so was wondering what were your reasons for not doing so. Makes sense, now.

    I like this torque arm setup much more than the triangulated upper arm most people use to get around the gas tank location. Seems like less fabrication is required and it is a tried and true system used by the OEMs. And it does have a lower rear roll center.

    looking forward to more pics. :)
     
  9. White Trash

    White Trash Toyotaholic

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    The torque arm discussion has gotten me to do some research since I know it's not a bad suspension system to start with. My brother has a '99 z/28 and it plants the rear end decent enough with just a bit of rubber bushing induced wheel hop. I was set on using truck arms but now my research has me thinking it over. Thanks for screwing up my plans. :lol:


    I dig the build by the way, I've been following along in the shadows being jealous of the bracketry. :eek:
     
  10. OneOffStroker

    OneOffStroker Newbie

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    Thanks man! I did the suspension in my '57 Chevy pickup with the same setup, but with more adjustability than in the Hilux, and it's solid in that thing. A lot of people will say that torque arms are garbage, because there are better setups for drag racing, but I don't drag race, so no sweat off my balls. I'm into Autocross and big track road racing, and next to IRS, the torque arm is the best setup you can get.

    Here are a few shots of some other junk I've been up to on the truck.

    Powder coated the AP1 wheels. It's called Bronze Chrome, but I shot them in a flat clear called Casper Clear. I'm not a fan of shiny stuff...I flatten everything.
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    A fuzzy shot after the Casper Clear
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    I also coated a spare valve cover to match the wheels. I did this in 3 stages. First was the Bronze Chrome, then the Casper Clear. I wiped the clear off of the TOYOTA letters so that they would remain shiny. Then I masked and shot the center in Prismatic Gold. It has a blemish or two, but once on the engine, it's not too bad.
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    The old valve cover looked good enough, but it poured out oil like crazy. If I would drive 10-15 miles on the highway, it leaked so bad that oil would come over the front of the hood and start to streak back almost to the windshield. It was excessive and I was tired of it. So a new gasket set with some good sealant and a new valve cover was in order. ***I had already degreased and pressure washed before I took this pic. Trust me, it looked like an abortion before.***
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    This always bugged me. I could never get a hose attached to the breather because it is tapered and a weird size.
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    So I tapped the hole on the new cover with an 1/8" NPT and threaded in a barbed connector. WAY better this way.
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    Here it is all together. It doesn't leak so far. I'm pleased with this.
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    Here are a few shots of some of the rest of the airbag control system:
    Compressor from a 2000's Lincoln.
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    Air lines go through the old auto shifter shaft thingy.
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    Manual valves mounted just above the head unit and gauge in the HVAC panel blank.[​IMG]

    A shot of my badass shifter that I made a while back. It's the stock exhaust cam from my old Supermoto race bike.
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    Finally, some shots of the truck with the wheels on and at different heights with the rear bagged.
    All the way up:
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    Ride Height:
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    Bags dumped:
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    At this point, I'm sure that some of you may wonder why it doesn't lay frame even though it's bagged. Well, I didn't want to cut into the bed to put in a big step notch. This is my shop truck, and my shop is all about motorcycles. I can't have a notch in the way if I want to put bikes in the back. You may say I still could have and raised the bed floor to compensate. But do you know how much of a pain it is to ramp stuff to a level that is now higher than the tailgate? It just doesn't make sense to me to do all of that. So long story short, this is about as low as you can get without notching the bed/frame.

    I'm going to attempt to do the bags on the front this week if I can get a chain tensioner built for my last street-legal bike tomorrow. I can't just cut the Hilux apart without having something else to drive to work.
     
  11. White Trash

    White Trash Toyotaholic

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    Autocross is exactly what I do with the truck on the weekends. :D

    Tapping the breather on the valvecover is a good idea. I tapped one to 1/4" npt on my old 78. Worked sweet.
    [​IMG]
     
  12. _Quickfox

    _Quickfox Enthusiast

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    Hey Oneoff, sweet xtracab!! You get the front bags in?
     

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