Back at Rising Sun...finally...

I was supposed to hear from the body guy on Monday. Didn't hear. So I emailed on Tuesday morning. Nada. At 3:30 I called up there, the receptionist said "Oh, he's on vacation this week. And your truck's not here." After a deep breath I just asked to talk to the asst mgr, who's taken over while he's gone.

He said they'd taken her back to Rising Sun that morning. OK. So I asked about the parts that were on order from Toyota, and he said he didn't know anything about that. So, I guess I was glad that she was at least back down at the mechanic shop. Called Rising Sun and Alan said they'd brought her over at about eleven that morning.

Couldn't get over there til today to see how things looked. Overall, I'm relieved she's back in Don's hands, but I'm really NOT happy with what the body shop did with the tailgate. Don said that he'd call them on Monday. So, tryin' to look on the positive side of all this. Took some pics of the engine...oh, baby...it's purdy...and got some underneath shots, too.

Here's the scoop:

Meanwhile, back at Rising Sun...

Y'all enjoy.

 

It's a step n the right direction . At least it finally moved from the body shop . And having the motor and trans dropped in will be rounding the bases to home

 

Agreed...I just gotta let go of the frustration. I'm glad we've got some progress goin'.

 

Are you planing on putting in a new booster and Master cylinder booster I think was 60 from advance and master are pretty cheap too would finish the engine bay nice

 

Hadn't actually thought about it yet...that does sound like a good idea.

That show still on for tomorrow? I'll bring the camera.

 

Hey man...just drove over there, didn't see anything that looked like a car show goin' on...did I get the day wrong?

 

No its from 6 pm to 10 pm finding out its more of a meet than a show but I will be there

 

Dangit, was hopin' it would be earlier...got dinner with some friends tonight, so I won't be able to make it by. Defnitely wanna know about future shows/meetups in AUstin, tho'...once Li'l Truck is done, it'd be cool to show her off once in awhile.

 

Well you missed out ended up spreading across half the parking lot easily 300 cars plus. went till midnight lots of nostalgic Toyota's and Nissan's and Honda's had people from Seattle,NY, elpaso all around and judging by peoples reactions there might be a few more mini trucks to hit the stanced scene

 

Sounds like a blast. Is it a car club? They got a website or newsletter? I didn't hear any sort of advertising for it at all, just your mention of it here.

Wish I'd been there...dinner was pretty much a drag!

 

Not sure yet if its a forum or auto blog that put it together but it was only on the net and by word of mouth but I was told they are going to do this more often I'll find out more and let you know

 

Cool! Sounds like a plan.

I went by both shops today...got some more pics. Don was finishing up the engine prep for putting it back in. Went to the body shop after, and Larry won't be back until tomorrow. Spoke with Amy and she's going to have him call me tomorrow.

At any rate, I'm happy we're finally MAKIN' SOME PROGRESS!!!

Here's today's pics and report:

Movin' Right Along...

 

Looks good!

 

Thanks! Here's today's news:

Piece by piece...

Very relieved that they should be able to fix the tailgate "right". And I'm hoping to still locate a set of the original chains and shouldered bolts for the tailgate supports. If anybody has a set that is bone-original (or knows where one might be available), please let me know.

Seein' the engine back in did me some good, lemme tellya...

 

Mo' progress...

Yesterday the majority of the sound-system stuff got delivered, so I figured I'd go by Rising Sun and drop that off for Don, and see what this week has brought. Lots of cool new paint on engine compartment goodies, and we also talked about carpet, and other stuff.

Decided to go with the "stockinteriors.com" site, since they look to be good quality stuff. They're sending me samples of the different browns/tans/beige colors that they have. Oughta have those, along with the rest of the sound system by next week.

Here's the latest pics and news from today:

Purdyin' Up The Engine Bay...

Happy first-day-o-summer, y'all...

 

sounds like ill be getting a cruzin buddy soon

 

Yah, man...hopin' it'll all be together in a coupla more weeks!

 

Progress...

Here's this week's report...progress in the engine compartment and interior...y'all enjoy!

Engine build-up, Dash tear-out...

Inch-by-inch...step-by-step...we gonna get there...we gonna get there!

 

Short Update...

As of Wednesday, all of Li'l Truck's parts are now at Rising Sun, and Don will officially finish things off himself. He and I went to the body shop that morning and arranged for them to deliver everything they had. After I got home, he'd left a message that it looked to him like the only thing missing might be the J-Hook that holds the spare up under.

So at that, I breathed a sigh of relief. I can stop worrying that something crucial has been lost, and it looks like we can get this all wrapped up by the end of next month. Don said that he thought that would probably be no problem.

Not many new pics to share, other than these of the carpet being trimmed-in. Could not have picked a better color! It's a dead-on lighter shade of the dash parts. And it's really good quality, very happy with the choice. Ended up having to buy two "trunk kit" 19-sq.ft. boxes of HushMat in order to get everything covered that needed it (firewall, floor, doors and roof.

Don and Justin have continued to scrub, paint and install parts. The AC/Heater air box and duct-work has been completely cleaned and got new foam seals all around. They've also found a little "cache" of NOS parts in Rising Sun's former parts department and are using whatever they need to. NOS upper and lower radiator hoses, etc.

All in all, it's finally comin' together. And I'm pretty sure that "finish line" I see ain't a mirage after all. If she gets finished in August, that'll be nine months for the whole project...ha!..I'll have done birthed me a baby....

 

Almost there?!?!?!?

Well, it's been awhile since I put an update out. Partly due to me taking a two-month roadtrip last fall, partly due to more shenanigans by the body shop
But really...I think she might be finished by the end of this month. All that is left to be done are some final details, including custom-fitting the chrome baby-moons I was able to locate. That will entail drilling/tapping the wheels to install round-head bolts to give the "lip" of the baby moons something to grip.

So here'a s few photos shot about a month or so ago, when she was sitting outside in the sun. That dash-cap turned out just about perfect. Also found a set of glass-lensed white fog lights from an old Nissan Pathfinder that fit into those two inner holes in the front bumper. Don's got those mounted since I took the pics on this last page.

Nearly there? Really?

Once she's finished and I've got her safely back home, i'll take some better "glamour shots" in a nice location and do the final page up right. Y'all enjoy!