1UZ into my Off-Road Long Travel Tacoma

[earthman]

Hey Smitherz, looking really nice now. That filter pod thingy looks like a beer keg stuck on the end of your throttle!

.... I won't be having to do anymore of the transmission monkey business. I'm ready to move on and work on the top side of the truck for once!

Mate, this made me laugh too. Mine was the same with transfer case adaption. Seems getting these motors into 4wds you have to spend a lot of time and effort on the transmission side of things. All worth it once sorted though!

 

[Smitherz]

Hey Earthman orange, heh yeah that air filter system looks like it belongs on the side of a big rig hauler. =] It's just nice to have something different. I'm going to start rebuilding the body mounts from the frame this morning and get rid of the body lift spacers. Then I'll have some more wiggle room for the intake system. It would be nice to have another inch of lift. As you know from yours my front bumper will mount to the same steel brackets I build. I've already planned for those to be extended forward a couple of inches. Then I'll be putting wider front suspension arms on and eventually a Ford 9" rear under it. So I'm basically making the whole truck slightly larger. Making dream a reality.

 

[Smitherz]

I didn't slack off today at all guys. I went ahead and cut off my front frame/body mounts and got rid of the spacers! I added another inch of lift as well and it solved a whole bunch of problems for me already. My radiator is going to fit so much better and my tires will have more clearance for travel among other things. I'm very happy with the result. The small change in height made for big results. It sits like a full size truck now. Here is a picture showing the plate steel that I first cut out and it will all be welded up and pretty by noon tomorrow.

 

[Lextreme II]

Looking good Smitty... I can not wait to see the final product. Looks like you and I along with the rest of the Traids will get together soon.

 

[Smitherz]

Yeap it looks like our projects will be running soon. I'm getting pumped up to go finish this fab work this morning.

 

[Smitherz]

Super strong front body mounts and anchor points for future roll cage mostly completed. The rest of the welding and boxing in will be done at my friends shop with his welders. Then of course I had to extend the steering shaft. The steering column was the only thing that I didn't remove when I stripped the dash and painted everything inside. So it was good to get it pulled, cleaned and painted while I lengthened it.





So this means that the body height it set and it's time to make the final adjustments to things like the electrical pos + and neg - wires and such. I can also get to work fitting the intake system in the fender and route the ducting.

 

[Zuffen]

Smitherz, Is it an American thing to remove te spark shields from angle grinders?

I see on American Chopper and similar shows all the time.

If an Australian show braodcast someone using an angle grinder without the shield the offending person/company would be fined by our Occupational Health and Safety people.

 

[Smitherz]

I like to live dangerously.

Well they do get in the way. And when your working on small stuff you just make sure and be extra careful for the small amount of time you use it. On bigger stuff I would put the shield back on of course. If I had a shop with employees I would require them to put them on at all times. Those shows make so much money they don't care. And I've only seen labor boards or safety organizations step in on construction sites. I'm sure the big vehicle plants are under close watch but custom shops are basically left alone since they are not high production or super dangerous with heavy machinery. That's just from what I've seen. But when it comes to the California Air Resources Board they will clamp down on how paint is sprayed and how much - but if there are hand power tools laying around without safety guards then no one would take notice. Now if there were no available glvoes, eye or ear protection in that same workplace then there might be a problem if it were a larger shop like a car dealership. Everyone always waits until some disaster strikes before any safety rules are enforced.

 

[Smitherz]

Here I go again, making more work for myself but I love this stuff. I've always wanted to make some nice clean fenders. Well I'm going to make the right fender to accommodate the intake system of course. It's going to be 100 times better. I already cut things out to make space so I could see how the intake would sit. Things are looking great. I'll have more room in the engine compartment and it will be a LOT stronger then factory. Then I can put some skirting around to cover the gap so mud and dirt won't splash all over inside.

And of COURSE I have a safety shield on my grinder. This is the big gun Metabo grinder which is the best grinder there is. The gears are made so well in Germany you have much less vibration and more power/ runs cooler for longer periods of time. This grinder was a great investment, so smooth.

 

[earthman]

Hey man, thanks fort the infomercial. You make me want to get a new grinder!!! Are you going for Metabo sponsorship? I like the incidental product placement in the photo too!! LOL

 

[Smitherz]

I had to show that awesome grinder off. I love that thing. Having the nice tools makes working on stuff so much more fun, to me anyways. I cut out the whole fender already and tomorrow morning I'm continuing to run chromoly tubing to support everything. It's going to be a lot better spacewise. I can't wait. I'm trying to decide if I want to powder coat the small diameter tubing black or silver. Aww crap the smileys aren't working.....

Ok I got my own. :thinking:

 

[Smitherz]

No messing around now. I added a lot of steel plating and the tubing is cut for the supports. Tomorrow I'll weld it together and then it will be powdercoated in time to install the day after. The front corners of this truck are going to be many times stronger than factory. I can't wait to drive this sucker!

The inner fender from the upper fender line (where you can see it tack welded) will be cut out completely after I'm done using it for reference and measuring.

 

[Smitherz]

1UZ engine is standing by patiently.

 

[Smitherz]

You guys think anyone will want to race me if they see this next to them at a stop light?



Might have to cover it up a little bit...

 

[earthman]

Mate, you have ripped that thing open like a coke can. I think you like your whiz-bang grinder a bit too much! With the way you are going you could stick some big hinges on the front end and turn the whole thing into a clamshell style bonnet. You'd have unhindered access to everything then.

 

[Smitherz]

Well I want to keep it looking more like a stock Tacoma. I will use fiberglass fenders down the road. But that's more $$ and I want to have the roll cage from front to back first. Yes I am having a lot of fun with the grinders indeed. I did have a front flip up hood on a F100 1956 Ford hot rod I built with my dad as a kid. It sure makes changing the oil and working on the engine nice and easy! Of course this work will make things easier just the same. It's nice to be able to see the engine more and there will be plenty of air flowing to help dissipate heat. Driving in the sand really brings up the heat in any offroading vehicle.

 

[Smitherz]

I literally cut everything from the front of the truck the other day. I couldn't see spending one minute reinforcing stock body metal when I could just use that effort towards just making a whole new front end. But I've been making it a point to work a few hours a day at least so things are moving along nicely.

Here is a bumper style horizontal support (designed for radiator mounting) that will be joined with these box style supports that the whole front end and fenders will attach to up front. Nice and strong. The whole front end rests on these pieces and they will join to form an extremely strong assembly.

The headlights basically mount just above these boxed supports on each side.

 

[Smitherz]

Front end is nearly done and I'm continuing work today. Besides the plastic and the side fenders everything else but the suspension and base frame is hand made at this point. It all just takes time... I have a ton of stuff to do when this truck is done so I'm going as fast as I can. I was out of town for all of last week so now I can start making some real progress. Front end and hopefully the radiator and bumper mounting locations will be done today.

 

[eddiehellessey]

fan bracket

was just wondering wher you got the fan bracket from to replace the hydro fan pump

 

[Smitherz]

Plenty of info on how to get a replacement pulley to go in place of they hydro fan pump pulley... "Search" is Thy Friend.

Everyone probably thinks I haven't been making an progress. That isn't the case. I've been working on this thing nearly every day whenever I can make the time. So after finally rebuilding the whole front end here is what she looks like:



Everything is new. I got a new set of lights to update it to a 2004 Tacoma front and rear end now. I can't wait to see this thing rolling out of the garage! Now I can finally get to finishing up the wiring and then I'll be filling up the oil and topping off the radiator fluid. Woohoo!