OK, so please don't hate on my ride. I know it is pretty rough, but it was given to me by a friend and I couldn't pass up another project vehicle. The bed is just trashed. I didn't really get a good before picture as by the time I took these pictures I had already made some serious improvements. The bumpers and valance were twisted beyond repair so I removed them as well as the hammered on bed. The hood had 3/4 inch gaps on either side and was bent so it would hit against the cowl when it was opened. I got that pretty dialed in yesterday. I just tweaked it by hand over a piece of wood and fine tuned it by hitting it with my open palms. It worked surprisingly well. So the hood is about right now. Good enough for now anyway. I also hammered out the passenger side fender where it was pushed in and up from some sort of front impact. It worked out pretty well. I think with a little bondo the damage wont be noticeable. There is a little damage to the passenger side of the cab.

This is basically the only damage to the cab. It isn't nearly as bad as the dent I pulled out of the drivers side door, so hopefully it wont be too bad to pull out either.

The driver side door was backed into something while it was open at some point and was all messed up and hit the fender every time it was opened making a load metal to metal noise. I was able to reshape the fender so the door no longer hits it (the fender is pretty much trash, I probably will just take it off since the truck is just sitting there anyway). The door still has a little ways to go.

I am going to switch to 1/8 inch sheet metal screws in the slide hammer and do another series of holes between the ones in the pic a little more gently and hopefully bring it out the rest of the way. I just used what came in the kit, but in retrospect it is making some big holes. It is a 3/16 inch sheet metal screw and it pulled through most of the holes which left a little volcano shaped dimple/hole that will have to be flattened out and welded up. I am thinking when it is all straightened out as close as I can get the sheet metal I will heat them up with a torch and hammer them in a little before welding them (unless someone has a better suggestion). I want to get a straight fender on there so that I can gauge what more I need to do with the door. That fender has lost pretty much all of it's structural integrity from mashing against the door a million times when the door was opened and shut.

I fared pretty well in hammering out the passenger side fender. It is going to take some bondo work but I don't think I need to replace the fender after all. So that is basically where I am at with my project. At the moment I am mainly focusing on finding: a front bumper/valance, a driver side fender, a muffler/exhaust, and a replacement bed.

Now that I got the bed off I am going to pressure wash the back half of the frame and under carraige. It was pretty dirty under there from driving on wet dirt roads.

So far I haven't really done much to speak of as far as modifying this truck. I just got it a few weeks ago. I did flip the ball joints and crank down the torsion bars some. I also took out the middle leaf from the spring packs. I want to go really big (er, small) on this truck. I am planning to body drop it first. This whole thing is going to have to happen on a pretty tight budget for now, but luckily I am a welder and I can do all of my own fabrication. That's why I am doing the body drop before the airbag setup. I am motivated to work on the truck but I am have some serious cash flow issues these days. I fabricate some really high end stuff (for the real bread and butter jobs anyway) and being basically luxury items, the market has really fallen out with the collapse of the economy (or near collapse, however you want to call it). I can't stand being idle though and I love working on trucks, so I will find ways to keep doing it. I figure the body drop couldn't hurt as it sits right now, and wont really cost me anything. There is enough sheet metal around the shop to get the job done. Of course I am taliing about just doing the cab, as I don't have the bed yet. I can't wait to build the back half of the frame, but I need a few hundred dollars worth of fourlink parts and air bags, plus a piece of rectangular tubing for the frame that I don't have yet to get the job done, so all that is going to have to wait for now. I hope you guys don't think I am too crazy. This is about the most beater truck ever on here I guess, but it wont be that way for long.

 

you live in CA... you wouldn't have to worry about exhaust by then.

Lol good luck with all that work!

 

Yeah, I saw your post about no exhuast after the cat, but I have to say I am not a fan. My girl thinks it sounds good. I think it sounds ghetto. I like a nice deep tone, but it's way too loud. It kinda makes my ears hurt.

 

i wouldn't say your truck is the roughest one on here. there are a few pics of my s-10 floatin around here! it's actually halfway bodydropped without bags. my friend is going thru the same thing as you. he used to build stainless pool & poker tables, and high end custom fab, but now does heavy equipment to stay busy. oh, your dog looks damn near identical to mine!

 

looks like it will all just buff out im sure it will look nice after your done

 

bad ass lookin pit

 

Yeah, from the pictures i see, your exhaust exits after the cab correct?
I ran that for about a few months. It was really low yet loud... I wasn't a fan either.

but if you have a turn down or a side exit, it'll still be deep, yet not too loud.


But yeah... I wish my truck was quiet again

 

Too bad you didn't live in hawaii... I got a set of 2wd fenders that would match your paint and chrome corners as well! Good work on the truck so far!

 

Yeah, I might have to branch out into somewhat less desirable work here too, but for now I am just trying to hang in there through it and keep trying to advertise as much as possible. I do a lot of stainless handrails and gaurd rails, some spiral stairs, and some truck racks and bumpers. I also do structural framing for buildings. All of those markets have fallen off drastically around here...

Cool about our dogs! I couldn't resist snapping that of him when he was hanging out with me working on the truck. It's pretty off topic but why not...

Thanks. Yeah, it is already looking better all the time. It really looked bad when I got it. But yeah, in the end you would never guess it, except I am posting all these detailed pics of the carnage.

Thanks! He is basically a B.A.M.F., you could say. I have a bmx tire hung in a tree and he jumps up and grabs it over six feet in the air and hangs on it. I want to get it on video. He's the best dog I've ever had all around.

Yeah, I believe that would make a big difference. WHen I took the bed off it got way quieter for sure, but even so it is too loud for my liking. I already stripped my cab too so that could have something to do with it.
j10nk:

Yep, I'm afraid Hawaii is a bit to far. Meet halfway? JK. Thanks!

 

Yup, the bed "resonates" the noise, GREATLY


and i think the cab being stripped also adds noise.

I looked at my cab.. is there anything to remove? lol

 

looks like a good project

 

CL scores!!!

I finally found the deal I have been looking for on fenders. I found the guy off Craigslist. He had a pretty vague ad, but after talking to him on the phone we struck a deal for two OE fenders for $100. He was pretty far away. My girlfriend and I made a day out of it going to pick them up. When I got there it turned out the guy was an old school minitrucker. He was telling me stories about spinning beds and stuff from way back in the day. Then his friend came over who really knew his stuff about suspensions and airbags and such. They were kinda the opposite of me in that they used to be all into minis and now they are more into the lifted/wheeling/desert racing end of things, so all in all we had a lot to talk about. It was really cool. In the end the guy ended up throwing in a free hood. I bought a pair of brand new drop spindles from the other guy for $100, and he threw in a chrome air tank that just needs a little hole welded up. All in all I am stoked about these finds. I will post some pics up later of the new stuff. It was definitely $200 well spent!

 

damn!!! im jealous i gotta look for some OE fenders too. i dnt like my aftermarket one

 

good deal! i love craigslist!

 

Pics of my CL scores as promised!

This is one hella fast fender:
:
I popped out the dents in the door a little better. At this point it is bondo-able I would say, but I actually just found a deal on a couple white doors to match my spiffy new white fenders and hood. $150 for the pair. I am going to go pick them up in Santa Cruz tomorrow and hopefully go to Santa Clara to pick up rims too if the guy ever emails me the pics and they pass muster...

Here is the air tank and the drop spindles I picked up for $100. The air tank has a little hole in it that I need to either braze or weld up. The spindles are a mystery item. Any info about them would be helpful. I am picking up a chrome front bumper and valance tomorrow too from the guy in Santa Cruz. I definitely caught the minitruckin bug. I have been parting out a full size wheeling rig to get money together for my minitruck project.

I just sold 5 of these 38" Swamper SX and a 10.5" corporate 14 bolt rearend, hence the $$$ for rims/fenders/doors. I am keeping my mini wheeler going but I am pretty over the full size wheeler.

 

any lettering/names on the spindle?

 

Duh... Should have snapped a pic of the backs... Yes,there is some lettering. They are at home though and I am not and I forget what they say. Something like TO/RC on one and TO/?? on the other... I'll get pics of the back of the spindles up tomorrow.

 

So the spindles are stamped TO/Rc and TO/Lc. I didn't get the pics together yet and I am on my way out of town to get rims and doors and whatnot. I'll get pics up of the spindles and all the new goodies tomorrow.

 

Super Sport eh?!

 

Hell yeah! I told you it was a hella fast fender!

I got a new drivers side door and the chrome is300 rims yesterday. The rims definitely look better in person. The passenger side door and bumper/valance the guy had were not as straight as I would have liked so I passed on them, but the drivers side was the one I needed the most anyway so I was happy enough. I can't wait to put the rims on. I am going to order up a set of lug nuts to fit them and spacers right now. The lug nuts are the flat type with the washer. I got prices as high as 5 dollars each locally and as low as $6 for a pack of four. I can get them on ebay right now for $26 for a set of 20, and that is for OE Lexus ones. Way better deal.