Update!

I was able to drop into the bodyshop during a sneaky test drive, to see what progress had been made since lifting the bed on Saturday.

I was pleased to see the bed upside down, being cleaned. Very little surface rust at the rear, just behind the valence (license plate area). It came off easily with a rotary brush, the rest of the bed just had dried mud, especially between the outer skins.

A power wash was all that was needed, and the whole lot dried with compressed air, before going into the oven for 25 minutes. It is essential that no trapped moisture is over looked, as it was being under sealed. Sealing in water droplets, well the Red Terror would make an early comeback.

The chassis was also cleaned, I was pleased to run my hands over the surfaces, and find it smooth. I did say I did NOT want any underseal on the frame and underneath the bed, UNTIL I had inspected the preparation, and was happy with the finish. The frame was actually silver in places, it was that clean.

My second visit was after work. The frame was being under sealed, as was the bed. The bed was completed whilst I was there, the frame needs a bit more, especially the front underside.

I will upload pictures shortly, really pleased with progress.

 

I set up my camera to take some nice high-resolution pictures, only to realise I'd left the SD card at home, in my PC. Doh! Back-up in the form of my iPhone.

Pictures of the bed, in progress, and completed:

 

The cab and frame, looking like a mini tractor-unit. The rear section of the frame has been started, though not completed. The front section is also yet to be under sealed. The shop ran out of 3M underseal, more will be delivered tomorrow. The bed and the rear section of the bed has taken 5 large cans!

 

As I posted earlier, my rear differential e-locker wiring harness was all busted. I priced up a replacement at work today. At £63, it wasn't worth attempting to salvage the old one. It can certainly be soldered and heat-shrunk, but I opted for a new one.

I ordered a new harness, and replacement differential breather valve, again at £8, not worth trying to free up the old one. The new parts will be with me by Wednesday.

 

Mini update!

I dropped into the bodyshop after work, to see what progress was being made.

The filling and sanding has begun. The roof has been filled, in the areas where steel was welded into to rain channels, and the hole in the middle of the roof, left after I removed the amber beacon. I was impressed with the finish, despite it being pretty much work in progress.

I am fussy when it comes to bodywork, and so I should be - good bodyshops don't come cheap. I brought a flat rule with me from work, and a set of metric feeler gauges. I found a couple of tiny dips, and circled them. They will be attended to, and I will be checking each stage, until I'm satisfied.

I am getting an auto screen outfit to cut out the front screen. There are a couple of tiny chips at the base, nearside. So I might as well get a replacement. I am using the same guys that supplied me with a heated rear screen.

I didn't take any pictures today, as I didn't feel a sanded roof would be of interest.

I did visit the fabricator of the lid though. Due to the length, I feel there will be a bit of movement, even when locked, due to flexing of the bed. I instructed my guy to weld in a couple of tapered locating pegs at the rear, either side of the tailgate, so on the bed section. I will have corresponding holes drilled into the bed, the exposed steel painted with the rest of the bed. Then blind grommets inserted to accept the pegs. The pegs are 15mm long.

Hopefully, more progress tomorrow.

 

I got a call back from the windscreen outfit just after getting to work this morning. They confirmed they were able to cut the front screen out, and was I happy for them to replace it, once the truck had been painted?

For the sum of £150.

I originally planned to go through my insurance, as I have glass cover. Unfortunately, Autoglass (or who ever my insurance company use) will NOT cut out a screen, and fit a replacement at a different time. They will only cut out, and fit a new replacement at the same time.

I decided to go with the outfit that had gotten back to me. And when I visited the bodyshop after work, I discovered the glass guys had been and gone. The front screen had been neatly removed.

Rewinding to 08:46 at work, my replacement rear differential e-locker harness and axle breather arrived, and at home, my tailgate handle was delivered.

At this point, I'm not sure it I'm retaining an external handle, or having the handle recess welded flush, relying solely on automation to release the tailgate.

With filling and sanding starting, I don't have much time to decide.

 

One thing I have not come to terms with, (and probably never will) is the rear suspension on on the Toyota Hilux.

Like most light pick-up trucks, it runs a live rear axle, suspended and located by leaf springs. Whilst this set-up is great when it comes to load-lugging, it limits the handling capabilities on tarmac. Not an issue with the stock 2.5 D-4D DOHC 16V, with it's 102 hp output. But if the ultimate goal is more power, in my case from a breathed-upon Lexus 4.3 V8 2xDOHC 32V, then the rear suspension will certainly limit my exploiting the extra performance.

I believe leaf springs belong on a cart. And indeed, that's where they originated from. Cart horses (pulled by Donkeys) had their axles suspended on leaf springs.

I have decided to go with a 4-link rear suspension, with adjustable coil overs. This dispenses with the leaf springs. The axle is then located by trailing arms at the front, and anti-wrap bars at the rear. Side to side movement is controlled by a Panhard bar, which is a bar located on one side of the chassis, the other end on the axle beam.

Since I have come to this decision late in the build process, very few, if any fabricators would be willing to do the job. Grinding and welding whilst surrounded by fresh paint is not any fabricator's dream.

So, I will be doing the work myself, while the bed is off the chassis. I will make mock-ups of the locating shackles / brackets on the axle and frame, for the trailing arms, anti-wrap bars and Panhard bar. These will be made out of wood, then all I will have to do is give the wooden models to my guy to make out of 3mm steel.

I will also be showing some love to the front end, losing the torsion spring set-up, and having adjustable coil-overs here too.

I will post pictures of this process, as I go along.

 

The old rear differential e-locker harness. It's actually broken in two ares, and the same wires, all parted company. I don't think it's even worth trying to fix, as it's gotten so stiff and brittle:



And the nice, new flexible replacement. Worth every bit of the £63 it cost me:



OEM replacement rear axle breather - I may relocate it with stainless steel braided line, the jury's still out on that one:



I got a replacement tailgate handle, the chrome-look version as fitted to MK5 VX / Invincible. It carries the same part number as that fitted to the MK6, if the chrome package is specified:

 

Today, things really moved up a notch.

The front half of the frame was cleaned up, and under sealed. I removed the oil pan bash plate, it was only slightly dented in the middle, and would straighten out real good. But, I've opted to have a new one made out of of 3mm aluminium.

The cabin has had all the filling and sanding down done, the only areas that required Bondo were the roof, where the hole for the old revolving beacon used to live, and now has steel plate welded over it. The same goes for the roof gutters, that now have steel welded on to fill the groove. The cabin then had primer laid down, the roof had a few coats.

I'll upload pictures in a little while, though it's all looking great.

 

Some more:

 

Update:

My 11-day vacation officially started today.

Not a vacation of travelling, seeing different places, getting embroiled in diverse cultures, taking the wife and children on a road trip.

A vacation of delving into the innards of my Toyota truck.

I spent the day in the bodyshop. The cabin is all primered, the front fender flares have been trial fitted, though not with the stock Toyota plastic clips. I opted to use M8 bolts and nuts. Fit is perfect, with the edge of the flares resting snugly against the fenders. I have not fitted the rubber gaskets, those will go on after paint.

As the EX Single Cabin models were designed strictly as Workmate Utes, they left the factory pretty basic. To my knowledge, fender flares were not an option on UK SC's. There's always the glass fibre replica option, a route I did take initially, until I offered them up to my truck, and found they would take hours, if not days to get anywhere close to fitting.

I purchased genuine Toyota Hilux Double Cabin flares in the end. I was going to fit the rears as they come - 2 separate pieces. Today, I ended up bonding them together to make single flares each rear, and additional security in the form of M8 bolts, nuts and washers. Three bolts per side.

The join will be scored with 80 grit paper, then a layer of glass fibre added. Final layer will be a thinner layer of Bondo. They will then be trial fitted to the bed. The fuel filler flap will be modified to clear the flare on that side.

I took some pictures today, tomorrow hopefully there should be more progress. And more pictures.

 

Yesterday, I spent half the day at the bodyshop.

The rear fender flares have been trial fitted, so all the holes are in place where they need to match the fitting points on the flares themselves.

Of course, the fuel filler flap needs to be cut down to match the curve in the flare. I removed it, and brought it home. I don't just want the bodyshop to grind it down, I'm taking it over to my guy who has built the bed lid. Here the fuel filler flap will be precision cut, and the new edge folded over on a press to match the original edge.

Once this is done, I'll refit it, and make a cardboard template, which will form the basis for the new steel that needs to be welded into place on the bed. The flares will first of all need to be fibre glassed, and finished off with Bondo at the join, before they are removed.

The bed lid is finished, and it's a work of art! I had a tab welded at the rear to accept the latch, and locating pins that will mate with recesses in the bed rear top rail. I'll bring it home until the bodyshop is ready for it, as I do not want water splashed on the fresh steel surface, which will encourage rust spots before it's even painted and fitted. I'll take some decent pictures of the lid tomorrow, once I get it home.

Transport calls for a van of some sort, which I'll organise tomorrow.

 

I picked up my custom bed lid yesterday.

Very well constructed, once that's locked, the bed will be as safe as a vault. The steel sheet is 1.4mm thick. Very heavy though! I might have to revise the rams I was going to use (Saab Convertible tonneau cover rams).

I'm looking more at industrial rams, and matching hydraulic pump.

 

Some pictures, relatively late from the time the areas were completed.

Bed lid. There are no steel sheets wide enough to stretch the entire frame width. So 2 sheets were used. The 3mm gap in the centre was deliberate, to allow a skim of filler to smooth things out. If the sheets were butted together, the filler would sit proud of the surrounding steel.



Underside, during construction:





Underside, showing larch mounting tab:



Underside, showing locating pins, to prevent sideways movement when closed, and truck is in motion. They are on each rear corner, and will locate in matching holes in the bed rear top rails:

 

Front fender flares fitted. They are coming off before paint, which is why the rubber gaskets were not fitted:







Rear fender flares. These are Double Cab items, hence the join:





Rear fender flares fitted, again temporarily:





The join in the rear fender flares will be filled with fibre glass, then a light skim of Bondo. Once hardened, the flares will be removed for sanding and shaping.

 

Fuel filler flap, modified to clear the rear fender flare:

 

I didn't go to the bodyshop today, as I need to balance things out between my truck and family. As I'm back to work on Tuesday, it's only fair I spend some of my vacation with my wife and kids.

Yesterday though, I was at the shop for an hour. The bed has been temporarily lifted onto the chassis, to make it easier for the filling and sanding of the steel panels, which were welded over the hook recess area. The areas are first filled with fibreglass, sanded down, before Bondo is applied.

Due to the thickness of the steel plate used (1.4mm) using Bondo alone won't be ideal. One side was being sanded down after the fibreglass had been applied whilst I was there. Both front doors are in primer, and as for the hood...

...I opted to have the screen wash nozzle holes welded up, and smoothed.

The rear fender flares have been filled, sanded down, and removed for finishing. The front ones will be removed too prior to the truck moving I to the paint booth.

Tomorrow is another day.

 

Update!

The bed is 80% filled. Both sides are smooth and level - I took my trusty steel flat rule with me during today's visit, looking for dips and troughs. I found a couple, and marked them for levelling.

The rear reflectors have been junked, so the holes that were plated over much earlier in the build have been filled, and sanded. The same goes for the single foglamp on the rear panel.

The bed floor was being sanded to remove loose surface rust from key areas. The wheel arch tubs are done. The hood needs the Bondo on the tiny welded squares (redundant washer jets) sanding down, then primed.

There are two small square holes in the forward bed rail,where I cut off and ground down the ladder rack / bar stubs. These will be welded over and filled. The 3 lower strips (below the headlamps and grille) need prepping, along with the front plastic valence (below the bumper) as it will be body coloured. That will be plastic primered.

 

Some pictures.

Bed work - it is sitting askew, not bolted to the frame:







Inner wheel wells:

 

Rear reflector holes plated over, filled and sanded. Note the seam between the rear valence and side is deleted for a smoother look:







Smoothed rear, showing the 3 key areas: