Local Legend Not much left Tacoma left... 4500 koh build

[Hambone]

After I went in from welding the bungs I realized I screwed up and welded both rights on one bar and both lefts on the other. Ordered new ones from poly performance but shifted direction to going over the crawler for tacos on the rubicon and getting the trailer ready. Overall the rubicon was a great time. Super dusty and seemed rougher than usual but no issues it seemed

Placed a big order yesterday for stuff and cycled the front some more as it seemed like I had a lot of bump steer but after putting the permanent draglink and panhard in, it’s at best very minimal

 

[Hambone]

My dad was here for a few days and we knocked out the sliders. Hopefully they don’t bend. Debating sleeving them with 1.5 solid aluminum or 1.5x.120 wall tubing.

Welded up the pitman arm after cycling the front again. And made some sway bar extensions for the Currie bars my dad gave me. Also worked out and made them dual shear. Practiced my tig on them and feel like I’m getting better

And slapped the busted hood and some fenders on. Need to order an 01-04 hood and driver fender.

 

[Hambone]

And the motor from summit, my wheels and a builder exhaust kit showed up from magna flow. Appreciate Magnaflow helping me out and sending the kit out along with a muffler.

Still struggling to find a set of headers to fit the passenger side with the motor mount so if anyone has any suggestions. Ideally I’d like it to dump in front of the motor mount so I can run it under the oil pan and tie into the driver side exhaust.

And no pictures but my dad knocked out the rear third member which looked great. He took all the stuff to build the front one home so that should be done soon as well

 

[Hambone]

knocked out two more swing arm extensions for the rears. Feel my tig is getting better but still a little shakey on some of them. I’ll do a second pass on them tomorrow since they were to hot tonight.

Driver front sway bar will get a small bend to clear the panhard and I made the extensions a 1/4 longer to account for the bend.

 

[Hambone]

Lower links done. Sleeved and wrench flats milled and plug welded. Capped a bunch of tubes. Sleeved and capped the sliders. Bent the sway bar but waiting on heims. Started on the winch plate.

Winch needed to be raised an inch to clear the steering box. Used some 1x1 rectangle and sleeved with some 3/4 dom. Tig welded and then ground smooth. Come up was nice enough to send me one of their competition and air free spool attachments. Works like an arb from the quick test I did. Add air and winch spools freely. Release air and it’s locked in and can winch in or out. Super happy with it

 

[Hambone]

More stuff. Front bumper. Winch plate. Limit strap tabs.

 

[Hambone]

Started putting the motor together. Waiting on parts from ict.

 

[Hambone]

Worked on the fuel cell some. Upgraded to a -16 breather/rollover and new -6 bulkheads for the feed and return. 2.5” od clear hose for the fill. First time ever tig welding aluminum and not upset with the results. It’s fat and ugly but I don’t think it’s going anywhere.

 

[Hambone]

McNeil finished my dash so ran down to socal Wednesday night and came back Thursday. Stopped at prp on the way back and grabbed a y strap for the spare and limit straps and then stopped at kartek. Never been to kartek and that place has everything. Picked up a bunch of parts from them as well to include the batteries

Big thanks to McNeil for helping me out with a discount on the dash and also to morrflate for helping get me setup with onboard air with one of the compressors. Fragola also helped me out with a discount so I placed a big order to plumb the car. Should have everything minus the brake lines I think.

 

[Hambone]

More stuff. Limit strap tabs welded. Used the rear third to test fit the axle shafts and welded the cs on. Finished the wing/upper radiator mount. Put some tube connectors on the lower radiator tube to be able to get the fuel cell out. Front bumper is welded and done. And made the upper links.

 

[Hambone]

Got the car turned around and body off. My dad’s been working on the floor pans under the seats while I worked on the exhaust. Redid the passenger motor mount for the 2nd time and made it straight again to clear the header. Not bad for my first time doing stainless. Super happy with the tube work on the car.

 

[Hambone]

Doors bars and dash work today. The car is small. Barely have enough room to mount all the stuff.

 

[Hambone]

Only a half ish day before my dad left. He got the motor put together and I got most the passenger side exhaust figured out. Just need to add another v band, grind the one joint and figure out the dump. He took a bunch of the panels to paint and clean up along with the dash to fiberglass it all back together.

 

[Hambone]

Spent a few days at trail hero. Not many pictures but wheeled some good trails. Got the exhaust welded out minus the end dumps. Debating if a second pass is needed for strength. And my dad started on fiberglassing the dash back together.

 

[Hambone]

Found a good deal on tires on tire rack since the date codes are 2 years old. We will see how they do. Picked up 10

 

[Hambone]

Took forever to make an atlas support/mount that I liked/worked and would allow the atlas to go in and out. It can now go out the top if the cab is apart or through thr bottom. It’s 1” sleeved with 3/4 and a 1/2 bolt. Atlas hangs down to just above the bottom of the tube. Probably either cut the skid plate and make a drop section there (1/4 skid cut a square and weld a 1/4 section over it to give a 1/4 extra of clearance)

The mockup atlas I used was no where close so took some time reworking stuff as the actual atlas was way bigger.

 

[Hambone]

Went down to nationals at Laughlin. Looked at a lot of cars and watched Saturday. Was a good time.

Worked on the rear sway bar today. Made the end links out of aluminum on the lathe and drilled and tapped for left and right hand 1/2-20 heims. Few more gussets on the tube and I’ll work on the front ones next.

 

[Hambone]

Just lots of welding and little tabs here and there. Made some aluminum spacers for the fuel cell and added a top brace. Made the battery tray removable incase I change batteries. And motor came out no issue. I’ll weld a bunch more tomorrow. Plan is to start painting the hard to reach stuff/under the drivetrain so I can start putting everything back in.

My parents painted a bunch of the interior panels and they turned out really good. My dad fiber glassed the dash back together and can’t even tell we ever cut it apart. He’s working on a set of fenders and bedsides that I also picked up

 

[Hambone]

Spent Sunday welding out the entire chassis. There still a bunch of tabs and small things that need added but I need to start putting everything back together and want to paint it before I do that. I’ll grind whatever paint I need and then touch it up as I go. Hopefully get it disassembled and painted this week

Started painting the small parts as well

 

[Hambone]

Engine oil skid plate tubes got quick disconnects. The bar between front link mounts got a quick disconnect to service the trans and maybe snake it out. Gussets behind the lower link mounts. Intrusion bars. Spare tire mount