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

[Hambone]

My parents came back for another week and we got the wiring probably 95% done. My dad built a storage box for the rear which also houses the tail lights. My mom finished looming everything and helped me fill all the fluids. We got the brake lines roughly ran and then got the o2 sensor and mat sensor installed with some bungs. Tomorrow we will put the body on.

We got it to run. We think there’s a starter issue. It may need shimmed out but if your instagram, go watch my stories and let me know what you think. @hambone.114 or @hambone_fab_works

It’s loud. Originally it wasn’t firing on the driver cylinders but think we had a bad ground. I’m waiting on some 6awg to run power wires to the relay block to power the fans.

And first time it’s been on all 4 of its tires. Overall super happy. Was awesome to hear it run for the first time

 

[Hambone]

Got the body on this morning before my parents left. Went pretty smooth. Think the gloss black frame looks good outside.

First time it’s rolled out of the garage since October last year.

 

[Hambone]

And back in the garage. Tidied up some more hoses. Zip tied more wires and think I’m at the point of ready to move on and finish the brake lines then onto driveshafts.

 

[Hambone]

Got the atlas shifters done. Rear shifter is in the driver side of the intake and front is on the passenger side. I can comfortably ready both without reaching so that’s nice. That was the final thing to finish for the center panel so i pulled that out and bead rolled it and painted it.

I then started on the rear driveshaft. I made it a little too long so I’ll cut the tacs and trim it tomorrow and then check the run out in the truck. Goal is finish both drivelines tomorrow and hopefully the clips I bought for the brake lines show up or the 6awg wire I ordered for the relay box power shows up.

 

[Hambone]

Driveshafts done. Got the rear run out down to .010 which I think is pretty good. Still have to check the front but it’s welded as it went together a little better I feel. Threw some paint on them.

Rear is 2.5x.25 wall with 1350 joints and front is 2”x.25 with 1350 joints. I machined the 2”x.25 wall tubing to accept the .120 wall ends I bought.

Tig welded all of it for better heat control. Still struggling with second passes and looking good but feel like I’m getting better

 

[the bodj]

Getting caught up reading this… so cool reading that it’s a family affair with your mom and dad helping. I know time is running out for the race, but enjoy all the time you get to spend with them!

 

[badlinesgoodtimes]

did you guys end up making it out to KOH with this beast?

 

[Hambone]

did you guys end up making it out to KOH with this beast?

I did not after a huge thrash it just wasn’t in the cards. Day before we left the front end locked up and solidified it. I have a bunch of updates to post. I decided pretty early January we weren’t going to race but still tried to take it to cruise around which also didn’t happen.

 

[Hambone]

This is starting from January 12th for updates.

Well I hate to admit it but it’s not going to be done for koh 2026. Shifting to focus on making the ultra4 moab race on April rather there’s just to much to do in a short amount of time and with the extremely high entry fee for koh 2026, it’s not worth showing up untested and never driven the car. Plus I think it’s going to go faster than I know how to drive.

But we’ve still been plugging away. My dad was here last week and we finished the brakes minus one tee I was short. Got the throttle cable done. And a bunch of panels in. Exhaust tabs are in and my dad took those to wrap them.

Cut the exhaust tips. Welded the bottom on the air tank and got the new air compressor mounted as the morrflate wasn’t going to work for my needs so picked up an arb clone.

 

[Hambone]

All the link and shock bolts are shanked and installed with loctite and shanks anti siezed. Made the front links for the sway bar turned them down to 7/8 vs the 1.25 for the rear. Driveshafts are installed minus a few bolts as I got the wrong lengths. Axles centered and jam nuts tight.

I’m sure there’s more I’ve done that I’m forgetting. Started a new thing at work so been busy with that but it’s better for my future etc.

The big things left are the passenger floor which my dad made but just need to weld them up. Mount the body and mount the hood and fenders. I also think we are going to rework the rear some to raise the spare. It hangs pretty low and my dad thinks it’ll get hung up a lot which I agree especially on steep climbs. And I want to get that done before I get it weighed and springs ordered.

 

[Hambone]

Few more of the exhaust. I feel my tig is getting better.

 

[Hambone]

Parents back for another couple days to help. My dad took the exhaust and wrapped them. My mom and wife wrapped the headers and helped put some more heat shield stuff on panels.

With both making koh to race my dad went to town redoing the rear. Looks good with the tire and hoop to finish it off. We got a ton of other stuff done. Fuel line vent, started bleeding brakes. Breathers. Hose heat shields. And more I’m sure. And then we got the hood mounted. Tomorrow will work on the fenders and then body mounts.

Still pushing to take it to koh.

 

[Hambone]

It lives. My dad shaped the front fenders and will take them home to add some more fiberglass. My mom and I finished some heat shielding which proved to be very effective. The panels barely get warm now. We bled the brakes again. Some templates to mount the body to the cage. Hooked up the shifter. And lots more.

Drove out the garage for the first time which was cool. Still need to bleed the brakes again as they’re a little soft and mess with the idle to adjust the apr. And I think I have an air bubble in the cooling system as it gets warm and only half the radiator is hot while the other half is still cold.

 

[Hambone]

Only a little bit of time today. Got it weighed. Tuner let me borrow his scales so I didn’t have to haul the car around. It’s way more balanced than I thought and I’m pretty happy. I put weight where I thought it was needed to mimick what I’ll carry. And then got the bungs welded on the air tanks.

Minus the dash and a few small brackets I think that’s super close to weight. One is with me and a passenger. And the other is without us in it. And about 10-12 gallons of gas out of the 32

 

[Hambone]

Welded the body to the cage. Only have one more to do between the upper a pillar but waiting to pull the windshield. Made a quick mount for the air tank. Got the lower springs already and hopefully upper springs show up tomorrow. Chased down an issue where on startup the truck would go straight to rev limiter. After half a day of trial and error found I never put two of the throttle body bolts that go into the intake back in after messing with the throttle cable (originally was using the motion raceworks throttle cable bracket). It had shifted allowing essentially a massive vacuum leak.

Still chasing an air bubble in the cooling system

 

[Hambone]

Got the springs on day before we left for koh. During a test drive though front end locked up and I had to pry the drive slugs out and take the driveshaft out to get it home. Fronts about an inch low and rears about an inch high.

But plan was to take the rzr anyway since we were going to just walk around tech and watch the race. We sat at chocolate during the utv race after walking tech and then for emc and Saturday race, we sat at jackhammer. Jackhammer was wild. Winches every which way. Just overall chaos.

 

[Hambone]

We left koh Saturday night to avoid the chaos of leaving Sunday. My dad was staying till Tuesday so we could get some more things done. Sunday we got up and worked on the truck some. I got the front end apart and diff pulled. It ate the pinion bearing for some reason. We made a new list of things to do and he knocked out a bunch of things. Jack mount. Jack handle mount. Made some rear boxes for storage. Air line for the compressor to tank. And more. I got the passenger floor board done and door bars. Door bars cleared the doors but he cut them for storage. He fixed the dash that got damaged again.

 

[Hambone]

Monday I called gearworks to make sure they have the bearings and seal needed to fix the pinion so my dad could take it home with him and fix it. Gearworks asked what happened and despite us setting the gears up etc they said bring it by and they’ll get us setup. This morning we stopped and they rebuilt the pinion for cost of parts and we threw them some lunch money. Made a life long customer out of me that’s for sure. Great company. Got it back home and reassembled and pattern looks the same as far as I can tell so tomorrow I’ll try and slap it back I.

 

[Hambone]

current as of Feb 13

got the third in yesterday and front axle back together. And finished the jack handle mount.

Any ultra4 guys in here have a recommendation of who to go to get this thing banded? Preferably close to Vegas