TT Motorsports Shop Thread

85Yota

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Apr 5, 2022
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Ok new forum so lets get a new thread started over here.

Well lots of you know me and my shop adventures. Building mild to wild prerunners and race trucks. Simple bumpers to lifting the camper vans that are all the trending #vanlife stuff now.

Started my shop back in June 2010 by renting room in a shop space from Josh who owned and ran JSI Motorsports. Well within a couple months he decided he had to get a fulltime job to support his wife/kid so it left me hanging. Talked to the landlord and took over the whole shop space for dirt cheap at the time. Ran that space until the building went into forclosure and sold and shop rent was going to double. Decided that all my friends I went on trips with, The DMC, were down in south Ventura County. So after looking for shop space back home in Santa Maria for 3 months and no luck I looked down in Simi Valley. Found an awesome shop space that I rented and then started officially calling my shop, TT Motorsports, since before that it was just Tommy's Fab Shop. So I completely a lot of builds with my friends and mainly my friend Mikey who would come to the shop after his 8-5 job to help me work in the shop and part out silverado's, Escalades, basically whatever I could do to make some $$$$. I was working for Poly Performance Inc doing sales fulltime 8-5 and running the shop everyday after hours and all weekend. Business was stacking up and I decided to take the plunge to go fulltime with the TT Motorsports back in I believe September 2015. After running the shop solo fulltime until Jan 2016 I had enough business to convince Mikey to quit his 8-5 wine sale/shipping job and come work for me. Business was going great jobs were steadily flowing in and out until I met a girl and decided to move my whole life to Phoenix where it was cheaper to live, leaving my shop space for Mikey to start The Fab Lab and continue doing amazing work to this day. After 3 years and a bad accident, which long story short got my inlaws involved in my business, which derailed my business, and saw the wife and her family's true colors. I filed for divorce and moved back to Cali to be closer to family and friends and the desert I grew up going to and love.

So now that the divorce and past is behind me I have found a new home to purchase in Lucerne Valley, CA. 5 Acre's with a 2400 sq ft shop for me to work out of. I just purchased this Dec 29,2021 and Finally this past week got my shop setup and my lifts installed and ready to get back to work. My Ford F-250 Project which i've been building all year WILL be completed but to recoup some money that I have spent on that project, the house and not working on any customers projects this past year. It currently is sitting on all the suspension on blocks of wood at basically full bump to load onto trailer/off trailer and to roll around shop.

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I am starting off with a 3rd gen 4Runner that is already 4 linked and I will be installing my front LT kit, towers, CO and Bypass. Along with getting a 5.3L LS motor and trans mocked up. If all goes good and smooth with that I will be continuing that build with a full cage, tieing into the rear shock hoops, doing seat mounts, and if any firewall mods are needed for motor/trans I will be doing that as well. Along with this build I will be getting back into making YouTube videos every week as progress continues to get the channel growing like it was before my accident. The 4runner will be arriving the weekend of the 23rd and work will start on it after removing motor and front suspension for customer to take back home to sell.

Home/shop Before.


Home after 1 month of working every weekend on this with my parents help.


I will be doing an update video next week once I straighten up the shop a bit more and find a home for my tool box, the ameribrade belt sander, tube notcher, etc.

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Mom Sequoia is looking rad! Double 2 post lifts? Fucking nice! The shop is really taking shape quick. Any plans for shop cooling as summer gets closer?
 
Yeah there is a large industrial sized swamp cooler. Need to get the ceiling insulated for it to work good in though. The clock on wall has thermometer and it will read about 4 deg hotter than the thermometer on wall near workbench. And yeah the sequoia build will be awesome once I get a few more parts gathered and time next year to do it after the Ford is driving.
 
Yeah there is a large industrial sized swamp cooler. Need to get the ceiling insulated for it to work good in though. The clock on wall has thermometer and it will read about 4 deg hotter than the thermometer on wall near workbench. And yeah the sequoia build will be awesome once I get a few more parts gathered and time next year to do it after the Ford is driving.
Nice! You could look into evaporative roof cooling as an option. Your roof will help get heat out rather than provide a way for it in. Something to consider since you haven't gotten to the roof yet.


 
Yeah the Sequoia is gonna be an awesome build for sure. I bought a no titled 1983 Bronco for front end and i'm gonna do a front frame swap on the sequoia with coilovers and out back gonna ditch the track bar and do a upper link that is longer, with cantilever coilovers out back. Will be a lot of work and I got a lot of time to plan everything. For now it works great as it is with Bilstein ride height front shocks , SPC UCA's and rear 1" spacers with bilsteins out back. Rides great and can cruise in the desert to watch races and go to camping spots for sure. Will take it to the next level for a prelander type setup, bed in the back, Iceoco Fridge cooler in the back and 35's. Capable adventure mobile so I can get back into DMC type trips and I'll have for Ford for base camp trips or when I want to haul ass
 
Ok so my research on the roof evap is what i'm gonna try first. I got some 3/4" PEX so just need some fittings and i'll drill some holes and run that along peak of the roof, and adjust a gate valve until the water flow doesn't quite reach the edge so it doesn't need rain gutters or any extra stuff to get it to work as it should. Also I can run a elbow on end and another gate valve to have a line on my 53' semi trailer IF i find that it needs it or I go in there very often during the summer.
 
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Ok i'm doing special pricing until my next run comes in on the Jack Skids. Also doing special pricing on the trailing arms. PLUS if you come to my open house i'll knock $100 since you will be picking up from me on the trailing arms and will do $100 on jack skids cash in person as well. Only 1 set of the 55" Links left in stock and will be a few months before I get more of those back in stock. Act now to take advantage of this special "old" pricing that went into affect before the left messed everything up and raised the cost of everything, especially metal.



 
Glad to see your back up and going. I was getting ready to order some traling arms when you got in your accident. Ended up selling the truck o was building to start a bronco build. I will keep watching this as I plan to link my bronco in the future
 
Ok so if you guys are in socal and want to pickup any of my products I will offer you a cash price since I don't have to deal with CC fee's or shipping costs.
 
Ok so I built a rack slider for the 1st gen Tacoma / 3rd gen 4Runners. Here is some pics of the rack slider I made and sold a couple already but will post them up on my website in the near future. bronze bushings, 1/2"-20 threaded bolts for the camburg sliders, 1.25"x.375 wall 4130 tubing, will be switched to DOM in future once I run out of my 4130 stock, for the slider tube, that is machined for 3/4"-16 threaded bolts, and counter bored about 1/2" so the shank of bolt goes into the slider tube to make it essentially one piece. 1.75x.120 bushing tube with 3/16" plates that bolt to the factory sway bar mounts and the vertical rack mounting bolt. I have a truck coming in tomorrow for same thing BUT with the solo clevis so I can offer a kit for a truck with the solo clevis as well as camburg clevis AND will be offering it as a WIY clevis mounts for people who have others and can weld/notch and gusset those ends together themselves.

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The slider setup is $1100 and will require the ends to be welded together by customer. Since if they are off at all it won't bolt together because of tight tolerances. Also will need to team/drill frame sway bar holes out to 3/8" since the 3 trucks I've checked this on all are different by 1/8" or so.
 
Ok will update current project on this page. Customer/friend Caleb has a 99 Mazda B4000 4x4 ranger. Has the BTF front kit. It's at my shop to redo front shock mounts, build towers and cross brace over engine. Moubting air bumps off LCA up front. Finish the inner fender delete and remount everything up front. Out back I had to mount his battery that was relocated to the bed but not mounted and wires weren't insulated. Also he brought an explorer 8.8 rearend for me to install.

So first step on this one was to get the 8.8 mounted up along with battery. Get the rear finished up so I can turn it around on the lift to do the front stuff. Cut stock spring perches and sway bar mounts off the expo rearend. Caleb had the axle pretty cleaned up with rust and everything already. So I got axle all cleaned up. Calipers cleaned and repainted. Installed the supplies heavy duty 8.8 spring perches. Made stock replacement shock mounts since he has stock leafs and Bilstein shocks for now. Deavers and bedcage will be done in future. Also bent up, flared and installed new hard lines on the rear axle.
 
Photo order backwards but it's all here. Cross brace I ran a 3/4" bung in vertical tube off top of cross brace. Much easier than a bolt together flange and plenty strong for this application.

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