Next was covers for the top of the bed sides, the rear sections might get hinged eventually for storage compartments but for now they are closed;





Now for the nightmare........ the hood. I have 1 extra hood to do this with and not screw it up beyond repair.... Well I screwed it up but was able to salvage it with some patchwork, welding and alot of grinding...... Bondo, primer and white rattle can to come later;

Killer work.

Sick!!!!!!!!!

OK, got the hood done as much as its gonna get...... Drove it around for about 100 miles and it runs great, had a defective MAF sensor causing a rough idle but warrantied that and we're back in business.......




Have alot of small things and some interior stuff to do yet but had it out to wheel this weekend and it was nice to get back on the rocks and try the new version out.......

Sy that has turned out awesome! It has to sound mean with that motor!

Syota back in its comfort zone on the trail;

Turned out awesome!! I bet it's fun as hell to drive :)

Had it up in a little snow this weekend and it ran great...... power and torque are fun and driveability was nice and fun.....

I did realize that this rig now has the largest displacement engine of the 3 vehicles I own and it is STILL the slowest of the 3..... WTF?

Symon623 wrote:I did realize that this rig now has the largest displacement engine of the 3 vehicles I own and it is STILL the slowest of the 3..... WTF?

Maybe you should buy a bigger skinny pedal and see if that helps. I think Autozone has ones you can just clamp onto your pedals to make them bigger. ;-)

alanzona wrote:Maybe you should buy a bigger skinny pedal and see if that helps. I think Autozone has ones you can just clamp onto your pedals to make them bigger. ;-)

Hahaha, its not that its slow Alan, the other 2 rigs I own (see sig line) are just quicker....... ;)

Well, clearly you need to swap in a Cummins...

I wanted to put a 4BT in it but I could've bought 2 6 litre's forthe price of 1 4BT......

Yeah, can't blame you for that decision. 6.0 is still an awesome motor.

Yea, apparently you got to hear it the other day? LOL

It gets along really well.......

lol yeah, something that sounds such as your rig does always gets me looking, I was looking for a camaro or something of that nature, then saw your rig flying down the street lol

Avis wrote:lol yeah, something that sounds such as your rig does always gets me looking, I was looking for a camaro or something of that nature, then saw your rig flying down the street lol

It does have a nice tone..... :D

Spent the last week in Moab runnin some trails, here are a couple of videos;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cPsJjF_new

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Zrh3qzCQPM

Awesome!

OK so its been almost a year of wheelin and driving this thing around and I must say it is friggin awesome to have all the excess power and torque......Especially on the highway, in the sand and in the snow. Thats where the motor really shows up..... crawlin the rocks I really dont notice any change until I have to bump something, I can bump much easier now.

Now for the issues, none really except for the engine heats up at freeway speed (70+ MPH) when ambient temps are 100°+. There is no ram air flow to help the fan cool/move air through the radiator to cool the system. Not a huge concern as little as I drive in these conditions but I went on a trail ride/camping trip last summer and it was a blast and I want to do this some more. I want to be able to put stuff in the bed of the truck without a 200° radiator melting everything so I thiought maybe I could move the radiator under the spare tire carrier and draw fresh air from under the truck..... NOPE...... Plan B was to move the radiator to the front of the truck where it actually belongs...... Hmmmmm.

I wondered if I should mount the spare tire in front of the bed or to the back?



I opted for the back of the bed to maintain more weight behind axle centerline for balast.....


Without the tire mounted;


Lots of room in front of the tire now;

Now to get the radiator, cooling fans, a tranny cooler and a P/S cooler up front........

Core support came out along with the hood latch, re-located the tranny and P/S coolers lower between the rails, next to the steering box, still well protected.


Tight fit here for the dual Spal fans;