AROC

Hey Everyone, Thought it’s time to contribute to the cause and Start my Build Thread with my Mexican (Nationalized) 1988 Toyota Pick Up Standard Cab Deluxe 3vze 5 Speed 4x4 Manual Hubs originally from Iowa, USA now currently in the Rancho of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico also known as: “The Land of The Tequila!”.

It all started out..BTTFI.. you guessed right! I saw back to the future when I was like five and instantly knew I wanted a toyota 4x4 truck. It was like love at first sight. So I grew up and very fortunate enough to get an ’99 Ford Explorer Sport 4x2 as a first car but still wasn't 4x4 and modding it was a bit difficult or there weren't many parts (Or maybe I just didn't want to). So As soon as I was able to save a bit of money I decided I wanted to go all out and get my self and ol' toyota pick up, 80's style preferable lift it, totally mod it and learn as much as I can of Trucks and Cars and this is what I got:





She Came with a 3 inch body lift, Twisted Factory Torsion bars and 33x12.50's on 15x12 alloys (I really like those).
So after negotiating with the Owner, I could notice there was something a bit funny but couldn't put my finger on it, anyway I finished the paper work. So I did the mistake of not giving a really could check up before I bought (I really didn’t know much of Cars) and I encounterd THIS! (Viewer Discretion Advised):



TOYOTA CANCER!

Man that was a Bummer.. But I said oh well, I can’t do much here so I just welded, patched it and gave it a Total Chaos Truss So she could hold up.
After much debating with myself to keep or sell it, I was determined I wasn’t going to get pushed around by an ol’ rusty frame and I would just see it through.
After Checking with a chassis and suspension shop, I got really pissed off with a bunch of rip offs doing half ass jobs and kept looking for a decent shop until I probably found the best 4x4 family offroad and restoration shop in town to work in my truck. The initial goal of buying my truck was to learn and restore it myself as much as I can; I just wasn’t counting on the chasis being rusty HAHA LOL. So as soon as got to know the owner of the shop, Jose Gomez, and all of his family, I definitely knew he was cool guy. After telling him if I could do some of the work myself, he instantly offered to teach me any skills necessary and offered the shop and tools too, LIFE CAN’T GET ANY BETTER THAN THAT! So it was a Summer of Toyota Tech!



To This



And Then gave her a whole mantienance schedule of gears, bearings, fluids, accesories bands, tune up... EVERYTHING!





Gave her a good undercoat also



Goodies:
-Old Man Emu Shocks on all four corners
-New Toyota Steering Main Link
-New Moog Ball Joints

So then after that it was time to test her out! So like any good test we started small and then went big!

Test around Town



Broke and ADD a Leaf and a Diff Stud couldn't take the pressure and Kaputed. Pit Stop in the shop and we were good to go.

So Now The Good Part: Started a 2 and half month Journey to Oaxaca to travel, get to know new place and learn how to surf with two of my best friends with very little cash haha

A the top of the Oaxacan rockies



Our Body Guard



And The Magestic Coast









So after Our Great Journey, we got back home with our last amount coin put on the tank, but with a smile EAR to EAR.

School Started and Work also so my truck was pretty dormant for about a year due to parts needing service and saving up money to also.

The chasis rot got pretty worst and Decided it was time for a new chasis and whole new restoration if I was going to continue modding my truck. Luckily enough, the good lord gave me a break and one day on my lunch break It took me an hour two find a completely identical truck being dismantled, MAN.. AM I LUCKY OR WHAT! THESE TRUCKS ARE LIKE A NEEDLE IN HAYSTACK, THEY JUST KEEP THEM FOREVER! YOU KNOW WHY.









After about 6 months going in and out the shop and a lot of help from Jose and his family we finally got it done! This truck has teached me alot! I mean a boatload, from knowing myself, my mistakes and acheivements. I think its been an awesome expierence getting know all the people and the challenge that has been this project. It sure is teaching how to get my $H!t together if I want to get things done.







NOW SHE JUST NEEDS SOME MUDDD!

I really appreciate all you Yotatechers out there posting information on your builds and mods because they have been a great amount of help fixing up my truck and also making it very fun. I Hope you enjoyed reading my build thread as of today and hope in modding much more my toyota.

AROC

Mauk

This little truck looks so fun!
id drive the piss out of it for sure lol

plans for any this else?

AROC

Hey Mauk! Yeah for sure its a boatload of fun. I want to trick it out kind of like a 4wd prerunner with highway manners. Right now plans are: I need to get a new diff cause the original one is making noises (ring and pinion is shot, looking to get a new diff at the junkyard to see if I can get something better, I have my eye on a 2005 double cab hilux diff with leafsprings included that looks pretty stout), give her a good paint job, some dynamat in the interior and I want to improve the exhaust to something like 2.5 inch piping. Right now those are the plans. And then from there we'll see haha LOL

dropzone

iTrader: (6)

That is awesome! I would love to do a frame off job like that on my truck.

The 'T' on the tailgate looks a little funky though

AROC

Thanks Dropzone, it is an awesome expirience stripping down a healthy frame to be swapped on. You get a chance to also really "refresh" alot of the pieces that kind of get overlooked but since you unbolt and bolt back almost everything its a good chance to put in new parts like some energy suspension bushings in the cab mounts and a upper A Arms (I really wanted to try them out and there pretty cool), motor mounts, trans mounts, and many parts more.

Now I got a question for you Robb, Would I be too crazy converting my truck into a "B4runner" ? I just really love the looks and the functionality of having that open space, to me its like a true expedition vehicle. The sawsall is blinking at me hahaha lol