Flooded 1981 Toyota Pickup Revival

Yeah yours looks way too nice to cut up at all, let alone a full chassis swap. I might settle for putting a cap on a normal pickup and cutting the back wall out with what trekkers's bring if you can even find one, MD winters were not kind to any old trucks. The flooded truck looks sweet with the stance, I seriously appreciate the big tire LCG look. I love the icelandic toyota's because of that.
 
Started on a set of sliders for the flood truck. Simple 2x4x.120 sliders tucked up high and tight to the body. I didnt like the gap between the bottom of the bed slider so i chopped up a perfectly good rocker to raise the slider ~1.25" to close the gap.

Before:
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After:
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Figured while i had some time id start on a cage. Building an internal cage in these suck. The body mounts are in the way of where you need to send the tube through the floor, so im getting creative. Had to cut out the floor anyways to fix the rust where my feet went so here we are. Dash bar fits under the dash and clears the AC vents and everything else, except the back of the gauge cluster. Im going to have to space it out some or run aftermarket gauges. As you can tell i need to patch the floors for the drivetrain anyways. Just ordered a vinyl floor from RA so hopefully once its all done, it will keep most of the exhaust heat out. Currently it will bake you alive in there.
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Cage is done. Boy did that suck, but its high and tight and mostly welded out. At least as much as i could get when i dropped it down through the floor. Dash is cut and notched to fit around the A-pillar tubes. Should bolt in as usual.
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Next up fixing the huge holes in the floor, seam sealing, sound deadening, jute padding, then a new vinyl floor. Hopefully this will keep the heat out. Currently its unbearable to drive with all the holes. Im going to fix that.
 
Instead of bobbing the bed why not do a high clearance bumper like a lot of 1st gen tacoma guys do? Basically a rear bumper with bed sliders.
 
350TacoZilla said:
Instead of bobbing the bed why not do a high clearance bumper like a lot of 1st gen tacoma guys do? Basically a rear bumper with bed sliders.
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Most cut the bottom portion of the bed off then put a slider under it. With it being a long bed i think the proportions are off with it being longer than it is tall, if that makes sense. Taking 14ish inches out really squares it back up. Plus it eliminates the overhang that gets hung up on vertical climbs.
 
This was my very first crawler. I took 16" out of this bed. Unfortunately being a newb this truck had a 3" body lift and a gap between the bed and sliders. With how low this new one is, it should look just right with a bobbed bed in a similar length. Ill then put a slider under the bed floor and build a proper rear bumper .

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Been plucking away at the interior. Dash is trimmed and back in. Installed a coverlay dash cover and it sure did clean it up.

Before:
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After gluing it down. These fit so nice. The two holes drilled are for the inclinometer.
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Picked up some LP-poors for the front end.
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Built a surround for the shifters. Cup holders will also be added behind the twin sticks. Ill make an aluminum top piece thats removable with nutserts. Now i just need to add metal to cover up the sides and seal it all back up. Floor is getting butyl sound deadening, some mass backing, some jute padding, and then a new vinyl floor to hopefully keep out most of the heat. Im also putting some of that boat decking on the roof as a new headliner.

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Interior is 95% done. Waiting on my new 3D printed dash defrost vents to come in, then i can wrap up the dash portion.

Welded in the floor patch panes and seam sealed everything.
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Next a layer (two in some spots) of stick on butyl sound deadening.
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Then a layer of mass backing foam stick on stuff.
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Then i glued on some jute padding that came with the vinyl floor kit.
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Then cut up the vinyl flooring to fit around everything. I added some trim pieces that go around the shifter console.
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And pretty much done. New seat covers for the 4runner seats. Some boat decking for the shifter console and roof. A throwback to Dirt Squirrel 1.0 that had wood grain door panels. Interior came out great. I can only imagine that it has to help the noise and most importantly the heat.
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Also pulled the 4runner efi tank and bolted in the Motobilt 19-gal fuel cell. This cell uses a drop in 05-06 TJ fuel pump assembly. This will make it easy to get replacement parts if anything happens. I hope to get it installed and plumbed after work.
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Looks great and huge improvement, but your passenger won't be impressed with the single drink holder.
 
Started the bed bob last night. Took 14" out to make it a shortbed length in the off chance i put on a camper shell one day. I got the gaps to be pretty tight. A little fine tuning and it will be ready to weld. Going to build the rear bumper first as it will be easy to weld out with the rear of the bed off.

No turning back now.
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Proportions look a lot better now.
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Its going to be fun to weld out as always. i did manage to cut out a good portion of the rust along the bed seam with the 14" taken out. I ordered a set of those butt weld clamp things on amazon to help hold it all in position to hopefully make the welding easier. we will see.
 
Looks good! I’m working on my interior as well. I ordered the same dash overlay a week or so ago. Glade to see it fits well!

I’m going a little different with the floor, Lizard Skin and Carpet from Stock Interior.

I wish I had a long bed to cut it down. I like the longer wheelbase.
 
Bumper 90% knocked out last night. Need to add recovery points and may add a hitch receiver tube frenched in to the middle. Simple and should bump things just fine.

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Going to head to TSC today and get some d-rings and a receiver tube. May add some cool lights in the future.
 
i would try and add some sort of internal frame work inside the bed to resist the need to cave in when you rub against a tree or rock while leaned over. and said frame work could also be whats used to mount the frig and other jazz you carry. just an idea,

cheers

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chaplinfj60 said:
i would try and add some sort of internal frame work inside the bed to resist the need to cave in when you rub against a tree or rock while leaned over. and said frame work could also be whats used to mount the frig and other jazz you carry. just an idea,

cheers

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Thats a good idea.
 
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