Scrap bin buggy

kspeterson96

Active member
Joined
Dec 7, 2022
Member Number
5836
Messages
33
Loc
Bellingham, Wa
Picked up this old truggy chassis from a buddy of mine over a year ago and after lots of parts stacking and trails getting harder for my old leaf sprung cj-5 I'm finally getting around to putting it together. I'll throw some old pictures of it when it was together, how I got it and how its going. Build sheet is as follows: Toyota 4age, currie rock-jock60 front, 60 rear, toy cases (yeah i know they aren't strong but its what i can afford) ADS 2.25 air shocks, 39" Reds on
creeper locks.
1000005269.jpeg
1000005270.jpeg
1000004851.jpeg

The day I picked the old unit up, ended up buying it for the engine and I really liked how it looked so engine went away and i kept the chassis.


These are my axle housings I ended up with, some OGs may recognize them, these are DSI's old toasty KOH axles
IMG_4254.jpeg
IMG_4255.jpeg
IMG_4253.jpeg
IMG_4271.jpg


Scored these ADS air shocks on ebay, they are way to fancy for this old Toyota car but deals are deals haha
IMG_4259.jpeg



Nothing like a set of used reds to tie a budget build together, no break in needed :smokin:
IMG_4402.jpeg
 
Last edited:
My best friend/neighbor/buggy guy is letting me use his place to put it together. So far just getting it gutted was an improvement


IMG_4505.jpeg


IMG_4511.jpeg
IMG_4516.jpeg
IMG_4514.jpeg


IMG_4518.jpeg

Time to start chopping, the firewall is going away, the back of the cab is going away as well as the transmission tunnel. Shooting for more of a bare bones nice weather buggy type interior.
 
Curious about the engine choice
So am I, on paper its a terrible choice given the lack of low end torque but they sound cool rev to the moon and are tiny so should be easy to keep cool. Lots of gearing will make up for the torque issue and 9k rpm will make up for the low wheel speed because of the gearing. Ass backwards way of doing things but we will see.
 
have you run the 4age stand alone before?
Not yet but should be easy enough, I’m going to run a fuel-tech 450. So full standalone setup with unlimited tuning capabilities, which simplifies the wiring a **** ton plus the waterproof digital dash is the ecu so I won’t need gauges everywhere. The engine is still a very popular tuning platform so bolt on hall effect sensors smart coil on plug setups etc. are available. I'll just have to try and get a basemap from someone but with fuel-tech being as popular as it is and remote tuning being a thing it shouldn't be to bad.
 
Last edited:
Well guys I really got after it tonight, hopefully the stock rails are coming out tomorrow, sadly they are pretty crusty and at this point I want a fresh spine to build off of. Probably should’ve got a different chassis at this point but **** it, I can talk **** about people not being able to keep up with a “Toyota” :flipoff2::smokin:
IMG_4541.jpeg
IMG_4542.jpeg
 
I've been there before more than I'll ever admit....

always think that buying a mostly together rig will only be a few things and next thing it's a shell of what i brought home haha

cool thread! keep on keeping on man!:beer:
 
I've been there before more than I'll ever admit....

always think that buying a mostly together rig will only be a few things and next thing it's a shell of what i brought home haha
can confirm
 
Did a quick eyeball mock up of the front axle to see if a Toyota shaped frame rail will work and it definitely will not. So the new rails will end up just being
straight, going to get the other one cut out tomorrow morning but here’s an update so far.


IMG_4545.jpeg
IMG_4546.jpeg
IMG_4550.jpeg
IMG_4553.jpeg
IMG_4551.jpeg
IMG_4552.jpeg


The original frame from the 80s had a good run, but it’s time for better.
 
Last edited:
I promise I'm done cutting old **** off :spam: every tube that made up the boat-sides were full of water and rust and I figured if I'm making new frame rails it wouldn't be much more work to make fresh boat-sides instead of trying to tie into ***anic handrailing. I'm sure the strip down pictures are getting boring so the next batch of photos should be a new frame getting made up and getting put in. In the mean time I'll keep wasting grinding wheels, party on fellas!


IMG_4558.jpeg
IMG_4559.jpeg
IMG_4560.jpeg
IMG_4561.jpeg
 
I can relate to this project! I'm on my second scrap bin buggy because I don't know when to stop and just wheel! Its hard to put in new parts and labor when you aren't happy with where you are starting!

Keep the updates coming! Thanks for posting.

Edit: I also remember those axles very well and remember when DSI's buggy burnt!

Edit #2: and your making great progress so far!!
 
I can relate to this project! I'm on my second scrap bin buggy because I don't know when to stop and just wheel! Its hard to put in new parts and labor when you aren't happy with where you are starting!

Keep the updates coming! Thanks for posting.

Edit: I also remember those axles very well and remember when DSI's buggy burnt!

Edit #2: and your making great progress so far!!
I just try to work on it for an hour or two after work and when i can on the weekends. Shooting for next spring/summer to be crawling with the buddies. I read the entire DSI KOH build thread on the old forum and to no surprise the axle has been patched and welded a **** ton so its on its last leg, but living life under a hobby crawler instead of a koh car it should hold up for a while. They ended up in Canada, got passed around for awhile and now are back in the states and the land of S&N (Wa.) which is badass. Little piece of history getting used again
 
Last edited:
Better than starting from scratch...... Maybe? :flipoff2:

I had an mr2 years ago and really liked that engine. Wish they made parts to put them in a samurai.

Which version are you getting? I remember reading about a few pretty bad ass versions from Japan, one with 20 valves
:smokin:
 
Better than starting from scratch...... Maybe? :flipoff2:

I had an mr2 years ago and really liked that engine. Wish they made parts to put them in a samurai.

Which version are you getting? I remember reading about a few pretty bad ass versions from Japan, one with 20 valves
:smokin:
In my mind I'm still ahead compared to starting new but I'm probably just dumb :homer: Its nothing fancy, just the stock 16v big port engine that came in the aw11 mr2's and the corollas, the 20v engines are a bit better but harder to find without spending good money.
 
In my mind I'm still ahead compared to starting new but I'm probably just dumb :homer: Its nothing fancy, just the stock 16v big port engine that came in the aw11 mr2's and the corollas, the 20v engines are a bit better but harder to find without spending good money.

Last I looked was like 2004....:laughing:

I'll be curious how a 1.6 works in a Toyota. Guessing you'll be shifting a lot.
 
I picked up an old hornet car Mr2 about a year ago for cheap as a donor, never heard it run but it turned over and was complete. This Corolla came up for $500 that ran and drove! So I scooped it up last night, kind of a shame because it’s a pretty clean car but I now have a known good running engine. Off to get Steel once they open and I should have a Frame this weekend:smokin:
IMG_4585.jpeg
IMG_4584.jpeg
 
$500?

I thought all those 80s and 90s cars were getting pretty expensive.

Maybe list it in a better way and you could probably pay for a 20v engine on a pallet?
 
$500?

I thought all those 80s and 90s cars were getting pretty expensive.

Maybe list it in a better way and you could probably pay for a 20v engine on a pallet?
Fwd economy car with a trashed interior doesn’t make for the best resell haha. The 16v engines are plentiful as they were not Japanese only like the 20v and with a 3-4k price tag I’ll keep my little 16v now that I have 2
 
Fwd economy car with a trashed interior doesn’t make for the best resell haha. The 16v engines are plentiful as they were not Japanese only like the 20v and with a 3-4k price tag I’ll keep my little 16v now that I have 2

It's not an economy car, it's a race car. :flipoff2:

I'd bet there is someone out there who would gladly pay $3k+ for that car.

This one is slightly nicer, but almost $30k!

Screenshot_20250913_090509_Chrome.jpg
 
Top Back Refresh