Here is an interesting rig for your consideration...
Last couple years I have had the privilege of working on this very interesting vehicle. This was once an '82 Toyota longbed 4x4. The original owner/builder was an old timer 1960s SoCal desert rat who had lots of cool baja peninsula stories.
Another guy started he body, Tony (said old timer desert rat) finished it, and traded it to my buddy Ray, the shop teacher for a ford explorer. Ray uses the vehicle primarily for hunting and expeditions in the Missouri River Breaks.
Ray needed a trans a few years back and I recommended Marlin. He ordered a HDL52 and was very pleased. Since then his pencil tie rod was in bad shape so I put a Marlink on for him. This year I H8PVMNTed the carb, did rear wheel bearings and rebuilt the calipers, along with sanitizing a few things.
The funky body I am not really into, but it has copious leg room, airplane seats, it's kind of bobbed and it has built in sliders. Doors come right off in about 20 seconds. The old guy did a u-bolt flip and shock re-locate in the rear using u-bold hardware from a 2WD. The truck had a legitimate tilt front clip so it's total access when you work on the engine.
This year I rebuilt the carb and found that it had a poor, incomplete de-smog that had the secondary not opening at all. Ray should be pleased with the additional power from the working carb
. Maybe next year 5.29s?
