Topic: Flat-belly and other such fun stuffs

[RynothealbinO]

I have been thinking about doing a drivetrain lift (and gas tank) on my 84' 'Runner, and making the belly as flat as possible.  Usually when people do a drivetrain lift on these they do a body lift.  Well, since I have already rolled it once with no lift and it does't need the room for tires I really do not want to do a body lift.  The gas tank is easy enough, just take a section out of the floor and move it up about 4 or so inches.  I think that there is already an acces plate over part of the tank anyways.  But for the drivetrain lift it gets a little harder.  I think you could maybe get a half inch of lift out of the drivetrain before the transmition starts to hit the transmition tunnel.  I plan on removing the covers on the tunnel and cutting sections of metal out and raising them as much as needed.  I don't think that you would have to raise the whole tunnel, only some peices.  I would like to get 1.5 to 2 inches out of it if possible.  Then I will build a new crossmember out of 3/8 or 1/2 inch plate.  So what are your thoughts on doing the drivetrain portion of this without a body lift?  I have also been thinking about making a back section for the cab to make it like a pickup cab.  Then I would remove the bed floor and inner fenders leaving only the outer sheet metal.  then make some braces to support the new bedskin.  I could make a roll bar (maybe exo on the front), have a place for a spare and maybe a toolbox.  I know that I would never be able to haul anything again but it would still be light and then I could worry even less about the body, if thats possible.  This is just kind of one of those ideas that I will probably never do but dreams are fun.  So let me know what you guys think. 

[Tallchevy]

It will be less work to just put a bodylift on & then raise the drive train.

[Gittinit]

Dreams can come true just stay dedicated. I remember my neighbor stopping by when my toy was cut in half in the garage and his saying "how ya gonna load it on the trailer with it like that'' insinuating that it would get hauled off for scrap, and never get finished.

[Hyena]

to get a full flatbelly you are going to have to raise the t-case 3-4 inches.  i did it with no body lift, a lot of tranny tunnel cutting, a lot of hours, cut horseshoe crossmember, and a cut finger.  i didn't touch the gas tank though. 

look at these two threads.
http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=6533.720
http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=11133.160

[Tice]

I lifted my Motor about 2 and a half inches whne I did my flat belly. I lifted the tranny and cases about 5 inches. I have no body lift and had to cut out a lot of the tunnel.

[kneedownnate]

Dreams can come true just stay dedicated. I remember my neighbor stopping by when my toy was cut in half in the garage and his saying "how ya gonna load it on the trailer with it like that'' insinuating that it would get hauled off for scrap, and never get finished.

At that point I woulda pointed out toward the street and said "hey, I think my socket rolled into the gutter, could you go snag it for me?", then shut the garage door when he got out to the curb!  Just hope you didn't actually lose a socket out there...

[RynothealbinO [OP]]

Even though it would be less work to do a body lift I REALLY don't want one.  I have already gone over the roof once so i don't need to push it even more.  But yeah once the weather is not something like -30 to 10 degrees I think I will go flatbelly.  How much strength does the transmition tunnel supply to the body?  Can I jut patch the holes with sheetmetal or do I need to regain some of the structure?  I was thinking it would be cool to have the sheetmetal bend in the stock location off of the floor and then be cut a few incges above that.  Then you could have a piece of plexiglass bolted to that which would mount to the stock center console.  Then you would have a few inches that you could see your tranny from the side, while still being subtle.  Would this be a proble m for strength?  In a unrelated project I was thinking about doing a rollcage.  I couldn't decide between interior and exo so I am thinking about doing both in one cage.  I would run it inside the cab but instead of the front bars following the A-pillars on the inside I would cut a hole right above the A-pillars so those could run outside.  They would then go down and attach to the rocker gaurds (oh boy another project).  Then put a crossmember horozontally across the top of the winshield an one on the bottom and have a couple of bars go between them in the center for support.  This way i don't have so much bulk bit still have the windshield protection I need.  I don't care about the body but I do not want the roof to cave in a rollover.  So what do you think?

[Tice]

I know there is a support under the seats. Mine doesn't seem to sag much after I cut it all out. But I think it's because of my seat brackets. There is not much left to my body, just a floor and the firewall/wheel wells! Here are a few pics of what I cut out. I have no time to work on my rig anymore so I never got around to building a new tunnel.