Her Name is Frank

[RynothealbinO]

Non to thread-jack or anything but I have a question to ask you.  I was wondering what the stock suspension of an '81 2wd looks like / consists of.  I have been trying to find pics (unsuccesfully) and I have never worked with one of these before.  Looking at the Triangulated Lower Arms on your website you say that these eliminate the factory strut rod.  I am assuming this is some type of a leading or trailing arm?  Like a short radius arm or something?  Those trucks came with tortion bars, right?  I know these are really newbish questions but like I said, I have never worked with one before, only the 4wd's.  The reason I am asking is that I considering getting a 2wd '81 truck.  I have not seen it in person and I wont until the weekend, so I am trying to research and come up with prices for a build in the meantime.  I think it is time for a change and I want to do a 2wd build.  Right away It would have decranked tortion bars, and lowering blocks, but eventually be bagged and linked and sitting on some 17's or something.  Would a bagged truck be ok as a daily driver as long as it was set up properly?  Also, what do you recomend doing for steering with your Control arm setup?  Like I said, I have not worked with this stuff before, so any help or advice is GREATLY appreciated. 

[Twisted Minis]

The 79-83 Suspension looks just about the same as 84-95 suspension. There are some small differences here and there, like different balljoint style, and tab styles. The spindle and hub are different though. So if you want drop spindles you need to get 84-95 hubs, rotors and calipers as well.

My control arms do not work with factory torsion bars. But they are an A-arm which is what eliminates the need for a strut rod. They work with factory steering. You just bolt them on and go.

I drive my little blue truck every day. Its no worse than a stock vehicle, theres just a few more things to maintain.

[Twisted Minis]

Cop car is officially on hold. Ricky said he's getting laid off this week. Sooo, if anyone needs some tube bumpers or anything like that, I will do it on a budget. I need to make sure I can pay rent next month..

[GJToyotabug]

what kind of price would you say for a set of sliders im thinking of something simple for a reg cab 3rd gen

[Twisted Minis]

Marlin says $150 ish depending on size. I could match that with MIG. TIG a bit more if you want it. Plus install time of about 2 hours at a discounted rate. So under $300 out the door most likely, and they won't look like just any other slider on the trail.

[GJToyotabug]

lol thats awesome id say get started but im to far away but sometime i'll have to have you build me something

[Twisted Minis]

I welded a bung and petcawk in the tank, and make an intake to run an OHV carb, as well as some throttle linkage. I got it to start up, and it runs much better with this carb on it.

[Twisted Minis]

Got a new Tweco gun for the MIG.  Its very nice, and is about 5 feet longer than the stock gun. I've been having issues off and on with the Miller guns for a while now, and have been through two guns on warranty. My most recent gun is going out again, not always feeding gas, which isn't a liner issue. And also getting difficult to feed the wire, which is a liner issue, but I have to have parts ordered for the Miller guns. Tweco stuff is always on hand, and much cheaper. So I finally broke down and bought a nice gun. Just looking at it, looks like much better quality than the Miller, and a more comfortable feel in my hand. My uncle used to buy a new Tweco for every welder he got, usually before even using the welder. Now all I need is to upgrade my ground clamp to one of those nice cast ones.



I can't wait to use it now.

[82 HiLux]

im waiting to see your little blue truck on 101 one of these days lol.  i drive to and from healdsburg every day from santa rosa

[Twisted Minis]

I'm hardly on 101 these days. Usually only when I go to Santa Rosa to go to the welding store, or any of my suppliers that won't deliver. I live less than 1 exit away from the shop.

You should just stop by the shop some time. Its easy to find. I'll shoot you my number if you want it.

[Twisted Minis]

This is going to be the last update for a while. I need to get the car rolling so that I can move it in order to gain the space I need to work on other projects. So I have still been working on it, since the rear was far from holding itself up. The machinist found time to adjust the bolt pattern on the front hubs, so I pressed the new larger 14mm studs in.



The rear bag mounts are done on one side. Tomorrow I will finish the other side, paint some things, and put the brakes on before I install it in the car for the last time.

[GJToyotabug]

i love the welds on that i would just clear coat it and leave it but thats just me

[Twisted Minis]

No ones even going to see it. Its going to be under the trunk floor.

[Twisted Minis]

Ended up building a support cradle.

[crawlerdan]

wow man, ive seen most of your work on here and other forums, but that is some great fabbing right there, im impressed.

[Twisted Minis]

I'm actually impressed myself with the way the whole axle came out. Usually I can kind of see the end product in my head before I start, and I make visual tweaks as I go. But this one I really didn't have much of an idea, and it turned out better than the vague idea in my head.

[jimbo74]

i wanna see the car completed!

[Twisted Minis]

Gonna be a while. Going to get ti rolling as soon as I can and get it outside so I can move in a few more projects.

[Twisted Minis]

Changed the brakes. This axle is really tideous to put back together with all the bearings. Took me all day to do the brakes and reassembly. BTW the first shot shows how far you have to pull the axle apart to get the rotors out. I definitely never want to do this again. Then I painted the arms, put it all back together, and put it back in the car for the last time. I am really glad thats over.






I need to cut the frame up front on the driver side this weekend and put everything together so I can get it rolling and move it outside.

[jimbo74]

no wonder its soooo expensive to take those suckers to a shop... man that looks liek a pita

[Twisted Minis]

Yeah I was talking to the guy at the auto repair shop across from me, and he said a rear brake service on a Jag with IRS is around $1200-1500. The parts are expensive too.

[Twisted Minis]

Got the front suspension wrapped up and set it down. Just needs shocks all around and strut bars out back. The front is held up a bit by the exhaust, but I will be doing full 2.5" exhaust after he is squared up money wise.

[topar]

  Nice!

[Twisted Minis]

[jimbo74]

sweet

[Twisted Minis]

My Friend Gary was looking to buy one of those bolt on 6-link kits for his S10, and he was asking me my opinion. I'm not really a fan of the one he wanted, and I said I would build him a custom one for not much more. It caught his interest, and he came up with a lot of questions. He's rather picky, anal even, as am I. And I was able to talk him into letting me TIG weld most of the components and do some kind of cool stuff along the way. He's going to do the front himself, I am only in charge of the rear suspension.

So he brought the truck up yesterday around 3 or 4, and we put it in the shop and pulled the bed off. Today I began disassembly, and started the notches. Hoping to have it notched by the end of tomorrow.

Heres a picture he took when it arrived.


And today.




And I will be building a 5-link based around this.

[jimbo74]

whats he going to do for the front? is he getting some type of bolt on or fabbing his own?

[Twisted Minis]

S10s are pretty easy for the front. You basically trim the spring pocket, and there are company's that sell bag cups made for them. So it's basically bolt on in the front, which is one reason why these trucks are so popular.

[TheCookieMonster]

that old cop car came out really nice...the rear end is quite a piece of work you put in there. really looks good 

[84Yota]

Man, you do nice work. What's the story with the Falcon in the background in those last s10 pics?