Topic: ToyYoda's 1994 Pickup Build Thread

[Toy_Yoda]

Work and Kids have kept progress to a minimum over the past few months but I'm starting to get some time back in the garage to work on the old girl.

Since my last post I have removed the cab and bed (again) and I'm starting to finish up welding now that I'm happy with the placement of everything.

Everything removed again (hopefully for the last time)


A couple of weld shots from the front hanger and rock slider (My welds are starting to look better and better IMHO just wish I could go back to a couple of my first welds and redo them) 



One other thing that is slowing down the progress a little is a sudden build up of surface rust that needs cleaning up.  Most of the bare metal has been fine for over a year in my garage but almost over night a pretty heavy surface rust showed up.  so I'm now cleaning all the rust off while also removing the rest of the old frame paint.  So far I've been giving the bare metal a thin coating of WD40 to prevent more rust.  Plan is to clean rust, finishing welding, strip last bit of paint off the frame and then get at least a primer coat on everything. 

Pic of the surface rust that literally showed up in one day after almost a year of hanging out in the garage.

[86bobbedtoy]

nice slippers

[Toy_Yoda [OP]]

nice slippers

haha thanks they are my welding shoes!

[toyyota]

Nice build! I built my 83 crawler 6 years ago, and rolled it a few months ago. I'm now getting parts together to build a 91 extra cab to replace it. You've done a lot of good research for parts, that helps us all out. I like the bobed bed on a lifted truck, it just looks better to me. You'll find that the spare tire takes up the whole bed! Bob.

[LittleSteve]

Nice to see your back in the shop getting a little done

[Toy_Yoda [OP]]

well time in the shop is continuing to prove elusive thanks to the needed attention of a two and one year old.  I did manage to steal an hour or so over the weekend and got the driver side rock slider cleaned up and partially welded.  I still need to flip the frame around to finish the bottom side of the slider as my vertical and over head welding leaves much to be desired.   Progress is slow but at least things are getting done (I feel like the turtle in the turtle and the hare stories )

[Toy_Yoda [OP]]

Well time in the garage has been hard to come by but I did manage to get a little bit of welding done last weekend  .

I'm about done with welding up the drivers side spring hangers and rock sliders and then on to the passenger side.   Once that is finished its finally on to cleaning up and getting the frame painted at long last.

Just a few weld shots.







And also picked up some new 17" wheels the other day.  Haven't test fitted them yet but hopefully they will fix the clearance issues with my Tacoma brake calipers on the front and the FF rear with my old truck calipers.



Now I just need to save my pennies for some new 37" shoes...

[OVRAROK]

looking good  what backspacing are the rims?

[Toy_Yoda [OP]]

looking good  what backspacing are the rims?

They are 4.25" BS.  I had ordered 3.5" but those were out of stock and I was told these were the exact same specs.  Upon arriving at my house found out they were 4.25".  I've debated about sending them back but since they weren't overly expensive and had free shipping I'm gonna go ahead and run them for now.  If there are some major issues with the tires hitting the frame or springs I may have to look at different wheels.

[havik]

Just read through the whole build.
Awesome job dude.

[Toy_Yoda [OP]]

After over a year of casual searching I finally found some 2.5" with .25" wall square receiver tubing to build a long slip front drive shaft.  The 2"*.25" tube fit nice and snug into the larger tubing. 



Now I need to figure out if I need to run a single or double cardan joint on the front drive shaft.  I'm running a hi pinon front diff along with a dual case setup so I'm thinking a single cardan joint at both ends will be all I need.   I'll wait until I get the axles and tcase installed before building the actual shaft so I can measure the tcase and diff flanges to make sure they are parallel first. 

I have both an IFS front drive shaft and an 85 front shaft to use along with two spare rear drive shafts if anyone has any suggestions on the square shaft build. 
 

[Toy_Yoda [OP]]

finally got back into the garage last weekend and hoping to get everything finished welded on the frame and finally get a coat of paint on it

I had a couple of spots on the frame with significant rust that I cut out and then welded 1/8" steel back in its place.  I got around to adding a hand made 3/16" reinforcement plate over the top to help strength the section where I removed the rust.

Classic section where gas tank rides along the inner frame.  (might have to clearance the gas tank a touch or install a Ford tank in the rear)


Another section where the original rear shock mounted to the frame.


Also cut out the back cross member which I will be replacing with a 3" square tube in the rear.

[Toy_Yoda [OP]]

I've only got a few more things to weld up and then clean and prep the frame for paint. 

My current plan for the frame is to clean all the junk out of the frame rails with a sewer jetter


and then coat the inside with Eastwoods internal frame coating


I'm still debating on the outside of the frame my first plan was to go with an acid etch and then Rustoleum rusty metal primer followed with their hammered gray which I really like and used on the axles.


The more I think about it I'm now leaning towards more of Eastwoods stuff and going with a coat of their rust encapsulator followed by a coat of their epoxy primer and then a top coat of chassis black.


Obviously going with Eastwood's stuff would be more expensive by a lot but after all the time and effort I've put into the frame so far I want to protect it the best way possible. 

Anyone have any experience with the Eastwood's stuff and/or the durability of the rustoleum? 

One thing that I keep thinking about is the ease of touch up if I need to go back and weld something else or otherwise remove some of the paint that the rustoleum route would be simpler. 

[havik]

i like the idea of which ever is cheaper and easier to maintain. If you were building a street or show car i would say go the good stuff one time and be done but with a wheeler there will come a time that you will need to touch up, modify or fix items. Path of least resistance?

[redneckcustoms13]

We built an s10 once that was a full show rig. Blasted and painted with the local paint supply house ppg chassis black. Was $65 a gallon any color you want single stage pour and shoot. Turned out great. Had enough left I painted my car hauler with it as well. Tough stuff and cheap.

[Toy_Yoda [OP]]

Things are still moving ahead at a glacial pace but hey at least its something...

Got a few more things finished up and came across a couple of ideas for the gas tank.

First thing.

Got the Driver side shock hoop finished up along with a few plug welds to finished off one side of the rock sliders. 



Just got to finish up the passenger side next.

I did discover that I have a slight bend in the rear portion of the frame from where I welded the extra plate to fix some rust holes caused by the factory rear shock mount.  I really didn't' expect it to warp since the factory cross member was still there when I welded the plate on which I also did in stages while letting it cool.  Its only about a 1/2" off of straight at the end of the frame but I'd like to get it straightened back out.  Any suggestions on the best way to straighten it out?


I also picked up some 3x2" tubing to make up a new rear frame cross-member   

I've also been thinking about relocating the stock gas tank to the rear of the frame and have been researching some ideas.  I had originally planned to go the Ford tank route but with Dave's rear shock mount it looks like there will not be enough room to fit the tank.  I found this idea on line a few days ago and kinda like it.  It fits reasonably well just not sure about raising it up through the truck bed however, this would make servicing it easy in the future.



There is also the fuel cell route as well.



Eventually I'm planning to add a bench seat in the back for the kiddos so I'm taking that into consideration with the fuel tank placement as well. 

[redneckcustoms13]

Take a few measurements, go to the junk yard and compare to an s10 blazer tank. It might work for you.

[Toy_Yoda [OP]]

Take a few measurements, go to the junk yard and compare to an s10 blazer tank. It might work for you.

Thanks, I'll take a look at the s10 tanks.  I know I could probably find a tank that would fit somewhere but part of the reason for leaning towards the stock tank is to keep things relatively simple for myself.

[Toy_Yoda [OP]]

Its been a little while since my last post and I've made some progress but still have a ways to go.  I do get this weekend to work on the truck and I'm hoping to have the frame finished and painted which will be a huge milestone for the project.

Recently finished the new rear cross member out of 2x3 tubing.


Weld Close up.


Still not sure if I want to move the gas tank to the rear but I went ahead and burned on some mounts for it so I have the option of leaving it in the stock place or moving it to the rear.  Or a second stock tank if I ever want to go that route I guess.


Close up of the mount.


Just have a little bit more welding to do to finish up the tank mounts and then I'm ready to clean the frame and get some paint on it.

Oh and once the frame is painted its time to clean the shop! (which is long over do)

[Toy_Yoda [OP]]

Progress Update!  The frame is painted (almost)

I finally finished up all the welding and prepping of the frame for paint.  I started by sand blasting the frame with an attachment for my pressure washer.  It worked really well but did flash rust pretty quickly.   I hit it with some fast etch and then washed that off and wiped the frame down a couple times with acetone and a final wipe down with Eastwood's PRE.

Frame cleaned and ready to finally paint.


First I applied 2 coats of Eastwood's rust encapsulator using two different colors to make sure I got good coverage.  Sprayed on pretty nice but did take me 7 cans of the stuff for two coats.


After letting that sit for a little over a day I hit it with a red scotch brite pad and then a medium coat of Eastwood's Epoxy primer (six cans total). (sorry of the crappy pic)


The next step is to let the epoxy cure for a little bit and then hit it with a top coat.  My current plan is to use Rustoleums hammered gray which I used on the axles and like the look of.  It also seems pretty durable and covers imperfections up nicely.  Using Rustoleum should also help make any future touch ups easier.  I have still been thinking of using Eastwoods chassis black instead of the hammered gray if anyone has input one way or the other.

After that I'll just let the top coat totally cure and finally install the suspension and start putting this thing back together.

[jimbo74]

while I think the black would look super clean, I also think the hammered gray will hide imperfections better

[Toy_Yoda [OP]]

while I think the black would look super clean, I also think the hammered gray will hide imperfections better

Yeah I'm on the fence know I really liked the look of the black rust converter, but I already have the hammered paint...

[86bobbedtoy]

lowgloss or semi gloss  black

[JANDO11]

lookin awesome!!!!!

[Bananaclip]

So nice. Everything is so clean and tidy

[Toy_Yoda [OP]]

Well I decided to go with the Hammered black and I think it turned out really well.  It sprayed on well and its not a shiny as it looks in the picture. While I really liked the look of the black rust encapsulator and a semi gloss/flat black  top coat would have looked the best I already had 6 cans of the hammered black.  Plus my axles are painted with the hammered black and this will tie the look of the frame and axles together.  I just need to apply a second coat of the hammered and the frame is finished (for now).  Then its on to putting a little bit of the truck back together, oh and finally cleaning up the shop a little after all the grinding and painting.

[THK Matt]

totally dig this build! right on!!

[kneedownnate]

Lookin good so far, but why rattle can and not shoot with a gun?  Cost is probably close to the same but with better coverage and durability

[Toy_Yoda [OP]]

Lookin good so far, but why rattle can and not shoot with a gun?  Cost is probably close to the same but with better coverage and durability

I would have liked to use a gun however, I don't have one and I have never used one.  So to keep it simple for me I went the rattle can route.  But a spray gun is something I'd like to get and learn to use at some point in the future (maybe before I repaint the cab).

[Toy_Yoda [OP]]

Alright, she is back on 4 wheels for hopefully the last time

Still need to tighten a few bolts up, put in the shocks and clean some minor rust on a few spots on the springs and the suspension is pretty much done.  Then its on to rebuilding the motor, running new brake and fuel lines, figuring out where the gas tank is gonna sit and a million other things...