Engine & Axle

I took last night off and went to a friends b-day dinner. Made up for lost time tonight by pulling the 22RE out of the Toyota truck and mocked it up in the Rover. Fits really well but I'd like to clock the transfer case. It hangs ~4" below anything else for no good reason!

Motor hanging in place.

Trans shifter is no problem. The t-case might be a little tougher...

Mocked up the rear axle.

Pinion angle looks OK. I'd really like to rotate that transfer case up!!!!!

40 days...

Dashbar and Tires

I slipped a tire in the rear fender tonight. It's a tight fit!!



Rear axle is moved back 4" from stock.

Dash bar installed. Holes for the cage to pass into the engine compartment are done.

Bump to clear wiper motor.

Next I need to pull the 22RE out of the Toyota and test fit it.

41 days..

A-pillars

I finally got the a-pillars done.. Need to create a removable frame mount on the outriggers still. But at least the hard part is over.

Turned out to be a nice tight fit. I will gusset everything up when the top comes off again.



1.5" tubing looks small in there.



Put the door on to make sure it would clear. Luckily it did.



Not by much though!



Rear section tucked against the top.

Dash bar and firewall pass through are next. Then I need to hang the engine/tran/xfer...

42 days...

Halo

Finished up the halo tonight. I think it's a nice fit. Need to put the roof on one more time to double check the fit.

Plenty of head room.

Also bent up a test A-pillar bar. It would have worked but I can make one that is better. It's an important part of the cage and you look at it every time you drive.

43 days...

Rear Cage

Well I didn't get as much done as I wanted to but the rear cage is tacked together and halo is bent and ready for a test fit.

This is where the front hoop ties into the slider.

Should clear the tires no problem.

Rear tie in. I'm going to add an diagonal brace as well as a horizontal/diagonal brace once the suspension is mocked up.

44days........

Drivetrain or bust!

Today my buddy Carl picked me up at 8am for a Cali road trip. We hopped on 97 and pointed his F350 Powerstroke South.

First stop Klamath Falls for a Toyota 23 spline turbo 5spd and tranfercase.

Then we got back on 97 South and headed for Weed. There we picked up these early Toyota axles.

They have 5.29 R&Ps with an ARB air locker up front and a welded rear. The front I'll toss some Longfields and new seals into. The rear I'll probably put a full Detroit in. I'm going to set it up as is for now though.

So after getting back on the road from Weed I remembered an 86 Toyota truck I looked at with a 22RE and 5spd. Called the guy, offered him a little less and found ourselves headed for Terrebonne to pick up this rig:

Got home, unloaded and found this in my mail:

I'm pretty well stocked on parts for a while. I don't really have any excuses not to get things done now...

So after 500 miles and lots of Cokes and junk food I have a drivetrain! Tomorrow should be a busy day finishing the cage and perhaps pulling the motor out of the pickup for a mock up in the Rover.

45 days.....

Holy tires Batman!

Picked up a couple of tires today. Only two would fit in the Subaru. I'll get the other two tomorrow. These are 35x12.5x15 Goodyear MTRs. They work really well off road and are quiet on road.


Think I'll need to trim at all?




Rear tire didn't fit with the jack stands. I'll button up the cage tomorrow and get it stuff in there.




46days...

Indiana Jones & the roll hoops

Thursdays are pool night at my house, this week it was really a ruse to get people to move the rover about 2 feet to the side.. This freed up some room at the bender and I can park the Subaru back in the garage again!!!


If you don't work in the mines err garage this is what you get:


After pulling the roof and test fitting the bar I bent the night before I bent up a duplicate. Pulled the roof again and test fitted the pair. I'll be happy when I can pull the roof and leave it off for a while...

The hoops are a nice snug fit and atheistically pleasing (imho).

I will detail the frame/slider tie ins for the cage over the weekend. Hope to have the cage done into the engine compartment Saturday.. or Sunday :)

Nice to have a little more room! I have all my cuts and bends marked out for the halo and frame/slider tie ins. A-pillar bars are cut and ready to go too. Should go quickly from here. It was late by the time I got to this point and didn't want to upset the neighbors with the chop saw.

I also received some rubber snubbers for the body mounts and should have a new wiring harness today. Curious to see the quality; it's from Northwest Autowire. Same idea as a Painless Wiring harness but hopefully better made. At least they are local...

47 days..

Rollcage & parts

Started bending up the cage tonight. As with most things it took longer than I expected. Mostly because I bent the hoop to be a tight fit with the roof so it was tough to even test fist. I will say it's a PITA to pull the top off by yourself!! Here you can see how tight the hoop is. Too tight in fact...


Needs to come up 4" but runs into the roof...

Same thing here...

I just need to shrink it an inch on the width and it'll be perfect.

This was my second hoop and will for the forward of the two. It should be a better fit, certainly easier to install.

Trail-gear stuff showed up today. Hi-steer arms, flat pitman arm and ARP knuckle studs.

\
I went with a flat pitman because the truck is going to sit so low with a stock arm the drag link would go UP to the axle just about!