I guess now is as good a time as any to start this. New rig is a 89 SR5 3.0. So far have fixed the AC, tuned up the motor, cut the door hinges of and went with clevice pins, tan soft topper, and 31" BF ATKO's. Now for the plans:

This will probably take at least a year or two because I am currently pretty disabled still. First priority is a Procomp lift. The shocks are shot and just navigating the speed bumps in my neighborhood the suspension bottoms out. I am also going to leverage a couple friends machine shops and hydro cut some plate bumpers, rock sliders, etc. These mods should at least allow me to get up some of the trails at Uwharrie. I haven't been wheeling here and most of the time back home it was out of necessity ( trying to get back in to a fishing hole, quad stuck, retrieving firewood, etc. ) I am about as abusive to my stuff as it gets so I want it to be capable of punishment but the majority of it's life will be DD. I have been a Toyota fanatic since I was a kid and next to a Trekker and maybe an FJ this is my dream.

I thought about SAS but don't think I will need it for my uses though they are pretty cool. I am thinking of using some 80/20 from work we use on the robots to build a new interior. I am thinking of doing the dash and center console with finished sheet metal skins and a full set of Autometer gauges with a diamond plate floor and some more comfortable seats. 80/20 is pretty cool stuff and having access to the water jet makes this the most straight forward path I think to a clean custom interior where kids, dogs, animal blood, and such will clean out easy.

On the door side I wish I had a way to come up with soft doors but just haven't yet. I like going door less or maybe tube doors but I work an hour away and getting caught in a storm would be tough. I might take some stiff foam and cutout my door shape and then stack them and just carry them on top of a gun safe style sliding drawer for storage in the back though this will kill me for storage when we go camping.

On the engine side I have 180k and knock on wood it runs good for having sat for 5 years. I am thinking once the rest of the truck is close to finished finding someone in NC to help me with a 3.4L SC swap.

Exhaust is still a toss up. My friend has a tube bender and welds stainless steel for hanging granite cladding so I am sure he could help me here. I hate to put headers on the 3.0 when I want to switch to a 3.4.

Tires will stay with the 31's but will probably find a set of 35's to swap out for trips to the mountains.

I am just starting to look at fiberglass fenders. It looks like the truck took a hit to the drivers side and the grill is cracked and the fender dented some. Might just swap on high clearance fenders before paint. for paint I am going to go to a buddies body shop. He does Antiques and hot rods but for something this basic I think he can knock it out no problem. Just going to clean up the burgundy that s there and undercoat it.

I think I have been bit by the bug. When shooting a pistol match today one of the vehicles was a first gen and I poked around for useable parts

Have only had this a month or two but loving it already. Now that the weather is good I have the sides up on the top a lot and must get offers on it three times a week with three or four more people approaching me to check it out. My friend I shot with today made a comment about it a month ago being not family friendly but today just had to drive it. I told one guy that offered me more than double what I paid for it I wouldn't take triple his offer. He just walked away. I hope to be the old codger still driving this thing in thirty years and as such I am trying to rebuild it right the first time. Thank you again to everyone here who has helped me make decisions based on your experience. I will try and update with pics here shortly. With my disabilities, a 2 year old, and a 2 month old things will be slow.