Building Red October

[Red October]

Still not quite done, gotta burn a few more inches of weld, and then set up a location for my hi-lift, to get it off the roof, and an antenna. I'm also debating mounting those two scepter cans in the background, but a tire, jack and two jerry cans will make that thing pretty damn heavy. :wow:

Also the freakin Utah salt is rusting the heck outa my bumper :doh:

 

[Red October]

This is killing me, I picked the worst week in the world to get knocked on my backside, sick as a dern dog uke:, dying in my bed ill. And the worst thing has been not feeling up to going out and finishing that bumper project. (some viral voodoo, that has my will to live in its hands. I love when the doctor says "well we cant help you not die, so good luck, let us know how it works out for ya...")

But I did find the time to sit at my computer, read a lot of build threads on here, and research new parts for my ride. And my Christmas bonus came and went, before the wifey could stop me, and since I have been on the verge of death anyway she could only hurt me so much

So at least now I have a couple things to look forward to, like SPC UCAs and an LCE long tube header...

 

[Bandit Runner]

Bummer dude! Feel better soon. At least you have plenty of time to surf the net. Let us know how you like the SPC UCA's.

 

[Red October]

I converted my brother arty: He just bought a nicely maintained 2000 Limited with 191k this weekend. arty:

And as for Red, I finally finished the swing-out project. And some foundation parts for a front bumper are in the mail this week :dancin: Now I gotta find a place to sandblast this thing so i can paint it


Ill have to update with a better pic later, this is all I have for now

 

[Red October]

Ready for action!

 

[Red October]

Soooo, my first Moab trip was amazing! ....And kind of a bust. My wife and I had been planning a trip to the White Rim for the last couple of months, along with a "buddy" of mine. So this weekend we packed up the truck and headed for Moab! I have only driven through the area once before, and not for wheeling or camping, so I'm not super familiar with things. Our plan was to camp Friday night and meet up with my friend on Saturday because he was driving down from Wyoming. So we got there gassed up and headed for the campsite, all was well with the world! We made good time, setup camp and hiked around a bit to see what we planned to explore for the next two days. Fast forward to the next day. We have no cell service in the campsite, we didn't get the call letting us know that our "friend" had not only decided not to come on our trip, but had actually failed to make the necessary reservation, that is usually booked out a couple months! Maybe I need new, more reliable friends! So since this guy was still in Wyoming I was alone, and not feeling that our planned two day trip was good idea solo, since I'm less familiar with the area, we decided that we would find other things to do, and try this trip again.



We did still have a couple of fun days, exploring new places and enjoying the legendary scenery that the area has to offer. We suffered another blow, and ended up cutting our trip shorter than planned in order to attend to some pressing personal business.

 

[MasonT4R]

Build looks good. What do you think about that tent?

 

[Red October]

So it's called a "Tepui Awning Extension", CVT has a version also. Both are based on the Oz-Tent design. I like it for what it is. It deploys very quickly, but is very bulky, as you can see from the pictures. The materials are good, it's waterproof, but the hinges on the poles are plastic, and that may present a problem with how long it actually lasts. I love that it attaches to my awning ( not Tepui brand, but for the most part awnings are all very similar ). So overall I would give it a thumbs up, and for the amount of money I spent on it the "bang per buck" is pretty darn good. I will say tho that it was pretty hard to get my hands on one, Tepui listed them on their website, but they were unavailable. And I talked to probably five vendors before I actually found one.

 

[Red October]

I generally work 65-70 hours a week, so finding time for anything is very hard, let alone getting more than an hour here or there to work on Red. Today I had the day to rest and recuperate. So naturally I relaxed myself by installing a few parts I have been collecting over the last few months.

I bought these to lighten up my tire setup. And I got them prepped and painted today.

I installed the SPC UCAs I bought in December, and BFH-ed the pinch weld while I was in there; betcha can't guess what mod is next...

 

[Red October]

Installed a CB today, decided that I don't need my ashtray, and that would be a good place. Besides the ashtray comes open on its own and ejects whatever contents it may contain, on the mildest of bumpy roads anyway, so there will be no love lost here. I decided to install it very flush, so I ended up cutting out the spot in the bezel and making some brackets I think it turned out nice.

 

[Red October]

Well, I bought some tires, they came...

Put em on. I'm actually pretty damn excited about this! The old ProComps were starting to make a ton of noise, and I was having some serious balance issues (3 times, 8-12 oz. per tire, still shaking), plus they are heavy suns-a-guns at 82 lbs per corner. The 285 Duratracs on factory alloys are only 76 lbs each and only took 2oz to balance the worst one, and holy smokes they are quiet!

Got a new battery, made a "custom" battery tie down. Also "Big 3" mod happened as well since my nearly 10 year old autozone special was a giant corroded mess of a thing...

Bought this sweet switch panel, painted and installed. Its pretty awesome, I was looking at making this exact item myself, but then found this, def worth the $20. Now I need some switches to turn stuff on...
http://www.paranoidfabrications.com/shop/1st-gen-tacoma-din-switch-plate-6-switch-holes/

 

[Scramble]

Thanks for the kind words fellas! :bounce:

Im pretty excited! I actually love this part of owning my rigs, I get to build it into something that I like.

Do you have manual windows? You're rig is pretty rare like mine. 2.7, 5speed, 4:56. Those 16" steelies are rare & so are manual windows. Mine came with the split 3's & power everything so your's might be ever rarer.

 

[Red October]

No, I have power windows. I have the window sticker, and I guess the 4.56 gears and 16" wheels came as a special order package along with bigger brakes. My truck was ordered the way it is, probably why there are so few equipped with similar options. The one thing that they shoulda ordered would be the locker.

When I was searching for a truck my criteria included a 5 spd, no sun roof (my second gen had one and i was constantly bumping my head on it), and power options. I found this one with gears, and jumped, in spite of the 4 banger. I didn't know much specifically about 3rd gens at the time admittedly, but I love what I ended up with.

I am gonna miss the steelies, I really liked the way they look. But they weigh nearly 1.5x what the alloys do, so I'm in favor of that.

 

[Red October]

I have been accumulating a couple things to build a front bumper with, finally found a minute to do some fabricating this morning. This is what I have so far...

 

[Beer.runner4]

I have been accumulating a couple things to build a front bumper with, finally found a minute to do some fabricating this morning. This is what I have so far...

Do you think you'll be running a winch on the bumper? Nice build.

 

[Red October]

I do plan to run a winch. I'm probably gonna use the lightest one I can find and synthetic rope to keep weight down.

Its coming together pretty well I think, obviously needs a little more bracing and final welding, but what you see is basically what its gonna be. I'm debating any hoops, but right now I don't think I am gonna add any.

 

[Red October]

This should be what the final product ends up looking like. I don't think I will add any hoops right now, maybe in the future. I really like how low profile it turned out. I'm excited.

 

[Red October]

All welded up. Only thing left are shackle mounts, that are still in the mail.

 

[Red October]

Well I went back to Moab this past weekend. Same "friend" bailed again. But my brother drove up from the homeland to camp with wifey and I. It was a blast. We only ran the White Rim Road. But seriously saw some of the most spectacular landscapes on earth.

Here are a couple of my favorites. A lot of my pics didn't turn out very good, so most of these are shot from my wife's Galaxy S5

 

[maxbrown11c]

Great looking 4runner. I love the front bumper you made. Literally the best looking I've seen.