Well I bought this sweet little SWB about 11 months ago and I have done zero work to it just drove it on the stock motor, brakes, ect, but I have been collecting parts for about as long.
Here are some pics of it when I picked it up last year.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=489681
After much debate about what motor to run... 5.7 Vortec, 5.3 Vortec, Ram Jet, none of these choices excited me much cause I have done the swaps before and I want to try somthing new anyways. A friend of mine crashed his 98 Taco and he made my choice for me. Best part is the 45 is staying Toyota!
Here is my drivetrain
Tacoma 3.4
Tacoma 5 Speed
Mini Truck tcase
Tacoma rear end
FJ60 Front end
FJ60 Steering box


Love at first site:flipoff2:

Yea boy.

If anyone is looking for Taco parts I got some :) All is for sale minus the motor tranny and motor harness

Sweet

So how did you get your friend to crash his taco, you run him off the road? :flipoff2:
That is going to be a sweet 45 :smokin:

So how did you get your friend to crash his taco, you run him off the road? :flipoff2:
That is going to be a sweet 45 :smokin:

He was thoughtfull enough to hit a tree:D

sweet.. I'm sure you know that guy in grand junction, threw that same drivetrain in another FJ45 I think...

sweet.. I'm sure you know that guy in grand junction, threw that same drivetrain in another FJ45 I think...


John Smtana, has a very clean 45 with a 3.4. He and I use to be friends but not anymore:mad3:
regardless he has a sweet 45 to bad he is a bad person.

Mike Goodnight, a very good friend of mine is doing the same conversion in a couple 45s right now in GJ, I am building him motormounts and crossmembers for his trucks

Funny I have heard so much BS about that guy.. Even uur buddy crazy Daryl up here with the sweet diesel troopie (4BT powered now :) ) even lost favor with him, I think he was driving his truck while he was away or something like that, then lied about it.. They used to be close too I think... I remember when he was hawking parts pretending he was his wife cause he'd screwed a bunch of people over...

Anyway, not to dwell on the negative. Cool enough regardless..!

Very cool build!

Whatcha gonna do with that cruiser centered rear diff?:D
1st dibbs if your going to off it.

Very nice...dig the orange

This thread is very confusing.... I though THE original orangefj45 had a squirrel tail hanging off the back of his head?:flipoff2:

Nice, 3.4 should be sweet!

look forward to watchin this buildup. I enjoyed seeing your 40 thread.

Hillbilly

That will be fine ride.

What are the plans for the bed area?

Mudrak style?

This thread is very confusing.... I though THE original orangefj45 had a squirrel tail hanging off the back of his head?:flipoff2:

no shit, i was waiting for greenfox to jump in and say
he is my bff :mr-t:

I am reading this thread:flipoff2:

Funny I have heard so much BS about that guy.. Even uur buddy crazy Daryl up here with the sweet diesel troopie (4BT powered now :) ) even lost favor with him, I think he was driving his truck while he was away or something like that, then lied about it.. They used to be close too I think... I remember when he was hawking parts pretending he was his wife cause he'd screwed a bunch of people over...

Anyway, not to dwell on the negative. Cool enough regardless..!



He stole a Tranny and Tcase from me and put it in the rig he sold to "Grease Cruiser" on mud. Among a few other things. I dont care for the man

Very cool build!

Whatcha gonna do with that cruiser centered rear diff?:D
1st dibbs if your going to off it.


Sell it, you got first dibs, should not be long before the Taco rear in in there

That will be fine ride.

What are the plans for the bed area?

Mudrak style?

I have a factory bed with tailgate. I am going to have a canback soft top made for it so it will have a canopy and I can sleep back there. I plan to spend a few months down on the Baja once its done, so it needs to be camper friendly, reliable and fun to drive.

:beer:

and leave the squirrel out of this, bitches! :flipoff2:


now carry on justin, lookinf forward to seeing more pics bro. :)

I am reading this thread:flipoff2:

or at the very least looking at all the pictures:flipoff2:

I am reading this thread:flipoff2:

how else could i maintain my reputation of an asshole if you werent :grinpimp:

Well I bought this sweet little SWB about 11 months ago and I have done zero work to it just drove it on the stock motor, brakes, ect, but I have been collecting parts for about as long.
Here are some pics of it when I picked it up last year.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=489681
After much debate about what motor to run... 5.7 Vortec, 5.3 Vortec, Ram Jet, none of these choices excited me much cause I have done the swaps before and I want to try somthing new anyways. A friend of mine crashed his 98 Taco and he made my choice for me. Best part is the 45 is staying Toyota!
Here is my drivetrain
Tacoma 3.4
Tacoma 5 Speed
Mini Truck tcase
Tacoma rear end
FJ60 Front end
FJ60 Steering box


Love at first site:flipoff2:


dude! that thing needs 160 feet of DOM!:grinpimp:

I have a factory bed with tailgate. I am going to have a canback soft top made for it so it will have a canopy and I can sleep back there. I plan to spend a few months down on the Baja once its done, so it needs to be camper friendly, reliable and fun to drive.

It's good to have a vision like that before you start. Keeps the motivation up. Sounds like a powertrain that will get you there and back in style. Of course, the longer journeys bring up a couple of questions for me. Have you resolved what you're gonna do about seating and interior room issues. Unless you're blessed with strong knees, those cramped quarters will take their toll.

Also, Baja is synonymous with remote, and auxiliary fuel capacity is critical IMO. Most swb45s that run Baja end up with a tank in the bed, which is hell on the idea of sleeping in the bed. An under-bed tank isn't hard to do, but will leave less options for the spare tire.

My buddy's baja-prepped swb45 ended up with 3 tanks [cab, underbed, in bed], rear tire carrier off the back of the bed, and a full overhead rack from front to rear bumper[ think kayaks, canopy, solar heated water tank]. I don't where my pics of the truck are, but cruiserbrett looked at the rig before my buddy bought it, and maybe he has pics as well.

You might want to consider outfitting it with the flatbed for now and leave the swb for a trailer, or a post-Baja version of the truck. My .02

I look forward to the build, as well as running trail along side you in my 45 some day.:)

It's good to have a vision like that before you start. Keeps the motivation up. Sounds like a powertrain that will get you there and back in style. Of course, the longer journeys bring up a couple of questions for me. Have you resolved what you're gonna do about seating and interior room issues. Unless you're blessed with strong knees, those cramped quarters will take their toll.

Also, Baja is synonymous with remote, and auxiliary fuel capacity is critical IMO. Most swb45s that run Baja end up with a tank in the bed, which is hell on the idea of sleeping in the bed. An under-bed tank isn't hard to do, but will leave less options for the spare tire.

My buddy's baja-prepped swb45 ended up with 3 tanks [cab, underbed, in bed], rear tire carrier off the back of the bed, and a full overhead rack from front to rear bumper[ think kayaks, canopy, solar heated water tank]. I don't where my pics of the truck are, but cruiserbrett looked at the rig before my buddy bought it, and maybe he has pics as well.

You might want to consider outfitting it with the flatbed for now and leave the swb for a trailer, or a post-Baja version of the truck. My .02

I look forward to the build, as well as running trail along side you in my 45 some day.:)


I am a pretty tall guy, so I guess I will just have to live with the tight quarters unless I streach it and that is a possibility. Honestly I dont mind driving it even though its small for me but I have not drove it for very long distances.
Fuel is a problem I have been thinking about and I was thinking of building a aux tank between the frame rails under the bed. Also I have been talking to Don "FC Fab" he is going to be building me a rack for the bed that will be able to carry a fair amount of stuff, fuel, gear, ect. I will be building a rear swingout with a spair tire.

A tall buddy of mine dropped the floor on his a couple inches, helped a lot.. I actually fit in it..

A tall buddy of mine dropped the floor on his a couple inches, helped a lot.. I actually fit in it..

If you drop the floor, but don't drop the pedals, how does that work?:confused:

If you drop the floor, but don't drop the pedals, how does that work?:confused:

I would think that droping the pedals would be an easy thing to do.

The one I was in didn't have any modifications to the pedals I could tell and was fine. Again there is the 45 degree angle on the firewall at the foot area. Drops in the floor may or may not impact the pedals based on how you drop the floor. I was evaluating this quite a bit in my 55 last night as I am in the middle of dealing with the pedal situation right now (a little different reason, different masters with longer rods and new firewall so I'll have to fab up a new mount for the pedal assembly to the firewall, may space the whole unit out farther compensate for the rods) and my guess is even if you dropped the floor and had a worse case scenario, you would probably only need to modify the gas pedal. IE bend it a hair and add an extension to the pedal. IE, if you have to do it, really not that hard...

Even if you are not tall a dropped floor on a 45 might help with general room and clearance and overall comfort as well...

whats your plan for suspension/wheels/tires?

i cant wait to see this thing come together.....it looks to be a promising build.

wes

whats your plan for suspension/wheels/tires?

i cant wait to see this thing come together.....it looks to be a promising build.

wes



I am torn on the suspension, there is a big part of me that says link it! not cause its a wheeling rig but because of the ride quality. I can do 70 down a rough ass road in my 40 and the coilovers laugh. For now the plan is to have 4 inch alcans and 37's little lift as necessary. But dont be suprised if it goes coilovers.

Updates?

wtf? i scrolled down two pages looking for pictures?? where iz they?

http://pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=648758
I will update soon I have done a few things. Been spending all my money and time on the 40 latley