POLY PERFORMANCE After Hours Build: Project Snail Tracks

[Desertbound]

Figured its about time for me to give these whole rock crawling shenanigans a try by building a vehicle of my own. Ive been into desert racing for about 5 yrs now, grew up down in LA where the nearest off-road spots to play in are wide open desert, so naturally I went the go fast route.

After attending CalPoly and being an active member in the Polygoats 4 wheeling club for 5 yrs of my illustrious college career, I decided to take a break from desert racing, and slow down a bit and build me a rock crawler. But don't worry, its gonna have a nice go fast flare to it.


So here we go;

My Dad bought this truck new in 1999, i remember picking it up with him before going to a boyscout meeting one Thursday evening. I remember how excited i was that we were finally gonna have a "truck" in the family. Oh how times have changed.

With my old man finally buying a new car, and this hoopty being my sister's transportation through college, it was either bound for craigslist, or the shop. So, off to the shop we go.

Plans include:
Toyota T-case
Toyota axles front and rear
10" 2.0 c/o's rear
12" SAW 2.5" c/o's front
Air bumps all around
37" MTRs
Skids, bumpers, hydro assist, etc.
Simple clean interior cage
sat radio, GPS, race radio.

Here's how it sits after one night's work.







Axle out, Are these worth anything?


Stock BS cut off

Nice pile of crap for the scrap bin


Lil motivation


Tomorrow, hrs and hrs of grinding and cleaning the frame.

-Rob

[toykilla5150]

Sweat! looks like a good start. 4 banger or v6?

[Desertbound]

Just a 4 banger. They didnt have the V6 out yet when we bought this guy. A turbo might be in the works later down the road.

[phil_j]

Sweet, looking forward to seeing what happens here. This phrase always piques my interest

Originally Posted by Desertbound

I decided to ... build me a rock crawler. But don't worry, its gonna have a nice go fast flare to it.

That said, looking forward to the execution of:

Originally Posted by Desertbound

10" 2.0 c/o's rear
12" SAW 2.5" c/o's front
Air bumps all around

Build on! Nice to see a 4dr get built to instead of the usual. Your desert background and choosing to only run 10" rear shocks stirs ideas of trailing arm mounted/pre-runner style shocks, but then a 2.0" body with the lower installation ratio seems odd given the 2.5"s up front, which would presumably be mounted on the axle.

Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself... More pics and details (or plans, if you're still at that stage) please .

What kind of belly height/uptravel/downtravel numbers are you shooting for? How much body are you keeping?

[epike7915]

subscribed!

[Desertbound]

Originally Posted by phil_j

Sweet, looking forward to seeing what happens here. This phrase always piques my interest



That said, looking forward to the execution of:


Build on! Nice to see a 4dr get built to instead of the usual. Your desert background and choosing to only run 10" rear shocks stirs ideas of trailing arm mounted/pre-runner style shocks, but then a 2.0" body with the lower installation ratio seems odd given the 2.5"s up front, which would presumably be mounted on the axle.

Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself... More pics and details (or plans, if you're still at that stage) please .

What kind of belly height/uptravel/downtravel numbers are you shooting for? How much body are you keeping?

As cool as it would be to mount the c/o on the link and add a second shock to the rear, i wanna get this thing done fairly quick and keep it very streetable. Its gonna be my DD when finished. Thus, I'm trying not to cut too much into the passenger compartment if possible.

The 2.0 on the rear will most likely be mounted off the back of the axle and angled slightly back to keep it under the floor of the vehicle and get it closer to pulling 11-12" of travel to match the front.

As for why i choose the shocks i did, they were too good a deal to pass up. 6" of uptravel, 6" down is the goal. With 2" airbumps dampening the last stage of susp. Forgot to mention, the wheelbase will be getting stretched to somewhere around 110"

No pics to show for tonight, just spent the evening grinding and cleaning up the frame more.

-Rob

[red90runner]

The same buildup name as Hesser? Really? How creative.

Looks ghey.

[Desertbound]

nothing too exciting, more cutting and grinding. This looks to be about how far ill be able to push the rear axle back. Wheelbase is already at about 102", Frame is all cleaned up, along with the axle.





Looks like I'll be spending some extra time building a nice universal truss for toyota axles, similar to our current PPM-3115 universal truss:

Thus updates may be put off a bit till I get it drawn up and ready to prototype.

-Rob

[supazuk94]

I will be following this post .. my wife wants me to build her one in this body style

[mannysouza]

The owner of Poly Performance is a great guy. Gave me a ride out of the rubicon even though he was pressed for time. Top notch guy for sure. Must be a great boss as well, letting you work on your own stuff there at his shop.
Two thumbs up for Poly Performance.

[mtbrjon]

Originally Posted by Desertbound

nothing too exciting, more cutting and grinding. This looks to be about how far ill be able to push the rear axle back. Wheelbase is already at about 102", Frame is all cleaned up, along with the axle.





Looks like I'll be spending some extra time building a nice universal truss for toyota axles, similar to our current PPM-3115 universal truss:

Thus updates may be put off a bit till I get it drawn up and ready to prototype.

-Rob

That's an early housing right? Better build that truss to go all the way to the bearing flanges. I've bent a few and found the early housings although narrower are weaker and bend easily.

[epike7915]

updates?

[dezrik]

We need updates man!!!!

Ive been wanting to build up a Kia Sportage, but after looking at the unibody i don't think it will work out.

[hcgalvin]

Updates? I've been thinking about putting my FZJ80 axles under a GV... would like to see how this one turns out..

[Desertbound]

Waiting on parts from the laser cutter to finish up the rear susp. Not much to show. Spent a few hrs last night swaping yokes and what not to get the t-case d-shaft figured out. back to running a sammi divorced case like i had originally planned.

Cut a big hole in the floor to move the gas tank up.

Should have some decent updates this weekend if the parts come in.

-Rob

[fcfred]

looking good 909

[Desertbound]

T-case mount





Gonna tear the t-case apart and install the 6.5 gears next. Should have pics of it all back in the vehicle by tomorrow.

By the way, anyone have a shifter for one of these cases lying around they'd like to sell?

[kabob]

I got one that I will sell you, 30 bucks shipped PM me if you want it

[Desertbound]

T-case is pretty much all back together, gonna throw it back together and in the truck in a couple days.

Meanwhile here's a pic of the crossmember installed in the truck.

[1madzuk]

Originally Posted by Desertbound

T-case mount





Gonna tear the t-case apart and install the 6.5 gears next. Should have pics of it all back in the vehicle by tomorrow.

By the way, anyone have a shifter for one of these cases lying around they'd like to sell?

You have P.M.

[rugg2kwgp]

Look like its going to be a sick build. Keep the pic coming.

[christyle]

homoghey










































Subscribed anyway

Sammy case? Why?

[xo_jeep]

Love the dimes, son



Keep up the good work!

[Penetrode Offroad]

Is he just tacking the two metals together? Just as strong or?...

[Desertbound]

Originally Posted by Penetrode Offroad

Is he just tacking the two metals together? Just as strong or?...

If your asking if I trigger weld, then no. We always do continuous beads.


Big Ugly, sammi case cause its divorced and simple. Finished it up and threw it in the truck tonight. Getting a yota case to work would have been a lot more difficult and expensive.