My Taco Engine Cage

[Blue-Beard]

Thought I'd post some pics of the engine cage I'm building for my solid axle taco. I'm too cheap to buy a good bender so I am doing this with a HF kink-o-matic and 1 1/4" poop pipe. That is why the cage has minimal bends. I plan on reattaching the fenders and what not so this should look just like a normal tacoma when it's done. Everything is in progress and will be finish welded and some extra stuff added.
That being said on with the pics.
No turning back now!

[Blue-Beard]

more pics:

the last pic with the lights and grill mounted is where I am now. Next up is to finish mounting the AC core thingie, build a battery mount, finish weld everything, and other stuff I can't think of now.

[NorcalVP]

I'd recognize that Kink-O-Matic anywhere. Good to see it being used again. Keep taking pics I can't wait to see the end result.

[Blue-Beard]

Updates:
Got some more work done.
AC Core thingie mounted and supporting itself now:

[Blue-Beard]

Got the battery box made and mounted:

[Blue-Beard]

last for now:

[aaronmb]

looks good, nice work

[Tacodab]

Originally Posted by Blue-Beard

last for now:

so this is what you are doing
is the cage in the cab yet?

[Blue-Beard]

Originally Posted by aaronmb

looks good, nice work

thanks

Originally Posted by Tacodab

so this is what you are doing
is the cage in the cab yet?

Yup this is what I have been doing, and taking way to long to do at that!
Going to get some more work done on it tonight and tommorow night. Working on the hood pin mounts now. Hopefully I'll have some update pics in the next day or two.
No the cab cage isn't in yet. That will come next once I can pull this thing out of the garage.

[snowchucker]

welcome to the cage club...
dont know about your up travel, but my 40's rub my battery box like mad in the same location.

[SIDEKICKLLM]

nice work, how was the bender? been thinkin of getting that instead of the real benders. Have you kinked any pipe yet? im just thinking of using pipe..1 1/2 pipe

[Blue-Beard]

Originally Posted by snowchucker

welcome to the cage club...
dont know about your up travel, but my 40's rub my battery box like mad in the same location.

I dunno if it will hit in uptravel? I'd say the battery is mounted about as high as stock an I didn't used to rub that... although I did cut the body lift in half so that may increase the chance of rubbing. If it ends up being a problem I'll relocate the battery to the tool box.

Originally Posted by SIDEKICKLLM

nice work, how was the bender? been thinkin of getting that instead of the real benders. Have you kinked any pipe yet? im just thinking of using pipe..1 1/2 pipe

Thanks. The bender works but you have to know what it can and can't do. I made sure to keep the bends to a minimum to avoid kinking. Plus I added a peice of 1/4" square stock to the top of the dye sides to help keep the pipe from flairing out over the top of it. I didn't kink any pipe on this project. I am using 1 1/4" pipe which is actually about 1.66 O.D.
Bottom line is it will work, but you have to know its limitations. If you aren't willing to live with those limitations, get a tube bender.

[Blue-Beard]

Time for an update. Not to much happening, I've been working on the mounts for the hood pins. I thought I had them set on the first try but it turnned out I couldn't get the battery out once I had the supports tacked in. After wasting hours on several failed attempts at making a mount that would allow the battery to clear I finally came up with something that should work.
I also made the mounts for the driver side fender, I'll make the passenger mounts once I get a strait fender. I think most of the major fab is done, just need to weld it all up and make a few tabs and gussets here and there.

[JESSE_at_TLT]

Less bend is more better. Looks good so far.

[Blue-Beard]

Originally Posted by JESSE_at_TLT

Less bend is more better. Looks good so far.

Thanks.

I should have some updated pics tonight or tommorrow. I got all the fab work done (minus the bolt it cross brace thingie, I will do that later) and it's almost all painted.

[Blue-Beard]

Update:
Almost done for now. Started bolting everything back up and painted. On with the pictars.

[Blue-Beard]

Some more:
It's almost all put back together now, more so than in this set of pictures. Just need a new Lower Rad. hose, fill up the fluids, and I can pull it out of the garage! I'll snap some more once I pull it out of the garage.

[chris85053]

any up dates?

[Blue-Beard]

Originally Posted by chris85053

any up dates?

I'll get some pics soon!

[Booger Weldz]

looks great! i use the harbor frieght bender to tweek bends i didnt quite 'guess' right when using the real bender at work......as long as you dont go past about 30 degrees it makes perfect bends, with just a small set of divots in the pipe where it sits on the roller thingies as the angle increases. its also nice because you drop the pipe right in where your making the bend. the jd2, protools, etc require you to start the bend at proprtional increments away from the actual bend point to have the other end land where you want it becasue its holding one end and rolling the other around the dye

[generalee7]

Originally Posted by Booger Weldz

looks great! i use the harbor frieght bender to tweek bends i didnt quite 'guess' right when using the real bender at work......as long as you dont go past about 30 degrees it makes perfect bends, with just a small set of divots in the pipe where it sits on the roller thingies as the angle increases. its also nice because you drop the pipe right in where your making the bend. the jd2, protools, etc require you to start the bend at proprtional increments away from the actual bend point to have the other end land where you want it becasue its holding one end and rolling the other around the dye

One thing I did to alleviate the little dimples in the pipe using the HF bender is to fold up one red rag per side so "cushion" the metal against metal contact. Works great!

[hellbent]

Looks good. Did you make some kind of inner fender to keep water out of the air filter? I'm curious because I have something similar thats not quite done yet.

[chris85053]