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A bit more work after the last off road trip... I went with the Cressida front brake upgrade off an '88. My brakes were a bit sketchy to begin with, but still useable, needing pads really soon. After the last off road trip, they left me feeling a in need of replacing NOW, warped rotors and...

Thanks guys. The build pictures are in the "Other" section. It's a lot of fun to drive. I can't wait for cooler weather and weekend camp trips. -Jon

I wanted to get out of the valley for a little bit, shake down the dust proofing on the Celica. Also, I helped build a 4wd Tacoma last year, for racing, so we took that truck along to, shake down it's new rear axle install. As I had hoped, all my work on sealing up the tank and odd holes in...

I saw some of you coming down Sunday morning, as I was headed up to the top in my Celica. -Jon

Here's what the engine bay looks like right now. Pretty stock looking, pulled the A/C out and the power steering isn't hooked up right now. The seconf picture, hard to spot, but it's a GM urethane tranny mount being used as the engine mount, under the blue bracket. -Jon

Yeah, it's sort of a do-all car. It's comfortable driving the the road or down the trails, with Toyota's legendary 22re reliability. At least for now, it'll do what I want. If things change, I started to figure out how to put an AWD system in using mostly FWD later model front end pieces...

Well, tonight I finished up my exhaust mods. After my long off road trip, 2 of the 3 nuts fell out of the manifold to downpipe flange. So, the exhaust now has an 8" flex section just past the downpipe section. Further back, I also welded in a highflow CAT, need to get it street legal next...

Thanks again for all the encouragement. I'm headed back out again, finally, with the new gas tank installed and the back end mostly all sealed up to the dusty world under the car. I'll try to post some new pics HERE early next week. I just finished rebuilding sections of the exhaust system...

I'm actually thinking about VW swingaxle universal fix boots. The problem with the shifter boots might be getting the neck down area to fit the 2" shock body. I'll have to look at a few part stores, maybe a rubber universal could be trimmed to fit the shock body. Thanks for the suggestion -Jon

Got the tank area finished last night. All the pieces screwed back together, seams sealed with proper sealer from NAPA and gaskets back around the hoses. Next project, making boots for the rear shocks. I ordered some rubber/nitrile sheeting to see if I can figure something out with it. I also...

Love the Things, hard to come by these days, so great find and fiun project. Keep the posting coming. I've built a few off road VW's now, 2 Baja Bugs and a rally Golf GTi, so aparently I'm fond of the German's engineering. -Jon

I finished fitting the hose seal plate last night, then this morning I sized out my seal pieces, split vacuum hose. They turned out better then I thought, light, snug to tuck in fit. Good thing I'm not anal about alignment, since I drilled the seal plate by math, not taking into account the...

And you are SURE, the timing cover isn't the cross contamination problem. a crack or a worn though timing cover from a loose timing chain is common with these engines. If you've ever rebuilt one of the Toyota 4 cylinders, you'll see just how easy it could be to get a gasket leak or worn timing...

Sturdy enough to, #1 not rattle, #2 support 50-75 lbs of soft gear tossed on top of it. The aluminum is 21" x 32", with three 1" lips, material is .065" thick 5052. I went out to LA over the weekend, my buddy out there has a bead roller, but I blew it, forgot to take it with me. I might just...

Main lid is now fitted, just a small section for sealing to the hoses left to make now. Even with the bent sides, the lid still feels a little flexible, don't know for sure until it's screwed down though. Might have to screw a rib section or two. -Jon

Agreed, solid axles are the strong and economical way to go, that's why I stuck with it on my Celica build. I don't have the budget to support a big rally effort either, so I can certainly see the vision of sticking with simplicity and brute strength for such endurance style races. I like...

but solid axles on something that small, odd for a racer... -Jon

Pretty cool rally raid car. I wouldn't mind a test drive... -Jon

Yeah, as you found out, stopping on the up hill sections, loosing momentum, makes it interesting to get going again. Give way to off roaders coming up hills. Keep up the good work on your Trooper, sounds like it's running well. -Jon

even caught a picture of me, in my Hawaiian shirt. Got the Celica project running again Sunday afternoon, wish it had been a day earlier, so I could have driven it down. -Jon