Vivir Cien - Krazytoy's 100 Series Build

krazytoy

Adventurer
I'm going to start this thread the same as my last build thread for those of you who don't know me or my background.

My first build thread: http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/83671-The-Baja-Bus-1994-FZJ80-Build

Let me begin by introducing myself. My name is Jason and I live in Idaho Falls, ID. I have a lovely wife and three young children. I have been off-roading my entire life, my first vehicle was a 1969 Toyota Land Cruiser and have never being without a 4x4 in my life. As a child I spent my first night in a tent at 6 months old and have never looked back. My family used to camp almost every weekend in good weather and in bad, whether it be the lake or as most of you call it “over landing”; we always just knew it as camping and spending quality time together as a family.

I have always worked on vehicles and learned to fabricate while living in Arizona. In about 2007 I invested in a local off road fabrication company called CBI Off-Road Fab. While at CBI I had the opportunity to build many vehicles and learn about the business. When the economy tanked I lost my main source of income as a project manager for a large commercial contractor. I had no choice but to sell the business back to my partner as I was going to have to travel to support my family. While it broke my heart to give up the business I was pretty tired of working on everyone else's junk and neglecting my own.
Like I said, I have always been into off-roading and started my professional career in 1999 competing in the first ever rock crawling championship in Las Cruses New Mexico. We competed in rock crawling for many years and eventually moved on to desert racing. Our desert racing career had many good times, but as you can imagine desert racing is a very rich man's sport and as sponsors dried up, so did our race team.

I have built a tube buggy from the ground up, RMP&O's Patrol, A 4 door Tacoma, and everything in between.

When I picked up the Baja Bus it already had an OME 2.5” lift on it and 305/75 KM2's. My plan is to install a 4 Crawler 1.25” body lift so I can re-route the exhaust from under the passenger side door. I will be going to a 35” tall tire and installing 5.29 gears. It is also going to my good friends at CBI Off-Road for a front bumper with 10k winch, sliders, rear bumper with all the goodies and one of their new proto type roof racks. After that I plan to build a shelving system and add the quintessential fridge. So stay tuned as I do my best to prepare this Cruiser for the Journey!

Let me start with a few shots of some of my past vehicles and past customer projects.

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Rock Crawling Comp in 1999 Farminton, NM

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My Truggy

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My Buggy from 06' & 07'

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Custom 4 Door Tacoma for a Customer. I always really liked this truck and offered to buy it last year but was shot down! Can't blame him...

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And of course RMP&O's Patrol. I did a lot of work to this rig, from the suspension to the interior. It was a fun build and a ton of work. Thanks man!

Here is a few pictures of my old 80




 
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krazytoy

Adventurer
So after I finished building the 80 I have this really awful habit of always looking for that perfect vehicle that is going to do everything you want, I know this vehicle doesn't exist, but its fun trying to build a rig the way you want it and hopefully find that elusive unicorn somewhere? While the 80 was a fantastic vehicle I found myself doing more highway driving and less rock crawling than I anticipated and the 80 really lacked a lot of creature comforts my old bones were beginning to urn for. So a few months ago I put it up for sale and a very nice gentleman from the Boston area snatched it up, its going to a great home and I will her dearly, but time for that new unicorn! So my hunt was on and one afternoon while scouring craigslist I came across a mint 1999 in my favorite color River Rock Green Mica with 87,000 miles! I couldn't pass this up and I called the gentleman selling the rig and well lets just say he didn't realize what he had... He sent me plenty of pictures and I made a deal with him the next day. My son and I flew to Las Vegas to get the vehicle and I was pleasantly surprised when I finally saw it in person, it was better than I expected and it ran and drove flawlessly. That same day my son and I drove back to Salt Lake City and stayed the night with a friend and the next morning meet up with Kurt at Cruiser Outfitters to show off the new ride a bit and pick up a OME lift for the new ride, previously in the week I ordered up a set of 297/75/16 BFG A/T's from Sears and had them waiting for us when we got the lift installed. So last Friday night I put the lift on and had the tires put on on Saturday morning along with an alignment from Sears, Sears offers a one year and 3 year free alignment plan so I opted for the 1 year since I know I am going to be changing things a little...The plan for now since I spent more on a low mileage vehicle than I anticipated is the OME lift with air bags in the back, we built a bad *** roof rack for the 80 that I kept so we will modify it for the 100 and the 295/75/16's. I found out yesterday the 295's rub quite a bit on the body so I think I am going to order up the 1" body lift, build a nice box for the back, sliders and a tube front bumper. Not really sure what to do on the back et, but I do know it's not going to get the full on overland package that I had on the 80, while it was cool it was way too much weight for my tastes. OK enough blabbing and on to the pics...

The day I picked it up.












I really did not take many pictures of the lift install other than the air bags, they say you should run the air line down and I don't like that so I went up and put a grommet around the hole to protect the air line. I had it this way on the 80 and never had any issues with them and they are up in the body so no need to worry about ripping one off.

Before I started the lift



Air Line Holes





I did some other stuff like remove the running boards and the fake wood crap but didn't any pics of that stuff.

Here it is all lifted and with the new meats on!





So I finished it Saturday and meet RMP&O out at St. Anthony sand dunes on Sunday to "break in" the new springs... :victory:




RMP&O's V8 80 Very Cool Cruiser!



Kids playing in the sand and a break for a cold one to wash down the sand!



So my initial thought is I definetly made the right choice going to the 100, the additional power is unbelievable and the highway drivability is fantastic! I am really glad I made the trade and can't wait to get a few more additions to the 100 to make it mine.
 

RMP&O

Expedition Leader
I always thought the 100-series was ugly but I got to say, now it is growing on me!

Very nice truck Jason and you proved the other day they are not to shabby in fairly stock form. I am looking forward to seeing what you do to this truck and where it ends up going. Oh and how long you own it! ;)

Cheers
 

rickashay

Explorer
Awesome Jason. I was a big fan of the Baja Bus and your adventures, and am stoked to see what you do with the 100. I'm waiting for this long travel so I can sell my 80 and follow suite! Sub'd.
 

Sempertoy

Explorer
Hey Jason, glad to see you are in a 100 series! I'm happy for you! Maybe by the time you are done with this one, I'll be able to buy it from you! I'm still rocking that loud ***** muffler on the 80 you sent me lol. I still appreciate it!
Jon
 

krazytoy

Adventurer
I always thought the 100-series was ugly but I got to say, now it is growing on me!

You know you want one! I thought the same thing until I saw a few that were built and it defiantly changes the way they look.

Nice choice - We've got twins!

Everyone knows twins are more fun!

Awesome Jason. I was a big fan of the Baja Bus and your adventures, and am stoked to see what you do with the 100. I'm waiting for this long travel so I can sell my 80 and follow suite! Sub'd.

Thanks man, I have realized the long travel has many obstacles to overcome, but I am up for the task, these vehicles need a long travel kit that will endure some abuse! I'm going to start working on some designs and will keep everyone posted on it. It works OK for now, but I know I can make it better!

Hey Jason, glad to see you are in a 100 series! I'm happy for you! Maybe by the time you are done with this one, I'll be able to buy it from you! I'm still rocking that loud ***** muffler on the 80 you sent me lol. I still appreciate it!

Hahaha, I told ya it was a little loud... Glad your still running it and again you are very welcome. :sombrero:

I had a huge F#%k up while putting my lift on and I now get to replace all my CV boots and re-grease all the CV's. While cutting off the top shock bolt the red hot top of the stud fell down onto the top of the lower control arm and burned several holes through the passenger side outer CV! I know better than this and kick myself in the ***** for being so stupid. On a positive note the grease that came out was green and obviously had water introduced to it at some point, so all new CV boots from Cruiser Dan and PFran clamps were ordered Monday for PM. I'll do a write up on it once all the stuff gets here. I also ordered all the interior LED's while I was ordering from PFran. :sombrero:
I also realized at the dunes the my 295's rub pretty good on the front, I don't see how some guys get away with 315's and say they don't rub, hell my 295's rub on flat ground! I have the recommended 50mm of down travel per OME's directions so either people are running way more lift or something else is going on? Anyway, I ordered up Jonsey's 1" body lift, I had a 1.25" lift on the 80 and was really happy with it, it makes working on things much easier and I never had any ill effect from it. Stay tuned much, much more to come...
 

fireball

Explorer
My 295s rubbed like crazy while at stock height, and still rub a bit at full lock with a 2.5" lift. I think I can adjust the stops a few turns outward to stop the rubbing, but I don't think it'll be a problem as long as I'm careful.



I bought it with these tires on it, otherwise I would've gone with 285/75 or maybe even 255/85.
 

krazytoy

Adventurer
It doesn't rub on turn with the wheel spacers, the rub I get at ride height is from the plastic on the bottom rear fender well and I know that it is sitting about 1/2" low after the trip to the dunes. I just cranked the T-bars back up and hopefully it won't rub anymore. The rub I am more concerned with is at full compression on the top of the fender well... Only way to solve this is more lift! The tire stuffs nicely into the fender well, just rubs the very top on full dune compression. I'll figure it out and I'm sure the body lift will help, I'm looking at mounting air bump right now and with the body lift and air bumps I think I can gain an inch plus of compression which is a lot when talking IFS suspension and going fast. Most desert trucks are set up with 60% up travel and 40% down at a minimum. We will get it figured out, I've only had it a week...:roost:
 

krazytoy

Adventurer
My 295s rubbed like crazy while at stock height, and still rub a bit at full lock with a 2.5" lift. I think I can adjust the stops a few turns outward to stop the rubbing, but I don't think it'll be a problem as long as I'm careful.



I bought it with these tires on it, otherwise I would've gone with 285/75 or maybe even 255/85.

Sweet ride what rear springs are you running?
 

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