I love Stripping! I managed to get the frame completely stripped and loaded all alone. Thank God for winches! Next stop: media blaster! Got a call from Valley Hybrid with some bad news. My transmission and transfer case are toast. Someone swamped them and left the water inside, so the gears a rusted out. I'm brainstorming on a backup plan for those. The fun never stops!

My Butt's Too Big... Yeah... I had to swap out the awesome Corbeau Baja RS suspension seats for a set of their awesome Sport Seats. The thigh bolsters were a little too aggressive and my big butt wasn't too comfortable. The good news is that that Sport Seat was cheaper so I was able to add seat heaters and the anti-submarine slot for future full harness upgrade. I think I'll get these same seats for my Beater Bronco someday.

Chassis Stripped The chassis is as stripped as it is going to get. I'll try to get it off to the media blaster this week if I can find a shop that is open.

Metal Fab: GO! I started in on the chassis today. First I had to get the crappy shop tires of the nicer wheels and onto the crappy shop wheels. I dropped the nicer wheels off at my powder coater for some restyling and the shop wheels are back on the axles. I know what you're thinking... THOSE are the nicer wheels? While these are technically Eagle Alloys  102 Series from 2004, they are identical to Raceline Wheel's 887 Rockcrusher wheels from an earlier era... My teenage years. Nostalgia smells nice! Anyway... I dropped them off at my powder coater and you won't recognize them when next I post about them. These are the shop wheels... They are old Pro Comp wheels that have certainly seen some use. I will most likely have them refinished as well at some point down the road and maybe have some mud terrains studded for dedicated Snow Wheeling. In the meantime the Rockcrushers will be used for daily and trail use once the build is complete and I have mounted m

My Distributor Came in Today! That's right my dizzy is here and quite pretty in all its computer controlled goodness. My amazing engine dude decided to mock up the engine to ensure piston clearance before doing the final assembly This is a lot of work but well worth it to ensure everything clears. This was necessary because Man-a-Fre and by extension Ross Racing Pistons were both all but useless when confirming specs. Instead of 17K in the hole, we were sitting at 21K out of the whole. Not good! Here's hoping no additional machining will be necessary to make it all work.

Dakota Digital Gauges I have been very excited to get these. Interior is second only to powertrain in my book. The way I see it, I will see the interior of my vehicle more than the exterior. So fit and finish, comfort and function are critical to me. Gauges and controls are at the heart of the driver experience so I am excited to get these connected to my engine computer and fully installed. Next Up: Stripping the chassis in prep for media blasting. I hope to salvage all the brake hardlines, but everything else has got to go! I am also getting the body color (T1276 Sundune White) mixed up for the matching engine paint. Engine should be home before Christmas!

Nooo Not THAT Kind of Divorce A few of my TLC club buddies came over to help me part the tub from the chassis. Not super hard, but also not possible without help or a gantry. I don't have a gantry, so the friends did the trick. Thanks a million guys! Now I need to finish stripping both tub and chassis in prep for media blasting. Then begins the body work and metal repair on the tub and chassis mods and powder coating... or POR15. I am still undecided on the final chassis coating.

Lots of Activity... Well I finally paid off my engine guy! It should be back to me by mid December. I just dropped off my axle assemblies, transmission, and transfer case at Valley Hybrids to have Georg and his team work his magic. Georg's shop is like Land Cruiser heaven! Georg is doing an outer swap, RCV, and new Aisin hubs as well as upgraded disc brakes (4 wheel) for me. He is rebuilding both assemblies and adding ARB air lockers front and rear. He is also rebuilding my transmission and transfer case as well as adding the twin stick conversion from Advanced Adapters. I got the knobs in the mail today too! I also got my seats and mounting brackets... As well as my Champion radiator and Lead Foot Racing electric fan.  More goodies should be rolling in soon and a bunch of the Cruiser Club guys are coming over on Saturday afternoon to help me pull the tub from the chassis. Leaf springs are being built too with a mid-January delivery estimate. That