I got the engine fully torn down and delivered to the machine shop. They'll need the pistons to do the cylinder over-bore. I did not find anything wrong in the block; the pistons were a bit more carboned-up than I would have predicted. The balance shaft chain-works was quite complicated; it's a good thing I am eliminating all that monkey-motion with a hundred-dollar kit.I ordered all the engine bottom-end parts and the pistons arrived today. I'll deliver them to the machine shop tomorrow and they'll finish-up that work.
I ordered the front and rear shocks from Lee at RaceShock on Friday. We are getting 16" travel Sway-A-Way coilover's with Eibach springs and huge reservoirs for the rear. I'll get limit straps once these are installed. The front coilover's are a pre-configured kit from Sway-A-Way. There's not too much we can do with these until we get them into Lee's hands. His thought was that Camburg and Sway-A-way have already done the R&D on these, and will probably work right out of the box. After all, how many coilovers can you buy that are sold pre-valved and pre-sprung specifically for a race application? It was a slam dunk.
I had money sitting in my PayPal account so ordering the gauges from Summit (paid via PayPal) was about a one minute ordeal. Done. I have a list of all electrical systems/users and will begin drawing the wiring diagrams this week; work permitting. We'll be moving the fusebox from the engine bay ("Power Distribution Center" or "PDC") to somewhere in the cab. I may just eliminate/relocate all those circuits and delete the PDC altogether. I'll survey the contents of the PDC when I get out there next. I have contacted the BFG tire program and should be using their tires. The basic tire we'll get is the Mud Terrain T/A KM2; I am leaning toward the 32x11.50 . These seem the perfect compromise of ground clearance (only 0.5" of ground clearance is lost to the 33" tire) and unsprung weight. Also, a slightly narrower tire my find grip before the more 'floatier' 12.50.
Travel: Jon and I will fly out THIS FRIDAY the 20th.
Work this weekend: We decided on this itinerary so that we can maximize time-on-the-truck Saturday. I hope we can begin work pretty early, and carry-on as late as possible. With three of us there, hanging the fiberglass should be much easier than with two. Work to be accomplished on Saturday:
Hang the fiberglass..
Remove front diff for delivery to local guru.
Remove T-100 diff for delivery to local guru.
Mark and remove most aft-going wiring (will be re-wired after all other work is done).
Remove a wheel lug from T-100 (rear) and Tacoma (front) hubs for sizing-up heavier-duty replacements.
Remove lines and brackets from T-100 axle to facilitate 4-link fabrication.
Remove OEM fuel tank.
Remove OEM exhaust system.
Once the 4-link is installed and the cage is certified by SCORE, we can haul it back for the remaining systems to be installed. I think all parts have been sourced.
Here's a pic of the fancy 10:1 CR pistons...sexy indeed.
