[bradzuzu]

These where the pictures I received from Dutchbro aka (Dustin) when he drove down to check out this rig for me







Not bad I thought , but at that point I didn't think much of it , yet... About a week later the seller informed Dustin that the price was cut in half $50 !! I couldn't pass that up

The following weekend I hitched up my trailer and headed out to pick up Dustin and his wife and we drove on down south a bit to Lincoln city Oregon to get this score of a lifetime ..

Info that was relayed to him was that the heater core blew and the head gaskets had been replaced and then the head gaskets popped again .. The engine shows no sign of any recent work , it does turn over , Dustin, Tim and I achieved that back at his place... I'm hoping it has a good crank atleast , lord knows I've got enough spare parts laying around :mrgreen:



I dropped it off at work ... This is where the gears started turning and grinding in my head , what should I do or what could I do ...? I mulled it over for a week and came to the best conclusion ..

Since parts are easier to acquire as in interior upgrades such as leather seats and fancy paneling (good selling points) and the longer wheel base I would be able to install my dual tcase setup without compromising other components , and it comes with a bigger fuel tank , I have decided to disassemble the amigo and put all my drivetrain into the trooper ...

I know kinda sad , realistically trying to get the value out of the amigo just wouldn't happen , that and what if it someone raced it and got hurt , not sure I'd want that ...

The beginning !!!

 

[itsmehb]

Subscribed, going to be fun watching on this one. 50 dollars, really!

 

[egagnon086]

Like I said on Trader, I'll take your Amigos Exocage, Pc by pc if necessary. I can except freight at work. Let me know. I don't need your bumpers though.

 

[superman27344]

Is it a manual or an auto?

 

[Lifelikeworm]

I really love my 1st Gen Trooper but these 2nd Gens are really growing on me...I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with this one.

 

[trooper4kids]

$50 bucks? Time to go play the lottery while your luck is still at a high point! The body on that rig looks great, what a perfect starting point for a new build!

 

[paulevans76]

Can't wait to see this one from the ground floor

 

[DSUZU]

It's just good to see Brad post. The second gens do have a lot of nice amenities though. Dennis

 

[bradzuzu]

As some of you know I've had a first gen trooper sitting at my shop now for probly close to two years now , the lack of tittle is a big time bite in the butt let me tell ya !! I wanted to do a v8 truggy build and could (still can) puctureit just how I wanted it , but truthfully I want a newer more improved interior or upgradable availability at my disposal ... I'd still like to build a four door truck bed setup and in my opinion the first gen would indeed look the best for it too , that's another dream to be brought to life another day



I do have a slight mess to address before anything , they've somewhat cut the shatt out of the dash where the radio goes , not to happy about that ...



Here's one upgrade I'm planning on , one of the easiest and nicest I think ... This is what you'd find in a 2wd auto trooper , and yes mine is an auto but will be converted to a manual , I'm hoping the amigos pedal assembly will swap over and maybe the heater core too !! I haven't checked part numbers to see if they're the same ?? Put it on the list ...

The other part of the build in currently working on / working out is engineering a set of control arms similar to fj80 arms , if everything goes well (after the initial build and test) I'm considering building and selling them
I want to incorporate airbags into this build , I'm going to keep that hush hush till later (mentally throw the tarp over that)

I'm in the middle of a sas project for another first gen , when that's done I'll be able to get a little more involved ...

 

[shaggydoink]

$50?! That's insane!! Love the truck and am looking to following along on your journey!

Jonathan

 

[chuffer]

That Trooper II with no title is the body-double for Stinky. Not cutting parts off.

 

[bradzuzu]

I had a short day Friday so I took advantage of it and the weather and finished getting the dash out of the trooper



These things are heavy with the stupid airbag canister !!

Here's a closer look at the saw cut masters mess



The metal brace is all bent up , I'll try to straighten it and see how tight it pulls the two sections back together... If that won't work I'll have to get a little more resourceful ...



All that yellow wiring is just for the cruddy airbag system , I think I'll remove that whole mess , I prefer to have my kids sit up front and not worry about a high pressure bad tearing out of the dash breaking there neck .. Side note , the heater core setup looks to be identical in the amigo so that's a plus , might make it easier to source parts for others in the future !!

Then today I worked on the sas which in turn answered unknown questions for my setup as well ...









I love how clean this setup is or will be , its tight on the front for the tierod but that's looking at the roughed in parts , they can be rounded and cleaned up for more clearance

 

[chuffer]

Is that the same setup that is in the old Broncos too? Nifty. The whole time you were talking about this the other day...somehow I thought you were putting it in the back...I was a little confused.

 

[bradzuzu]

Here's a better picture example of this setup , the arm and mount encapsulate the axle housing similar to the ford setup..
fords use two wedge pieces that are welded to the axle and the angled bushings with the arm clamping down around them..



This setup gives you free rotational adjustment and they can be angled in for tire clearance at full turn..





I got lucky and found more scrap steel buried in the corner so I went to town making another set of mounts for my build ..



Only thing I didn't do yet is drill the holes because the arm may sit a little different , most likely not but that parts pretty quick , after they're drilled I'll narrow them up so they fit the width of the bushings ...

One other item I received that's a total score of awesomeness



Thanks so much Jerry !!

This rainy weather needs to go away so I can get more stuff done ..

 

[shaggydoink]

I got lucky and found more scrap steel buried in the corner so I went to town making another set of mounts for my build ..

I've lost count on how many times I've said this, but your ability to just grab scraps and make them into functional components completely astounds me! Nice work as always, looking forward to seeing how things turn out!!

Jonathan

 

[bradzuzu]

I've seen you do the same buddy

It's taken some time but I finally got the call that my pieces had been cut



So cool how well they match up !!





One thing I dislike is that my parts always end up being cut out of rusty plate , maybe I'll get a better deal ..

Since it was driving me nutts I went to town



It is exciting to be another step further



I had them add thickness to the cut for diversity and extra strength



I want to be able to have the single end adjustable , as in keep the same plane and still be into the material ...





My first mark was off , I needed to shorten it 3"s , as you can see there's plenty to weld to , I would prefer it to be slightly more centered ... The bushing bosses are twice as wide as needed , somehow that particular measurement was overlooked , I'm sure the steel place will correct that for me and I'll run the (more material) on the one end past them tomorrow ... I think I want it thicker for future use ...

 

[chuffer]

Good Grief how thick are those? How much do they weigh?

Are you gonna box them in too?

 

[bradzuzu]

Surprisingly they don't weigh that much , it's 1/2" material , I wouldn't mind going to 5/8" but it would most likely be overkill at that point ...

I was able to drop the dom off this morning and pick it back up this afternoon (no charge for the extra cuts !!)

They made the bores a little on the tight side so rather then spend a bunch of time trying to open them up I just sliced them ...





The cuts spread a bit but still a nice tight fit ..



We also measured the id's of the bosses and compared them to the bushings and it's right around a .002 press fit which is perfect !!



Hopefully I'll be able to get some welding done tomorrow ..



Since these are getting shortened I didn't slice and install the shells , the flat bar strapping won't fit very well in between the two front boss locations (end up to thick I think and hit the axle) so I'll start 3/4's of the way up and work down and around I guess , shouldn't hurt the strength any .. I'll have a good idea/feeling for it once I get to that point ...

 

[MarkB.NV]

Looking good!

 

[shaggydoink]

Incredible work as always Brad!! :thumbup:

Jonathan