Foster Huntington
Adventurer
So I made a craigslist purchase this week. When I'm not traveling out of my Tacoma with a Four Wheel Ute, I spend time at a family cabin in the Columbia River Gorge. I spend about a quarter of the time there and am tired of driving my Taco into Portland for supplies. I started looking for an early 80s Toyota for a local rig, hauling supplies and the occasional camping trip. The problem with these early Toyota truck is that its the vehicle of choice for off roading in the PNW and unmolested trucks are virtually impossible to find. Frustrated, I started looking for other options and found this 1983 Datsun/Nissan 720 4x4. It was in great shape and a killer deal so I jumped on it. It's bone stock, has 200k miles and had one owner from 1983 to 2013. I'm excited to have a rig thats a little less complicated than my 2013 Tacoma with all the bells and whistles.
Here's the plan for the Build,
- BFG Mud Terrain 235,75,15 (I wanted to keep the size stock) 5 are on the way.
- Front and Rear Tubular bumper (Smittybilt made bumpers in the 80s but they are impossible to find now. so I will most likely have them fabbed)
- Wood rack/skeleton canopy with canvas cover (I want to base it off of the ones commonly used on flatbed in Australia)
- Hella H4 and H2 lights (the factory ones are very dim)
- Line X the bed (it still has the factory bedliner)
- Upgrade shocks (i dont want to lift the truck, its just a little jittery
I'm looking for a fab shop in the Portland Area that does tubular steel and aluminum. The new tires should show up on the 19th and I'm bringing the truck in to my mechanic to change all the fluids make sure its ship shape on the 18th.
Here are my ideas for the bumper. I want to keep it simple and very 80s.
Heres my ideas for the lumber rack/canvas canopy. I envision the Frame having three vertical sections equally spaced on the 7.5 foot bed and attached via 4 bolts to the bed lip. I like how the fj79 has rods to keep wood from sliding off the side. As for the canvas, I envision having snaps attach it to the front and rear frame while the middle provides shape.
