What's in a name?
Barbie started life as a regular cab but she wanted some serious attention and went under the knife for a heavy augmentation:Wow1:
But I'm getting ahead of myself: I started on expedition portal as a natural extension of my 80 series infatuation. If you spend enough time on IH8MUD you here about the portal. I progressed to a 100 series and another 100 but with 4 kids and needing to use the 3rd row of a cruiser space was beginning to get tight. I loved the landcruiser reliability and offroad prowess but room was becoming an issue. My first diesel was a 96 ford 7.3 auto which did a fine job of pulling my business trailer until I found a 2nd gen regular cab 12v 5speed. I was hooked. The business was sold, the 12v was sold, I went off to school for a bachelor's degree, the family continued to grow, the cruisers were bought, the cruisers were sold. I needed 6 seatbelts and I wanted a p-pumped 12v. I considered all of the usual: cummins transplant the 80 series, squeeze into a 2nd gen ext. cab with 3 carseats in the extended cab. Destroke a ford. I wanted to pay cash, I didn't want an emissions complicated diesel. Then I saw my first crewcab conversion. Bayer auto in Minnesota did the majority of these conversions to the tune of $15k. They are hard to find. The first one I saw I immediately called on but the drawbacks were many and the timing was wrong, it would have been more of a project than I wanted to tackle along with an auto tranny, body damage in the conversion area, a bobbed shortbed, and ugly yellow paint. Keep looking. Fast forward a year and a half later and I'm in Idaho on Christmas vacation visiting family perusing craigslist when I happen upon this gem. I called the same day it posted and the next it was mine. It had the good stuff: p7100 12v cummins, Bayer conversion crew cab with 8' bed, manual transmission, Laramie package, 3.54 gears, srw Dana 80, 4x4, 6 seatbelts, pacbrake, straight body where it counts. We settled on a price of $7k and I was a happy pappy.
It needed some work but it drove back to Wyoming without a hiccup.
It has some typical 2nd gen issues: Sagging headliner, bad ball joints, sloppy steering, rocker rust, flaking paint etc. The PO decided herculiner was a solution for the flaking paint. I admit it could look worse but I want a decent paint job. A show truck this will not be, but, it is getting paint.
The build plan: Primarily the dodge is being built as a family camping truck that can do everything else. It will have a mild offroad emphasis with a Carli starter suspension and skinnyish 35's. It will pull trailer as need, trips to the dump, trips to home depot, trips to hunting camp.
Performance: It will be a mild build aiming for maybe 400 horse. It already has an AFE Intake, 4" exhaust, and fuel plate. I need to get gauges. No evidence of the KDP being tabbed. ARP head studs are being considered because I want to advance the timing for better mpg's. The factory turbo is getting replaced soon due to excessive side to side shaft deflection. Reliability and MPG are more important to me than power.
I pulled my is300 on an auto transporter from Lander wy to Firestone Co and my lowest mpg was 19.1 hand calculated. I want to maintain the great mpg I'm getting by sticking with proven mods.
This will be a sloooow build. More important to me than any old truck is family time. I'm calling this a realistic 5 year build. If you build'em too fast you get sick of them sooner. I continually assure the wife I'm keeping this truck forever and she just cringes. Some of the mechanical items should take precedence over body and paint but I need to get the wife liking this truck sooner than later. Plus we are moving to Colorado and I'm pretty sure the HOA says something about trucks this ugly must be parked in the garage. It won't fit.
Tyler
Barbie started life as a regular cab but she wanted some serious attention and went under the knife for a heavy augmentation:Wow1:
But I'm getting ahead of myself: I started on expedition portal as a natural extension of my 80 series infatuation. If you spend enough time on IH8MUD you here about the portal. I progressed to a 100 series and another 100 but with 4 kids and needing to use the 3rd row of a cruiser space was beginning to get tight. I loved the landcruiser reliability and offroad prowess but room was becoming an issue. My first diesel was a 96 ford 7.3 auto which did a fine job of pulling my business trailer until I found a 2nd gen regular cab 12v 5speed. I was hooked. The business was sold, the 12v was sold, I went off to school for a bachelor's degree, the family continued to grow, the cruisers were bought, the cruisers were sold. I needed 6 seatbelts and I wanted a p-pumped 12v. I considered all of the usual: cummins transplant the 80 series, squeeze into a 2nd gen ext. cab with 3 carseats in the extended cab. Destroke a ford. I wanted to pay cash, I didn't want an emissions complicated diesel. Then I saw my first crewcab conversion. Bayer auto in Minnesota did the majority of these conversions to the tune of $15k. They are hard to find. The first one I saw I immediately called on but the drawbacks were many and the timing was wrong, it would have been more of a project than I wanted to tackle along with an auto tranny, body damage in the conversion area, a bobbed shortbed, and ugly yellow paint. Keep looking. Fast forward a year and a half later and I'm in Idaho on Christmas vacation visiting family perusing craigslist when I happen upon this gem. I called the same day it posted and the next it was mine. It had the good stuff: p7100 12v cummins, Bayer conversion crew cab with 8' bed, manual transmission, Laramie package, 3.54 gears, srw Dana 80, 4x4, 6 seatbelts, pacbrake, straight body where it counts. We settled on a price of $7k and I was a happy pappy.
It needed some work but it drove back to Wyoming without a hiccup.
It has some typical 2nd gen issues: Sagging headliner, bad ball joints, sloppy steering, rocker rust, flaking paint etc. The PO decided herculiner was a solution for the flaking paint. I admit it could look worse but I want a decent paint job. A show truck this will not be, but, it is getting paint.
The build plan: Primarily the dodge is being built as a family camping truck that can do everything else. It will have a mild offroad emphasis with a Carli starter suspension and skinnyish 35's. It will pull trailer as need, trips to the dump, trips to home depot, trips to hunting camp.
Performance: It will be a mild build aiming for maybe 400 horse. It already has an AFE Intake, 4" exhaust, and fuel plate. I need to get gauges. No evidence of the KDP being tabbed. ARP head studs are being considered because I want to advance the timing for better mpg's. The factory turbo is getting replaced soon due to excessive side to side shaft deflection. Reliability and MPG are more important to me than power.
I pulled my is300 on an auto transporter from Lander wy to Firestone Co and my lowest mpg was 19.1 hand calculated. I want to maintain the great mpg I'm getting by sticking with proven mods.
This will be a sloooow build. More important to me than any old truck is family time. I'm calling this a realistic 5 year build. If you build'em too fast you get sick of them sooner. I continually assure the wife I'm keeping this truck forever and she just cringes. Some of the mechanical items should take precedence over body and paint but I need to get the wife liking this truck sooner than later. Plus we are moving to Colorado and I'm pretty sure the HOA says something about trucks this ugly must be parked in the garage. It won't fit.
Tyler
Last edited:
