krazytoy
Adventurer
Let me begin by introducing myself. My name is Jason and I live in Idaho Falls, ID. I have a lovely wife and two young children. I have been off-roading my entire life, my first vehicle was a 1969 Toyota Land Cruiser and have never being without a 4x4 in my life. As a child I spent my first night in a tent at 6 months old and have never looked back. My family used to camp almost every weekend in good weather and in bad, whether it be the lake or as most of you call it “over landing”; we always just knew it as camping and spending quality time together as a family.
I have always worked on vehicles and learned to fabricate while living in Arizona. In about 2007 I invested in a local off road fabrication company called CBI Off-Road Fab. While at CBI I had the opportunity to build many vehicles and learn about the business. When the economy tanked I lost my main source of income as a project manager for a large commercial contractor. I had no choice but to sell the business back to my partner as I was going to have to travel to support my family. While it broke my heart to give up the business I was pretty tired of working on everyone else's junk and neglecting my own.
Like I said, I have always been into off-roading and started my professional career in 1999 competing in the first ever rock crawling championship in Las Cruses New Mexico. We competed in rock crawling for many years and eventually moved on to desert racing. Our desert racing career had many good times, but as you can imagine desert racing is a very rich man's sport and as sponsors dried up, so did our race team.
I have built a tube buggy from the ground up, RMP&O's Patrol, A 4 door Tacoma, and everything in between. So, now being a father I have gone back to my roots, a 1994 Land Cruiser. I picked it up in Sacramento California; I had been looking for a few months and finally came across this one. It was posted on a Thursday night; I called the gentleman Friday morning and he sent me 80+ pictures of the Cruiser. We settled on a price and I bought a plane ticket to fly out Saturday morning. I arrived in Sacramento, drove the Cruiser, paid the man and I was the new Owner. I stopped at the gas station for fuel and headed north on the 750 mile drive home. I stopped at moon rocks for the night, pulled out my sleeping bag that I had smuggled on the plane and crashed out. I continued on the next day arriving back in Idaho Falls with the Baja Buses first road trip under her belt.
So, why the Baja Bus? Well, I grew up in Southern Arizona and LOVE the desert. I have spent some time on the main land side of Mexico and absolutely love it! I always wanted to run the Baja 1000 while desert racing, I love to fish, love to wheel, love to camp, love to explore so why not Baja? Actually exploring Baja has been on my bucket list since I can remember and the time is now! The trip is scheduled for February of 2014, and I have recruited a group of friends to enjoy the experience with. Hopefully this will not be the last trip down as I would like to return for many years to come. Anyway, I am going to document the build here and try to explain everything in as much detail as I can.
When I picked up the Baja Bus it already had an OME 2.5” lift on it and 305/75 KM2's. My plan is to install a 4 Crawler 1.25” body lift so I can re-route the exhaust from under the passenger side door. I will be going to a 35” tall tire and installing 5.29 gears. It is also going to my good friends at CBI Off-Road for a front bumper with 10k winch, sliders, rear bumper with all the goodies and one of their new proto type roof racks. After that I plan to build a shelving system and add the quintessential fridge. So stay tuned as I do my best to prepare this Cruiser for the Journey!
Let me start with a few shots of some of my past vehicles and past customer projects.
Rock Crawling Comp in 1999 Farminton, NM
My Truggy
My Buggy from 06' & 07'
Custom 4 Door Tacoma for a Customer. I always really liked this truck and offered to buy it last year but was shot down! Can't blame him...
And of course RMP&O's Patrol. I did alot of work to this rig, from the suspension to the interior. It was a fun build and a ton of work. Thanks Ian!
I have always worked on vehicles and learned to fabricate while living in Arizona. In about 2007 I invested in a local off road fabrication company called CBI Off-Road Fab. While at CBI I had the opportunity to build many vehicles and learn about the business. When the economy tanked I lost my main source of income as a project manager for a large commercial contractor. I had no choice but to sell the business back to my partner as I was going to have to travel to support my family. While it broke my heart to give up the business I was pretty tired of working on everyone else's junk and neglecting my own.
Like I said, I have always been into off-roading and started my professional career in 1999 competing in the first ever rock crawling championship in Las Cruses New Mexico. We competed in rock crawling for many years and eventually moved on to desert racing. Our desert racing career had many good times, but as you can imagine desert racing is a very rich man's sport and as sponsors dried up, so did our race team.
I have built a tube buggy from the ground up, RMP&O's Patrol, A 4 door Tacoma, and everything in between. So, now being a father I have gone back to my roots, a 1994 Land Cruiser. I picked it up in Sacramento California; I had been looking for a few months and finally came across this one. It was posted on a Thursday night; I called the gentleman Friday morning and he sent me 80+ pictures of the Cruiser. We settled on a price and I bought a plane ticket to fly out Saturday morning. I arrived in Sacramento, drove the Cruiser, paid the man and I was the new Owner. I stopped at the gas station for fuel and headed north on the 750 mile drive home. I stopped at moon rocks for the night, pulled out my sleeping bag that I had smuggled on the plane and crashed out. I continued on the next day arriving back in Idaho Falls with the Baja Buses first road trip under her belt.
So, why the Baja Bus? Well, I grew up in Southern Arizona and LOVE the desert. I have spent some time on the main land side of Mexico and absolutely love it! I always wanted to run the Baja 1000 while desert racing, I love to fish, love to wheel, love to camp, love to explore so why not Baja? Actually exploring Baja has been on my bucket list since I can remember and the time is now! The trip is scheduled for February of 2014, and I have recruited a group of friends to enjoy the experience with. Hopefully this will not be the last trip down as I would like to return for many years to come. Anyway, I am going to document the build here and try to explain everything in as much detail as I can.
When I picked up the Baja Bus it already had an OME 2.5” lift on it and 305/75 KM2's. My plan is to install a 4 Crawler 1.25” body lift so I can re-route the exhaust from under the passenger side door. I will be going to a 35” tall tire and installing 5.29 gears. It is also going to my good friends at CBI Off-Road for a front bumper with 10k winch, sliders, rear bumper with all the goodies and one of their new proto type roof racks. After that I plan to build a shelving system and add the quintessential fridge. So stay tuned as I do my best to prepare this Cruiser for the Journey!
Let me start with a few shots of some of my past vehicles and past customer projects.
Rock Crawling Comp in 1999 Farminton, NM
My Truggy
My Buggy from 06' & 07'
Custom 4 Door Tacoma for a Customer. I always really liked this truck and offered to buy it last year but was shot down! Can't blame him...
And of course RMP&O's Patrol. I did alot of work to this rig, from the suspension to the interior. It was a fun build and a ton of work. Thanks Ian!
