Widebody Hardbody

[grayling953]

Definitely one of the coolest builds I've seen. cant wait for updates.

[Rattmandu]

Ideally I'll be able to have a set of street tires and a set of off road tires. Traction is definitely going to be an issue with 29" tall tires and 4.56 gears because I initially picked that ratio to suit the stock motor with something like 80 horsepower.

I see this thing being used for bombing down fire roads, but it should do some pretty good burnouts.

[RoyaleWithCheese]

This thing is sick!

What's the end goal? Will you keep it off-roady with the knobbier tires, or make it more of a fast street/drag truck and swap the tires? Either way I love it and I'll be keeping an eye on this one

[Rattmandu]

Going back in time, this is how the truck looked when I got it.





This first modification was the wheels and tires.



And two months after that I chopped 18 inches off the frame to start making the flat bed.

[Rattmandu]

We're going to jump into this project in medias res. This started in February of this year when I got an $800 landscaping truck, 2wd four cylinder 1987 king cab Nissan D21.







As it stands now it's been painted, I've made a custom flat bed and roll bar and a custom rear bumper. The rear end has been swapped to a 10 bolt 8.6 inch from a 2009 Chevy Tahoe that has been rebuilt with 4.56:1 gears and a Yukon limited slip diff. The rear end had all the stock bracketry cut off for it to be perched on Old Man Emu heavy duty leaf springs. At some point in the future I might go to a triangulated 4 link in the rear, but until it's driving the rear suspension is done.



The track width is a full 13 inches wider than stock and the tires are tucked under trailer fenders in the rear that stick out about 5.5 inches wider than the stock body. The wheels are 17x8.5s from a Toyota 4runner just to confuse people with the Toyota logos.



The bed and bumper are made mainly of 3x2x.120, 2x2x.095, and 1.5x.120 round A513 tube.





Up front the stock engine and transmission have been pulled and I've started cleaning up the engine bay to prepare for the swap.





For the new powerplant I'm in the middle of rebuilding an LQ9 6.0L out of a 2004 Escalade, the plan is forged pistons, a fairly aggressive cam, and bigger injectors. Should be good for around 400 HP. For the transmission I have a CD009 6 speed out of a 2008 G37 that I will adapt using the Collin's adapter and a T56 bellhousing, that way I'll still have a little bit of Nissan at heart, haha.







I've still got a long ways to go, but the plans to finish it are: Fiberglass front fenders with a 4" bulge. Make custom A arms up front that are about 6 inches longer per side and going to a coil over shock to get the torsion bars out of the way of the exhaust. Front steering knuckles and brakes are going to be modified unit's from a 2018 Silverado. I'd also like to convert to a rack and pinion but planning on that particular item hasn't gotten very far yet.

The transmission tunnel is going to have to be clearanced somewhat to fit the new bigger bellhousing, depending on how low I can set the engine. The plan is to get pretty low with the oil pan from a CTS-V and making a custom front crossmember. I also need to make a matching front bumper.