Tag: 4wd

Subtle Shuttle – Ford E350 4×4 build

Gregor Halenda is a man whose talents I’ve followed for many years. Long-time readers will remember the post I wrote up about Gregor’s multiple projects (with no less than 6 links to various threads) that he had a hand in, including his gorgeous home that opened my eyes to the wonders of mid century modern architecture. That post was made over two years ago, and Gregor has not been idle. Along with his busy photography schedule, he has turned his attentions to creating a capable adventure vehicle for quality family time on (and off) the open road. The base vehicle? An airport shuttle bus!

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1976 International Scout Traveler

Even though I’m not into off-roading myself, I really enjoy reading builds from this dirt-loving subculture. Reason being is that I get to see the same metal-working techniques being implemented for a different purpose, it’s just interesting to see the similarities and differences. High instead of low, mud instead of asphalt, dirt instead of shine, but at the end of the day we are all modifying our vehicles so we can enjoy them beyond the expectations the manufacturer had in mind for them. This particular build is a 1976 Scout Traveler, a vehicle made by International, and it’s being built to a very high standard for the purpose of long and remote hunting trips in the countryside.

Thanks to Jess for submitting. Click here for more off-road builds.

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Willys Pickup / ’08 Cherokee

I guess you could kind of call this a chassis-swap, even though the original chassis is retained, albeit highly modified. This Willys pickup is based on a combination of two cabs (’48 and ’58), being widened to fit over the subframes and floorpan of a 2008 Jeep Cherokee, complete with a 5.7l Hemi. I have to say, this is one of the most informative build threads I’ve read. Even by breezing through it like I usually have to (because I want to get it up ASAP on the site for you guys!) I’ve managed to learn more than a few tricks. The owner shows off a plethora of DIY garage skills, such as tweaking and straightening the frame using combinations of heat and pressure, panel beating, welding, metal folding/shaping, and more. He really goes out of his way to share his techniques with his fellow forum members via well-written and documented posts. The whole thing is closer to a hot rod build compared to what you’d usually expect from a Jeep. Don’t forget to catch the rust removal technique towards the end of the thread, definitely one I’ll be bookmarking for future reference.

Thanks to Jarrod for submitting. Click here for more Jeep builds.

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BUILT from eBay [video build x4]

So, I’ve become a bit of a YouTube junky lately. My almost nightly ritual consists of plonking myself down on the couch with a hot coffee, firing up the iPad, plugging in my over-ear headphones, and catching up on all of my favourite subscriptions. Some of those include /DRIVE, HoonTV, Jay Leno’s Garage, Marchettino, Mighty Car Mods, Motor Trend (Roadkill and Dirt Every Day), and of course Petrolicious. For too long I imagined YouTube’s sole existence catered to wannabe celebrities uploading videos of themselves doing something stupid in the hope of going viral. Now I’m more than aware that it’s become quite the replacement for television, with professionally produced channels releasing regular content aimed at specific demographics, making their viewers crave new content just like you would for Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones.

It was during a browsing session that I stumbled across a 10-part series called “BUILT from eBay”, which chronicled the process of four different shops (aligned with 4 different magazines) building four different cars using parts bought only from eBay. While the concept is pretty transparent as being one big commercial, the content is quite entertaining. Hell, you get to see four completely different cars being built without having to read a single word, what’s there to complain about?

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LX Torana GTR

If you’re an Aussie, like I am, then you’d be well versed in the Holden vs Ford debate, even if you don’t fancy either marquee, it’s an argument with no expiry date. Almost as well known as this red and blue rivalry is the tale of the Nissan Skyline GTR dominating the touring car races of the early 90’s, a story regularly re-told by many a Skyline owner with a smirk on their face. It’s fair to say the Skyline was not liked by Holden and Ford fans of that era. So what do we make of this, then? A Holden LX Torana fitted with an R32 Skyline GTR engine and AWD system. Two ex-Bathurst legends which would have been fierce rivals on ‘The Mountain’ were it not for the age gap, now combined into one machine. Personally, I love it, and I thank you for following that very drawn-out intro that possibly makes little sense at all.

Thanks to Travis for submitting.

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Retromod Toyota Tacoma

Well here’s a first, I cant’ say I’ve ever featured an expedition truck before, nor have I read a build with the words “can be loaded safely in a 20-foot container with one or two NATO crates of supplies behind it”. The owner of this rig had gotten the most out of his trusty FJ Cruiser, so he decided to create a new expedition vehicle with some retro flavour. Instead of scouring the classifieds for a well-worn 70’s-80’s truck and having to go through the whole restoration process before even beginning to modify it for his needs (including a shortened bed), he began this build with a brand new 2012 Toyota Tacoma and proceeded to turn back the clock aesthetically to create what he cleverly calls a “retromod”.

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FMU BMW X5

Confession: I’ve had a long-running man-crush on Fluid Motor Union ever since I first stumbled across their posts on the StanceWorks forums. Their famous flame-spitting Gallardo image is my Ps3 wallpaper, every day I look forward to their in-depth posts about the latest goings-on at the shop, and I constantly day-dream of sending my Datto over to the land of 1-gallon soda cups for a bespoke one-off FMU exhaust system. Not only do they do some of the cleanest and most impressive fabrication work I’ve seen, but they take the time to document their daily activities on their own blog and various forums, so people like you and me can enjoy gawking at glorious TIG beads from our computer screens all over the world.

Recently the team embarked on giving a damaged BMW X5 a new lease on life, but kept a lot of the progress shrouded in secrecy, until now…

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Jeep Buggy Racer

On Friday, a reader by the name of Brad made a request on the Build-Threads Facebook page for a Jeep build. Not wanting to disappoint, I headed to my submissions list and fished out some Jeep links from long-time submitter, Cereal. This particular Jeep starts out with little more than a cab and a grille, which the owner then custom fabricates everything around until a completely custom race-spec buggy is born. What I love about this build is the pure strength and size of the parts used and fabrication techniques that go with them, everything is built to take extreme punishment, including the beefiest skid-plate I’ve ever seen!

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1:10 Hilux RC build

This hand-made Hilux is the third scaled-down build I’ve featured here, but this one differs slightly from the others. While it’s still a 1:10 RC car, this one doesn’t limit itself to plastic materials and resin, the builder has gone to the extreme effort of making his own metal panels from hand-made wooden bucks. There’s so much detail in this awesome little rock crawler, I don’t know where to begin.

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Nissan Patrol Duramax V8TT

And now for something completely different, a twin-turbo Duramax powered Nissan Patrol 4wD built for street/strip duties, aiming for 1200rwhp and an 8.XX second ET…wanna read that again? This chassis has been through a few different incarnations during it’s lifetime before being torn down for its current rebuild, so it’s fair to say the owner has definitely made full use of this rig. If this isn’t enough Duramax action for you, check out this previous feature of a Chevelle using a similar powerplant.

Thanks to Kriss for submitting.

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