My Mullet Truck build

[Protour_Pinto]

I didnt want to post anything until I had 4 wheels on the ground.
The stars aligned this weekend and I managed to rent a welder and had enough Steel to get that milestone done.
So what is a Mullet Truck? Like the saying goes, Business in the Front and Party in the back!
I picked up a little Toyota Pick up a couple years ago from some less than talented guys who thought they were mechanics in Bakersfield. A 1985 SR5 Extended cab. I got it on the road after redoing EVERYTHING they touched. Its been a good little truck. A little tweeking of the EFI, Header, Fox Mustang muffler and pipe. Got great MPG.
Well now health dictates I am going to be needing an automatic if the dr has his way so I began to think of my options.
I hatched a plan one day when I got a message from a bike builder that recently moved and left a 69 Eldorado sitting next to the shop and needed it moved. It took about 20 seconds to figure out what I was going to do with it.
Im no stranger to the Big Caddy engine. The last project I built was putting a 500 in a Pinto. But this one is going to be different, This time around its going to be the whole drivetrain in the back of the truck.
So I have been collecting some parts for about a year now and got enough to make the rolling chassis.
The big picture plans:
Toyota truck Complete Eldorado Drivetrain Fox/Sn95 Mustang Front suspension with coilovers, 13"Cobra Brakes I stretched the wheelbase 10 inches in the rear. Full Cage, Knockoff Bullet Wheels 17X8 in the front, 18X10.5 in the rear
I was going to go with a lower more "Racetruck" build but my major dislike for this state made me rethink the direction of the project so I changed to a more "Burly" build to be a little better suited to less than stellar roads.
This will be a slow build as money and time allow. I would rather spend the money on parts than expensive tools or people to do it so like most of my builds it will be done "Amish Style" as the people who know me call my stuff. So if you are looking for super high quality stuff like a lot of the people here do, this will not be it!
As it was when I picked it up

[Protour_Pinto]

Got it home, spent a couple months getting things in order and cleaned up.

[Protour_Pinto]

Drove it for a couple years, added a shell because work said I couldn't ride my Motorcycle on the clock anymore so I needed to keep the tools locked up. still managed to have someone on a work site steal them after they broke the back window to get in. I found a set of OG Rikens.

[Protour_Pinto]

Then while I was kicking around the need for another project I got a call from a friend and he was in need of getting a car picked up from his shop he vacated a while back, so I brought this home.

[Protour_Pinto]

I was trying to figure out what to do with it, It ran ok, the suspension is a bit worn then a friend sent me this picture.

[Protour_Pinto]

The plan for my project was hatched!

The next day it set was set in motion

[Protour_Pinto]

So the beast gave up its heart to live on in another body

[Protour_Pinto]

The Ex was coming off tour and was going to be home for a few weeks so I had to drag the mess to my apt and stick it in my parking spot. It was pretty much at a holding pattern for now so it was all for the best. I had just lost my job because of the company going into receivership and having been screwed out of a months pay and having all my personal tools taken by the towtruck driver that came and got the work van in the middle of the night.

I have a 2 ton Oriental engine hoist, I figured it would be good enough to lift it but the legs decided that since the gravity is higher here than in a Chinese prison where these types of tools are made, the legs gave up the ghost and bent. I managed to get it loaded and dumped off. Will revisit that POS later.

[cbpldc]

This looks fun!

[Protour_Pinto]

Fast forward a month, Since I need the truck to build the truck I managed to find another frame for free on Craigslist, I figured this way I can get as much done as possible then just do a body swap and be ahead of the game a little bit. Ex was on tour so more mess making at the House!

[Protour_Pinto]

Now that I had a frame I could look and brainstorm a front suspension, When I first thought of the project I was going in the direction of the Photochop but with a bed. Days wandering the Pick Your Parts armed with a tape measure and a note pad I looked at so many front ends, My goal was something that could be made to fit the Toyota frame, Parts to be found easily and something that had a rack and pinion and big brakes.

I finally settled on a Fox Body Mustang.

I did a bunch of research about what was out there and went on the next few Half Price Days and got all the parts needed except the brakes. I am going with Cobra brakes and I dont think I have ever seen them in any of the PYP type yards.

so what I ended up with is a Crossmember from a 89 V8 car, Struts, Spindles and Lower Control Arms from a 94 Mustang.

The crossmember is the heaviest of all that platform, Its also the narrowest and has the cheapest replacement manual rack and pinion.

The struts are longer on the newer Mustangs.

The spindles allow the 5 lug conversion.

And the lower control arms are wider and beefier with better balljoints. When going with the SN95 LCA you need to put longer outer tierods so I managed to wrangle some bolt thru parts from Maximum Motorsports.

I also scored some camber plates off craigslist that will correct the caster and camber.

[Protour_Pinto]

So time to trim the stock Toyota suspension mounting points off.

[Protour_Pinto]

Now its the task of getting the front end and the frame to make nice. The frame is much narrower than the Mustang mounting points and even if they matched the frame would be too high for a street truck, It would have been looking more like a Prerunner/Mall Crawler.

After a looking and head scratching I busted out the sharpie and my trusty little 4" grinder.

I notched the crossmember and now the frame sits nice and low.

I was planning for the frame to be 2 inches lower than the truck sits right now.

[Protour_Pinto]

With the front end figured out its time to look at the drivetrain end of the truck.

I was kicking around placement of some of the bigger items like gas tank. Originally I was thinking of putting it under the hood but decided to put it between the engine and cab. I kicked around the idea of making the wheelbase a bit longer. I ended up giving it a 10 in stretch by pushing the drivetrain back in the bed. This is what 8 inches looked like, The unit allowed 10 once I measured it out.

[Protour_Pinto]

And this is the point I rethought my plans and the direction of the project, I will be going away from the low slung street truck to something a bit more rugged, Gone are the P/T tires and lowish stance. The tires will be taller and the frame at this point will be about 2 inches higher than the way it sits now. Luckily I haven't welded up anything right now and was able to adjust the ride height.

With the wheelbase figured out I went to chopping the frame.

[Protour_Pinto]

Trailer frame maybe?

[Protour_Pinto]

I figured I had a week to get it rolling before the Ex comes off tour, Easy Peasy. Then as always Mother Nature happens and the hills behind me catch on fire and its a fast mover. I end up spend the next 4 days moving a bunch of animals around, now granted I sold all of these critters because I didnt want to have to deal with them anymore but the new people were too scared to handle them in a stressful situation so I get thrown back into gator wrestling and having to deal with 150 venomous reptiles, and a camel and ostrich.

[Protour_Pinto]

So with that taken care of I only have 2 evenings and a day to get it done I suck it up and get started with a pile of ratchet straps,90amp Fluxcore Squirt gun from HF I go to town. My new RAGE3 saw came in the day I was going to start the rear section but when they dropped it off it looked as though UPS used it as a wheel chok for one of their Tractor/Trailers so out came my little little 4" grinder and a section of angle as a guide.

[Protour_Pinto]

Got everything tacked up With the baby mig. I rented a welder for the final welding that was being dropped off the next morning, The little place here does not have the ability for 220 so I found a guy with a stand alone unit that was reasonable. I only needed it for about an hour.

[Protour_Pinto]

And with the big welder