HAZARD FACTORY

 

It takes longer than I thought to beat a Toyota back into shape. I generally only destroy cars, literally. But I was given this truck because it seemed like I could get it running and modify it in some aesthetically interesting way.

It started off with white. It had a huge service body on it. You know making it a giant rolling toolbox, which sounds great except that the truck is a 78 with 2 or 3 000,000 miles on it. An extra 850 lbs is 850 too Much.

So I started by cutting the box off the bed and disconnecting the running lights. This allowed me to hoist it off the frame with my forklift. The box, regrettably, went to the scrappers. I tried to sell it for two years and had no luck whatsoever.

With the bed off, it was easy to see the potential of the vehicle.  I also noticed that the truck had a huge gas leak. This being kind of a big deal, I devised a way to patch the tank. I opted for patching because the process of going to a junk yard to haul a new (old) tank sounded like a half day of nasty field work, whereas repair entailed roughly the same, but in the shop rather than elsewhere. So. how to fix leaky old crappy gas tank?

 Volis in 07 prior to re-fit.

Well, I had to drain and pull the tank. No fun whatsoever if you have never tried it, be advised.

Then I took out the guts thing in the tank, pump and sensors I presume. Then I stared at the noxious fumy highly explosive tank for a while working out different ways I might safely weld it.

Simplest thing to do was what I did, which I will not detail here because if you try it, you are likely to create a lethal explosion, so I can’t a