Ivan Stewart's 1984 PPI Toyota SR5 restoration

[Wardy]

Looking good, Rory! Adding this picture to the thread, from when I worked for Mickey Thompson. Pontiac Silverdome or Indianapolis Hoosierdome, 1984. May be your truck? That's Hall of Famer Curt LeDuc in the lead.View attachment 419

Thanks for posting Barbara! The #15 Toyota is either my truck (#001) or the Frank Arciero/Tommy Morris (#002) Toyota. The #2 Toyota running in 3rd place (standard cab) were built specifically for short course racing. The desert trucks (extra cab) raced a few short course races until the short course trucks (build number #003 and #004) were ready for action.

 

[Wardy]

Now that i have possession of the fiberglass it is now time to have it mounted. Since I have never mounted glass before i didn't want to practice on the 001 so i figured I would have a professional do it. Darryl Putman who put the cab on the chassis for us will be mounting the fiberglass. The plan is to take it up to him within the next 3 weeks and have him mount the rear bed sides, front clip and the brackets for the front bumper and grill. I'm hoping to order the bumper and grill/headlight rings and side markers this week and mock them into place. Hopefully this will make it easier for Darryl to mount the front clip.

The rear fiber glass has been taken to my buddy Jason Tilley here in town and we started filling in the holes from the old Dzus fasteners. The rear glass is in decent shape but they definitely need some attention. With all the cracks and holes filled in will give Darryl a clean canvas to mount how he wants. The plan is to make new rear fiberglass panels out of the molds that I have but possibly use these panels to run at the NORRA race. The new panels will be used for display purposes only.

Here's Jason prepping the panels for fiberglass. The holes cleaned up and material removed to the existing glass so the new glass will stick to it. There is ALOT of bondo on these panels, they sure got every ounce of use out of these things that's for sure...

As you can see these panels have had quite a few different colors on them over the years. It looks like you can actually see the original red in some of the photos...

Jason then started sanding down parts of the panels that needed to be massaged...

It was now time to mix the resin for the fiberglass...

And apply it to the fenders...

First phase of the glass work is complete, now it will sit for a couple days and we will jump back on it. When I say "we" I mean Jason. This is his line of expertise but I'm very eager to learn the craft. I've never really done fiberglass work but Jason was more than happy to show me. He could most likely have this done in 2 days but is taking his time to show me some stuff and I appreciate that. Ok, here's a pic from the finish of stage 1, lots more to do to get these fenders back in shape...

Big THANKS to my good friend Dave "Modelman" Baldwin for sending me this "SIC" poster from 1986. I've been looking for this poster for a year now and Dave said he had one but needed to find it. Turns out it was hanging in his pops garage behind 2 other posters! It is not safe and sound sitting in my office awaiting a frame so I can hang it in my office...

The truck was originally going to head to Collins Motorsports to have the front suspension worked on but they are about 6 weeks out so I'm trying to fit stuff in between to speed up the process.

 

[Wardy]

Back in the shop and now working on the steering box. Luckily for me the steering box was still with the truck and in very good condition. If there was no steering box I would have been in BIG trouble because redesigning and reproducing it would have cost several thousand dollars. I was told Mike Schoffstall was the one who did all the work on it and started with a solid block of billet aluminum. If the name sounds familiar, after leaving PPI Mike moved on to co-ride/prep Rob MacCachrens class 8 truck...

And then went to co-ride/prep Jimmy Smith's Ultra Wheels Trophy Truck...

The only issue we found was the pinion was cracked and could only be used as a last effort spare, and even then it's questionable. A new pinion will be made later but for right now I just need this thing to steer as we get ready for the truck to be shipped to Vegas and we need it as a roller. Here's the pinion....and of course it's a one off so no running to Butchs speed shop or McKenzies, this has to be cu$tom made....

So, now it's time to put this beast back together. Collins Motorsports had already magnafluxed all the parts so everything (besides the pinion) is in good shape...

I had to order up some brush material to help keep debris out of the inside of the steering box because the old stuff was pretty hammered...

Here's an inside look into the steering box. This is the passenger side and you can see the "rack" hidden inside the channel. The bolt you are looking it is where the tie rod bolts up to...

Here's a look at the drivers side complete with the brushes in place...

There are a lot of parts to this thing but it's pretty straight forward once you see how it goes together. Here it is complete and this is how it would bolt into the truck with the brushes facing the rear of the truck. The pinion is located on the top of the box in the center...

Here's the front side of the box, missing the ram that goes in to the aluminum shield but you get the idea. The ram is here, just need to have some new seals put in it...if i can find some that is...

Soooo, the steering is near complete but good enough to bolt back into the truck and steer the truck as a roller. While working on the #001, the UPS truck showed up with some goodies I ordered...

And Jason at SBP Motorsports is getting closer to having the rear fenders completed...

Pretty good week, we'll see what next week brings us.

 

[Wardy]

Jason Tilley at SBP Motorsports is still working on the rear fenders in between doing his real job, should be done today or tomorrow. The fenders had a TON of bondo on them and he had to do a lot of sanding to lighten them back up. He will be shooting one more light coat of primer today....

The UPS truck showed up again the other day and dropped off the 3 piece front bumper...

and side markers...

Now I have the entire front end ready to be mounted...

Been a little side tracked the last 2 days as I'm getting ready to have Challenger IV prepped for a museum stay to empty out my garage for a while. It will be nice knowing Challenger IV will be sitting in air conditioned bliss for a change, she deserves it.

 

[Wardy]

History lesson: Race #15....The 1985 Baja 1000.

The biggest off road race in the world (arguably), The Baja 1000, would once again prove disappointing to the PPI Toyota team as bad luck continued to haunt them. Ivan would draw the #2 starting position along with a field of 17 class 1 unlimiteds as they headed south down the Baja Peninsula. His race would be cut short after he passed the only buggy in front of him (Bud Feldkamp/Ron Gardner). This put Ivan first on the road and leading, which has its disadvantages like sweeping the course of spectators. Ivan would get tangled up with a 3 wheeler (spectator) coming backwards on the race course causing damage to his Toyota. He would continue on only to lose the motor before Valle De Trinidad.

Photo credit Centerline Photo

The #002 of Frank Arciero would have a little better luck but could only manage a 7th place finish in class 2 after problems plagued their Toyota.

Here's the rest of the story with captions from the December 1985 issue of Dusty Times magazine.
Words: Jean Calvin
Photo's: Trackside Photo

Race Specs:
Race distance approx 822 Miles
Car/Truck/motorcycle entries- 211
Finishers- 111
35 hour time limit
45% finished the race

The Biggest story of the race was Steve Sourapas and Dave Richardson winning the race OVERALL in a class 10 buggy! The first and ONLY time a class 10 has won the race OVERALL.

The Cover...

Class 1 winner...

Class 2 winner

Class 1/2 1600 winner...

**This car is actually for sale if anyone is interested....check out the Link:
TheSamba.com :: VW Classifieds - T Minus 318 days to NORRA 2018 - Be Ready Now!

Class 3 winner...

Class 4 winner...

Class 5 1600 winner...

Class 5 unlimited winner...

Class 7s and 7 unlimited winners...

Class 8 winner...

And the rest of the winners/finishers...

 

[Curtis Guise]

Thanks for the history lesson! If I haven't said it already I call dibs on filming the truck first when it's finished!

 

[Wardy]

Just a little update to give you an idea of how the "little" things turn into a PITA. I need to put some tires on the Toyota so i can make it a roller. My buddy Joe Hauler gave me some 33X10.50X15 BFG's that were on their last leg, which is pretty much what I needed (thanks buddy). I was one short so my other buddy Ron Banks let me borrow one. I went to put them on the beadlock wheels and i'll be damned if i get get the 5/16" bolts to work...HMPT. Upon further inspection 1/4" bolts are too small so i was guessing metric. Well, a 7mm fit barley but it was almost too snug. I took the beadlock down to my nut and bolt guy and he also scrathed his head. He found the perfect bolt for the beadlock, unfortunate for me it was an aircraft bolt so 100 of them cost me more than i was willing to spend (but did) for some beadlock bolts that I did'nt think I was going to have t buy because i have a couple million of them in the garage. Oh well, they look good and if i feel like safety wiring them i can, hahahaha......

Long story short I have 3 of the 4 wheels mounted but of course they all leak air so i might just have to use some tubes. Another option is use some of my 5 on 5 American Racing wheels that are basically the same wheel minus the beadlock that I used on Challenger IV. I'll see how i'm feeling tomorrow and go from there. On a side note the front of the truck is now resting on the front wheels for the first time in about 10-15 years (I'm guessing). Nice little milestone for me...

Not a bad day all in all but just some of the little things that eat up a $100 bill on a daily basis when you thought you were in the clear. I should have just bought the truck when it was for sale in the back of Dusty Times magazine back in September of 1988.....I would have bought them BOTH, WITH THE MOTORS, AND I'D STILL BE SAVING MONEY!!! hahhahaha....

Till the next time.....

 

[Wardy]

It's been a pretty good week for me and the first really big goal has been accomplished. Before i get to that there were a couple obstacles to overcome. Remember when I said I went and got all that hardware for the beadlocks? Well, after fighting with them all for about 3 hours it turns out that NONE of them will hold air. I kinda figured they would leak a little but maybe take a few days to go flat....try abut 20 minutes. I haven't had a chance to take the old silicone off the wheels and give them a fresh application which it needs.

As fate would have it, I bumped into a buddy of mine a couple days earlier at the hardware store for the Centerlines and he said he had 7 American Racing Outlaw II's just sitting in this garage and wanted them gone. I didn't really think much of it until and said I didn't think I needed them. Well, turns out I did. A quick call to Frank Russell and i was on my way to pick them up. Frank has helped me over the years and was a lot of help when helping diagnose the overheating issue on Challenger IV a couple weeks before the NORRA race back in 2014. Anyways, all I had to do was ream out the lug holes to accept the 11/16" studs.

I then started on the rear torsion adjusters and cleaned up some of the aluminum that held the cantilevers into place...

The steering box was next and that turned into a fun day. What should have taken me 20 minutes turned into 3 hours because a certain bolt going into the passenger side upright decided to get stuck. After throwing the majority of wrenches within my reach I decided I would leave it alone for now as it was still steering without issue. The steering box going into place...

B O O M ! !

Keep in mind I have not completely finished the steering box and the shafts. For now I'm using the old shafts just so i can get it steering again. Here's a top view of the steering box in place...

The "thingy" the red steering shaft is attached to is an Ingersoll Rand 90 degree impact adapter.....I think thats what Tommy Morris said it was. anyways, you can kinda get the idea of how the steering works between the two pics. Thanks for designing this stuff at NASA boys, I R E A L L Y appreciate it...

First major goal has been achieved, the 001 PPI Toyota is now sitting on all fours and is a roller!

Rear...

A couple more things to button up before it heads to Las Vegas again on Saturday to get the body hung. Thanks again to Frank Russell for the wheels, saved me a couple extra days of grunt work that I don't really have right now. Motivation is in FULL SWING!

 

[Wardy]

Spent a lot of time in the shop this week buttoning up some stuff for the roller so it could make the trip up to Las Vegas. Darryl Putman will once again work his magic mounting the body and maybe a few other little things. Time is tight so we will have to see what he can get done in the short time he will have the truck. Besides mounting the steering box I went ahead and put all the Bilstien shocks on the truck too. After the truck gets the body mounted it will go back to Collins Motorsports to have the front suspension massaged. Here's the front end lookin' purdy...

And the rear...

The truck made it to Vegas with no issues. On my way I stopped off at Butch's Speed shop to see if they had a 40 spline adapter for the steering wheel. Of course since it is an odd ball one that doesn't get used they didn't but lucky for me I got my buddy Tommy Morris on the phone and he replies with "I've got 3 of them sitting in my garage, I'll send you one". I'll need one of these so I can weld a plate on it for the steering wheel adapter...

The truck was unloaded into Darryl's shop and went over the to do list with him...

I started cutting off a few mounts on the hood area so we could lay the hood on correctly so we could get a better look at it. I didn't want to start cutting anything off until I talked with him first since he's the guy that has done this before, not me...

hood pins...

Darryl has a lot of work in front of him but I hope he'll get it all finished when i pick it up at the end of September. My garage has no race cars what so ever in it right now which is so strange for me since I always seem to have something in there.

Updates will now come from Darryl when he gets a chance to send me pic's. I'm sure I can find some other parts to work on while the trucks gone.

 

[Wardy]

Not much to progress to report on the truck just yet as Darryl is finishing up some work on another project before he can start mine. Also, I ordered some Dzus hardware the other day and it should be arriving at his shop sometime today....

The most exciting thing that happened this week was BFGoodrich Tires sent us some new shoes for the #001 PPI Toyota so she would be sitting pretty at the Off Road Expo coming up at the end of September. I don't think BFG could let us put the Toyota on display with old tires on the truck and supplied us with a set of tires and 2 spares for the back of the truck. Fronts will be 33x10.50x15's, while the rears will run 33x12.50x15's, all of which will be the Mud-Terrain TA's.

The same day the tires arrived is the same day the steering wheel spline bung showed up from Tommy Morris. I can't tell you how lucky I am to have the guy who helped design, build and race these trucks help me with some key questions about such a complicated race car. It absolutely makes restoring one of these trucks a lot easier knowing I can just pick up a phone and call him...

On a side note, Tommy was having Lunch with Cal Wells last week and called me to see if I had any questions for him. Of course i had a million but couldn't think of any except to ask for permission to make a mold of the front fiberglass and possibly sell a few. I was planning on making a mold no mater what but selling them was a different story as the design was not mine to sell. Cal gave me his blessing so when ever I get a mold made of the front clip I can sell them.....Thanks again Tommy (and Cal).

I have some clean up work to do on some parts I'd like to have powdercoated before the Off Road Expo that would make the truck more "Presentable" so I will get that stuff ready so i can bolt it back on the truck when it returns.

Until next time, enjoy a couple of old school Coors commercials featuring the #001....

 

[Wardy]

With the Toyota up in Las Vegas getting the body mounted, I have some time to get other stuff cleaned up and ready for powdercoat. First thing I did was removed the over Dzus buttons that were on the sides of the radiator scoop...

Then I finished up cleaning some odds and ends that will be powdercoated gloss black....

Here's some other pieces that were sandblasted and now ready for some brite red powdercoat...

Also have to finish up stripping the old paint off the oil cooler mounts and the radiator mount (not pictured) so they will also be ready when the time comes...

ALLCOAT in Kingman Arizona is handling all our powdercoating needs, as usual, and should have everything back in a couple weeks...

 

[Wardy]

History lesson- Race #15, The 1985 Frontier 250

For Team Toyota the season would come to a close the first week of December as team Toyota was just finishing up licking their wounds from the Baja 1000. Some changes were in store for the 1986 season including slimming the race team down to 1 truck instead of two. Frank Arciero made the best of his last run in the class 2 unlimited Toyota as he ran a good strong race and ended up 2nd in class and 5th Overall on what most racers would call a pretty rough course.....more suited for the buggies. Ivan luck ran out within the first few miles of the race as his motor went south and they had to call it a day...

Here's the rest of the story with captions from the January 1986 issue of Dusty Times magazine.
Words: Jean Calvin
Photo's: Trackside Photo

Race Specs:
Race distance approx 240 Miles
Car/Truck entries- 259
Finishers- 116
10 hour time limit
44.8% finished the race

Walker Evans would earn the cover of Dusty Times with his Air Conditioned class 8 Dodge. Walker got to enjoy the AC for another season before class 8 was too competitive to have such luxuries adding weight to his race truck. Interesting side note, Curt LeDuc was his co-rider for this race...

Ron Brant on his way to the SCORE/HDRA class 1 points Championship, along with his 1st win of the season...

The debut of the Raceco pickup truck, built in 9 days!!!! Not a bad 1st race...

Rod Hall at it again...

Class 7s, 5/1600 and 14 winners...

Always a fan favorite, the class 3 winner all the way from New England!

Some kid by the name of Rob "MaCcracken" won class 10 in a Bunderson, was in contention for the Overall win but had a few problems to push him back to 4th Overall...

The list of results....

 

[Wardy]

Turns out the truck will not be going to the Off Road Expo this week, there was a little scheduling conflict but nothing major. We will reschedule a date to display the truck at Bilstein shocks later. The truck is slated for display at the BFGoodrich booth (outside near the SCORE display) for the SEMA show so we want to make it as purdy as possible for the event.

I returned from Kingman Az the other day with a load of parts freshly powder coated by my buddies at ALLCOAT. It's truly amazing what a little powder coat will do to a part. Although a lot of the suspension parts will NOT be powder coated due to constant rock rash, a lot of the other parts protected behind aluminum panels and other things got the preferred treatment. Here's a few pieces for the trans, radiator mount, rear end tie down loops, misc screws and jack mounts that we did in red...

Radiator mount...

Oil cooler mounts...

And some misc parts for the front bumper, spare tire mounts, pedals, shifter and mount for oil cooler...

Spare tire carrier and radiator scoop are also done (in black) and will be mounted shortly. Some of this stuff will be mounted on the truck for the SEMA show so the truck will look more like Ivans race truck then just a primered Toyota mini truck. We can't wait to see how Darryl is doing with the mounting of the body, this will be another big step in the process.

 

[Curtis Guise]

Awesome Rory! I love powder coated parts also. I've had a few done for my FJ55 Land Cruiser project already and it makes all the difference.

 

[Wardy]

Awesome Rory! I love powder coated parts also. I've had a few done for my FJ55 Land Cruiser project already and it makes all the difference.

Thank Curtis, this thing will have a small fortune in paint and powder coat but thanks to ALLCOAT they saved me a bunch of money with the smoking deals they give me.

Darryl Putman is moving right along with the mounting of the body. He is only able to work on it during the weekends due to his full time job so it slows the process down a little. Darryl is so anal retentive I give him a break on hounding him too harshly because i know it will be done right and that takes time. Here are a few shots of the front end as of last week. As you can see below the front bumper needed to be trimmed down...

The front tubing for the grille and headlight supports had to be cut off because the originals were replaced to accommodate a Tacoma grille buy the previous owner. Darryl put it back to the way it was in 1988...

Grille is tacked into place...

Turns out the fiberglass front clip had been modified when they made a mold to make it a one piece so I had to drop off the old hood so Darryl could get a better measurement on how to cut it out. He will also have to start shaving the fenders to get them back down to the width they were in 1988. We thing the hood has been widened approx 3" in the center, more towards the front. The measurement at the back of the front fenders is close so I'm guessing we will have to shave 1-2" at the front of the fender and back to about 1" at the rear of the fender. With the old hood on Darryl was able to find the correct location of the grille, then the headlight bezels and corner markers followed...

Another...

With the front "kinda" figured out, Darryl moved to the rear to start laying out the fenders...

This will most likely be a heck of a lot easier than the front. The rear hoops are done, now it's time for the front mounts (he's working on those as we speak) so the rear of the truck could be done SOON!

I'm pleased with the progress so far, although I would like to get the truck back ASAP so I can clean up some stuff and add some powder coated parts on the truck (Spare tire mounts, radiator scoop) for SEMA so it shows better. I'd also like to primer the cab and then put some decals on the truck along with a story board of some sort. Oh well, I will cross that bridge when i come to it. Enjoy the update....

 

[Wardy]

History lesson- Race #16, The 1986 Parker 400

Correction from the last update. Frank Arciero's last ride in the class 2 Toyota did not come until late in the 1986 season. I was misinformed and took it a face value....bad off road wannabe historian....BADD! Anyways, Both Ivan and Frank would have sub par results at the Parker 400. Ivan would be close to the front of the class after the California loop, as was Frank, but then both fell victims to problems that slowed them on the Arizona side. Ivan would finish 6th in class 1 while Frank finished 14th in the class 2.

Course maps.

California side (1 lap)...

Arizona side (2 laps)...

Here's the rest of the story with captions from the March 1986 issue of Dusty Times magazine.
Words: Jean Calvin
Photo's: Trackside Photo

Race Specs:
Race distance approx 317.38 Miles
Car/Truck/Bike entries- 415
Finishers- 207
12 hour time limit
49.9% finished the race

Overall 4 wheeled winner: Tom Koch, class 1 unlimited Raceco. 5:12:54.
Overall bike winner: Dan Smith/Dan Ashcraft, Husky. 5:06:43. 61.99 mph average

 

[Wardy]

Got some good news last night, Darryl Putman is almost done mounting the body and should be completed this Sunday. Darryl has had his hands full with mounting the body, especially the front clip. One thing "HE" noticed was that the front of the Ivan Stewart truck IS about 2-3" wider than stock. He found this out by looking closely at some old race photos and seeing that the headlight bezel area was wider than stock on both sides. If you look closely behind the KC logo on the truck you will see a 2" gap between the chrome headlight bezel and side marker light (blinker)...

Here's some photos of the body close to completion. A shot of the inner fender well where the front fender mounts to the grille area...

Front fender rear mount...

Rear fender mount behind cab...

Rear fender mount rear of truck...

Darryl had to do some trimming on both rear fenders because stuff was not lining up. As you can see he figured it out...

Here's the front clip mounted and now a 3 piece kit instead of a 1 piece...

Here's a good shot of it about 90% complete. Still need to finish mounting the door skins and side marker lights, then hopefully I have enough time to rattle can the cab primer for SEMA and put a few stickers on it.

She's looking good so far, finally looking like a truck again.

 

[Wardy]

Yesterday a guy named Lewis posted a picture of the Toyota from the 1987 Baja 500 and i noticed something on the back of the truck that wasnt there in previous races. Here's the post from RDC...

Lewis, YOU'RE A GENIUS!!! I've been trying to figure out what the hell this was for and you answered the riddle for me! Well, sort of. Now that I know where it goes I have to figure out what it was used for. Looks like some sort of fluid carrier. Doubt it's for the radiator since the water fill for the radiator is located under the "5" on the number 105.

Now if i could only figure out where this goes.....and what it is for!

Awww the joys of restorations, sometimes out of the blue an answer finds its way to you. Thanks again Lewis.

 

[Wardy]

Sneak peak...

 

[Wardy]

Sorry for the shortage of updates lately but not much has been going on since the truck came back from Darryl Putmans to get the fiberglass hung. Racing with Cody Swanty at the Baja 1000 did not help but who's going to turn down that gig right?!? Here's some up close pic's of his work. There rear hoop uses the existing mounts from the frame...

The front half of the rear fender is mounted to the rollcage and the back of the cab, just like it was originally...

Here's the front fender where it mounts near the door...

And a couple shots of the front clip...

Here's a shot from the front of the truck looking back at the inner front fender...

And the passenger side...

Now that I have the truck back it is time to schedule another stint at Collins motorsports to massage the front suspension. When thats complete it will go back to Darryl so he can cut the top off the cab and put a new roof on the Toyota due to cancer eating away at the a-pillars and some other issues...

Back of the cab...

Glad to be back on the truck, its been too long since i've worked on it so I need to get back into the groove. It will be interesting to see where we are at this time next year. I'm hoping it will be close to complete by then but I'm not holding my breath, Thanks for sticking with the build everyone.