u/mister_monque

A big shout out to Obvious Plant, his guerilla art is a gem and this was very on brand for here.

For a taste of the madness https://youtu.be/d1Hy7QL4pIA?is=8lnAKH88Z5bVSdjc

the carpentry is done, need daylight to the rivnuts marked and mounted for the stake pockets. Older me would have welded them but I know there will be a day when the pockets needs to come off. Mounting them outboard is a non option.

Rumors have it that a Mk.II version will be light weight using light gauge metal stud.

Been sitting on too many bits and bobs decided to finally wire up the gutter lights, we'll get to the spottys later this weekend.

I have zero faith in those HIDs. I know they work but they were a "came from a storage unit" gift and between the lack of optics, surface corrosion on the reflector and el'cheapo electronics... if I get a night offroad/beach it'll be a miracle. Bonus, I have a pair of the smaller model too.

The gutter light, not sure if I want to stay yellow care of u/lamin-x or go to the deeper orange amber. Having mentioned this before, the cool white LEDs cast a bit of a pomello colored light through the yellow film. The big boy floods on my jeep have a noticeably green cast which is no fun.

my very first thought was holy god... it's devo corgis... and then I learned they are actually just candy corn/corg... and it made me sad.

I would love some Devo Corgi and am still debating them with some field modifications to make them wear a power dome.

The Suzuki Falcorustyco was a futuristic concept motorcycle unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show 1985. It featured a frameless design using a 500cc square-four engine as the central structural element, hydraulic two-wheel drive, hub-center steering, electromagnetic brakes, and joystick-style controls.

Finally got bits back from the cutter. Yes, reports about this film being a massive pain in the ace are true. They had trouble getting off the bed, I am ready to weep trying to get the release & transfer tape to actually, you know transfer and release. And the bubbles and warps... yup, not much to do there but cry. We are going to review process and see if it can be improved or if a better film can be found.

But on the good news side, it's big and bold and hilariously CARRY. And too big for the back window. So they'll go on the doors for weather testing. The pearlescent, iridescent, holographic, color shifting, glow in the dark film that does look hot glowing calmly in the dark.

I did cut up a 4WD for the tailgate and we are going to work on the striated Diff Lock, $ CARRY and weight limits plus a bonus スズキ from the door tag.

Ultimately however the paper was discredited as junk pseudo-science, with many critics pointing out that just because you look funny doesn't mean you aren't a low IQ asshole with a New York Times Op-Ed from 1972 remarking that "if you hadn't done what you did, you likely wouldn't be feeling what you do".

Daihatsu Atrai with the remains of some vinyls. looking good chief!

So this was a problem from day one and it didn't help that I tried forcing it and murdered the Z bend.

So back on June 2nd I picked up this roll of wire at Home Depot and only today got around to fixing this nagging issue. I was just manually selecting based on conditions, heat in the morning, stop for coffee and select center vent, dial back the heat and repeat. Well summer is winding down slowly and fall will be here soon and then winter and heat when I need it would be nice.

I also took the time to replace all of the dash lights with LEDs for maximum illumination and saturation, and cleaned the gauge faces as well, 30 years of dust do be like that.

And while I was at it I swapped the tail lights over to LED to match the front modified signals to include running lights (see previous). And as a coupe de grace I threw in a red LED dome light for giggles.

If anyone else is suffering the sticky or snapped HVAC selector, it's honestly dead simple to do, you'll spend most of the time, aside from pulling the dash, getting the wire length correct, it IS a little bit of trial and error. I started with the Z bend and then fed a huge amount of wire through the sheath and got the "front" set up after setting the selector to "center vent", reached down and pulled the flap selector to "center vent" and then just wrapped it around and clipped. I had originally started at the back end and it turned into a whole production of not right. Start at the front and work down. frustrating to me is the fact that the selector isn't screwed/bolted to the plenum but rather to the dash... makes it a floppy mess to fix but to be fair, Suzuki probably never imagined some dude 30 years on would be fixing this truck by making parts in the driveway.

I'll preface this by saying that I appreciate and understand the philosophy of the forthcoming Slate but the timeline didn't align with my needs.

It has 40hp at best, it has crank windows, it has no AC, it has tires smaller than the wheels on my jeep, it has wheels smaller than the rotors on my jeep.

It has a 4 speed with 2 speed transfercase, it has lockers. It has a drop side bed with a fully flat bed.

It's 30 years old, has no "modern" anything like SRS, ABS, airbags, traction control... infotainment consists of a Japanese frequencies AM radio with a speaker in the face and any cows you might see along the way.

And I'm okay with all of it.

1996 Suzuki Carry DD51T. 1500lb of righteous fury. It loves doing 40 to 45mph but can do 65mph if you really want it.

I needed a more economic means of getting to work and while things like the Slate are cool, way too far out in time. I made the next best choice, I bought a kei truck. I am old enough to remember when Japanese imports were synonymous with words like "thrifty" and "spartan", when everything was an optional purchase and basic had a whole other meaning.

Kei class vehicles are a uniquely Japanese philosophy; legally defined in terms of dimensions, displacement and power output, strictly adhered to in design and packing big dog energy in a little dog package. Intended to be economic to own and operate, favorable tax advantages and a small footprint to fit within small infrastructure while also being able to hit the highways between towns.

As far as trucks go, it's 4 on the floor, low range, lockers and a bed that can hold 2 pallets up to 750lb. Unofficially, with my greedy boards it managed 3 yards of mulch like a champ. It's thrifty on fuel provided you respect it, everyone" loves to say they can't highway, it won't do 80. It likes country road speeds but will do okay at 55, it's a balancing act of keeping up while staying right.

But this isn't what you came here for right?

It's a god damn hoot to drive. Deep gears and a reasonably close ratio box paired with a fairly flat power curve mean you can get to 4th and stay there for the open road but with a low center of gravity, low ride height and a thirst for engine speed, you can drive it fairly well in the curves in stock form, exceedingly well once prepared. The manual steering rack hides nothing and while small, the brakes do respond. It's not a racer but with light weight and some power, you can have a load of fun at reasonable speeds.

Like anonymity and personal space? forget it because everyone loves them, wants to get a better look and talk to you about it. Getting fuel can become a process. Being cool, funky, rare and dare I day cute, they demand attention.

So how's it been? Amazing. I have rejected all of the isolation from the process that has become the modern religion of automobiles. I can feel the road surface, feel the chassis respond. I can hear everything. I'm not in a bubble of isolation, being wooed by a screen I could serve a turkey on; if I'm cold I move the slider to heat, if it's raining I roll up the window and turn on the wipers. Everything is analog, what I want when I want it.

It's primitive, basic, spartan and exactly what I need in a truck and want in a vehicle. Looking towards the future, if Slate can honestly capture this and not suffer the Maverick bloat issue, there are many of us who want basic over bougie.

For those who have a winch bumper installed on their truck, anyone care to share some photos of how it ties in?

I'm told that Jeep YJ/TJ bumpers are a snuggly fit, not too wide, not too tall. Attached are some shots of how these tie into the jeep.