Science Serving Sick ToysTM
WUZZUP IN A.O.R.'s SHOP
RANDY DOES TACO TIME - Building AOR's new Tacoma Prerunner (Scroll down for FIRE GUYS STUFF!)
Please be patient and let the photos load. There's a bunch of COOL ones...
Kevin and Randy don't just sell Toyota stuff, they live and breathe it. When you talk to them about the stuff you want for your Toy, you get the benefit of their personal experience--on the street, on the trail and on the racecourse.
Both guys love their straight-axle trail Toys; but Randy also wanted to build a Tacoma into a take-no-prisoners desert prerunner that's also completely street-legal. He used all the top-quality Hardcore Hardware you can get from AOR.
Of course, projects are never totally finished, but Randy has already highway driven his Taco from Colorado to Wendover, Nevada, offroad-thrashed it prerunning and chasing for the Fire Guys desert race team, then drove it home again with no problems whatsoever. CLICK the small pics below to get a closer look!
TACOMA PRERUNNER SPECS: (Click the blue links below for more info)
The Truck: '96 4x4 Tacoma SR5 XtraCab
Engine: 2.7-L 3RZ I-4, big-bore throttle body, intake and exhaust porting, K&N Open Element Intake System, header and 2-1/2-inch exhaust, free-flow Cat, Spin Tech muffler
Tranny & T'case: stock 5-spd manual; stock t'case
Front Suspension: Extended front A-arms with Fox Racing 2.5-inch adjustable coilovers with Eibach coils; travel limited to 13.5 inches by Beard limiting straps and poly bumpstops.
Rear Suspension: AOR extended (62-inch) race spring pack which is mounted to a custom rear shackle setup that allows 22 inches of vertical travel. Fox Racing 2.5-inch, 18-inch travel 2-tube external bypass shocks.
Body: fiberglass front and rear fenders and hood
Fuel Cell: 32-gallon Fuel Safe race cell foam-filled
Custom Tube Work: Bumper-to-bumper custom cage touches the stock frame in 22 places and ties in to the in-cab rollcage.
SOOOO, what's next??
Check back soon, Randy's planning to add front tubework and skid plate, air bumps all around, and custom paint and graphics!
Meanwhile...
SCROLL DOWN for the latest, greatest Fire Guys stuff, but first...
If you missed the Wuzzup pix of Patti Dick's extreme-flex '84 'Runner, just click HERE to check 'em out in the Wuzzup Archives.
Click HERE to check out Terry Dick's insane Dana 60'd, 5.3L Vortec V8-powered Toy.
And here's the awesome, championship
7s
Race Toy...
A.O.R. is a sponsor for the amazing Fire Guys Racing Class 7s desert race Toy. The awesome Toy runs Orbit-EyeTM rear springs, BONZTM shackles, and A.O.R. builds all the custom tube bumpers and handcrafts all the tube-chassis mods.
Fire Guys Jason Hutter and Paul Blangsted are firefighters in Snowmass Village, Colorado. But they love to unwind by blasting through the desert at insane speeds!
That's why the race truck is a great test platform for Orbit-EyeTM Springs... And there's never been a failure yet!
Fire Guy Jason Hutter attaches A.O.R. Orbit-Eye Springs to the Toy's Ford 9-inch rear axle.
The Fire Guys' Bonz shackles are custom-length, but in every other way they're identical to our regular Bonz. Very tough stuff!
Here's an indication of the pounding the springs and shackles have to take! This is the 9-inch rear torn down after last season--before this season's nice blue paint.
Our thanks to www.go-desert.com and www.off-road.com for letting us spider some of their race action pix.
BELOW: left to right: Randy, Paul, Jason, Kevin and pit-crewman Bill Jury tweak the engine and talk strategy before the Laughlin race.
Check back here often. We'll post more Fire Guys action shots as we get 'em!
Oh, and by the way, A.O.R. does the chassis mods on Jake Maness' Class 2-1600 Buggy. Jake whipped the Baja 500 well enough to put himself 2nd in the 2002 SCORE Class 1600 points standings! Cool, no?
We'd like to think that A.O.R.'s contributions to the team and the truck are helping make the awesome Fire Guys real contenders in the desert racing circuit!
Winning has its price! Above are two shots of the old pre-A.O.R. engine cage after the Primm 300 Race last season. Check out the cracks (arrows). The problem is obvious, isn't it? Not enough gussets with cool-guy go-fast holes!
Now that's BETTER!
Jack Bones cut out all the old pipe and custom-fabbed this whole new engine
cage/shock-mount/motor-mount system with go-fast holes for days!
And check out the series below to see how Kevin creates nuclear bombproof front steering spindles out of the accident prone stock 2-piece wimps.
Jake and his crew won the prestigious 2002 Toyota Milestone Award for finishing every mile of every SCORE race!
Jake (blue suit at left) and his crew celebrate after the Baja 500. Way to get after it, gentlemen!!