A Wisconsin truck that I picked up with only 115,000 miles on the odometer and a blown engine, the infamous 3VZE, 3.0l V6. The block has a hole in the side right behind the A/C compressor where a broken rod blew through. It has the DLX trim package and a 5-speed manual transmission. It looks good in this picture but it has rust as you would expect from a 24 year old truck that has spent its entire life in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area. The body needs attention around the driver’s side cab corner, the leading edge of the hood, the very back of the frame (last 16 inches), the tailgate, the rear bumper and the area around the front suspension.  —  read more

I had wanted a first-generation 4runner for as long as I could remember. So when I stumbled on this one it was kind of inevitable that I would buy it. And when I say I stumbled on this 4runner I mean it. I was driving in Lake Geneva on my way to Home Depot to get some materials for a job that I was working on. When out of the corner of my eye, I saw this forlorn, hard used, rattle can paint job wearing little truck sitting on the edge of a condo complex parking lot. I whipped a U-turn… read more

Projects great and small. Making tools is one of the higher  ends of shopcraft, and one of the most satisfying. — read more