Letters To The Editor - Paper Cuts - April 2006

  |   letters Paper Cuts pizza Cartoon Dear MT,
I've been into Mini Truckin' for about a year now. I'm 18 years old and a senior in high school. I'm not a subscriber but once a month I spend my lunch money on the new Mini Truckin' mag. I recently owned a '92 Mazda B2200 that I lowered and stuck some rims on. I'm selling it because I don't have the money to rebuild the engine. Within the month I plan on hopefully picking up a '02 Taco. After high school I want to go to a technical college where I can learn custom body work. I also want to learn how to build my own custom suspension and reupholster seats and door panels. I want to learn all of this so I can call my ride my own, with my own ideas, and make it happen with my own two hands. Keep on truckin'!
Keith McMellon
Shreveport, LA Always good to hear about someone who is motivated enough to get their hands dirty and make magic happen. It's also nice to hear that you choose our magazine over school-issued French bread pizza once a month. We feel you are making the right choice and that it will benefit your health. Learning trades to make your mini pimp-slap the competition with your own bare hands is inspiration to us all. If you've been checking out quite a few of our last cover vehicles you'll notice that many of them have been almost entirely built by the owners. Schools such as Wyotech, which we have mentioned before, are a good source for learning trades such as these. For more information, check out: www.wyotech.com. Dear Mini Truckin'
Hi, my name is Tracy McCabe. I've been a long-time reader. I picked up my first MT magazine in the summer of '89 and haven't missed an issue since. I bought an '87 Toyota Pickup when it had 24 miles on it; now it has over 300K. I want to do a motor swap on it but don't know what motor to go with. Should I get a new transmission and rear end, too? I'll close by saying Mike is doing an excellent job with the magazine. I love everything he has done with it. I really like what he did with the Nov. '05 issue. He is the best thing that has happened to the magazine since it went from quarterly to monthly.
Tracy McCabe
Umutilla, OR Dang! What am I? Chopped liver? As far as I can see, if the other motor got you 300K miles down the road, then the best suggestion would be to throw in the same motor. The Toyota 22R series of motors seems to be one of the most (if not the most) reliable motors ever made, with plenty of room to make power. If it's a power increase that you're looking for, then the popular options would be a motor from a Toyota Supra to keep with brand loyalty or maybe even a small-block Chevy, as they are plentiful and aftermarket parts fall off trees for them. If you upgrade to one of these two engines, then you would need to change your transmission. If you're going to keep the motor mild, then your rear end should hang in there just fine. Dear MT,
There was a past issue of Mini Truckin' where MIC did a Mazda Cab Plus for a customer out of the country. One of the body mods was a 3rd door addition on the driver's side x-cab. My question to you is, can this be done and has anybody attempted this modification on a first-generation S-10 x-cab? I'd like to do this but my pockets aren't deep enough. Somebody please do this mod...Bob Grant, or someone.
Sam Burrell, Jr.
Grafton, OH   |   letters Paper Cuts custom Gmc Truck As far as turning a two-door to a three-door, we haven't seen another one; we have, however, seen an S-10 change from a three-door to a two-door. To our knowledge nobody that we're aware of has tried or succeeded in this modification on any other vehicle. We're not saying it hasn't been done, but that we just aren't aware of it. This mod is quite a bit of work for not giving a changing look to the vehicle, so we would figure that not too many people would dump the time and money into this mod. MIC constructed the truck from start to finish for a customer in Japan.