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Nolan's 1976 Chinook 4X4 Also check out Nolan's 75 78 82 project "Blew" (link is above) |
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| A short story about my 76 Chinook (aka) Brownie. I bought it in 1988 in near junkyard condition, with the intention of just fixing a few things and having a useable little Motorhome, I soon realized (by the time I drove it the 20 miles home) that it was in need of more fixing than what I had imagined, beings I had convinced my wife I knew what I was doing I had to at least make an attempt to make something out of it. |
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I started cleaning and tinkering, removing broken pieces, worn out pieces, loose pieces, etc. to get down to a starting point, within 3 days of purchase I had a bare frame sitting in the driveway and Chinook parts scattered everywhere, OK now theres a place to start "ha ha" By this time the wife was starting to give me that look, but HEY, if I’m going to do it I might as well do it right, and if we were going to actually camp, sleep, and travel in this thing I wanted to make sure it was safe, dependable, reliable, and looked half way respectable. |
| A few trips and many calls to RV parts sources quickly revealed that these old Chinooks are beyond the point of finding parts for so my many needed pieces that I thought would be easy to replace now needed a new strategy to restore it. So strategy became "I’ll just build it the way I see fit and do what I can" To make things more exciting a friend had wrecked his Toyota 4x4 truck, and I got this great idea that maybe I could incorporate some of the pieces into this project, so along with a completely dismantled Chinook I now had a wrecked 4x4 to add to the collection. By now the wife had figured I had totally lost it and was beyond sanity. Told her if she needed me I would be in the garage for the next few years. With the bare Chinook frame as a starting point I cut the frame in half, grafted on the front section of the 4x4 frame, from there the reconstruction process began. |
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The frame was built, all the suspension was
done, many hours of fabricating and building were done to get the older body
to fit the new frame, mounts, brake lines, steering, floorboard , inner
fender wells, on and on had to be shaped, fitted, modified, and reconstructed
to get the end result I was looking for. Once that was accomplished it was time for the camper body itself, that went pretty easy as for fitting but some work was required to mount it together in a better way than the original design, I wanted it to be tight, leak free, and stay that way for years to come.
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| From there work continued along, bodywork, painting, electrical wiring, plumbing, cabinet building, upholstery, and so forth. Finally almost 2 years exactly from the day I bought it, it rolled out of the garage in a finished state and ready for its maiden voyage. |
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All the work was done by myself with
exception of upholstering the rear cushions and front seats, and spraying
the paint on the outside of the body. Although it was put on the road in
1990, and has traveled many a mile in 10 western states so far, its far from
ever being completely done as every winter when its put away for the season
I continue to find new ideas or changes to make to improve its performance,
handling, looks, or driving pleasure. Nowadays we don’t use it as much as we
did for real camping trips, the family outgrew its accommodations and we
upgraded to a restored 78 full-size Toyota Motorhome, beings its been such a
great part of the family I can’t bear the thoughts of getting rid of it even
though I have had some nice offers. Over the last 4 years it has seen more
summer time cruising and playing with weekend trips and custom car shows
around the Northwest, to date it has brought home 8 first place trophies, a
best of show award, and a peoples choice award. Considering its just a
little Toyota camper my goals have been met, its been safe, reliable,
dependable, and looks respectable.
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Some of the features but not all include, SUSPENSION Toyota 4x4 solid axle front and rear 3" front lift, 4" rear lift full urethane bushings throughout front and rear sway bars rear overload springs rear air shocks 4.88-1 axle ratio 31x10.50-15 tires and custom wheels DRIVE TRAIN 20R engine, bored, balanced, blueprinted 10.0-1 compression Comp Cams camshaft mild port work on head dual 40mm Mikuni side draft carbs/K&N filters dual remote oil filters remote oil cooler power steering air conditioning LCE Tri-Y header custom 2.5" exhaust system 30# flywheel centerforce2 clutch assembly 1988 5spd trans/transfer case custom drive shaft's re-curved electronic ignition 3 core radiator 130 amp alternator dual battery system auxiliary frame mount vacuum tank for brakes dual fuel pumps, one for backup if needed on the road, pre plumbed and wired remote battery switch for starter to auxiliary battery BODY & INTERIOR custom paint and lettering tinted windows custom interior recaro style front seats with lumbar and air bag adjustment handmade center console overhead cab console, houses all fuses, switches, warning lights for rear step, leveling jacks, porch light, driving and fog lights, and 12v outside power jack custom cabinets and counter tops full autometer gauges tachometer intermittent wipers electric panel for converter, fuses, warning lights, switches, to monitor battery power, converter charger, refer fan, outside cabinet lights, propane pressure, propane alarm, 12v power plug and cable TV hookup sink, water tank, with low water warning light electric water pump 3 way refer cooktop furnace built-in microwave over cab bed dual roll out hammocks all inside and outside compartments are lighted fold down rear step custom made rear bumpers receiver hitch permanent mounted rear leveling jacks And you didn’t think you could stuff all this in a Chinook did you? THIS WINTERS UPGRADES custom made side steps for cab performance ignition upgrade power windows cruise control power antenna plus a few other little odds and ends Hope you enjoy and Thanks for looking
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| Being a car nut I enjoyed the
challenge this project turned into, it sparked an interest in the old Toyota
Chinooks that has grown to years of research, collecting old paperwork, and
history about them, talking with past and present owners, and just digging
around for any info I can find about them. It also brought on other projects
that are finished, a work in progress, or still in the thinking stage, such
as the restored 78 Motorhome, a 78 custom Chinook 4x4 with 22R supercharged
engine, a 77 pickup with 22RE fuel injected engine and late model drive
train,
and another 81 Chinook 4x4 conversion.
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