The Official Boba Fett Chop Write Up

Hey Mates! I think the question I get asked the most is "why?". Its a fair question. To answer that, I am going to need to give you some background info.

Summer of 2021, my younger brother left me his stock 2002 Sport Edition 4Runner while he was in Italy for school related stuff. Now, I am the one who sourced this 4runner and practically delivered it to him. I am also the one who does all the maintenance to it, being the one that has an autoshop and all. I would consider my self an avid off-roader. The first car I bought was a 1987 4Runner and I definitely wheeled it a good amount, mostly on mild stuff. I had just put a simple 2in spacer lift on my brothers 4runner and I wanted to try it out. Out where I live in southern Tennessee, there are lots of power line trails that are very close to me. Me and some friends decided to spend a day wheeling on them. I took my brothers 4runner and my mate took his 4th gen that I mildly built out for him. I knew the trails were super rutted and washed out but I wasn't aware exactly how bad it actually was. we got about a quarter mile in before we decided it was too sketchy and turned back. On one of the descents, I had forgotten about a particularly large ditch in the center. Well, I stuck my driver's side tire in the ditch and that's all she wrote. It pulled my nose down hard and all the weight shifted to that front corner of the vehicle. It didn't roll but she definitely decided to lay on her side and take a nap. Well shit. Time for an oil change? We were lucky enough to have a friend come out and winch us back on the tires without much issue.

The damage honestly wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. The front fender was bashed up, driver door had a few dents, rear cargo window was blown out and rear pillar was crushed in along with some dents and damage to the rear hatch. A lot less then I thought it was going to be. I pulled all the plugs on the left side expecting to have to drain oil out of the cylinders but was pleasantly surprised to find that the 3.4l with 270k miles still had tight oil rings and no oil got into the cylinders. She fired right up.

The phone call with my brother went better than expected, He knew I was going to take care of him one way or another. My original plan was to fix it all up before he got back. I got a used front fender and rear hatch, so the only thing I really needed to do before returning the car back to him was the rear cargo window and pillar. I couldn't install the window without straightening out the rear pillar. I talked to multiple body mechanics and was told by all of them that the only way to really fix it would be to cut the crushed pillar out and weld in a new one. At this point I knew it wasn't going to be finished by the time my bro got back so I purchased a 2006 low miles Limited Avalon, which btw, is a really nice and good car all around. I traded the Avalon with the wrecked 4runner and my brother was pretty happy with the deal.

Now that my master plan was completed and the 4runner was officially in my ownership, I decided to drive it as is cause, quite frankly, I quit caring. I took it wheeling with all the dents and the blown out window and quickly discovered something truly liberating... When you wheel without care of body damage or breaking something in general, you can have SO MUCH MORE FUN! I was doing obstacles that I would normally be afraid to attempt and I was killing it! It was the most fun I had ever experienced while off-road and I was hooked. Then and there I decided I was going to make the 4runner a capable off-roader/beater. I did want to seal up the cab from rain so I knew I had to do something about the back. This is where the Ute idea came into the play. I watch a lot of 4WD 24-7 and absolutely love the Aussie rigs! I also knew I wanted to repaint the whole truck so I started brainstorming. I knew I was going to want to get a paint job that I wasn't worried about scratching or denting. I'd seen a few rattle can jobs and knew it could be done and shouldn't look too bad. As for the theme, I was browsing reddit one day and saw a post about Fett's Vett. It was a c5 corvette with a vinyl wrap with the iconic green, red, and yellow colors that Boba Fett from Star Wars wears. It had a scarred battle-torn look just like his armor in the movies. I instantly knew that's what I wanted. I had a complete vision now, all that's left was to implement it.

Normally the first cut with a grinder to the side of your vehicle would be painful. Mine was joyous! I was so stoked to see how it looked with the back removed.

I measured as straight as possible then followed the window line up.

Oh yeah. I was really digging it. It gave me trophy truck vibes for some reason.

Took it wheeling with back removed and it felt super nostalgic to back when I wheeled my 1st gen with the top off.

The next step in the process was to seal the cab back up. This was a way easier task then expected. All I did was cut the rear door to fit between the wheel wells then stitch it together with sheet metal and a welder. I used the old damaged hatch to make sure it would fit with the cuts first.


Once I figured the fitment, I cut my nice new hatch up and got to welding.



All the sheet metal used to stitch it came from the rood section that got cut off.



Unfortunately I don't have any pics of what the roof looked like.

After I got the hatch all welded in, the sides needed to be panelled in. I used a large sheet of 20ga steel for that. Cut to shape with a grinder and welded in. I used angle iron in the corners for extra strength.

I Bondoed this gap with a tonne of fiberglass to seal it.



After the sides were all welded up and ground down, I started sanding the entire vehicle in preparation for painting. I also had to bondo the corners of the hatch so it would conform to the "original" body lines. I used a fiberglass bondo called tiger hair. there was a LOT of bondo used. It's held up so far after about a year of intense abuse. That stuff is quite strong.



I started playing around with colours and "battle scarring"

This was the style of "scarring" I settled on.



Finally, time to start painting. I settled on the a mossy green color because it was the closest to the original Boba Fett colours. As for the brand of paint, I went with an ace hardware special. It was the more expensive aerosol can there. I promise haha.


Before you ask.. no, the door jams are not painted. I clearly didn't put that much care into the job.

After the paint dried, I took an orbital sander and some 80-120 grit sand paper to the paint to create that battle-torn look. This look is very intentional, when I inevitably get more scratches and dents off-road, they will fit right in with the theme.


I knew a lot of people would confuse the theme for Jurassic Park so I made an effort to add details that pointed towards Boba Fett. I found a "TRD this is the way edition" sticker online and had a local company print me a large Mythosaur vinyl for the hood.



I then clear coated the entire truck with a matte clear coat that my local autoparts store carried.

I did a big reveal on instagram with it. A friend of mine (whose rig I built) had access to RED Cinema cameras through his work. The reveal video we filmed on a local mountain was a work of art. You all should definitely check it out on my insta.


First time getting stuck after the chop.

Probably the best photo I've ever taken of the truck.

Since then I've continued to add on the the "truck". I built my own front bumper using pipe with a harbor freight bender and added an apex badlands winch, which is quite possibly the best winch you can buy for the price in my opinion. It's saved my ass a tonne. Overall, I probable have about $250usd in the bumper build.




Next little mod was probably the most expensive single purchase aside from the winch. That would be my Retro-fit head lights. I ordered the DIY kit from BX built. Took about 4 weeks to come in. I obviously had to get them with the Bluetooth controller so I can change the colour on demand. Aside from them looking cool (in my opinion at least) the light the road up like a nuke! Massive upgrade from the oem lights. A lot of deer in my area so its nice to be able to see when driving back roads.





A few other useless mods added include a Snorkle (this one is actually important for me considering I hydrolocked my 1st gen), added push to start (this is due to ignition issues I was having and my laziness to fix it the right way, but I truly love it, it feels like I'm starting a space ship every time), extended travel CV axles, recovery box in the back, and a bed rack.







So thats where she sits today. there are a few extra little electrical mods she has that I omitted cause they aren't really important.

I have some decent future mods instore and thats where all the money is going. Will hopefully be doing a SAS in 2023! planning on using 80 series axles and coils in the front instead of leafs. Lockers will go in with the axles. planning on adding a dual t-case from northwest fab too! I also would like more power out of the engine so I am planning on a 2UZ swap (4.7l v8). But first I will need to kill the 3.4l in it now. To do that, I plan on adding some spinny bois and turning the boost up until I send a rod to the moon. As of now, I'll have to sit tight as I am currently changing careers. Once my pay steadies out, nothing is off limits!

Hop on the instagram for frequent updates. I am working on building a community there. Also planning on starting a youtube so keep your eyes out for that.

Boba Fett, out!

 

Awesome build!!! Love seeing stuff like this and appreciate the time you took to write it up. As somebody who would get hung up on the details, it’s nice to see how you just got on with it and got it done. You set a goal to make it functional and and fun, and you were practical in how you built it. Perfect!

Edit to add: That frame looks super clean!






Edit #2



I think I see Yoda back there in the mist

 

Geez, pavement princess. . but seriously folks....I love this. Awesome work!

 

Thanks man. I believe too many people get caught up being perfectionist and miss the point of things. Freiburger (roadkill tv show) has saying that he put on a shirt that says "don't get it right, Just get it running". There's definitely a time and place for perfection, but you gotta know what you are using it for.

 

I only drive her to the mall and back.

 

Nice build man!

 

This is cool as hell. Thanks for taking the time to write this. I’d love to watch the reveal video you mentioned, but I don’t use Instagram or know what your username there is. Can you link that for us?

 

Thanks mate! Here's a direct insta link. You should be able to pull it up on a browser even if you don't have Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/tv/CYPEwU2JpNJ/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Let me know if that works

 

Yessirrrrr that was cool as tits. The seismic charge sound is the best sound in the universe. Even better than the ping of an M1.

 

Showing my age, i know.... But what about a windshield banner with Slave1 in Mandalorian font?