Bagged and Bodied 1990 B2200

Ya it's north east of you. Up by the Lake of the Ozarks.

That's a cool area up there. I used to hang out in Osage beach quite a bit. That's a hell of a summer time cruise spot. Hang out on the lake all day and cruise all night. It's a good time for sure.

Well I've learned a couple of quite scary things about my truck. Upon digging a bit into the last ownership chain I've learned why everything on this truck seems to be from a newer Mazda. The engine is a 2.2 and most everything on it seems to be from an early 90's truck.
Upon figuring out its origin it explained a lot.
I bought this truck as a 1986 B2k with a clean title notarized and all. My state only goes off of the VIN mounted on the dash.
I learned this truck was built in the 90's which was no surprise by looking at all of the old school build methods and body drop method. It's a solid foundation to build on just dated.
I figured out that this truck was found in a storage unit that an individual stopped making payments on. After that it was bought through a storage auction. After that it got passed around through about a dozen people all taking their stabs at trying to get it back in decent shape again. Some good work and some terrible but through out all of the owner it never had a dash so there was never a VIN or title. So a couple owners before me he took the dash and title from his 1986 B2000 parts truck and titles this truck. Soooo WTF is this thing than??
After a lot of searching and working at it I was finally able to read the VIN on the frame rail that some how survived all of this passing around. The VIN actually comes back as a.....drummeral please....A 1990 B2200.
That makes a lot more sense to me than what it's titles as. That would explain the 2.2L and all of the newer items on and in it.
Now I'm not real sure what to do though. I'm tempted to call the local police station and have them do a search on the chassis vin and make sure its not a stolen truck. I think ill probably do that in the morning. I really don't want to lose my truck if its a stolen vehicle someone was hiding in a storage unit but I always don't want to go to prison for owning it if it is stolen.
The farther I dig into this thing the more weird shit I find.
Anyone ever run into anything like this before??

If I were you I will have the truck checked if its a legitimate buy. Make sure you got your papers in order for your protection...Good Luck man!

Well my cousin is a police officer and I had him run the VIN on the frame. He said the truck didn't come up as stolen or anything criminal so I guess someone just did the dash swap so the truck could be licensed since our state goes off of the VIN on the dash only. That makes me feel a little better but its still not cool to do something like that without being honest when selling the vehicle.

I finally got around to doing more work on the Mazda. It's helpful knowing that its actually a 1990 B2200 when I'm buying parts lol. I started the body work and got the bed in primer. I also fixed some of the wiring, replaced the pinion seal, added rear shocks, and traded my way into a border line rare stock B2600 hood.
I did some small upgrades to my air management also. This truck has a 1/2" manifold from chassis tech for valves but all of the line was 1/4" for some reason. I took it apart and ran 1/2" feed line and actually used the correct check valves and put a Schrader valve off of a T fitting also.

The shocks I used some of Kyles shock tabs. His shop is just about a mile up the road. It's so nice being able to pick up about any part you need while your hanging out without shipping lol. If anyone ever needs anything he's the best I've found so far. Kyle was nice enough to hook me up with a new real axle also. So hopefully this week I can get the third member swapped into my truck. Mine is howling super loud and its really getting annoying.

For shocks I used rear shocks from a Nissan hard body and used a piece of 1.25" round stock and mount the lower side to the lower link bars. It rides so great now.



Here's a shot of the new B2600 hood compliments of Casey from Boondock Customs. He's the man if anyone ever needs any interior work.



I've got a lot more to do but with the help of my friends the little bit of time I have after work and other projects is being used on this truck. Hopefully ill get the new axle put in this week.
Sorry for any typos as I'm doing this update from my cell phone.
Kyle and Casey thanks again for the truck parts.

Wheres my $7???

Ya greedy bastard!!! I gave you my last $7 for air fittings. It's about time you gave me some cash. Did you find me another 380 compressor yet? Or better yet a York? If you don't get one it pretty soon the york laying in the shop might grow legs.

You aren't worried about bending the lower link bar that the shock is mounted to?!
Your bags are holding the truck up, but when you bounce, the shocks absorb all that static energy that the bags are supporting.
I'd be a little worried.

Not worried a bit. If my lower link bars can be bent by a shock that's weak enough for me to easily compress than I need beefier lower link bars anyway. Theyve been on there for about 3-4 weeks now and a couple long trips without any lower link issues.

People run bag on bar setups all the time on these trucks with nothing more than a gusset under the bar. I've even seen people run a bag on bar setup with no gusset and just the lower bar. If these link bars are tough enough for that I'm sure they can handle a shock mounted fairly close to the axle bracket. Not that I'm condoning running a bag on the bar with no gusset or bracing but I'm just saying people do it.