Challenge:Design a survival vehicle, page 1

I had a hard drive failure and lost all my CAD drawings, but what i had essentially designed was the ULTIMATE toyota.

Starting off with a mid 80's toyota, i'd yank the R22 out and completely strip the entire engine bay. Next, i'd beef up the entire chassis with 4130 chromoly tubing in a warren truss type skeleton and fit hardpoints where the skidplates/underarmor will be attached. In the front of the bed i'd mount something like a 4+ liter turbo-Biodiesel with a PTO attached, and use a shaft and a V-box (like the guys with the mid-motor el-caminos i've seen do it) to connect to the rest of the drivetrain.

I plan to do a chromoly fill cage around the entire vehicle outside the body, and protective enough that even a rollover would be a non-issue, just get out and flip it back on it's wheels. The space where the stock engine would be is now sealed watertight and is dry storage as well as aiding in flotation should it be necessary. Throughout the entire vehicle, any space in between body panels, and any unused voids will be filled with foam for flotation. The entire cab is sealed off and ventilation can run through whatever filter system you deem appropriate. I'd go for a good hepa filter system on mine.

As for the PTO, you've got it available. I'd use it to run a decent sized generator, but you can use it for whatever you want, including running a propeller, impeller, or some sort of water drive unit for amphibious use.

Naturally I'd beef up the suspension the same way that i'd do the frame, and make it solid enough to handle the extra weight of all the chromoly frame stiffeners, a bigger engine, more gearbox, generator, and all the armor that will be added. I'd also widen the track to help stabilize it and to allow more suspension travel. While i'm at it i'd beef up any drivetrain components that looked like they needed it, maybe score some beefier stuff that'll fit a bigger bolt pattern so some real gnarly tire and rim combos can be used. I'd also pick up a set of the tank tracks that bolt on to your standard lug patterns for some serious offroadability.

And armor, for times of peace i'd be happy with some good aluminium skidplates on the bottom to protect from rocks and stumps, but if i were building it to operate in a hostile environment, i'd be trading my aluminium plates for some thick steel or whatever else i could get my hands on that'd absorb some of a blast from underneath should that be an issue. Also in such an environment i'd do some armor around the entire outer cage to help deflect small arms fire, or at least around the engine, fuel, and passenger spaces.

Don't forget some securely mounted and snug fitting racing buckets, a 6 point safety harness, heavily padded interior, and lexan windows all the way around. A hydration system built into the cab would have retractable hoses with bite valves above the driver and passenger, with the option to select either hot or cold water. Hot water would be supplied via a heat exchanger tied to both the radiator and oil cooler. Cold will work off another exchanger tied to the cold side of the AC and will work when the AC is running.

Feel free to add rocket launchers and machine guns as you see fit, but that's the general idea of how i''d build mine for when we're in full tilt boogie mad max style apocalypse time.

There's a lot more detail to my plan for building the ultimate vehicle, and would take me probably 100 pages to lay it all out, and a ton of cad models which i don't have anymore, but if you're serious about it and have the skills to build it, you'll figure out what needs to be done, but the general idea is presented above.