1985 22R - Getting it all ready for one of my daughters. (1 Viewer)

[spdracr58]

I bought a pretty clean 85' pickup with a 22R. Was looking for the 22RE, but found this, which already had good bones. So now I am in the process of getting it ready for my daughter to have a clean, reliable, daily driver, and occasional 4x4er. I will be taking advantage of the couple of years I have before she can drive to make sure it wheels well. But for now here are some photos of the progress I am making.

First photo is the previous owner and I, the day we bought it. Second photo is my daughter getting her own stickers on the car. Third is me testing it out at Hollister Hills. Car came with 35" BFG KM3's on 15" wheels. 4.88 gears, 4.7 low range in the transfer case, and 63 leaf in the rear.

Lots of stuff to work on though. Like a leak into the interior from some where (windshield maybe or one of the other holes from age) some really s***ty wiring in the engine bay, the AC is not connected, the heater unit doesn't work, only the subwoofer in the cab worked for the stereo, the backup light sensor wiring is gone, and stuff I am sure I have not found yet. But, the bones are there. So our journey begins.

See second posting for the additional work we have done.

 

[spdracr58]

One the drive home, when I bought the rig I noticed either the tires or driveshafts were all messed up. So I took off the driveshafts and brought them up to a local driveshaft shop in San Jose, Southbay Driveline. Great people, built me two new drive shafts. All the owner asked me was how hard I was going to wheel this thing. Told him I was planning a couple trips a year to Rubicon and other places with it. So in those went. Solved the shaking. Then I noticed the tie rod had a slight bend in it. So I bought a new tie rod with FJ80 ends and installed that. (Still have to get it aligned, but for now it drives down the road straight). Next was the much needed armor and recovery needs. I got a Low Range Off Road front bumper along with the front bumper brace. The front bumper had been pushed in and was not going to mount right. Also bought a Warn VR Evo10 to install into the bumper. Ordered a set of Ruff Stuff DIY rock sliders and front axle slider and called a buddy, Mobworthy Motorsports (great welder) to get everything welded up. Once the bumper was mounted I took it off, made a slight mod to fit the winch, installed the Factor 55 closed loop flatlink E. What a difference those have made.

 

[spdracr58]

This last weekend I ordered some turn signal LED lights for the small holes in the bumper. Installed a couple of those to take the place of the side markers that were on the bumper. Additionally started to work on the interior. Will be starting to apply POR15 to the interior to the cab and made a couple of speaker enclosures for the cab as well.

 

[spdracr58]

Update: Captian's log, star date ^#4$%@15#^&2021@$ - (for all my Star Trek fans)
Continued work on the 85 this weekend (I am just going to refer to is as McFly from now on). The interior was in rough shape from water getting into the cab. The bolt for the driver's seat under the driver at the front was pretty rusted. So I bought a welder, a Titanium 170 from Harbor Freight, and fixed it. I took a welding class about 17-18 years ago in college, so its not really like riding a bike. It is in, it will work (hopefully) but man it is ugly. Once the piece was welded in I applied some Por15. That stuff is gnarly. Did the degreaser and metal prep then applied the bottom black coat and a top white coat (two for both of the latter). Look terrible, so looks like I will have to get some spray cans and tape off the areas that are visible. Won't really be that bad. Also got the lights all installed in the bumper. They look cool but the 5 white ones are not bright at all.

 

[samiam09]

best mod you can do to that is cross over steering

 

[spdracr58]

best mod you can do to that is cross over steering

Yeah that will be in the works, eventually. I am still working on my welding skills. But I could start sourcing the parts now.

 

[spdracr58]

Made a little bit of progress this weekend on McFly. Was hoping to get all the wiring for the stereo done but did not have enough. So I threw in the seat and the door skins I have upholstered. Had to redo the plastic on the inside of the door panel. Really happy with how they turned out. Still waiting for the window crank nylon washer to install the new window cranks. Had to buy used arm rests. But overall looks so much better. Will be happy when it is all done.

 

[Cannon88]

Looking great!

 

[spdracr58]

Was able to get the interior in and work on a leak into the vehicle from the front passenger firewall area. Did not get it totally sealed but made a bit of progress. Looks like to truly fix it I will have to take the entire dash apart. Was able to participate in a company car show / drive Tuesday along the coast. Both the FJ40 and McFly (the mini) did great. I was actually able to help one of the other guys fix his car.

Did notice a couple of things to address next, had some shuddering of the vehicle on the freeway so will have to replace the fuel filter / pump / carb which I have in the garage already, the clutch feels like it only has a short amount of engagement, there is a shake at 35mph when accelerating in 3rd gear, and the rear has a Detroit locker that I will have to get out for daily driving duties. Will be looking at an electronic locker when the time comes for a change to that.