1998 Prado rescue mission! (1 Viewer)

[John Young]

Big shop.

Good quality.

Today I went and picked up the refurbished seats:

Nice, right!?

You can tell they have been around but they are perfectly fine by my eye. I'd rather have good, clean, useable original than new.

 

[John Young]

Today I dropped off another set of door cards from salvage. They are pretty rough.

I also left the original cards (that had the same fabric under a poor cover).

I left the old cards with the idea that they could pull some original vinyl and other bits off to use on the replacements.

They indicated that they can refurbish the set first set of cards above. I am really looking forward to see what they can do!

 

[John Young]

Today the new side rear bumper trim extensions came in.

They go here:

This is more or less the look I am going for, except in tan and the B pillars will be blacked out.

 

[Jarred]

Good stuff coming in!

 

[John Young]

One of the issues we found were frozen AC controls; all broken up. The cables were actually rusted solid. I'd gotten sidetracked with a bunch of other projects but today I drove up to Sharjah and kind of just randomly found not just a set of cables but an actual control head in dusty but very good condition.

Needs a bit of cleaning...

 

[John Young]

I have made some progress. I found some donor door cards and took them to the same shop as did the seat to have them refurbished. I am satisfied with the result.

And the eventual user for the Little Prado was in Dubai for a few days and we had a look.

She approved.

The Little Prado is actually a pretty tall vehicle.

 

[ryanCA]

love the truck!!

 

[yourID10Tdriver]

I have made some progress. I found some donor door cards and took them to the same shop as did the seat to have them refurbished. I am satisfied with the result.

View attachment 3376567
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And the eventual user for the Little Prado was in Dubai for a few days and we had a look.
View attachment 3376569
She approved.
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The Little Prado is actually a pretty tall vehicle.

It still needs a name. How about Triscuit? Like Biscuit (our other truck)

 

[John Young]

Well 2 months later not much has been done. I visited the garage today and was not happy.

 

[John Young]

Not only was the truck filthy but they had let the masking tape set on it for two months in the sun. The paint is a mess.

The icing on the cake was that they had never checked the rear bumper trim pieces I got in May and they are too long--but otherwise fit. They must have been for the long wheelbase truck.

I've been awfully busy lately so I have not been able to follow up on this project, but still...

 

[John Young]

Well, mystery solved. I am a dope. I ordered the wrong bumper extensions.

This is what I ordered:

This is what I needed:

Maybe someone with a 4 door can use the ones I got by accident...although from the photos, it sure does not look much different.

The ones I ended up with were:

I think I needed the 903 versions. It does not helps that these are updated parts numbers from those that Toyota originally used. Anyways I am going to try to get 903 parts

 

[John Young]

You can see the difference more clearly here:

vs

 

[lugueto]

Love those little trucks. Our markets only had 4 cylinder manual SWB models and V6 LWB autos, had two of the former and one of the latter.

The manual 90 is still the funnest driving car i've had. Add a little more power like on yours and it should be awesome.

Also, our SWB didn't have the plastic trim outside. Only the LWB had flares.

Congrats on the rescue project, it takes love to restore vehicles in such rough shape! I guarantee you'll have WAY too much fun driving it!

 

[John Young]

I went by the garage again today and there is incremental progress

The big question is whether to paint this section black like on the 100 series. I am seeking the opinion of the family member who will be getting this truck. What do all of you think?

 

[John Young]

And I have to decide what to do about this:

The guys at the garage have said that the two they have are not working.

I am pretty sure the little device there on the right in the picture above is part of the electronic compass

I had thought the existing one was working when I brought the truck in. The LCD's are shot on this one that I got at the salvage yard yesterday. I have asked the guys at the garage to find the two they have so I can try to put a working unit together. This video suggests it might be worth it:

 

[John Young]

Today I went and picked up the Little Prado to drive it for a few days.

The 40 Series pickup seems to be progressing:

I still need to get the mud flaps and running boards on the truck but it is starting to be a truck again:

The truck does not actually have that many km on it. The guys seem to have put the spare instrument cluster in the truck.

 

[John Young]

Here he is safe at home:

There is still a lot of work to do.

Dust has infiltrated the headlights.

Lots of work to do on the paint

A friend in Japan is helping me with this:

 

[John Young]

So I have been daily driving the little truck and more or less it has behaved well.

I have the binnacle working but not yet calibrated. I need to find the procedure for calibrating the inclinometer.

But now the tires... The truck was handling poorly and when I checked I found that they were badly underinflated. When I put them up to 40 psi there are signs of stress in the sidewalls. They are 2018 tires, but this climate is very hard on rubber. Currently what I have on here is 275/70R16

I was looking at going slightly bigger but can't seem to any reasonable alternatives. If anyone has any ideas for a stock truck....

 

[xkennx]

One of the issues we found were frozen AC controls; all broken up. The cables were actually rusted solid. I'd gotten sidetracked with a bunch of other projects but today I drove up to Sharjah and kind of just randomly found not just a set of cables but an actual control head in dusty but very good condition.
View attachment 3348337
View attachment 3348338
Needs a bit of cleaning...
View attachment 3348761
View attachment 3348762
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Hey John, Im still in Canada for work till Dec 9 but do you think the place you got the AC control had more? Mine the temp and the ac button is stuck (thank got its stuck on and at max cold)

 

[xkennx]

Well, mystery solved. I am a dope. I ordered the wrong bumper extensions.

This is what I ordered:
View attachment 3430055

This is what I needed:
View attachment 3430056

Maybe someone with a 4 door can use the ones I got by accident...although from the photos, it sure does not look much different.
View attachment 3430060
The ones I ended up with were:
View attachment 3430061
I think I needed the 903 versions. It does not helps that these are updated parts numbers from those that Toyota originally used. Anyways I am going to try to get 903 parts

Hi John, do you still have the extended versions? I got the 95 up in RAK im planning to strip down and have repainted the original crocodile green but the driver side rear side bumper ext has a deep scratch in it.