85 pickup questions (yes i searched)

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F

Fuller

10 Year 15 Year
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Nov 22, 2009
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Hey guys,

I am new to the mini truck realm and I just sold my FZJ80 :crybaby:, but I was able to pick up a 85 single cab truck. I am going to miss my 80 but my uncle had one of these trucks when I was younger and I have always wanted one since so i am happy about finally having one.

The truck I picked up is in pretty decent shape and needs to be brought back to life. I have been working on changing the timing chain, cover, water and oil pump. I just got it all back together and its looking OK. one problem I ran into was when I put the cover back on the head gasket didn't line up and it was pretty twisted, so I tried to put some silicone on it to keep the oil in the engine but I think I will have to bite the bullet and change the head gasket.

The stuff I have been searching for answers is. The truck has an auto and the guy had given me all the parts to swap in a 5 speed, but I cant find the answer to which wire I need to jump so the computer will think its in neutral?

I have also been researching lift stuff, i am sure there are some cheap mods to get some lift out of this bugger that will work well, like 63" Chevy springs in the rear and swap the rears out to the front. seams pretty simple but what length of shocks to run? and remove the sway bar and traction bar?

I have also seen some stuff regarding putting an IFS box in, but I cant find thread that gives specific details to why?

One more thing that I just came across is, can you run a bench seat with using double transfer cases?

well I think that is it for now TIA
 
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If you want to keep the bench with duals I think you have to modify the seat so the cut out is deeper..

The IFS box is used when you switch to cross over steering, check out Marlin Crawler, or All Pro for more insight on that.

Shocks really depend on the final set up of your springs, there's a lot of ways to do chevys in the rear and rears up front, so once the springs are in you can figure out shocks. Yes, toss the sway bar if you're going to wheel it much, leave the traction bar up front until you go to cross over steering.

When you pull the auto trans out I'm sure there will be 1 or 2 wires going to the shifter, if it's 2 then then probably get hooked together, and if it's one then it probably gets hooked to ground. Check the FAQ, there's a factory service manual in there.

If the headgasket is really boogered then it's probably best to replace it, but if it's not leaking much, you can try cleaning the outside of the engine and gooing it up from the outside.

No more advice till we see some pics!!!! :flipoff2: Hehehe :D
 
This is all great info. thanks guys.

I am not sure on what size of tires i want to run, (this is going to be a ways down the road) but I want to build a 3-4 inch suspension, and run the 31's that are on it for a while and maybe go 33's. one thing i don't want to do is put to big of tires on till I can re-gear the axles with this little engine.
 
Still need to know if your going to be wheeling this on the rocks, light trails, or just driving it around on the street. If your going to be running it on a lot of trails and through the rocks, I would recommend a lift kit from Marlin, All pro, or Trail gear. But if your not going to be wheeling it hard, or that much I would look at old man emu springs, or even sky jacker type kits.

I've read a lot of threads on the chevy springs in the rear and rufs up front. Some people love them, others have had to replace them multiple times. Your working with old worn out spring packs, they are not going to have that great of a life span. Also the chevy springs have a terrible departure angle because of their length. And no two chevy spring packs will give you the same lift.

Look through some of the build threads around here, find stuff you like and see what they did.
 
It will be a bit before i really get into building this up. i am a moderate wheeler i like to explore more than anything. I just want a rig that will get me through the tough stuff when it comes up. not really going to be wheeling really hard.
 
Then I would look at old man emu springs, keep it more on the stock side of things. You can stick with the stock steering, you won't need high steer for what you are doing.

You could hunt the local junk yards for some 4.56 or 4.88 diffs as well, so you can run 33's :)
 
Mike C said:
Then I would look at old man emu springs, keep it more on the stock side of things. You can stick with the stock steering, you won't need high steer for what you are doing.
Click to expand...


I was just going to say the same thing!

Fabbing Vs. Bolt-on... :hhmm:
 
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