Builds Field Crust - Reviving a 1982 Pickup (1 Viewer)

[The Machinist]

Almost forgot, but while I was waiting for engine parts to show up I put on a set of slightly longer shackles and relocated the front axle forward by 3/4" to help accommodate the 35's I test fit on the truck previously. Once the engine is replaced, tires are next on the list.

 

[Beams37]

Great work man !!

 

[The Machinist]

Got the dead engine pulled out today.

@mattressking convinced me that I needed to scrub down the engine bay or the new engine would look out of place. I can only imagine that this was payback for me convincing him that the faded paint on a free air compressor he got a couple of years ago needed to be buffed to a mirror shine.

He was right though, it looks a million times better now that its all cleaned up!

Just need to clean a few parts that I am going to be transferring over from the old engine to the new one this week. If everything goes smoothly and the new clutch kit shows up this week, I might be able to get it installed and running by the end of next weekend.

 

[84 yota dude]

Awesome!

That's a badass lineup in the driveway too.

 

[The Machinist]

Lots of updates for this project. Finished assembling the engine and got it installed. I ended up having to helicoil all of the exhaust stud holes, a few of them were really messed up. New OEM exhaust studs to go with that of course. I put a heavyweight flywheel and clutch from LC Engineering in, along with new clutch master and slave and a braided stainless line. Replaced the radiator and splurged on some really nice silicone radiator hoses. New plugs and wires. New fan clutch and fan. Also de-smogged the engine, so I blocked off all of the unnecessary ports and removed the air injection system. Since the donor engine came with all of the power steering brackets, I also got a reman power steering pump and gearbox that I will get setup sometime down the road to convert from the manual steering.

Got it registered and I've been driving it to work for the last few weeks to get the engine to start to break in.

 

[The Machinist]

Got new tires and polished up the chrome wheels that came with the truck. I think it came out great! Unfortunately the 35x10.5r15 Kanati Mud Hogs I wanted to run were not available so I went with Kenda Kleaver RT in 33x9.5r15.
I'm currently working on getting these FJ62 seats mounted. I'm not convinced I'll keep them in this truck forever, but they look right in there and are way better than the bench seat from a late 80's pickup that was in there before (not bolted down).

(If anyone is looking for a set of 62 seats, I wouldn't mind selling them I also have all 4 doors and the hood for the 62 that these came out of, just haven't gotten around to cleaning them up and posting them in the classifieds section)

 

[The Machinist]

Oh, I also put some cheap shocks in it. Checked the OME website to see what the compressed and extended lengths were on the shocks they include with their lift kits then looked through the Monroe catalog for the same sizes until I found some that were about the same and in stock at my local Oreillys. Probably could have found cheaper online, but for about $200, the truck got new shocks and I had them installed the next day. Thanks @Kleatus for the idea to do this.

Fronts: Monroe 5761
Rears: Monroe 37188

 

[Beams37]

Nice work man! Looks like a lot of work coming to fruition!

 

[The Machinist]

I went to adjust the carb a couple of months ago and realized that it was missing some parts. I decided to order an aftermarket carb from amazon and steal the parts off of it, but it turned out to be a surprisingly decent replica so I ended up just swapping it with the original. Surprisingly the float level was set correctly and I had it running great in no time, just needed a lean drop mixture adjustment. The one thing wrong with it was the location of the pins in the round electrical connector, which was mentioned multiple times in the amazon reviews. Five minutes to switch the pins around and its good to go. Going to run this carb until it starts causing problems, then I'll just steal the parts off of it. For under $100, I think its a pretty great deal.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GKPQXZV?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

 

[The Machinist]

Finished off some odds and ends; replaced shifter bushings (they were destroyed) and replaced a leaky pinion seal. My brother picked up another tailgate for me in California, its beat and I need to repair the top rail, but now I can actually put stuff in the bed.

Got to ride along with some friends for Rubithon and decided to get this truck ready to bring next year. I'm slowly collecting parts and will start building it in a month or two. Going to keep it simple and do things a little differently with a goal of not cutting any body panels. I'm really looking forward to putting this together!

 

[ferg]

If it's going to be wheeler, I wouldn't worry about the tail gate rail.

 

[The Machinist]

If it's going to be wheeler, I wouldn't worry about the tail gate rail.

Should only take a couple of hours to repair and it adds a lot of rigidity to the tailgate. I also don't intend to bash the body on this one, so having a complete body would be nice. I'll still keep an eye out for another tailgate that is in better shape, but for now that is at the bottom of the priority list.

I ordered new springs yesterday, should get started on those in a few weeks.

 

[clx16]

Looking forward to how you fix the top rail. Mine has already been repaired by a previous owner and its pretty flexy. I am hoping to add some reinforcement when I start working on tailgate. I just haven't worked out how I am going to attack that.

 

[84 yota dude]

What's the build plan?!

 

[The Machinist]

What's the build plan?!

For suspension, rears up front using an OME leaf pack with overloads removed, the rear is an OME pack for an 88-95 pickup. Both axles will be repositioned to keep them centered. Both axles will get ARB's, 4.88 gears and chromoly shafts. The transfer case gears I put in my 60 made wheeling so much more fun, so this one will get a set of 4.7:1 gears when I rebuild the transfer case, keeping it just a single transfer case. Keeping things simple with the steering for now, going to keep the stock "J" arm but upgrade the tie rod to the "Marlink" and 80 series tie rod ends. My donor engine came with a power steering pump bracket so I'll be upgrading from manual steering to stock power steering using a pump and gearbox from rockauto.

Got the rear springs mounted last week.

 

[aztoyman]

I'm enjoying this build. Hard to not love a 1st Gen Toyota pickup. I started out with a single case and 4.7 gears on my SAS'd 2nd gen (88). It was exactly what I needed for crawling. But, I wished I still had the stock gears for the easier stuff. High range was too high and 4.7 was too low on many of the trails. I eventually ended up going dual cases just for that reason.

If I had to do it again, I would do dual cases with stock low range in both. Sounds like you have a well thought out plan. Just food for thought.

 

[The Machinist]

I'm enjoying this build. Hard to not love a 1st Gen Toyota pickup. I started out with a single case and 4.7 gears on my SAS'd 2nd gen (88). It was exactly what I needed for crawling. But, I wished I still had the stock gears for the easier stuff. High range was too high and 4.7 was too low on many of the trails. I eventually ended up going dual cases just for that reason.

If I had to do it again, I would do dual cases with stock low range in both. Sounds like you have a well thought out plan. Just food for thought.

This is definitely something I have thought about, it was also discussed with my buddies while at Rubithon. The 4:1's in my 60 have the same problem sometimes; it was especially noticeable in Colorado at Solid Axle Summit a couple of years ago. Future me might find this choice annoying, but the decision to keep it single case for now is mostly driven by wanting to minimize build time. Would make for a good upgrade in the future I guess.

 

[aztoyman]

Similar situation for me. I was daily driving mine to work. I also had a low budget. The 4.7's really were perfect for crawling but I really ended up needing the stock low more often.

My son saw the situation and chose dual stock cases for his. The money saved not buying the gears was put to the adapter instead. Shortened the rear drive shaft for the front and used the dual Carden front (Re-tubed) in the rear. Drive shaft angle up front is way better too. There's always trade offs either way you go. Cutting the floor for the shifters being one of them.

 

[pappy]

The transfer case gears I put in my 60 made wheeling so much more fun, so this one will get a set of 4.7:1 gears when I rebuild the transfer case, keeping it just a single transfer case.

I started out with a single case and 4.7 gears on my SAS'd 2nd gen (88). It was exactly what I needed for crawling. But, I wished I still had the stock gears for the easier stuff. High range was too high and 4.7 was too low on many of the trails. I eventually ended up going dual cases just for that reason.

This. I also had a 4.7 single. Every time my buddies would get someplace tamer they would take off and I was having to stop and shift into high. It might not sound like much, or a big deal ... but trust us, it is.

I'm also now twin cased with 2.28 in each. Their might be a 4.7 in the future for one of them, but I doubt it.

 

[The Machinist]

Got a lot of work done on the truck this week. Pulled the front axle out and cleaned and painted the housing. Removed the old, very worn out stock springs and swapped in a set of OME rear springs as a "rears up front" setup. Used a set of "boomerang" shackles from Sky's Offroad to help everything line up correctly. I tried three different combinations of leaf packs before I found something I was happy with, ended up removing the third full length leaf and adding a short overload leaf I took from the rear springs. The overload is there to keep the springs from deforming too much under compression, not for weight. Ride height was better without it but I don't think the springs would have lasted very long.

The rear springs are sitting a lot lower than the front now and they are too soft to carry any extra weight, so I'll end up playing around with adding leaves back there in the next week or two. I initially removed a long and short overload, but I think a full length add-a-leaf would be the best option now. I kept the stock shackle hanger location and made a set of test shackles with a bunch holes at different lengths to test things out. I eventually settled on an 8" eye-to-eye shackle and made a set of temporary shackles at work. I'll make a stronger set sometime this winter.

The leaf packs I started with were:
Fronts: ARBCS010R
Rears: ARBCS019R

I also swapped out the brake lines for extended stainless lines and swapped in a drop drag link.

Supervisor checking in on my work.

How it sat before adding in the short overload. Pretty close to where I was hoping it would end up.

Maxed out my jack and started to split the wood before it was even close to the limit of travel.