I broke my own rule again with a 1994 petrol pickup "Iota"

[John Young]

Might have to ship it over to you, Matt. But yes, that is on my. mind. Another symptom is that the tach is unreliable. For a few weeks now it would sometimes go dead after running for a while. I had thought it was probably the tach sensor, but I have not read up on it yet. Probably unconnected, I'd guess.

 

[Honger]

Might have to ship it over to you, Matt. But yes, that is on my. mind. Another symptom is that the tach is unreliable. For a few weeks now it would sometimes go dead after running for a while. I had thought it was probably the tach sensor, but I have not read up on it yet. Probably unconnected, I'd guess.

Is this the 80 that was RHD/LHD swapped?
If so, I’d wager you have a bunch of boogered up wiring.

 

[John Young]

Is this the 80 that was RHD/LHD swapped?
If so, I’d wager you have a bunch of boogered up wiring.

No the RHD to LHD is a turbo and now a frame swap that we did. It is just about ready to go for the official 'frame stamping' process to tidy up the paperwork. I have not driven it for a couple of years.

The Omani 80 is a straight diesel.

Yesterday I checked all the obvious fuses. Now I'm trying to figure out what it might be. I was going to leave this to my mechanic's electrician who is pretty good, and the pickup was good to go ... OR SO I THOUGHT....

I had put 10 liters of gas into it from a jerry can but other than that the pickup had dry tanks, so I drove it over to the closest gas station, intending to go home and drive up to Sharjah today. I had the guys fill up both tanks. It was kind of touching that the guy filling my gas, a young man from Africa, pushed very hard for me to fill out a lucky draw for a new car (which I had no interest in). He kept pushing and then said 'I want you to win so you will give me this truck. I really like these trucks!' I think he really did. The 75 series is all over Africa and he knew what he was looking at, even as rough as poor old Iota looks right now.

Then another guy from the station comes over and says "your truck is leaking gas!"

I got out and poor old Iota was pissing like a racehorse!

I knew I had to get it away from the petrol station, and the garage was close by, and the leak was obviously from the frame rail on the drivers side and I decided to chance it and let Iota piss out its tank outside the garage, rather than get a flatbed for it. I drove the couple of KM's ready to bail at any time. I was annoyed at myself that I had not yet put the new extinguisher in the truck either. Anyways I made it back outside the garage.

I got out and took a photo immediately:

and a couple of minutes later:

Here's a still from a video that gives an idea how fast this was leaking:

I suspect what happened is that the sub tank was disconnected at some point and not re-attached. I hope to find out later today.

 

[John Young]

Well this morning I went back over and all the gas that was going to leak out had leaked out, still leaving half a tank or so in each of the two tanks. I spoke with the mechanics and I asked them to replace ALL the rubber hoses in the fuel system. If one is leaking then others won't be far behind.

I decided to drive the pickup a bit as it was no longer actively leaking and I had some errands to do. Notably get the rims off the junk tires on an auction 80 I just bought so I could get them blasted and powdercoated. They are in pretty rough shape:

The guys had done such a great job at Al Amanah Metal Coating with the other rims that I wanted to see what they could do with these veterans of the sand. When I dropped in to pick up the newly coated rims the owner, Soman, explained that they had used a very specific process for the rims. First they primed the freshly blasted rims and then only partially cured the primer in the oven. Then they applied the high gloss black finish and fully cured the finish and the primer together so they actually melded. He also used a self leveling compound in the finish coat, and they look really great in person.

I took them over to a quality tire shop, along with some 2019 new OEM tires I had pulled of some rims a couple of years back and got them mounted:

They are going to look great on Iota!

I did have them balanced and the guys at the tire shop actually labeled which corner each should go on. I could not install them or get an alignment because I don't have the correct nuts at the moment.

 

[Honger]

No the RHD to LHD is a turbo and now a frame swap that we did. It is just about ready to go for the official 'frame stamping' process to tidy up the paperwork. I have not driven it for a couple of years.

The Omani 80 is a straight diesel.

Yesterday I checked all the obvious fuses. Now I'm trying to figure out what it might be. I was going to leave this to my mechanic's electrician who is pretty good, and the pickup was good to go ... OR SO I THOUGHT....

View attachment 2861541

I had put 10 liters of gas into it from a jerry can but other than that the pickup had dry tanks, so I drove it over to the closest gas station, intending to go home and drive up to Sharjah today. I had the guys fill up both tanks. It was kind of touching that the guy filling my gas, a young man from Africa, pushed very hard for me to fill out a lucky draw for a new car (which I had no interest in). He kept pushing and then said 'I want you to win so you will give me this truck. I really like these trucks!' I think he really did. The 75 series is all over Africa and he knew what he was looking at, even as rough as poor old Iota looks right now.

Then another guy from the station comes over and says "your truck is leaking gas!"

I got out and poor old Iota was pissing like a racehorse!

I knew I had to get it away from the petrol station, and the garage was close by, and the leak was obviously from the frame rail on the drivers side and I decided to chance it and let Iota piss out its tank outside the garage, rather than get a flatbed for it. I drove the couple of KM's ready to bail at any time. I was annoyed at myself that I had not yet put the new extinguisher in the truck either. Anyways I made it back outside the garage.

I got out and took a photo immediately:
View attachment 2861542
and a couple of minutes later:
View attachment 2861543
Here's a still from a video that gives an idea how fast this was leaking:

View attachment 2861551

I suspect what happened is that the sub tank was disconnected at some point and not re-attached. I hope to find out later today.

Upon delivery my Troopy’s sub tank leaked… debris trapped on the skid plate that holds the tank had worn a hole in a corner. I had it repaired… but had a nice piddle leak until I siphoned out the tank.

 

[John Young]

Upon delivery my Troopy’s sub tank leaked… debris trapped on the skid plate that holds the tank had worn a hole in a corner. I had it repaired… but had a nice piddle leak until I siphoned out the tank.

Iota definitely has some problem with her plumbing. Oddly, after both tanks got to about half-way it stopped leaking entirely. No smell of gas even.

I'm now stolen the front bumper assemblies off of Iota to make the repairs to Golden Boy in the US. I'm headed there in a couple of days.

I was a little concerned about weight and size limits but it looks fine.

Poor old thing looks a little sad sans bumper

Iota looks slightly bronze, but that is misleading. What has happened is that the clear coat has yellowed. While I am away I'm asking Right Solution to take the bed off and repaint the cab

 

[John Young]

Last night I removed the rest of the bumper assembly and packed it up to come with me on the airplane. Luckily I my baggage allowance extends to three 23kg items.

And then I stripped off most of the rest of the front to help ensure that the paint and body guys don't tape around and spray but rather sand and prep everything. I've also asked them to remove the bed, which I am replacing with an AUS style flat bed, just for fun.

When I removed the running boards I found that the drainage hole in the drivers footwell had rusted larger. I will need to drill it out uniformly and use a body plug. I don't think it is so large that it actually needs repair.

 

[Felde]

Did you check the footwell panel under that asphalt sound deadner? My was all bridle and had a rust hole hiding under it. All to be seen was that drainage hole 'had rusted larger' ( I like that wording ).

 

[John Young]

The guys in Dubai have been busy in my absence.

The truck is getting some love finally. My friends were there looking to see what was going on with the various projects.
Here you can see the new AUS-style bed that will go on the pickup.

 

[John Young]

Here are a few more photos from a couple of days earlier:

 

[John Young]

So I'm still in Florida but things have been happening in Dubai in my absence.

My friend from Dubai stopped in and says that the footwells are not too badly rusted and a lot of what you see is some kind of Mr. Toyo sealant or insulation.

 

[John Young]

And paint is actually going on....

That is the hood in the background.

 

[John Young]

Well I got back to Dubai, and after a day to recover I drove up to have a look at the state of things. Iota has gotten a lot more floorboard patching than I was expecting.

Passenger footwell:

Driver footwell:

30 years of desert sand....

But Iota IS getting there:

 

[Honger]

Well I got back to Dubai, and after a day to recover I drove up to have a look at the state of things. Iota has gotten a lot more floorboard patching than I was expecting.

Passenger footwell:
View attachment 2891295

Driver footwell:

View attachment 2891296
View attachment 2891297
30 years of desert sand....
View attachment 2891299
But Iota IS getting there:
View attachment 2891300

I hope they cleaned all that sand/dirt out before sealing it in with panel work...

 

[John Young]

I hope they cleaned all that sand/dirt out before sealing it in with panel work...

That would be nice... I try to keep my expectations in check.

 

[Honger]

That would be nice... I try to keep my expectations in check.

If you're just sealing that stuff back in your blowing money on fab work that will undo itself within a few years.

 

[John Young]

If you're just sealing that stuff back in your blowing money on fab work that will undo itself within a few years.

I totally agree. If I have to, I will clean it out myself. I'm just back in Dubai and I'm not quite back in the swing of things. I ordered a heavy duty work table suitable for auto parts with a rubber top. I supplied the wheels which are good for 300kg each. This is what I got:

Not at ALL suitable. That's only a particleboard carcass. And the wheels are not in the corners. My fault for not specifying exactly what I wanted.

Something like this but with bigger wheels and heavier duty.

This is something that comes back to bite me from time to time.

 

[John Young]

Slowly, slowly we are making progress. I was looking it over a couple of days ago and realized that it is trivial to break down the cab even further.

A few 10mm bolts and they will be able to obtain a much better paint result I think.

 

[John Young]

And I'm sure this rubber cushion is now 30 years old, and I wanted all the rubber to be removed anyways. I don't want stuff painted around I want fresh paint on all the metal.

Fortunately it is available new from the Toyota distributor here in Dubai.

Hopefully we can get on with the paint soon....

 

[coldtaco]

That’s what I did with mine