Junior, 81 3/4 ton project

[ElementalBoom]

Time to introduce my new project Junior (you"ll see why the name momentarily) to you all.

I have a mountain bike as my daily commuter and weekend workout machine. An 85 Land Cruiser I have been building as my weekend/offroader/beast rig. Now I want to build something low and fast and fun for the street and track. Decided I wanted to build a truck rather than a car at this point. I hunted around for a bit and came across this 81 3/4 ton long bed pickup. A bit rough, but right up my alley.

How it looked when I first got it to the shop. Fender is banged up, need to remove it and hammer out the worst of the dents.

That big ol rear chrome bumper, extra mirrors attached to the already large mirrors, and plastic hubcaps...not exactly my style.

And this is where the Junior came from...

Engine bay, A/C is inop, and the tangle of vacuum lines.

Very first thing I did, removed the rear bumper. So much better looking this way in my opinion. Also removed the extra mirrors.

 

[ElementalBoom]

Next I painted the steel wheels black. Previous owner had painted them silver. And a coworker loaned me the chrome rings to dress up the wheels until I replace them later on in the build.

Lowered the front using the torsion bars, I did re-index them so it still rides pretty well. Cut the front bump stops down and removed the fender liners and had to hammer in the inner fender metal some so the tires would not rub at full lock.

Got some 4 inch lowering blocks installed and cut the rear bump stops down. Took all but 1 shim out of the front end and was able to get it pretty close on the alignment. Overall I like how it sits and rides. Do need some new shocks front and rear.

 

[ElementalBoom]

Updated shot with my beast, Clifford.

And a somewhat "artistic" shot waiting for the shop to open so I could work on the brakes. They were squealing horribly at all times. Fixed that.

How the engine looks currently. Desmogged using LC engineering block off plates for the EGR, removed the A/C system and brackets. Also flushed the fluids, did a full tune up and rebuilt the clutch master cylinder since it was leaking all over the floor inside the truck. The engine is drinking coolant and has no heat, so some issues there. Have run into a snag with this carburetor. The plug that closes off the air/fuel mixture screw looked mangled and not original when I went to drill it out. As soon as I drilled through the plug, the spring came popping out and there was more mangled metal inside and no head on the adjustment screw. Yippee. I have tried drilling out the screw to install a new one but no luck so far, will have to remove the carb and have another go to get that fixed. So the truck runs extremely rich and will not idle once warmed up no matter what I do with the idle mix screws currently.

I have plans to switch the interior over completely to gray/black. Replaced the factory bench seat with some 2nd gen Supra seats and wired the power driver seat. They sit a bit too far forward for me, so I will find a different seat setup in the future but they work alright for now. Also installed Supra seat belts that came with the seats. Got an MR2 steering wheel but it sits too far out and close to the seat so I re-installed the factory wheel.

I was working on plans for a potential 1JZ swap, but realized that is not within my budget for the truck at this point. As luck would have it, found out a previous coworker was selling a built 22RET. So I picked it up and am now researching around for the rest of the needed parts for the swap. It has an LC engineering cam and rocker arm setup, crank, double row timing chain, water pump, EGR block off plates, some upgraded pistons, larger valves, ported, CT26 turbo, W58 trans, radiator shroud cut for 2 10 inch electric fans and a SDS EM-5 standalone setup with harness and tuner. Once I get the rest of the parts I need, this bad boy will be going in. Should be good for around 300 hp. Should solve my current engine issues properly

 

[ElementalBoom]

Small visual mod from today. I previously painted the grill and side vents black with a small grey accent around the headlamps.

This is what I started with today. Did what I could to straighten out a decent size dent in the lower passenger side of the lower bumper.

Got a lower bumper valence from a Ford from a co-worker. Can't remember which thread I saw it on, but I got the idea from another member on this forum.
I trimmed off the upper portion of the valence and the cut down the sides a bit.

Attached the valence against the rear of the lower bumper and bolted it on.

A shot right after the install.

And after the suspension had settled and it was back at home. I really like how it looks and it also covers the front suspension parts that stick out normally.

And that brings us up to date so far.

 

[Kris]

I'm glad you are doing the r to rte swap and not me.

Are you going to run megasquirt for an ecu?

 

[Mudder]

Sweet build!! Welcome!

 

[Jonathan_Ferguson]

Are the changes to the suspension authentically beneficial?

 

[ElementalBoom]

Kris- I looked into megasquirt but the engine set up came with a standalone ecu with its own tuner so I should be able to do everything I need with that. If the SDS system doesn't work for me then megasquirt would probably be my next option.

Mudder- Thanks! I have a build thread on Clifford over in the 60 series section, but this is my first foray into the pickup world.

Jonathan_Ferguson- So far with the suspension changes, it is a little bumpy, but new shocks should help sort that out. No worse than any other lowered vehicle I've driven.t I wont be pushing the 3/4 ton capability of the truck for sure with the lowering blocks on there. But I want it to still be functional and usable as a pickup.

 

[Kris]

Soo.... How's the swap going?