My 1983 SR5 Long Bed Build.

[dngspot]

After breakfast I decided to install the engine, trans and drive shafts. I finished all but the front drive shaft. With the engine install included the starter and clutch slave. I need to torque the transfer case flange then it will go on. Tomorrow I hope to install the radiator and front shaft.

 

[dngspot]

I had some time after diner so what the hell, I installed the radiator and front drive line. The front drive line will have a high pinion install in the future. It looks too low. The radiator was a close fit. I cut the boss off of the water pump to make enough room. They were too close for my liking.
I had tripped over the radiator a couple of times, knocking it over. Now I have a leak as a result. I will remove it and send it in for repair.

Doesn't look like a bunch of space in there.

Yep that is water from the radiator, under the diff.

 

[dngspot]

Last weekend I got my radiator back, the guy fixed about five leaks and reinforced the lower tank. I asked him should I think about replacing it, he said only if I wanted to spend $450.00 for no real benefit. Hell I payed $190 for it in the '80s, damn stuff is getting expensive. He charged me $45.00 for the fix, that was cheep enough. So I put the fan back on and stuffed it back into the truck.

I had a small problem with the air compressor clearance. The back of the York was hitting the motor mount and the belt was making contact with the frame. The fix for the belt was to put a shim in in the motor mount, about 3/8". The fix for the motor mount, trim a little from the edge near the front bolt. In the pic it looks like the compressor is still making contact but there is actually a 1/4" space.

During the week I managed to do some work after the real job I have. When I removed the wire harnesses from the fenders just about every one of those plastic clips, that go through the fender wall, broke. The same thing happened on the rear frame. Taking a idea from stuff that Cat does, I took chain links and bent them in the vice, then welded them to the frame of the truck. Now I simply slip a zip tie between the link and the frame and there is now a permanent hold down that will not rot.

As for the engine compartment, I did not want to grind much on the paint, so I welded the links on a plate and welded a stud on the back. These guys are simply bolted into any hole, made or existing.

A few that I have not used yet, I made 12 of these.

Here is one that is installed and painted.

I also spent way too much time looking at the wire diagram for my truck, to get the charge light to work. A while ago my charge light relay failed so I removed the light. Not remembering if I removed the bulb or the bulb assembly, I took the dash apart. Sure enough, removed the little black holder and the light bulb. So off to Toyota, with a prayer in hand, they never have stuff for my old truck. Well what do you know, they had them. About $2.00 lighter I will have a working charge light so I thought. Looking at the diagram again I saw that the same yellow wire goes to the light then goes to the emission computer. I have removed that last vestige of California from the truck, so if for some reason the light does not work, I will run a wire directly from the alternator to the dash. Anyway the thing is in place and the old wire stuff removed and new wire stuff installed. Really I could check continuity but, that requires me to spend more time on it. I think I am done until I can put a battery in it.

Today, I wanted to get the MSD stuff installed. Damn back to the wire diagram. I want my tach to work so I bought one of those tach adapters. I needed to know which wire for the igniter was for the tach and what pole it was. Finding the pole was easy but, the wire diagram indicates a black wire goes from the igniter negative pole to the tach. Easy enough, only problem is, there is no black wire that originally connects to the igniter. Looking through the manual there is a wire map for the back of the dash. So I removed the dash to find out what wire is there. Yep it is that yellow one and it goes to the computer, mentioned earlier, also. Same thing goes for the tach, if the tach does not work I will run a wire directly to it from the adapter.
So enough of that... I made two plates one for the mount and the other for the isolators. I installed these vibration/shock isolators, we use at work to mount ecm's, to the top plate. The lower plate uses two bolts that the harness originally grounded to. That lower plate did not get painted over the mounting holes and I removed the pant around the holes in the fender. I grounded the harness to the top of the lower plate. I will also ground the MSD here too. The top plate also has a bracket for the coil.

The first pick is clearer of the two plate design.

The finished mount...

 

[dngspot]

I installed a fuse block and ran the power wire from the MSD to the block. The wire that powers the fuse block is a cheep 4 gauge battery cable. I cut one of the ends and soldered a lug in its place. Then attached it to the starter and the block, that should carry enough amps to cover what I put in it. The block is rated to 150 amps. I have a 15 amp fuse in it now. I will bring home a 20 and replace it. The rest of the MSD 6a and tach adapter are wired in also.

 

[dngspot]

I have most of the wiring done. Between the Toyota schematic and the age of the wire it was a bitch to know what wire was for what. What I was doing, was setting up the dash charge light to work. I finally found the charge light relay, the book shows it under the drivers dash, naw, it is under the passenger dash near the kick panel. I cut it out and spliced the two yellow wires together. It is my understanding, if the IR regulator is not used the relay is not needed, at least that is what the schematic implies. I also removed the thermo switch from the ac system. My switch was broken and I really do not need a switch to shut down the ac because the engine is over heating, I like to think I am smart enough to have done that long before the engine is anything close to 230 deg., that is when the switch opens. I went to the thermo relay and bypassed it, like I did the charge relay. I plan on cutting the smog control connectors and spare wires then tucking the wires away, but will wait until I have determined all other things work. After I get the cab painted and reassembled I will work on the lights. Most of this happened during the early part of last week.

To be honest not much was done to the truck until today. My wife wanted the rest of the house carpet to be removed and new flooring installed. Guess who the floor guy was. This project required new doors and trim. I started last Saturday and did not finish until yesterday. The wife likes it, I think it looks like someone came in and attached my garage to another house.

Today I installed new cab mounts the old ones were getting pretty ratty. I also installed a few parts needed to figure the location of the new power steering reservoir, those parts included the overflow/washer tanks. The reservoir will be mounted near the MSD box. I plan on building the bracket for it tomorrow. I also installed the windshield motor and horn, they were removed for engine compartment paint. The cooler was attached in front of the ac condenser and hard attached to the radiator mount sheet metal. Seen in the pic below

I also installed the fenders and one light frame. The light frame was used as a reference for the location of the area to cut the fender. Both fenders were cut in the same location. Wife came out and said she liked the lines of the new fender I installed.

I also removed the old pig tail from the marker light in the head light bezel. I installed a 1157 pig tail and amber lights. These will be my new marker and signal light location. You can see the bulb in the installed fender below.

I also installed the hood, as I am finished hoisting anything in the engine compartment. The hood was getting banged around as it was moved from one area to another.

 

[dngspot]

Today I built a bracket for the hydro assist reservoir. I had a little trouble setting the hight. I wanted it as high as possible so I put a straight edge across the fenders and set the reservoir just a little below that. When I shut the hood a brace made contact with the reservoir and pushed the top down into body. That aluminum is soft, I did not use any pressure on the hood or drop it on the reservoir. The harm is cosmetic so I will use it. Anyway I started with building the bracket.

Here is a pic of the bracket installed.

In the next pic will be some of the plumbing. The suction line is Gates and has a single fiber braid. The pressure line is a single steel braid, rated at 2500 psi., it looks like braided air line with similar fittings.

... and this is the final location.

I also connected the pitman arm and centered the steering wheel. Then I filled the reservoir and cycled the steering. So far the steering system has taken .5 gallons.

 

[dngspot]

I have been working on completing the engine compartment, making it runnable, before I shut the hood and paint the cab. I have used a bit of the battery location for AC hoses that is okay because the batteries will be located behind the cab. I also used the old lines and installed new o-rings on every hose and hard line. I put in a new evaporator, the old one was full of crud and did not move that much air.

Here is a pic of the dirty old ac lines. They did not leak when I parked it, if they do now I will replace as needed.

I ordered and replaced the reservoir. The first one leaked at the lower fitting. I damaged the thing fitting it into the truck and it was cheep, so I chalked it up to installation cost. Now checking it the next day the new one leaks also, now I put in a phone call. The customer service folks are not in on Saturday after 5. I may get out the tig and fix the darn things, if the phone call does not work out.

They both leaked at the same place between the lower nipple and the tank.

Removing all of the smog connectors, I found one of the wires that was used for the cold mixture heater relay. That puppy goes to the keyed ignition, then to a fusable link. It looks as big as any of the main wires, 12g I think. I used it to power another fuse block, this one for keyed power needs. It is located below the battery powered fuse block on the right fender. The red wire and 10A fuse is for the carb choke.

I also installed new fusable links. They are soldered directly to the harness, then connected to the boss on the battery powered fuse block. Side note, the three fuses in the block are for msd 20A, main fan power 30A, and fan controller power 10A.

I spent some time with the fan controller. It is a DC Controls 2sp model. I only had one side of the connector for the fan and would have liked to have both ends for a disconnect area. No luck finding anything that would have worked so I soldered everything, no worries of week connectors this way. The controller is located above the stock battery location on the right fender.

The wires from the controller to the fan follow the hard high pressure ac tube, on the front clip to the fan. I grounded the controller and the fan to the old battery ground location. The dryer below is the original one since it was new. I will put a vacuum to the system with the old dryer, if the system holds the vacuum, then I will remove it and install the new dryer.

I installed rear harness. Also installed the gas tank.

When I relocated the rear shackle mount the shackle nuts and bolts became a point of concern. I could remove the nuts from the bolts, frame supported no weight on the axle, with out putting a wrench on the bolt. I would expect the cinch nuts supplied with the kit to hold onto the bolt a bit more than that. So I ordered a bunch of jam nuts and installed them against the cinch nuts and tightened them plenty tight. The front shackle bolts did not leave enough threads to do this so I put the cinch nuts in the press and put 10 ton to them, this put a little more cinch to those cinch nuts.

The zerk fittings on the shackle bolts are about the weakest POS I have ever seen. The break at the slightest tap, I broke one installing it. After that I was not going to have anything to do with those things. I tapped the end of the bolts to accept steel zerks, for all shackle bolts.

Thats all for the weekend.

 

[dngspot]

Tonight I removed a resistor I placed in the charge light contact for the alternator. My thought for putting it there was, I did not have the light holder for the charge light in the dash. A couple days ago I was at the local Toyota dealership looking for a grommet for the hood prop and under hood bumpers, so I asked if the holders were available, the were. So in went the light and out went the 50 ohm resistor. No pics of this looks like a bunch of wires anyway.

I also installed the brake proportioning valve. I used new line at the master cylinder and the old stuff after the valve. I placed it sideways for clearance, it follows the angle of the hood.

 

[dngspot]

I came home tonight with the intention to install the fuel lines and a fusible link for the electric fan. I managed to get the fusible link in but the fuel system was a bit different. I stopped on the way home and picked up fuel line, then came home and started to work. After the fusible link I thought now that I have most of the electrical system done, lets look at the propane setup. I pulled the snorkel out and soon found out that any place I positioned it the hood was not going to shut. So I pulled out my straight edge and put it across the fenders and found about 1.25 inches, at the minimum, was what was needed. I had bought a body lift kit a very long time ago and have sat on it, even gave thought selling it, glad I did not. I removed 3 of the blocks and the hardware for six blocks. The bed bolts were just the right size for what I needed. I cut the blocks in half, the lift was for 3". Then the install happened. I do not appreciate body lifts, but this one was born out of necessity.

Oh yea, the fuel lines were partly finished, damn if I did not get enough.

Front mount.

How the truck sits now.

The snorkel for the propane mixer. This is about the location it will be installed. I guess the hight of the Holley is a bit taller than the stock carb.

 

[dngspot]

Yesterday I installed the bracket for the propane regulator and the mixer on the snorkel. I stopped when I realized I had the wrong fittings for the heater hoses. That was fine because I thought tees supplied took up too much room near the regulator. So I called about every hydraulic hose and plumbing house I could think of to find a brass 5/8 tee. The last auto shop I asked said he thought they were at Lowes or Home Depot. During lunch I went to Home Depot and found those Shark fittings for PEX plumbing. The 3/4 tee turns out to work perfectly for 5/8 heater hoses. The rest of the fittings came from a hydraulic hose place our dealership works with.
Tonight I installed the heater lines and the vapor hose to the mixer. The only plumbing left is the pressure hose from the tanks. I had to remove the keyed fuse block, I will place it next to the battery powered block. I also moved the right harness to sit on the wheel well so I could swing the snorkel closer to the fender. I need to build a bracket to support the snorkel, it will mount to a bolt on the side and then back to the intake manifold.

Here is the pic.

 

[Sam Stewart]

Looking great! How close are you to being able to fire it up? Just the lines to the tanks?

 

[dngspot]

The fuel tanks are going to mounted in the bed. I have not built the bed yet.

 

[dngspot]

The first three coats are on. One more of the tan bed coating then two coats of the khaki.

 

[dngspot]

I have put the last coat of Khaki on the truck. I think it would look better in camo. This is why I chose the Khaki, with a little olive drab and black I think it would look pretty good. The problem is I do not want to paint the bed camo, it is to be black. When I finish the bed I will decide what to do next.

 

[dngspot]

I ordered more paint, it should be in next week. The streaks are not blending in. No more spray bombs for me, next I pull out the gun.

I've started on the bed. I'm building it upside down, seems the best way to make sure it is square. Yesterday I cut and welded the top rail. I've had this metal since '00, it is a bit rusted, so I buffed off the rust.

On all edges that will be seen I ground the welds flat.

Today, after work, I started on the lower part of the frame. I cut and welded in the corners. I had to stop, a neighbor came over with beer and said it is too hot for you to be welding. I was not going to turn that down. So I stopped.

After he left I went out and welded in the front and back lower frame. I will work on the sides tomorrow.

 

[dngspot]

I finished the outer portion of the frame. The frame is 73.5 inches long and 63 inches wide. It is as wide as the cab.

 

[dngspot]

Well I sort of finished the flat bed frame.

Excited and all, I grabbed a neighbor and he helped me lift it on to the truck. Then, WTF, the wheel well is in too far forward. Looking at it for a few then I realized what I did wrong. In the plans from Joe Chacon's site
the measurements do not work for a long bed first generation pickup. So I measured from the bed to the center of the rear axle and inserted my own numbers. Hell, that is a recipe for danger in its self. Anyway I inserted the number for the lower rail and wheel well connection to the top rail and wheel well connection. This moves the wheel well forward about 6 inches. So now I have a few days of removing and salvaging what I can. This is what it looks like now.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Live and learn, right man?

Looks sick, I can't wait to see the finished product!

 

[dngspot]

Some times I feel like I have lived to long to learn anymore. Hell. I cant remember where my keys are half the time.
Thanks for the complement.

Fixed. Before I started I measured the center of the axle and transfered that mark to the underside of the top rail. Sat down and modified the drawing I have to reflect all cuts that had to be made. Then started to use what I could and cut new when needed. Monday night I finished removing the material that had to come off. Yesterday I came home at noon and started work, and stayed at it until 7:30. Today I spent two hours and am at Sunday before I realized that I screwed up, now that is progress.

Fixed 1

Fixed 2

 

[dngspot]

Measurements correct, and looks like it should on the back of the truck.