My 1983 SR5 Long Bed Build.

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What I have been up to is cleaning the underside of the cab. I attacked the area where the rear transmission output shaft was located. It had a leak and was fixed a long time ago, but I did not clean under the cab. The first thing I used was a wire wheel; this did nothing but spray the crap all over me. The next thing I used was about 2.5 gallons of brake clean. That was like peeing in the wind. So the next thing I will use is oven cleaner. I have decided before I do that I better clear every thing out of the engine bay. I did leave only hard lines that I want paint on them, like brake, fuel and clutch. I also left the steering shaft and steering box in place. They will take paint also.

I have also changed my mind on the paint scheme. Rust Oleum makes a bed liner product in two colors, black and tan. The bumper and anything that was chrome will also be painted black. The texture is sort of like anti skid tape. I plan on painting the cab tan and the frame and flatbed black. I like this stuff over the CARC paint because of the rubberized texture and repairable ability. I have been thinking over the color for under the hood. I guess I am going to stay with black, for under the hood and engine bay. I will not be using the Rust Oleum paint for this because, it does not like temps over 200 deg.

Next I will be waiting for a warm day to move the truck outside so I can hose it down after the over cleaner has done its job.

Here are a couple pics of the small amount of progress.

 

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The engine bay is painted.

Now I wait for warm weather to paint the rest of the rig.

 

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A small teaser what color the truck will be. The Toyota logo on the side of the fender will be painted flat black. The paint is wet in the pic, when dry it will be a flat beige.

 

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With work and the stuff my wife thinks is fun to do, I find myself pulled away from what I would really like to do, my truck.
Today I started sanding the grill and light frame assemblies. I used 180 grit because I want the paint to stick and the paint is pretty gritty too. I used spray on Rustoleum Bed Liner for the grill and frames.

I also worked on the driver side fender. While prepping the inner side of the fender and wire wheeling some, what I thought was surface rust, turn into holes. So I cleaned up the mess and fixed the holes, then painted both sides of the fender.

Here is a blurry pic of both fenders.

 

[BJ_bumperboy]

hey .. you still have that original rear bumper in the first pic ?

 

[dngspot]

yep, I do

 

[Rockdwg]

this is totally Cool i love the build up, just wish i had the money, time and Garage to work on mine like this. I have a 1983 short bed Sr5, but is it one major rust bucket. Rust holes in bed a guy could stick is hand through ( LOL ) just call them my Speed Holes

 

[BJ_bumperboy]

yep, I do

whacha doin with it ? .. i have one , but am missing one of the end caps

 

[dngspot]

I have no need for the rear bumper. I was thinking of selling it.

 

[dngspot]

this is totally Cool i love the build up, just wish i had the money, time and Garage to work on mine like this. I have a 1983 short bed Sr5, but is it one major rust bucket. Rust holes in bed a guy could stick is hand through ( LOL ) just call them my Speed Holes

I do not have a bunch of money, I collected the parts over 8 years while the truck sat in the driveway. It drove my wife mad, she hated looking at it while she pulled in the garage. Time, heck, I have a full time job and a personal life too, if I gave one of those up I would be done by now. I have a 19' X 20' Garage. In front of the truck is a 4' deep bench. Each wall has equipment around it, it seems each time I am working over a fender something uses my butt as a dart board. On the passenger side my wife parks her car, which is a pain when ever I need the space to set up my welding table. You know, move her car out set up the table and if I work too late and leave her car out, she is on me like turd muffins on a diaper. Not that I am complaining, I guess the garage is better than using the curb as a head rest, while a bumper jack holds the truck up, as I pull the axle.

Coming from So. California and moving to the rust belt, I have to say, one complaint I have about the move is the F@*#ING RUST! Salt sucks.

Do not ever get rid of the little toy you have, I have had mine for a very long time. I have to say, short of time with my family, I cant think of any other place I would like to be, with a cold one in one hand and a wrench in the other, making that old rust bucket a better machine.

 

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I hate that I have not had a bunch of time to work on old girl. About the only thing I have got accomplished is the hood since the last post. I had some trouble with it the tan bed coating I put on the hood, it looked blotchy. I sanded four coats away and applied 4 more with the same results. I then went out and bought a bottle of khaki and put that on the hood, problem solved, and I like the color more anyway. With the additional coats of khaki the gritty texture comes through with out appearing as if it was painted. I then painted the fenders to match. I also removed the 4X4 badge from the fenders and painted them black, they look pretty good. I don't have any pics they would look like I did not do anything anyway.

I have been thinking of how I was going to put propane on this thing and gave Nash Fuel a call. Bill Nash, the owner, is a hell of a guy. He spent way to much time talking to me on this stuff. He came up with a kit that will work with my carb and allow me to still run gasoline. To be fair I did call Gotpropane before Nash, the guy I talked to was friendly but did not have anything that would work for what I wanted to do. I guess there is a shortage of the elbow that fits on top of the carb, Bill Nash said he was able to grab a limited supply before the elbows were no longer available from the manufacture. For those who want to use a stock carb, Bill said that he was working on on a adapter that will fit the dual fuel system to that carb, he sounded close and might be ready to sell them now.

Well look what came in the mail today.

This is a dual fuel setup for a 22r with a Holley carb. The elbow on the left of the pic is the part that is pretty rare. I would also like to note that Nash made the setup pretty easy most fittings are in the location they belong. They will need to be removed and Teflon coated and attached to what hose they belong to. By the directions this looks pretty easy to install.
I also bought two 33.5 lb tanks, they will be installed behind the cab vertically. I asked Nash to send enough clamps for one tank. Each tank will get one clamp and mounted to a plate that is welded to the front of the bed, or I may cut the brackets from the clamps and weld legs on them, then weld the legs to the floor of the bed.

I also bought a MSD timing advance box for the MSD 6A that will be going in the truck.

 

[TRoss]

Nice! Look forward to how you like the dual fuel set up. I also like the idea of cabin controlled timing... makes sense to me with two fuels.

 

[dngspot]

Thanks Ross

Not much new. Seems like prepping for paint takes a bunch of time, and the fact that I hate doing it, painting takes longer.
I finished the inside floor. I Herculined the inside with two thick coats. I am not installing this stuff for any thing other than rust protection. Since I had a quart of the Herculiner opened I put a coat under the cab also. The pic under the cab is a bit out of focus, I will take another when the second coat is applied and the frame is done.

 

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I have finished the Herculiner under the cab and the rear frame.

I also have one coat on the wheel wells and the left front frame. I kept a rag soaked in Xylene to wipe off any stray brush strokes.

I stopped behind the right front shackle. I felt that I needed to do more work on the IFS box mount, I do not feel like removing Herculiner to do it. What I needed to do was box or cap the brackets. I cut a piece of 1/4 inch material and bent it with my press brake. Then welded it in.

 

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I finished sloping on that Herculiner. I am so glad that is done, brushing that stuff over head is messy to say the least.
While the truck is still in the air, I have it on jack stands; I thought to start on the hydraulic assist cylinder. To mount it to the rear of the axle, I bent a piece of 2" X 1/4" stock for the top and the same piece not bent for the bottom. I also drilled both pieces to accept a 3/4" bolt. As seen below.

Then I cut a couple of plates from the same material, for gusseting and additional axle surface to weld to. They were tacked to the top pieces then the unit was fully welded in. Below is the finished bracket. I have to let it cool to move on.

 

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The cylinder is mounted, mostly, The bracket and tie rod need painting. Now the truck can come off of the stands. I am going to install the trans, engine and drive shafts next. I need them out of the way for room to paint the cab.
Pics of the cylinder.

 

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Today was the only time I had this week to work on the truck. I spent today working on the steering box. I did a quick search and found a youtube video, How-To: Toyota Power Steering Box Hydraulic Assist Mod - YouTube, and went to it. Most of the stuff the guy did was correct. Well it may all be correct, but not for my application. One note to make, I did read the stuff on marlincrawler's site, but did this a long time ago. With time I forget most everything, including, where I left my beer. The problem was he, the guy on youtube, said to drill and tap between the "D" and "A". And that is exactly what I did. This would have worked great if the fitting needed for the hose did not hit the front engine compartment and frame mount. So I removed the box, disassembled and cleaned the box. Then drilled and tapped in the area near the top of the sector shaft, it should be clear in the pics. Now the unit fits in the truck without any fittings making contact with the frame or body. Damn, I should have revisited Marlins Forum before I started.

The nest pics will cover the initial fitting locations. Sorry for the blurry image, but you should get the just of it.

To fix the area I drilled first, I just simply put a 1/4" plug in it, with Teflon tape.

The new location.

Inside engine bay view.

Left wheel well view.

...Between looking for fittings and a tap that is all that I managed to get done.

 

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Had some time after work and installed the lines. I added a couple 45 deg. fittings to the lower port. The 90 deg. sent the line into the steering box.

Now I need some zip ties and a clip or two to secure the lines.

 

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This is what I did with the lines. They go under the steering shaft without making contact. The item I used to fasten them to the frame is used to fasten lines to a excavator stick. If anyone is interested, I can get the part numbers and you can pick them up at your local Caterpillar dealership.
They are a bit blurry.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

That mount is gorgeous.