My totally impractical 94 pickup (1 Viewer)

[fordoford]

Have been scouring Facebook marketplace for months and months and the 80s/90s pickups always caught my eye. I have a 97 LX but I’ve always wanted something smaller and more barebones, and the idea of a 4x4 22re with the 5 speed always got me excited. I finally had some cash saved up and started looking seriously.
Anyways, a few weeks ago just a couple minutes from my house I found a pretty interesting 94 pickup. Interior in great shape, head gasket had been done in the past few hundred miles, and the engine, transmission and clutch are all in phenomenal shape. Only 195k on the truck. I met up with the guy who owned it and got him down to 3k on the price so bought it without doing as much inspection as is probably smart, but I don’t regret it. It has a custom built bed, and the frame has been replated and is actually very solid now. Only issue is he sprayed the whole underside to protect from more rust. But for 3k I figured it is what it is

This is the start of my build thread. Always wanted to do one and never got around to it on my LX. So far I’ve put on a new junkyard lower control arm cause the original one was totally shot. I’ve replaced the rear drum and shoes and all brake components in the rear, and have new rotors and pads for the front but waiting to do those until I can go ahead and rebuild the axles and replace bearings and races for peace of mind. Also switched out the 33x12.5s for 31x10.5s.

The truck runs beautifully and is so much fun to drive. I think I got a pretty good deal on it but feel free to tell me I got ripped off if that’s the case haha. Planning to update this as I go. Here’s a couple pics of her

 

[Dumpolina]

That’s the coolest thing I’ve seen all day, and I saw some cool things today
Nice score!

 

[fordoford]

That’s the coolest thing I’ve seen all day, and I saw some cool things today
Nice score!

Thank you! It definitely is unique and I certainly think it’s pretty cool as well.

 

[msahr]

"A single cab Toyota mini truck is only impractical if you need to haul an elephant." - Abraham Lincoln

 

[fordoford]

A couple recent additions/fixes to the truck

1. Started seeing a very inconsistent coolant leak on the side of the engine block. Was worried it was coming right out of the block, but was able to find out that the pipe under the exhaust manifold actually had busted, aka much better than a leak in the block. I ordered a new pipe, thermostat and gasket (truck didn't actually have a t stat in it so I'm glad I was able to catch that), along with a gallon of Toyota red so that I could flush out all of the gross coolant that was previously in there. The pipe turned out to be a huge pain to get out, but I was fortunately able to do it without having to take anything else out. I'm mid coolant flush now so I'm hoping the coolant system is pretty much good to go from here on out, but who knows.

2. She randomly died about a week ago after consistent driving it all day. I was able to push start it and get it home to mess with. I charged it up with my 80 and it started really slow, but then after 30 minutes of driving it was dead instantly after turning it off, and wouldn't start even with a jump. I was really confused but figured the battery was just totally shot, so I switched on the battery from my 80 and got the same thing. It would just click once like the starter was bad. Once I put the old battery back on it would just click and smoke at the negative terminal then I would lose power. I went to the parts store and got new terminal clamps and cleaned up all the wiring and terminals and it started right up. Luckily it was a cheap easy fix but I was stumped for a little bit and didn't expect that to be the whole problem.

Now I have a slow leak in I think two of my brand new tires, so that's fun. I also have developed an inconsistent squeak coming from I guess some part of the suspension on the left side, so I'll have to deal with that too. I also still need to order the front axle rebuild kit so I can change out the rotors up front and knock out the axle rebuild for insurance as well.

Trying to get the truck into a reliable state for at least a couple hundred miles so I can feel comfortable taking it further and further from home.

Here's a couple recent pictures I've gotten. In the driveway with the 80 and have had the doors off the past couple weeks and storing in the garage.

 

[Manhattan]

I'm diggin' that bed!

 

[fordoford]

I'm diggin' that bed!

Thanks! I like it too. Funny enough it's actually built partly out of old street signs the PO had collected from rental homes when college guys would move out of their places.

I also just read the whole thread of your truck. That thing is sweet! One of the coolest builds I've seen

 

[Manhattan]

I also just read the whole thread of your truck. That thing is sweet! One of the coolest builds I've seen

Thanks! It's been a lot of fun restoring that truck. I'm hoping I hang on to it for a long time. But, I've said that about a lot (!) of cars/trucks.

 

[bbwolf]

for what i do that would make a near perfect work truck set up

 

[ALX4X4]

I'm in the same boat - 95 80 series and 92 LN106. And I'm happy with both of their quirks