Project "Wrinkles" 91 4x4

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B613

B613

Joined
Jan 14, 2016
Threads
6
Messages
50
Location
central Pa USA
I just thought I would post some work I have been doing on my beater truck. This truck has been beat to death by a family friend since he bough it new. I remember being a kid and seeing this poor truck airborn, swamped in a pond, run into trees, driven drunk, rode hard and put away wet.... Since the early 2000's it has changed hands several times. It has had many different engines and trannys in it. In late 2013 I found the truck out behind a barn being used as a dumpster inside and out....it was sad... sunk into the ground covered in scrap parts waste oil and cow manure. It had no fuel door and the fill neck and tank was full of water and leaves. I convinced the owner to sell it to me for $600 this included an 86 parts truck with a perfect running well maintained 22r and tranny....And a title. I towed them home and started working on it. Several hours with a shop vac pressure washer and cleaning out rats nests and dead rats....I had something that resembled a truck. I took me about a week to clean the carb and tank, change fluids. I got the truck running. The 22re that had been in the truck had a huge hole in the side of the block from being driven at 70 mph on a long road trip after the engine had been locked up from the Previous owner driving into a 4' deep mud hole. there was more water than oil in the pan. Needless to say the sweet running 22r from the 86 truck was dropped in. The 22re harness and ecu was messed up anyway so now things are simplified and it runs great. I fixed all the bugs and drove the truck for two years to haul firewood. I cut about 20 yota loads every summer. Its about a 10 mile round trip each load and the little truck worked flawlessly... At the end of wood season this year the truck needed attention. The rear end was leaking on the brakes and the body had a bunch of problems (too many crashes) and a laundry list of other problems. So I fixed all the major problems and painted it olive drab. This truck had little rust and the frame is in excellent shape so I figured it was worth fixing. I didn't use any bondo on the dents. I fixed any rust or structural issues but left the dents. I love the wrinkled panels. they tell the story of the truck.....sort of like wrinkles on an old weathered face. I did a bunch of mush needed maintenance and electrical work.....then My produce guy gave me a nice fiberglass cap for free....I love running a cap in the winter even if it looks like "an old man truck" as my wife would say. Here is what the truck looked like after I got it running and was hauling wood with it. Sadly I dont have a pics of it the day I picked it up.


Last winter Now with dry rotted 31's



Here is the parts truck that came with my purchase. (1986 with 22r) Its a beauty! haha



Last week I got some BJ spacers and installed them.... I also used some leaves from a spare set of yj springs to make a lift in the rear... I got a total of 3" I still need to fix the alignment and some other things but Its getting there. My new tires will be getting here tomorrow. as well as a new fuel pump, radio and speakers. I will post pictures when I get them. I am going to be running Dick Cepek Extreme country 33 10.50 15's and i cleaned and painted an old set of 15x8 wagon wheels. I would love to keep the wheels i have on the truck now but since I did the BJ spacer the tires are majorly rubbing the UCA. The new wheels have 3.75 backspacing and give the tire lots more room. Here are some before and afters of the lift.

Before:



After:



Also, Here are a few videos of the truck playing around in the snow last winter.



Really Stuck!



I will post more pics once I get the tires and wheels on. Thanks for looking!!
 
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My tires came via UPS today.....They were the last thing on the guys truck at 5pm and he seemed kinda grumpy. First impression is they look tall and skinny... I dont like measurements the website gives you, so here is what I got with a tape measure in my hand. 32.0" tall, 9.0" wide. This should help prevent rubbing... I hope. The tread looks nice an open. I really like the square shoulder look and the beefy DC logo sidewall tread. They dont feel as heavy as I though. The shipping label says 56lbs but they dont feel that heavy. I will try to weigh them before I mount them.

I love getting new tires!



Here they are next to my bald 31's. They actually measure 29x10 on a good day.










Hopefully they fit without rubbing. before the 31's, I had 32.11.50 and they didnt rub at all so I think with the 3" lift I did they shouldn't rub.

Here they are next to the 32's on my jeep....Just for comparison.








Here are the rims I will be putting them on. 15x8 3.75 bs. The tires look tiny because the rim is just sitting on them.


Looks like I have enough room.....? "I'm Ron Burgundy?"






Ready to go! I'm hoping the wife lets me sneak out in the morning. My friend has an old firestone tire machine he lets me use. I will mount them and post some pictures ASAP. I also will try to allign everthing when the truck is up in the air tomorrow. Thanks for looking!

 
Were you pulling the f150 out in that last picture?
 
Haha no.... If you watch the video you will see that the ford and I are stuck and im hooked to the ford and the ford is hooked to my buddys 5-ton army truck with about 400' of winch cable up on flat ground. the army truck was pulling both of us.
 

HerI finished the alignment... What a nightmare! The lower control arm bushing were completely rusted to the cam bolts. I have been beating torching and using every means possible to break them free. I ended up cutting them out and pressing in new bushing...and making new cam bolts. Im so glad that is over. I also painted the grill and fog lights flat black. I took the truck up on the mt. The road was packed down and icy from snowmobiles but there was no snow on them. The tires did well. It was starting to melt so they really chewed down in some spots. Nothing too extreme, but so far so good! I was also thrilled with how smooth they were on the road. I mounted them myself in my friends garage and did not balance them. No shimmy or shake and very quiet! I will give some updates and hopefully some videos once I get to run them in some more serious 4x4 terrain. 5-stars so far!

Here are a few more pics.....







 
I took the dick cepek tires on a decent outing today. I went through some snow....mud, ice, hill climbs, I drove up a washed out road that was basically a rocky rutted creek bed with about 8" of water flowing down it. I also had to drag a large downed tree out of the way so my friends f150 would fit through the trail. The tires performed flawlessly. I only have about 100 miles on them but so far I am very pleased. My buddy has a video on his phone. I will post it if I can get it from him.
 
Thank you! Now my next phase is gears... I would like to get 4.88's but I also picked up these trinkets the other day td04 and intercooler off of a wrx...... Not sure if I should go for it or not. I turbo'ed my old sas tacoma years ago with good results but have never tried a carbed turbo engine. Thoughts?

 
IMO don't do it to a 22r/e I looked into doing it and the amount of work you need to do engine and computer wise isn't worth it. For the same amount of money you'd spend you could easily do a 3rz swap.
 
I have turbo'd a few non turbo engines in the past and have never had a head gasket issue. I have always kept the boost low and im a pretty conservative driver... or maybe I am just lucky.
 
My suggestion is to Google search turboing a 22r or re. youll find a lot of people end up having tons of issues with compression and the computers not being able to handle it. Some go for a turbo computer and the engine will need to be torn down and rebuilt with the turbo 22re parts if you want any boost over 5 psi if I remember correctly.
 
I am not totally sure on which direction I will go either. I have also thought about just putting some turbo pistons in it and doing a draw through propane setup....That would be pricey but cool. I will continue my research and let you know what I end up doing!

Here is one more picture from this weekend.

 
Well....I just ordered a set of 4.88 gears and a master install kit for the rear. I will do the front later. I will let you know how it goes! Then if my truck explodes you will know what not to do..... haha! I will do the gears first and then see if i still need more power before I do the turbo or engine swap.
 
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