Builds So now I have a BJ74...

[JTarnow]

The 13B-T that NM Frontier has does not have a throttle plate like an inline pump 3B - the fuel is controlled by a mechanical linkage to the throttle pedal. It does have an intake shutter to shut it down.

@NM Frontier , if you'll send me your email via PM, I'll see if I can send you a pdf of the engine FSM ...

Yeah I'm not familiar with the 13BT, just the non turbo b and h motors.

 

[NM Frontier]

For a second I thought everything I understood about this truck was out the window but now I just learned some good 3b tech!

@elkaholic Thant would be great! I think my CD is burried with the hard copy in there also.

 

[NM Frontier]

Got down off the mountain last weekend and met up with some pals and did a drive out west of Las Cruces in the Potrillo Mts. Made a stop at Aden Crater and Mt Riley also. Was great to take a brake from winter and enjoy some sand and sunshine, and some fellow Toyotas of course.

Leaving Cloudcroft

Aden Crater

Inside Aden

RR Crossing

Mt Riley

Lots of washouts to cross

Typical two track in the Potrillos

Lunch on the disk

Excellent Chihuahua Desert grassland up top

The sun setting as we work our way back to town.

 

[cruiserdan]

Solid-axle Xtracab, sweet.

 

[NM Frontier]

Solid-axle Xtracab, sweet.

Even came with EFI

 

[cruiserdan]

1985, the last year of real 4wd Toyota pickups in this market.

 

[NM Frontier]

Yep it's a real sweetheart!

 

[61Mk+]

Agreed!
I used to have an '89 4Runner, not solid axles at the front, but a great car.

 

[NM Frontier]

Got the 74 for out last week for a mini solo trip on the Jornada del Muerto trying to follow the old El Camino Real.

It was a great to get the truck out and put it through it's paces out in the desert.

It was also nice to finally do some camping out of it and get to see what works and how I wand to try and get some type of organization for all my camping kit. Still on the fence about going with drawers or something more modular. One thing I need to do right away is get some new rear door seals, everything was trashed with dust back there by 200km or so.

The Cruiser did great never missed a beat mechanically, I drove all kinds of roads at all types of pace and temperatures. Averaged about 20mpg over the 700km round trip, that included hwy, lots of gravel, and some slow technical two tracks.

 

[NM Frontier]

Got some more work caught up on the 74 this weekend.

First up was getting my botnet protector on I got from Ward:

Easy to put on and keeps with the 1980's theme of the truck

Just a couple of quick holes with the stepped bit

Press in the expanding nuts

And bolt it up, took about 10min in between other projects.

I did add a fender washer between the hood and the protector. It helped the angle on the protector line up better with the angle on the hood.

And found this in the bottom of the shipping tube!

Thanks Ward for the swag!

 

[wardharris]

SWEET!!!!!!!

 

[NM Frontier]

I also got to work on my storage plan for the back of the 74. Plan is to bolt down a piece of plywood cut to mach the floor of the cargo area with out the rear seats. The wood will be covered in vinyl and have three strips of L track or airline track, to mount the fridge and storage cases down. This will be a semi permanent set up, I am taking out all of the rear seat mounts to get a level floor and use the some of the holes to mount the board.

It will be similar to the back of my 80 but with out the drawers:

Here's the 80 so you have an idea where I'm going with this.

Pulling up the carpet to get to the mounts.

I have a hard time believing that Mr T used a stack of washers for the seat mounts. Do others with split seats have this same set up?

Mounts removed and floor cleaned.

I just used some silicon to fill in the holes I won't be using to mount the board and the L Tracks. I use silicon so that if I or some one else wants to remount the seats and mounts it would be easy to clean out the holes and bolt them up.

I looked at adding some sound deadening but I think I will just leave the carpet in to serve that purpose, and look at the sound mat when I tackle some of the rust spots on down the road.

I got the board all cut out and the vinyl glued and tacked on. Just waiting for the vinyl to dry and then I'll cut it to form.

The staples will all be covered up with aluminum trim on the ends and the L Track on the sides and one down the middle. L Track should be in this week and I'll get it all finished up

 

[cruiserpilot]

Hilarious! yeah, I have the same stack of washers on my rear bracket. Wait until you see the stack on the
bottom of your spring u-bolts! Beautiful truck BTW, J

 

[NM Frontier]

Thanks!

Pretty funny that this was the best idea they could come up with for the option of a split bench.

I did't have but one or two on the bottom of the u-bolts.

 

[NM Frontier]

More Progress:

Vinyl cut and aluminum edges screwed on.

L Track all mounted up.

I ended up using a couple of nut-certs along with some of the factory mounts to secure the board to the truck. All of the mounting goes through the L Track, the board, and the floor of the Cruiser. This should keep everything were it belongs. I used the nut-certs due to access above the fuel tank. If the nut-certs don't work out I think with a clever tap job and a long wrench I could use a regular lock nut on them. I was hesitant about adding any more holes to the truck but doing so kept all the mounts through the L Track.

The hardware shop closed before I made it to get some longer bolts, the ones that came with the L Track were just a bit short. Should be able to get it all mounted up tomorrow.

 

[NM Frontier]

All bolted in and ready to go.
I really like the way this turned out. The vinyl was the right way to go as apposed to carpet, much easier to slide things in and out. The back of the cruiser feels like a real cargo area now.

The tie down points can be arranged to hold down the fridge and camping gear, or set up for lumber(short cut) and a odds and ends. I think this will be a more versatile set up compared the drawers I have in the 80. Though I probably should switch the set ups around since the 80 is more of my daily driver compared to the 74.

 

[NM Frontier]

Today I got started on the second part of the build out of the back of the 74.

5052 aluminum rear door panels.

 

[fireball]

Interesting thoughts on simplicity. When I bought my truck up in BC last year and did the big road trip back, I installed a 12V Cd player with ipod hookup, a USB charger plug, and built a simple storage platform/sleeping platform out of 2x8s and a sheet of plywood, then had one heckuva fun time driving it across country.

When I got home I pulled it all apart and convinced myself I had to have it setup perfectly with a proper drawer system, electrical wiring upgrades, etc. It's been apart for almost a year now. I need to get it back together and start using it!

 

[NM Frontier]

I did the same with my 80, I "had" to have drawers and outlets and all that good stuff. That system works beautifully but there is a lot of wasted space if it is not being used out on the trail. This is an experiment for my self as much as anything as to what is the best way to travel.

When I did my El Camino Real trip I did miss the organisation of the 80. So I'm hoping this will be a happy medium when I'm done.

 

[NM Frontier]

Got one of the rear door panels done today.

Patched the hole from the speaker in the liner and added the riv-nuts.

Cut out the panel and drilled the mounting holes.

All mounted up!

Some how I totally buggered two of the holes. Some SS washers should hide it.

This was actually a pretty straight forward project. I traced the original panel on the aluminum sheet and used a jig saw to cut out the the new panel. I used 1/4-20 riv-nuts in the original holes for the plastic mounts and then some stainless button head screws to mount it. The screws aren't metric but a 4mm allen fits perfect. I'll repeat the same for the small door.

Next up is to decide whether to make my own fold down table to put on the big door or cough up the dough and use the one from AT like @AlbertoSD used.Tailgate Tray Table That one is super nice and the slide out cutting board would be nice to add some more surface area but I am just not sure about the $$ when I could make one. But man I want it!