Builds xStogiex's 1986 Toyota Pickup 2WD 4 Speed Restomod
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Really? Mine match...
Just got a email coupon 20 Ton on sale for $150.
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- #45
Thanks for the advice... and heads up on the coupon! I ended up picking up the 20 Ton. Yay for new toys.
Don't suppose you need another parts rig - but this is about 30 minutes south of Toledo - claims the motor is tied up. Trying to sell the bed primarily.
87 2WD Bad Motor
87 2WD Bad Motor
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- #47
Sorry, I've been MIA for a bit and just now seeing this. Looks like the ad has since been removed. I appreciate the heads up though. I haven't been able to work on the truck recently due to the lockdowns here in Michigan, and the fact that my truck is 45 min away at my grandmothers whose not in the best health. So for her sake, I have been avoiding being near her. Went to visit her for mothers day and finally setup the 20 ton press I bought in February! haha
I don't really NEED another parts car, but I guess I didn't need the first two either. It's a bad habit! My next biggest hurdle is finding all the hardware I need since much of it broke or is just so corroded that I don't want to reuse it. So those are things I'll want to buy new. Hardest thing is just finding out the sizes/length of bolts needed since the factory service manuals don't really tell you.
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- #48
Things have been a bit crazy with all the covid stuff going on... especially here in Michigan with the pretty strict lockdowns that were in place. Ended up changing jobs with different hours, and just trying to get back into the natural flow. But, I finally got out to do some work on the truck this past weekend and today. Picked a great day for it today... hail and tornado weather. Despite the weather, I got quite a bit done before the severe rain hit, and some after it stopped.
Before I get into the progress, I picked up a few things. I ordered new cab mount bolts. I know I could have found these elsewhere or used non-Toyota parts, but I found the bolts I needed for a price I was willing to pay. Six bolts, a bunch of washers and nuts, and the cab should be nice and secure (one day!). I also ordered stock length greaseable shackles and bolts. Not sure when those will come in, but the Toyota parts showed up quick!
On to the progress... I made a couple goals. I wanted to get the rear end removed, the front end suspension and steering components removed, drill out any broken bolts, and get something built to make painting the frame easier when it's time. Removing the leaf springs proved to be a huge pain since everything was so rusted together. I had to cut the nuts and shackles, and then drill out the rubber enough to hammer them out. Luckily those are getting replaced.
With the shackles removed, I moved on to the hanger bolts. I had sprayed all the bolts and nuts multiple times throughout the weekend with a penetrating oil. The nuts on the hanger bolts came off great... but the bolts weren't budging. With no access to drill the rubber out, I tried cutting them. Bought some really nice Bosch sawzall metal cutting blades, but they barely made a dent... they at least cleared the rubber out of the way for me. I couldn't find my angle grinder, so I had to go buy a new one. Using a cut off wheel, it only took a few minutes per side to get the outermost side of the bolt cut, but the inside edges took just a bit more effort. Used a pry bar to drop the springs out and after a day of fighting the springs among other projects, the rear was finally removed.
Before I get into the progress, I picked up a few things. I ordered new cab mount bolts. I know I could have found these elsewhere or used non-Toyota parts, but I found the bolts I needed for a price I was willing to pay. Six bolts, a bunch of washers and nuts, and the cab should be nice and secure (one day!). I also ordered stock length greaseable shackles and bolts. Not sure when those will come in, but the Toyota parts showed up quick!
On to the progress... I made a couple goals. I wanted to get the rear end removed, the front end suspension and steering components removed, drill out any broken bolts, and get something built to make painting the frame easier when it's time. Removing the leaf springs proved to be a huge pain since everything was so rusted together. I had to cut the nuts and shackles, and then drill out the rubber enough to hammer them out. Luckily those are getting replaced.
With the shackles removed, I moved on to the hanger bolts. I had sprayed all the bolts and nuts multiple times throughout the weekend with a penetrating oil. The nuts on the hanger bolts came off great... but the bolts weren't budging. With no access to drill the rubber out, I tried cutting them. Bought some really nice Bosch sawzall metal cutting blades, but they barely made a dent... they at least cleared the rubber out of the way for me. I couldn't find my angle grinder, so I had to go buy a new one. Using a cut off wheel, it only took a few minutes per side to get the outermost side of the bolt cut, but the inside edges took just a bit more effort. Used a pry bar to drop the springs out and after a day of fighting the springs among other projects, the rear was finally removed.
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- #49
And the hangers out, rears out!
With the rear out, I could remove the ubolts and take care of the springs. Ubolts weren't budging.. no surprise.. so I just cut them. I plan on replacing them anyway, so easier just to cut them out. I was getting tired after mowing my grandmothers 5 acre property and working in the heat on the truck so I wasn't paying attention and nicked the axle housing with the grinder... dang it. Luckily, I didn't go all the way through, but I guess I'll just have a bead welded and grind it smooth. I know I'll be frustrated if I leave a gouge in it when I go to paint.
Finally got to use the 20-ton press and press out the bolt, bushing, and metal collar out of the leaf spring eyes. Worked flawlessly. Rear is now ready to be dissasembled completely for bearing and seal repleacements. Still need to order those. I'm entertaining the idea of going to a rear caliper setup... most ready made kits seem to be geared towards 6 lug setups, so if anyone has any suggestions for a 5 lug replacement that works, I'm all ears.
With the rear out, I could remove the ubolts and take care of the springs. Ubolts weren't budging.. no surprise.. so I just cut them. I plan on replacing them anyway, so easier just to cut them out. I was getting tired after mowing my grandmothers 5 acre property and working in the heat on the truck so I wasn't paying attention and nicked the axle housing with the grinder... dang it. Luckily, I didn't go all the way through, but I guess I'll just have a bead welded and grind it smooth. I know I'll be frustrated if I leave a gouge in it when I go to paint.
Finally got to use the 20-ton press and press out the bolt, bushing, and metal collar out of the leaf spring eyes. Worked flawlessly. Rear is now ready to be dissasembled completely for bearing and seal repleacements. Still need to order those. I'm entertaining the idea of going to a rear caliper setup... most ready made kits seem to be geared towards 6 lug setups, so if anyone has any suggestions for a 5 lug replacement that works, I'm all ears.
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- #50
On to the front... wow, this is rusty. I'm not going to try salvaging much here... control arms have rust holes all the way through. I pushed a screwdriver through the side... not good. Calipers were seized and shocks were barely recognizable. Oddly the one thing I probably won't be using was in great shape... the spindles. I'll be going to a 2" drop spindle, but I guess I'll set these spindles on the shelf just in case! Even if it takes a bit longer to finish, I'm just buying new stuff here. I removed upper control arms, spindles, brakes, rotors, shocks from both sides, but haven't taken the torsion bars and steering components off yet. I'm going to let those soak for a while with penetrating oil so they don't fight me so much.
With most of that removed, I started drilling out the broken rear engine mount bolts in the crossmember. Had a buddy weld a nut on them.. that didn't work. Heat didn't work. Also tried using an extractor set to no avail. No chance saving the threads. I'm just going to drill them completely out and drill two windows in the underside of the crossmember so I can use a nut on the bottom of the bolts. Not ideal, but not much I can do at this point.
Oh, and got the engine setup on the engine stand rather than sitting on a tire. Could only find 100mm bolts on short notice, so I just stacked a bunch of washers. Meh, it'll hold!
With most of that removed, I started drilling out the broken rear engine mount bolts in the crossmember. Had a buddy weld a nut on them.. that didn't work. Heat didn't work. Also tried using an extractor set to no avail. No chance saving the threads. I'm just going to drill them completely out and drill two windows in the underside of the crossmember so I can use a nut on the bottom of the bolts. Not ideal, but not much I can do at this point.
Oh, and got the engine setup on the engine stand rather than sitting on a tire. Could only find 100mm bolts on short notice, so I just stacked a bunch of washers. Meh, it'll hold!
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- #51
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- #52
Sunday evening, I brought my bench seat home from the green pickup. Got out a small shampooer made for cleaning up pet stains and attempted to clean the seat. Seems to be looking better. I was a bit too worn out to finish the whole thing, so I still have the seat back to do, but the bottom portion is looking good. I'm going to take a piece or two of the green truck interior out each time I go out and deep clean/restore each one at home. Once a piece is cleaned and ready, I'm going to wrap them in plastic/paper whatever I can to protect them, and they are going into storage. Being on a farm, mice and other animals are always a concern, so I want to get that interior protected sooner rather than later. Having it cleaned and ready when it's time to put them in will save a lot of headaches. You can tell which parts were cleaned and which were not. Had over a gallon of dark water, so it was definitely cleaning well. Hopefully will finish cleaning the seat on Thursday after work.
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- #53
And final update from working on it today. I had the day off, since we were supposed to get bad storms. I came up with a plan to help me clean and paint the frame. Since I am mostly doing this on my own without a proper shop, and buying tools as I can, I need to be able to do heavier lifting and adjustments on my own. My dad comes out to help if he can, but when I paint the frame I'll most likley be on my own. Without a lift, I still wanted to be able to elevate the frame so I could paint underneath easier. I'm not feeling as young as I used to, so the less bending over or laying on the ground, the better. Came up with this plan... pulleys, rope, and some eyelet bolts.
I used long eyelet bolts, double nutted with a metal washer and nylon washer on each side of the mounts. Used 4 total... the front cab mounts near your feet, and the second row of bed mounts. Sandwiched the mounts with the eyelets and used a self tightening not to secure them to pulleys mounted to cross beams in the ceiling. For now, these are just tied off to each verticle 2x4, but I plan on connecting them together at the ceiling so I can use a block and tackle to lift the entire frame at the same time. Even having the block and tackle lifting just the front, it took barely any effort to move. It's currently hanging a couple feet up with no issues. I should be able to lift it 6-7 feet if I need to, although I think 3 or 4 feet should be enough for easy painting.
I used the nylon washers to hopefully reduce the risk of damaging the factory coating, and give the bolts a little bit of play to maybe lessen the chance of something bending. All hardware and ropes were rated for way over the weight of the frame, so I should be able to use this, with some minor modifications, to help me put the cab back on when it's time.
I used long eyelet bolts, double nutted with a metal washer and nylon washer on each side of the mounts. Used 4 total... the front cab mounts near your feet, and the second row of bed mounts. Sandwiched the mounts with the eyelets and used a self tightening not to secure them to pulleys mounted to cross beams in the ceiling. For now, these are just tied off to each verticle 2x4, but I plan on connecting them together at the ceiling so I can use a block and tackle to lift the entire frame at the same time. Even having the block and tackle lifting just the front, it took barely any effort to move. It's currently hanging a couple feet up with no issues. I should be able to lift it 6-7 feet if I need to, although I think 3 or 4 feet should be enough for easy painting.
I used the nylon washers to hopefully reduce the risk of damaging the factory coating, and give the bolts a little bit of play to maybe lessen the chance of something bending. All hardware and ropes were rated for way over the weight of the frame, so I should be able to use this, with some minor modifications, to help me put the cab back on when it's time.
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- #54
I didn't have any locking d-rings to attach the pulleys to the eyelets, but I'll be switching those out before I go too high with it. I'll just feel safer that way.
The only spots that I won't be able to paint this way will be under the washers on the cab and bed mount locations. After the frame paint is dry and cured, I can lower this down, remove the bolts, and touch up those 4 spots. I will be painting the frame with a high solids expoxy PPG Amercoat paint, and a polyurethane top coat from PPG as well. So I shouldn't have any problems painting it after the fact, and the poly top coat should flow together nicely. These paints are rated for over 10,000 hrs of direct salt spray, so hopefully I won't have any rust worries in the future anyway.
So yeah, that's not a ton of progress, but a lot of info posted. Things basically took longer than expected, and detoured working on some other parts to get a head start. All-in-all, a very successful few days. Definitely happy to be able to get back to work on it! Future updates should be coming faster now. I haven't ordered paint yet, but plan on it this week, so we'll see how long that takes to get here. In the meantime, I'll be able to prep it and get plastic setup everywhere. The epoxies will take a week or more to cure, and prep work will definitely be important.
The only spots that I won't be able to paint this way will be under the washers on the cab and bed mount locations. After the frame paint is dry and cured, I can lower this down, remove the bolts, and touch up those 4 spots. I will be painting the frame with a high solids expoxy PPG Amercoat paint, and a polyurethane top coat from PPG as well. So I shouldn't have any problems painting it after the fact, and the poly top coat should flow together nicely. These paints are rated for over 10,000 hrs of direct salt spray, so hopefully I won't have any rust worries in the future anyway.
So yeah, that's not a ton of progress, but a lot of info posted. Things basically took longer than expected, and detoured working on some other parts to get a head start. All-in-all, a very successful few days. Definitely happy to be able to get back to work on it! Future updates should be coming faster now. I haven't ordered paint yet, but plan on it this week, so we'll see how long that takes to get here. In the meantime, I'll be able to prep it and get plastic setup everywhere. The epoxies will take a week or more to cure, and prep work will definitely be important.
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- #55
Got a few hours of work in today. I attempted to remove the torsion bars with little luck. I removed the steering box, sway bar, and a few other things, but decided to just soak the entire front of the frame in penetrating oil and let it sit. I wanted to get the interior removed from the green parts truck anyway. Frame looks great with oil hiding the rust!
On to the interior... I removed the dash, cluster, kick panels, floor trim near the doors, radio, clock, shifter trim, ducting, and blower. Also removed the front grill. All pieces will eventually be cleaned up. Everything came apart fairly easy except for the passenger side vent. Had to remove it to get to the last 10mm bolt to remove the dash pad. One clip on the vent was being stubborn and I further stressed a small crack that was already there. It split, but doesn't look too bad and should be able to do a repair.
Loaded all the pieces into my Suburban to take home for further cleaning. I don't know who painted this truck green, but the overspray on the interior parts is going to drive me nuts. Should be able to get it off there, but it'll take some effort.
On to the interior... I removed the dash, cluster, kick panels, floor trim near the doors, radio, clock, shifter trim, ducting, and blower. Also removed the front grill. All pieces will eventually be cleaned up. Everything came apart fairly easy except for the passenger side vent. Had to remove it to get to the last 10mm bolt to remove the dash pad. One clip on the vent was being stubborn and I further stressed a small crack that was already there. It split, but doesn't look too bad and should be able to do a repair.
Loaded all the pieces into my Suburban to take home for further cleaning. I don't know who painted this truck green, but the overspray on the interior parts is going to drive me nuts. Should be able to get it off there, but it'll take some effort.
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- #56
Once I got home I grabbed a few parts to try and clean up. Grabbed the clock, heater control face plate, and the passenger side vent I cracked. I took the clock completely apart since it wasn't working while it was in the truck. It had a bad solder joint, so I reflowed the solder and cleaned up the boards with alcohol. All plastics, and rubber button pads were cleaned with degreaser and scrubbed with a tooth brush. I took the vent apart and cleaned each individual part the same way. Since the degreaser can really dry plastic out, I rubbed in some Wurth Rubber Care after they were dried. The stuff really helps protect plastics. Overall, the first few pieces turned out great, and the clock now works!
You can see the crack on the left. It goes all the was from that spot to the metal clip under the gear. Once the whole assembly is together it doesn't move or feel weak, but I'm going to use a plastic weld on the inside to make sure it doesn't get worse.
Also cleaned up all the contacts and the button pads. 33 years takes its toll on electronics!
You can see the crack on the left. It goes all the was from that spot to the metal clip under the gear. Once the whole assembly is together it doesn't move or feel weak, but I'm going to use a plastic weld on the inside to make sure it doesn't get worse.
Also cleaned up all the contacts and the button pads. 33 years takes its toll on electronics!
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- #57
I never checked under the shelf that was behind the bench seat (since the parts truck is an extended cab). Found the original jack and tool kit! I'll probably never actually use it as I have a different plan for that, but I will definitely be keeping these with the truck after they get cleaned up. I forgot to grab the jack before I went home, but so far the bag seems to be cleaning up well. I'm soaking it in degreaser overnight.
