shakes_24

So heres my situation.... I recently bought a jetta TDI as a dd and am really enjoying the 50mpg..With this purchase my 90 pickup is now a project. I knew it had rust but upon removal of the front fenders it's much worse than I thought. Floor,inner rocker, outer rocker, inner fender near fire wall. All these areas are shot... Truck looks good from a distance as PO hung new fenders and box sides. Plan for the truck was to swap the SA from my 84, which has a junk frame. So my dilema is as follows... The 90 is insured and inspected so I can do whatever and it's street legal but it needs Extensive body repair... The 84 is not road ready and has a junk frame but the cab is decent , with some new fenders and slight body work would be solid. Also the 84 will only run with fuel poured down the carb and has no seats etc.... What do I do.... looking to build a mild wheeler/work truck with flatbed on 35's.The frame on the 90 is solid and the 22re runs great... any feed back appreciated

slacker

iTrader: (1)

send it to me for repairs !!



http://www.toyotafiberglass.com/customerpics.htm



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john4wd

Swap body onto 90 frame with the 22R-E engine and then build a custom flatbed, the 90 xtra cab body maybe longer than the 84 xtra cab body, can't say for sure I have no way to messure an 84-88 xtra cab body and compair to a 89-95 xtra cab body, I did put a 89-95 bed on a 84 xtra cab truck and all but the last 2 bolts by tailgate didn't work. Just get out tape messure and see how it would work out since you have both trucks :}

kirkerik

i think u know what u need to do!

Just figure on THREE times as much time as you think you'll need.

good luck

shakes_24

kirkerik... it just seems to me to keep one truck as it is would save ALOT of work... the logical answer is to put the 84 cab on the 90 frame... but then I'm still faced with wiring issure and a SAS.... to look at it the other way i could redo the rear of the frame on the 84 but then I have a motor i know nothing about and an unfinished interior .... I think i need to move outa the rust belt

shakes_24

I own a well equipt shop to do the work.... and I have some mechanical/fab skills... I just dont want to waistr my time as I work full time and have 2young kids...I'm not a body work pro... but I am leaning that way unless someone can talk me out of it ....

Hadmatt54

Does anyone in your area bring up rust free cabs and boxes from the Southern States?
Here in the Maritimes there are a few that do, there are some local in N.B, but RACO MANAGEMENT CO. LTD. in Truro N.S. used to bring in a lot. With a solid frame to start with the easiest and fastest way to rebuild your 90 would be a rust free cab and box. It won't be cheap, but when your done you will have a solid vehicle, it won't be rust on top of rust.

shakes_24

I have been keeping my eye out for a rust free (or close to it) cab but no luck. I would like to keep this thing as cost effective as possible as the sas and tires will eat up a lot of my budget. Does anyone make replacement floor panels? I know wolf steel does rockers but I didn't see and floors on there site. I am not opposed to the 84 cab but the wiring of the 22R-E into that cab frightens me.

john4wd

Your best bet is to start searching craigslist in area's in the west and south out of the midwest and upper US to get away from rusted trucks and try to find a rust free cab and then go get it, and there is a parts search web site where salvage yards all over the US post what they have, your going to have to do some extensive searching for the 89-95 pre Taco cabs, we can't do it for you, it might take a while to find one, or just do the 84 to the 90 truck swap. Start looking :}

PS.
The cab and innerdog house is unibody spot welded together so when looking for a cab to make it easier is to find a non wreaked one and get the whole thing stripped and all together, you can drill out the spot welds on your 90 truck inner doghouse to cab and just leave that attached to the frame, but then you have to reattach to the new cab and bolt it together and I can tell you from experience (because I did it on a 87) is do-able because I did do it that the bolts that are behind the heater assembly (where heater core is) is tight and a pain to do, so just get the whole cab and inner doghouse together will save you alot of time!!!!

Greg_Canada

Might just be easier to buy a southern truck and use yours for parts....

shakes_24

Like I said there's a budget here can't just be buying trucks

kirkerik

yeah shakes, that's a tough call. Wiring is no fun. It may be tricky to mate the two different trucks body to engine and computer stuff. i don't know about that...

I also hear the SAS is a big deal. Not cheap either... you could hold off on the solid axle swap till later down the road. Is the IFS in working order.

will the seats and interior from the 90' work in the 84' cab?

Might be worth considering selling the good parts/stuff you have and use the money to get a decent southern truck that's rust free.

Having said that, you could go for it too. You do have a nice shop you say, right?

Either way you have a nice VW tdi to get you by till your truck is rolling again.

kirkerik

Sounds like this may be the deciding factor? Do you feel like modding the two trucks in to one is a waste of time? Would you enjoy the work? Would you rather be w/ the kids? (just fine if you do) Could you include the kids in the project? Can the project sit idle in the shop for some time and work on it when you can?

priorities-which ones make you happy?

kirkerik

Could you get a frame for the 84' truck?

exist

If you can make inner rockers the wolf steel outer rockers are nice, same with cab corners.. The issue is the inner fender area near the firewall - can be a pretty big pain in the ass to work around there and at that point you'll be chasing rust forever with this thing.

Your best bet is to tear the SA out of the 84 as well as the trans/tcase/third members and scrap the rest.. I'd dare say find a 2wd 89+ and do the swap on that, you get better frame clearance if I remember correctly. You'll be doing some cutting and dicking around, but you'll be doing that with a solid axle anyways - then just keep your rusted out 90 and use it as parts when you need them (like the steering box / rear diff etc.) for the 2wd sas.

shakes_24

I don't see putting the two trucks together as a waste of time. many people do it this way. Its just the difference in generation will make it more of a pain. My kids a very young. I spend lots of time with them. I work outside when they are with mom or sleeping.The truck can sit for as long as it takes.

After thinking about it I think I would like to keep a 3rd gen cab.... I like the 2wd idea.... So I may hold off and keep my eye open for a 2wd....

OrRunner

iTrader: (1)

From reading this, seems that money and time are the issues. I would contact:

http://www.toyonlyswaps.com/

and see what they would charge to make up a wiring harness for your needs. Saves time and I don't think they are that expensive. How much is your time worth when it comes to wiring. For me, having someone else do the wiring is worth the money.

My .02

Terrys87

iTrader: (1)

The frames are not interchangeable. But if you look at them they are quite similar. Since you have fab skills, making new mounts shouldnt able an issue. Also since you are doing a flatbed, the bed issue would be non existant.

As far as the wiring. The wiring will stay with the cab. Use the wiring that the cab came with would be my advice. Dont try swapping wiring harnesses.

On my 88 rebuild, I have the steps on removing the body. It is really quite easy. Nothing to be intimidated about. It will be on my 88th post.

I have done a few frame swaps and I can see your rear cab mounts might be an issue, as one is standard cab and one extended, but like you said, you could weld. I might would measure the width of the frames and see if there is a difference before I started.

I see your situation, and about the only thing I could suggest is to swap bodies and see what you got. It isnt anything you couldnt undo and wouldnt cost anything. Other then time being an issue.

I have helped a few others swap frames in person and through the website and each one was really surprised at how easy it was.

Hadmatt54

The main problem with the wiring is the fact that the 84 is a 22r and your 90 is a 22re. Is your 90 auto or manual? Your best bet might be to put the 84 cab on your 90 frame, but then source a wiring harness, computer and injectors from an 85. 85 was the first year of the 22re, the body is the same as the 84, so the 85 wiring harness should drop right in. The only problem is you will have to change the injectors in your 22re because they are high impedence (13.8 ohms) and the 85 used low impedence injectors (1-3 ohms).
I've got a good 85 22re harness, ecu, etc but it's an auto. However I do have an 86 22re manual ecu that will work with the 85 harness with out too much trouble.
I just threw this out there as another fairly cheap option to getting a running truck on the road.
But the 2wd drive 90 option might be a good one too!