Tofer's 1981 Pickup Build-up Thread

[Tofer]

well i finally got time to wash and take some pics of my new 81. i got it from aunt cuz it wouldnt pass smog. its been sitting in her drive way since 91 with limited useage. i ran a can of sea foam through the carb and in the crank case, but i think "cleaning" it ended up blowing out the HeadGasket.. so now i have a much bigger project. hopefully this spring break i will be able to rebuild it. front view side view.. i am tempted to take the top off but i am not sure. you can see the lil bit of body rust thats on the bed. my final plans are to sand it down and repaint it. surface rust on the bumper... i will de-chrome it and paint it black. other then that there isnt much rust on it.. its been in CA for most of it life. so the frame is clean. the lil 22R for being 25 years old,, the inside isnt in too bad of shape 122K on the odo..

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[jethro]

Awesome "new" truck man. I've never seen anything like it.

I thought the odo said 22,XXX miles on it. Actually I still do...

Anyway, have fun with the new project.

Edit: I'm and idiot, obviously the odo just rolled over. That one had me wondering. I guess I'm used to the new fancy technology these days.

[Silver_Truck]

nice find! I like the buckets and the tach and the wood grain and...wow that thing is alot nicer then our brown shop 86. What makes you think the HG blew?

[Tofer]

it over heads even tho i have pulled the thermostat and the oil is milky colored and water is "disappearing" from the radiator....

[stevrock]

That is awesome, looks like it's in good shape, expecially for an 81.

[Elton]

so whats the plans with it

[Tofer]

Originally Posted by Elton

so whats the plans with it

rebuild it, get it to pass smog. take the canopy off, repaint it. have it as a DD / back up truck. and then MOD the crap out of the runner

OR....

rebuild it, get it to pass smog, repaint it, and sell it. then buy an 80-85 4x4 and do it all over again. and De-MOD the runner to have it as the DD



*edit* oh ya add a Cherry bomb Glass pack since the stock muffler is shot

[kyle_22r]

i'd stay away from the cherry bomb, they tend to sound awful. i'd ditch the junk stock manifold(84 and older were garbage designs made for a forklift) and put a header and a good 2" exhaust system on.

nice little truck! once the head gasket is fixed, it'll be good to go for a half million miles

[Phssthpok]

Originally Posted by kyle_22r

i'd stay away from the cherry bomb, they tend to sound awful. i'd ditch the junk stock manifold(84 and older were garbage designs made for a forklift) and put a header and a good 2" exhaust system on.

nice little truck! once the head gasket is fixed, it'll be good to go for a half million miles

two questions:

1) Does the 'junk' status apply to the dual-outlet Celica manifolds as well?

2) Would a regular 'turbo' style muffler behind a glasspack still sound terrible? I had plans for a 'collector-flanged' glass-pack backed up by a 'turbo' style turned out to exit in front of the tire.

[kyle_22r]

the "junk" manifolds i'm talking about are the 20R/some 22R pieces with a single outlet and one large chamber that all 4 ports feed into. i know the '85-up trucks uses a manifold with 4 primary tubes that merge into 2 pipes where they exit the manifold, and are usually combined back together further down in the exhaust system, like a full length tri-y header.

if you can stick your finger in the #1 port and see it in the #2 port, it's the cheesy one.

i know that some turbo mufflers sound really good with a proper exhaust system. actually, even a cherry bomb could sound OK with a full length system -- mine sounds really bad, since it dumps right after the muffler itself magnaflows are always recommended from what i've heard.

[Phssthpok]

Originally Posted by kyle_22r

.

i know that some turbo mufflers sound really good with a proper exhaust system. actually, even a cherry bomb could sound OK with a full length system -- mine sounds really bad, since it dumps right after the muffler itself magnaflows are always recommended from what i've heard.

AHHhh... Kinda like how a classic Flowmaster needs the extra piping after the the outlet to modulate the sound, or it winds up sounding like a 'fart-can' muffler. (found THAT one out the hard way on my Sebring )

[Beast]

Originally Posted by ToferUOP

it over heads even tho i have pulled the thermostat and the oil is milky colored and water is "disappearing" from the radiator....

water is going in to the cylinders

pull it apart or you are going to have rust problems if you let it sit to long

good luck

[Tofer]

ya... i am in the process of replacing the Head Gasket and timing chain now. with limitd tools, limited knowledge, limited work space (the paking lot you see behind it in the pics) limited time,...... its a slow goin process but i am makeing progress.

[kyle_22r]

shouldn't have to worry about the timing chain -- being that it's an '81, it's got a dual row chain with steel guides.

[Tofer]

the timing chain was $13 at autozone.. since i have it that torn apart might as well..

[Scofco]

Next stop: BLINGSVILLE!

[Tofer]

thats sweet... whats sad is i thought that was a bad PS job then relized it wasnt... i was going to give you some major PS props.

[kyle_22r]

LOL, there's some younger guys(still probably older than me) up the street in a rental house, it looks like their hobby is chopping and dropping old toys like that and chevy luv trucks.

i don't know, i just don't think those trucks look very good lowered...maybe an '89-95 would be better for that.

[Tofer]

OK I will turn this into my “build up” thread. Over the last 2 Saturdays I have taken the radiator out, fan stuff, valve cover, and carb. I am working slowly, with a lot of stopping to look and memorize how I did it. The way I look at it, I am not in a rush to get it done, so I can take my time and do it right. I have been working a couple hours on it the last couple Saturdays but with spring break coming up an couple weeks, progress should be made quickly. There isn’t much to take pictures of, but once I get the engine rebuilt, the plan to strip off the ugly pin stripes, pull off the canopy. (Although its been nice to have a place to store the “extra” parts during the rebuild, since I don’t have a garage.) I also want to Line-x the bed. Pics will follow as the build up of “Blue Thunder” progresses.

[Tofer]

ok we;; its been oh 4 months now... finally got the HG replcaed, and running again. (the 81 took a back seat to finals, work, my sas, ect...) but she runs lil rough but i need to tweek the timing a little bit mroe. well my mom said she would take it for a while and use it to take stuff to the dump ect. but heres what it looks like now





who says 2wds cant flex.

[84sr5yoty]

Looks great!!! Gotta love those stripes

[kenwoodrunner]

looks alot better! was the head warped? was the gasket blown like you thought?

[slacker]

come give us a visit .. http://toyota2wd.proboards2.com/index.cgi

there is a wicked one being built right now .

[Tofer]

Time for an update:

i've been putting some money into it since its become my daily driver again (i sold my honda to finish the motorswap on the big runner... but thats a different thread)


I painted the truck since the last pictures were posted...





Then i got new tires... Sorry no pics.

I then bought a Delta diamond plate toolbox from Craigslist... $60 i'll get pics tomorrow


Last 3 "mods" i've done to the truck is get get seats for it. they are Honda Civic SI seats imported from Japan. one of my shop neighbors imports JDM parts all the time and had them laying around. they are WAY more comfortable than the 27 year old seats.



I bought a LockRight Locker for the rear cuz every 2wd needs to be TRUE 2wd.....


and tonight i installed 2 Hella 500s




I have H4 Euro headlight conversion on its way as well. pics soon

[algranger]

nice!