When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Hey guys, I was lucky enough to come across a heavily optioned 82 SR5 with a factory sunroof. I found it about 40 miles from my place and the lady that was selling it needed money to pay rent. It didn't run and needed a handful of TLC. I bought it with the intention of getting it running and then wheeling it hard. I dropped in a little money upfront and got it running well enough to try to get it smogged. No Bueno...... spent a little more money and got it to where it would pass smog so i could get it put in my name and that's where it stopped for about 4 years. I just couldn't figure out what to do with it... also ran out of money. Should i do a swap to an EFI motor, Exo cage, flat bed? so many options but where to start???
Here it is the day I brought it home.
I made the decision that if I was going wheeling, It would need an EFI motor at best. I met a guy on CL that sold me an SDS EFI system from his truggy and i started tinkering with it.. I could never get it to work right so I just started looking for a 22RE.
Again truck was just sitting and sitting...
About 4 months later, my buddy had a 94 single cab 2wd with a running 22re! so I grabbed it and pulled everything out of the entire truck.
Finding a truck in that condition is a tough find, wish they were in that great of condition like that around here. As far as trying to add EFI to it, I would sell it and think you would be surprised at what you could get for it for the condition that it is in and buy a truck that is EFI already to make a truggy.
Just a few more pictures taken last summer just before the tear-down.
Somewhere along the lines my brother took the bumpers off and fabbed up some tube style bumpers for the front and rear. Not really to my liking but were going to change that when I put it back together.
So all of the pictures that I have posted so far were of the truck before the tear down. This next group of pictures is going to be of the tear down and then the start of the body work. This next set should take us into current date.
After reading lots of build threads and checking out all kinds of goodies. I make some decisions based on a couple things. the initial solution was to rip out the old motor and drop in the 22RE.
Those plans changed when I realized the amount of HP and torque was not really a great improvement over what was already under the hood. I then started looking at the 2RZ/3RZ setup and after much consideration and research, I decided to go with the 2RZ simply for the fact that its about $700 less and its only about 10-20- hp less than a 3RZ. I figured I could get a few bolt-ons and get the HP back.
I found a decent motor and picked it up along with a set of front and rear Toyota electric lockers and a W56 HD trans. The next items to round up are a marlin dual case adapter and a set of gears for the 3rd members.
Since I never really gave detailed specs of what is actually going back into the truck, now is a good time.
Running gear is going to be a rebuilt 2RZ motor mated to a W56 HD transmission, Custom drive lines down to front and rear factory e-lockers. The rear end is going to be built with chromoly axle shafts and the front is going to get completely rebuilt with some type of chromoly birfields and new disc brakes. As far as the motor goes, I have a few tasteful mods to be done to it but nothing spectacular in terms of horsepower. My ultimate goal for the truck is to build a show truck and then make it a daily driver. It does need to be capable of trails and snow. I do a lot of fishing and camping so it needs to go where i need it to go.
Here are a few more pictures of the tear down process.
The bed being Cherry Picked off the frame
Starting to pull the wiring and the miscellaneous stuff.
rolling chassis in my brothers shop,out of the weather.
Motor's out!
got a little wet, glad i kept the glass and doors intact.
The rust really wasn't that bad, however there were spots that needed to be addressed. The passenger side floorboard had a few little Flintstone holes so that will be addressed.
Next up was the frame. I decided to run with the All Pro Offroad 5" solid axle swap kit because it included everything I needed to install the new springs and included the front spring hanger. In addition, it came with all the necessary brackets and bushings along with the Hy-steer and the shock towers for the front.
Here are just a few pics of the frame being worked.
02-17-2016, 11:32 PM
