cheez

Hi Yotatech,
I've managed to pick myself up a stock 1990 DLX extended cab 4x4 pickup 3vze. It's been a dream of mine since I was 14 to have a Yota, and now I've got one! And I didn't pay a dime. I traded my beloved '95 Saturn SL1, a reliable, efficient, utilitarian car.

I managed to drive it all of thirteen miles before I had to have a flatbed come pick it up and drag it back to my house, there it sits. I'm finishing up my last semester of college in Burlington, Vermont and purchased the truck back in Rhode Island while home for Thanksgiving. It's there till I get back to repair it. I can't wait to get the thing on the road!

Cut to driving the truck home: filled with oil at the start of the journey, 13 miles down the road the engine developed a dry valve sort of noise, the A/T oil temp, Battery, and parking brake lights came on and stayed on for about 3 minutes. Then on comes the check engine light, at this point I've reached the next exit from the highway and am trying to limp the thing to a parking lot so I'm not stuck on the side of the highway. The engine cut off and I coasted down the road to a safe place. The dipstick it totally dry and the entire under carriage and engine from the alternator-level down is suddenly oil-undercoated.

The front main seal has to be completely gone. I'll be tearing into it with one of my friends right after I graduate on December 15th and get back to RI for a few days. It's also got absolutely no electrical action whatsoever. The battery meters out at 12.7v and the 80 amp fuse is allright. I haven't had a chance to check the fusible link that runs from the positive lead to the bottom of the 80 amp fuse (why the redundancy? can anyone help me out here I can't figure that out) and I can only figure that the fault would be there.. Any other ideas?

So heres the build thread: I'm going to post up everything that I do to the truck from day one, hopefully with picture tutorials about how to do it. I searched for a list of maintenance items to take care of on my truck having just purchased it and knowing no service history and was not able to find one. I hope to do all of this work as quickly as possible but, of course, it will be based on available funds for rig maintenance. This is going to be a daily driver which, for me, will include off road driving.

My plans include a full tune up, replacement of all fluids, repair of the leaky front main and t belt job, patched frame, replace the rusty rear shackles, custom fabbed bumpers and sliders, lockers, and a roller paint job. When the HG goes I'll either repair the 3.slow or swap in a diesel (I'm looking into getting one to rebuild shortly.)

Pics will be posted as soon as I get back to the truck and tear into it.

HighLux

Well...welcome. Sorry your first experience had to be like this.

Got any pics of the beast?

cheez

Nope, didn't plan on leaving it at home. I'll post some as soon as I can get back to it. Along with, hopefully, pictures of the job(s).

cheez

Also, I finished school! Graduation is Saturday then I'll be headed back to RI and the truck to fix it up on Monday morning. Here's a pic of my pile of parts:


Shortlist from the top of my head:

• timing belt
• 2 idler pullys
• tstat
• oil and filter
• dizzy cap 'n rotor
• new plugs
• air filter
• tensioner
• Water pump and gasket
• Cam and crank seals
• 2 fusible links and a v6 badge I pulled at the yard and was given for free! I've found it helps if instead of saying: "I pulled these two fusible links" to say: How much for them two old wires?"

And all for this damn $4 seal


Oh and I did get one picture of the truck:

It's a poor angle, but it is all I've got.

So far I'm at about $300 in parts and then I had to register it! I hope I can get it on the road and the problems aren't more serious than I thought! If they are, stay tuned for a veezy rebuild. It should be running like a top by this time next week, and I should be doin summa this:

J&Hfab

Nice truck man good score it will be nice to see the progress of your truck.

cheez

IT LIVES! The Veezy's all sealed up and ready to go. We got the engine torn down to the front main seal and it was indeed shot. I replaced the crankshaft seal, t-stat timing belt, water pump, idler pullies, and belt tensioner along with new coolant hoses and accessory belts. Getting the crank gear that the timing belt runs on was the hardest part of the job. We had to work at it from the top while rotating the crank tapping a flathead, then a small pry and eventually a crowbar between the sprocket and oil pump to get it to slide over the woodruf key. I bolted it all up and, for the first time, the engine ran! beautifully!

There is a nasty whine coming from the alternator bearing and it's not charging the battery so that would be the cause of the Battery, A/T Oil temp and Brake warning lights being on all at the same time. I'm headed to NAPA in the morning with my core for a new alt and then it'll be test-drive time!

Anyways, I'm beat after a long day of wrenching it's time for some sleep then back at it bright and early.

cheez

Well, I just got the alternator replaced and found that the truck has a K&N oil-able air filter! I've also discovered that it seems to need a new radiator, sucks that I just put new coolant in. It looked shotty but it worked when the truck borke down. Now it heats up real quick (the engine) and the top hose and tstat housing get hot, but nothing inbetween. The top of the rad core warms up while the bottom is ice cold. The rad cap is new, the tstat is in right, the water pump is new, and the fan is on the right way around. I can't think of anything else and I really need to drive this thing back to the great white north tomorrow so I'm doing a late-night radiator swap, off to pep boys! This is really becoming a major PITA, I just want it to run and stop costing me money! At this point I'm ~$700 deep in parts and haven't even driven then truck.
Pics will be posted when I have the time to take photos while working, sorry but this week has been too hectic for photography.

J&Hfab

that sucks man but hopefully the new rad will do the trick for you

cheez

New rad didn't do it, the new thermostat wasn't working. At least I have the peace of mind of a new radiator. It worked for the first day then the symptoms returned, so I swapped in the old thermostat that I took out and it's been great, runs about a third of the way up the temp dial at all times. Ive now driven it ~900 miles and it's doing great. here's how she sits now:

I took it out for a spin in the snow last night, the 4wd works great.
Ive got to fix a little hole in the frame in the coming weeks, along with replacing some rigged fuel and brake lines.

J&Hfab

nice man im glad that worked for you and u have a sweet rig to drive now

cheez

I just took the truck for its first state inspection. FAIL. I figured it would fail b/c it has a hole in the frame:


What I did not know was that the rear shackles were rusted through on both sides!


Now, that's about the extent of the frame rust. (drivers side front spring hanger and very end of frame rails) and I planned on bringing it to a friend of a friend to get the hole repaired. While the bed is off, it looks like I'm getting new leaf springs and shocks (F&R).
Since the frame will be repaired where the front shackle mounts on the driver's side frame rail, I'd like to relocate the hangers further forward to get a good strong mounting point. I'll also be replacing the shackles and hangers. If the end of the frame rails is more crumbly than I think i might just cut them off and bob the bed as it is going to be removed anyways. I'm not sure of the work involved in this (seems to me like I cut a section out of the bed to match the hunk 'o frame rail I remove. I'm also gonna have to fix a frozen E-brake for inspection.
It was really cool of the guys at the shop to give me a call while the truck was on the rack as I got a chance to monkey around under it with a flashlight and check it all out. I only found two other problems: a leak from somewhere on the auto trans and a leak from the rear diff cover.
The transmission will probably be cleaned and left alone so I can locate the leak and reassess. hopefully it's just some lines since I won't dump any money into an auto but would rather pony up the extra cash to swap in a used manual transmission.
I have a buddy who has a rear lunchbox locker which is currently installed on a 3rd member with 4.30 gears. If I find inexpensive front 4.30s I'll swap that in as well, if not I may put the lockrite in with my stock 4.10s but, as I have never taken apart a differential, I've got some reading to do.
I'm thinking about the popular Chevy 63" springs. does anyone know if I'll have to lift the front end if I do this and avoid funny-car rake? The same friend that has a lunchbox locker also has a 4" bracket lift from before his SAS. If I get into that then I'll want new tires so my stockers don't look ridiculous. I'm open to any suggestions on the leaf springs, but I won't drop more than $300 for a set.
It looks like my truck is going to go through a bit of a transformation in the next month or so, but I should have a trail-ready rig when I'm all done.

rattlewagon

Dam dude! Cant catch a break with this truck huh?

The chevy springs will give you about 2-3 inches of lift, doesn't look too bad at all, can kind of see here. But will be lower than the 4" bracket lift.

cheez

It looks like you've just done the same thing pulling the bed for rust and doing the 63s. It's okay though, I've been stir crazy without a place to work and now that I've GOT to do it, all I have to do is find a shop, and que the music. And it really didn't look out of place without a lift up front on your truck. I'd rather be 3" raked in the back than 5" sagged as I currently am with the cap and tools in the bed.

cheez

Apparently I can't catch a break with this truck...it's a bit too rusty in the back so I'm throwing in the towel on this one and searching for another. /end.