Humble ’85 Toyota Pickup Transforms into Supercharged Trail Boss
Never ending quest for power and off-road capability leads this Yota Tech member down a rabbit hole of awesomeness.
The great thing about early Toyota pickups is that they don’t have to serve one purpose. This is a multi-functional vehicle — one that can perform equally well on the trails as it does on a daily commute, which was exactly the idea behind YotaTech member yellowtoytruck‘s latest build. The OP wanted to take his dirt cheap 1985 Toyota pickup and turn it into something that could truly do anything and everything. And by the looks of his build thread, he’s well on his way to accomplishing that goal.
“So I have been on this forum for awhile as a spectator, then as a poster with questions. Now I have decided to make a post dedicated to my continual build of my truck into a daily drive/trail rig/overland rig. I started with a 1985 Toyota Pickup 4×4 that was completely stock and came with a 22r with a blown head gasket. Think I paid $450 for it. I replaced the engine and drove it for a few years while in college after rebuilding the engine. But I kept it stock for the longest time, except for a header and a exhaust.”
Plans, of course, always change. And they certainly escalated quickly in this case.
“After I finally got settled into my job, I was able to save up and do what I’ve always wanted – build it! This make and model is by far my favorite truck out there. Fell in love with it thanks to Back to the Future. I wish it was a 22re SR5, but I’ll take what I can get. This isn’t a mall crawler, but I definitely baby her and don’t like rock rash. This is a camping, backpacking, hiking, mudding, and wannabe overlanding rig.”
With cash and dreams in hand, the OP soon found himself buying and installing a vast array of aftermarket parts. That included a 4″ ProComp lift and 35″ tires at first. But then came the biggie – a 3.4 5VZ-FE and R150 swap courtesy of Toy Only Swaps. But even that didn’t give the OP the power he was after, so he soon installed a Magnuson supercharger. And he didn’t stop there!
“Since I go up to Northern Arizona to camp and backpack, I had bad pinging going up in elevation. To eliminate that, I installed the 7th injector from URD as well as their 2.2″ supercharger pulley for even more power. I also installed an ARB winch bumper and a Warn M8000 winch.”
And of course, that wasn’t the end of this Toyota build by any means. A custom radiator and a hood with a scoop were sourced to keep the blown engine cool. And a million other little things that have only made this old Toyota pickup even more capable and reliable on every sort of road. So be sure and head over here to check out the build in its entirety!
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