clark-camp

My mom bought a 1980 Long Bed 3/4 ton truck from the original owner's son for my little brother's sixteenth birthday. My brother moved to California a couple months ago and couldn't take the truck with him, so I got it as a hand-me-up. Yay! The original owner and his son took really good care of it. My brother did not. He didn't do any maintenance on the truck and pretty much just ran it into the ground. When the keys were handed over, I drove it home and checked the oil... 3.5 quarts low...

Anyway, I've been putting in a lot of work trying to get her to her former glory.

I put in a new Fan Clutch, Distributor Cap and Rotor, Spark Plugs and Wires, Battery and Battery Cables, Fuel Filter, Shock Absorbers, Various Light Bulbs and Fuses, Vacuum Hoses, Clutch Slave Cylinder, and a new PCV Valve.

I flushed the Cooling System (rusty water), the Brake Fluid (black and nasty), and the Clutch Fluid (black and nasty)

I Changed the Oil, the Transmission Fluid, and the Differential Fluid.

The Carburetor and Throttle Linkage was extremely filthy, went through two cans of carb cleaner.

I Seafoamed her too. 1/3 in the tank, 1/3 in the carb throat, 1/3 in the brake booster vacuum hose. The extremely rough/shaky idle immediately calmed down.

The Throttle Cable was fraying because the Cable Housing was broken where it met the firewall. The cable was getting stuck in the housing. Replaced both with an aftermarket universal kit that was way cheaper than replacement parts.

The Steering had almost 180 degrees of play, Tightened down the adjusting screw on the gearbox - fixed it. The Gearbox was bone dry inside, added gear oil.

I took out the vinyl floor mat and the seat and power washed the interior. No rust on the cab except for a couple small spots on the roof. The bed is a different story.

The engine has been burning really rich. Lots of carbon deposits on the plugs and it was getting about 13 mpg. I attempted to adjust the carb, but I don't really know what I'm doing. I screwed the mixture screw in 3-4 rotations before it had any affect on the idle. Another rotation and it started to die so i backed of a half turn and upped the idle a tad and left it like that. I drove it that way yesterday and it didn't seem to have any effect on performance. Next time I fill up I will see what it did to the MPG.



Pictures:

clark-camp

Some Japanese tourists saw my little photo shoot and wanted pictures with me:




Bed Rust:

clark-camp

dirtdobberoffroad

Hey good luck with the truck....Are parts hard to get over there?......LOL I bet there are not many salvage yards to pick threw.

clark-camp

I haven't even tried any junkyards yet. I'm very doubtful I could find anything useful. I will eventually go looking for a new drivers side front fender as mine has some pretty bad damage to it.

dirtdobberoffroad

any progress on the truck? or the tourists....LOL

ydopen

Sweet ride man!!!! A few rust spots welded up and fresh paint and even the american tourist would wanna take pics with it

clark-camp

Progress! (pictures up soon)

Since my initial post, I went to the local dealership and bought a few parts. I got a new shifter socket bushing and a few various boots for the shift linkage. The shifter had some slop in it but it wasn't too bad, the new socket was only $4 so I swapped it out and it is shifting so much nicer. All the boots in the shift linkage were either torn or missing and there was a ton of muck in the linkage. I got that all cleaned out, regreased the linkage and put the new boots on. I actually enjoy shifting now. Smooth and crisp compared to before.

I did some desmogging but had to hold off on a few things. I got my EGR block plates in the mail today. I cant wait to put them on. I still need to plug the air injection on the exhaust manifold.

I was all about trying to repair the rust holes in the bed and trying to save it but it seems like too much work. I'm thinking of using the bed for a while and save up to buy a flat bed for it. I think that that will be the most economical way of dealing with that problem. If I could afford it, I would buy a fiberglass bed from toyotafiberglass.

I was driving her the other day and took her up to 85 mph. No shakes or shimmies, just a beautifully sounding high revving 20r. If the transmission had a fifth gear I probably could have hit 100+



TO DO/BUY:
Fix leaky intake manifold
Rebuild carb/buy weber
Install EGR block plates
Plug air injection on exhaust manifold
Replace leaky exhaust gaskets
Paint valve cover
Regrease front wheel bearings
Buy new air cleaner
Patch rust holes in bed/buy flat bed/buy fiberglass bed from toyotafiberglass