Well, first let me say hello and congratulation on such an informative selection of articles. My name is Stephen Cooper, but my friends call my coop' or cooper'. Either is just fine with me.

I have been wanting a Toyota truck for a very long time. I have had several for and Chevy trucks, from full size blazers to 1tons, but never deep down, that yearning for a Toyota has always been there.

I have lived in the same place for 23 years, and until last week, I had never been in my neighbors back yard. Last week I went over to talk to him about upcoming deer season and lo' and behold, sitting int he corner of his back yard was an all original 1980 20r Toyota. Now, this man is what my old' man call a parts swapper, so I did really good not to get all excited and giddy on the spot. I casually asked him about the old truck we chewed the fat for a few minutes about wheeling, and 4x4's, some of my old trucks, some of his. You know.. neighborly chit chat.

Well, Today I took the truck off of his hands for 800.00 Honestly it was a little more than I wanted to pay but c'mon.. it's a straight axle yota.. and had extremely little rust. I did some research on the vin and everything came back great. No wrecks or anything negative. It was taken to the dealer at one point for a safety recall, but that's it. And, it's only had 2 owners, well.. 3 now.

The story was, that the truck had very low oil pressure. Darrell, my neighbor parked it one day and found that the timing chain was stretched and that the previous owner tried to rig it by adding tension with a piece of rubber hose.. now... how in the world he had done this.. I have no idea. I really can not see how it's possible in the little 20-R engine. Anyways, the rubber was getting shredded and clogging up the one of the oil ports. So he tore it all down and there it sat.. for 3 years.

I have been wrenching all day today. My hands are sore and my knuckles are busted. I have replaced the fuel filter, the water pump, the oil pan and pickup. New valve cover, Put the motor mounts back in.. why were they out to begin with? Starter is back in, cleaned up a little bit of wiring, bolted numerous other parts back on and replaced numerous gaskets. Drained the oil, and put a fresh filter and oil in it.

My dilemma however is this spaghetti junction of vacuum lines. Only about half of them are attached and a few of them have been plugged with screws, the rest are just dangling or plain ol' missing period. I can pour a little gas in the carb and it will fire right up.. im tending to think that the fuel pump is not working correctly.. are the fuel systems on these trucks pressurized? I have looked but have not seen any mentioning of it.

Can anyone link me, send me. or tell me where or how to get this take care of?

This is my dream truck, and it has a long way to go, but I need it run asap. I know that what work i have done to it is correct, but these vacuum lines are a bit beyond my knowledge. They all seem to be going to or from the carb and passenger side of inner fenderwell of the truck. They only thing the truck is missing is the AC unit. Which doesnt bother me one bit. I HATE cold air. I can roll the windows down just fine.

From all that I can see, so far the truck is a great deal. Solid axle yota, 5 speed, 4x4, that should be decent on gas and with a touch up of paint and some cosmetic work... it's been sitting for 3 years.. it's VERY dirty and covered in leaves and grim.. it should be a great truck to get a base project going.

It has a set of 31's on it with some old bullet hole rims, I plan on going 33's and a 3" body lift. Not sure on gear ratio yet, still debating. It will be driven 85% of the time on the road and the rest on trails and pulling my 12' bass boat. I plan on a rear locker, rhino lined bed, gotta have my stereo, and CB, Hi lift jack, rear toolbox, and baja style spare tire carrier. 2 more light on the front bumper, tube bumpers front and rear, A winch... god.. so much..

I have always looked at the yota's but never had one for myself, so Im pretty knew to the scene, But i have done my research, i know the weakpoints of truck.. the steering.. etc.. I'll get to those in due time.

Anyone have any links to any good restoration sites or great product support

 

I'm a rookie myself here scooper so you're definately not alone. I would recommend first starting with the "search" feature... search vacuum lines/20r engines/ yada yada...er hmmm i mean yota yota... And go from there. There is an intense amount of info here and can be intimidating, however if you're having trouble figuring it out chances are someone else has too! Good luck, and welcome!

 

Here is a link to the Factory Service Manual (FSM). Trust me on this, you want one of these. I've had mine 10 years (dealer-purchased hardcopy, pages now laminated and stored in loose-leaf binders) and it's been worth every penny. The FSM will get your rat's net of vacuum hoses sorted out in record time. If you plan on keeping your truck, a FSM is a fantastic investment.

 

Thanks for the warm welcome Jay. I used the search feature prior to asking, I know you guys probably get quite a few knuckleheads that don't know where it is. Unfortunately I could not find the information that I was looking for and so even now I'm still googling the internet for more data.

My biggest concern is that there is a small roughly 1/2" size metal outlet on the side of the carb. When I pour fuel into it to start it, the fuel flows out of and it kills my grass. I'm positive there is supposed to be a hose on there, but none of the information i have found shows where the hose connects to. I also am not quite 100% sure about the hoses for the fuel pump itself. Im positive i have the IN side correct, but the other two outlets on the pump... well that's another story. Unfortunately nobody around here has a FSM, that shows the diagrams, i have downloaded and copied a few, but they are still a little lacking. I purchased a chiltons when i was at the local parts store earlier, but all it covers is chassis electrical wiring. Eventually I'm going to put a weber on it, but like i said. I HAVE to get it running or I'm screwed and out of a car.

 

Thank you for the welcome as well Nico. I have been reading alot of the post that you have done here on the forums and you seem like very knowledgeable and helpful guy. Thanks!

 

Great information, but all i can find are the diagrams for 1984 and up, and generally for the EFI engine. Am I searching in the wrong place?


Found some, but it still does not list the way to correctly hook up the lines themselves.

 

Let me scan my '81 pages (still not correct, but more correct) and send them to you. Mine is also a Federal truck, not a California model. It might take a couple days to get around to it.

I bought my truck new, and have experienced most of the "issues" these have trucks will offer up. I've also done all the work myself, with the exception of setting up the R&P in the diffs and rebuilding the trans.

Oh, and the fuel system is not pressurized. The motor mounted fuel pump is it.

 

Welcome to Yotatech.

Autozone has FSM diagrams online under "repair info".

 

only problem with the link is that is starts with '85....but like Nico said, try to get a hold of the FSM

here is a link to some vacuum diagrams from my '81 FSM
http://s119.photobucket.com/albums/o...acuum%20lines/
there were 8 pages of them, hopefully some it might help you out...

the FSM is a huge help, there is one for a 1980 on ebay now for $65, a little high but they don't pop up very often
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1980-...spagenameZWD1V

congrats on the purchase...and welcome to YT...and we are hungry for pictures..snap a few and upload them to a free photo service like photobucket.com and copy and paste the [img] code that is next to the picture to use in your posts

it is a mechanical driven pump on the passenger side of the head, so I think that makes is a pull style, not pressure driven..though I could wrong about the style..easy to get to though

 

Welcome scooper. If you can't get what you need from the links posted above, I could probably scan a few pages from the '80 FSM for you (I bought an '80 FSM when I got my '79).

 

Thank you all for the help. I still have not yet been able to get the truck to start. I went pulled another fuel pump out of the local junkyard and I have the truck actually pumping fuel now, but it still will not start. I just can't understand it. If i pour a lil gas in the top of the carb, it fires right up, but that's the only way. I'm running out of time, my other car is about to be turned in and I have to get this thing running. I have the line that come out of the fuel filter going into the IN section of the pump. The far right side is going into the feed line of the carb. and the middle looks like another type of supply line of fuel or possibly a return line. I have check that none of the hoses are clogged since it has been sitting for so long but, everything checks out fine.

There is a outlet on the bottom psngr side of the carb, when I pour fuel into the top, eventually you can see fuel pour out of this, what hose is supposed to be connected here? I cannot find it in any of the diagrams.

Thank you all for the FSM pages that you have linked and sent me to. I am trying to get me one of my own, until then im having to rely on online info and haynes' and chiltons'. I don't understand why they never put a good vacuum diagram in these manuals, especially for the old carb based engines.

Good news too, while I was at the junkyard, I found a great running 22R for 400$$, I have to look and see what all is needed for the swap, but I would love to drop that engine in there eventually.

I'll post some pics very soon for you guys, it's nothing fancy and it's very dirty. I'm going to try to use up what little bit of daylight is left to wrench some more. I also bought an electric mr. gasket fuel pump, 4-7 PSI from the local parts store.. I may have to break down and use this, but god is it noisy.


Thank you all for your tips, advice and help.

 

Here are a few pics, taken with my camera phone. My apologies for the poor quality.





Here is a few of the only rust on the truck. None of the rust goes all the way through, luckily.
I'm either going to paint it Camo or, most likely Army flat green with a big white star on each door.
Some black steel beadlocks and 33" or 35" tires. If i can get a hold of a 4.3 i'd go with 37' or 38" tires.
Depends on why gears I end up running. I want it to remain a little highway friendly for my trips to Atlanta.

 

Close ups:

 

Looks like a great base to start your project with...wish I had an idea about the fuel/starting issue...

 

I got it fixed. It's ALIVE!!! Muahahahahaha

 

Have you cleaned the carb thoroughly? Old gas basically turns into shellac and will inhibit normal function.

 

Yeah, I have broke it down, put in a tune up/rebuild kit and gave it a good soaking of WD-40. I forgot to tighten the distributor bolt down when I put the distributor in and it was WAY off... wow

It's bee sitting in his back yard for nearly 3 years or so. New fuel, oil and few hoses. Fixed the distributor and it fired up first try. I cant believe it. Now I have 3 years of grime, dirt, grease and oil to clean up. Change the fluids in the Diffs, and tranny and T-Case, and top off the rest of the fluids under the hood as well. Then it's time for sanding and POR-15'ing, 3" downy springs, 33"s Buckshot tires, new bumpers and grille.. sand and primer it.. paint it.. same old addiction, new vehicle.

 

Well, the brand new waterpump I just put on it is leaking. Beautiful.

 

hey sweet score you should forget about the body lift those are junk and dont do anything helpful except fit bigger tires, and as you say you are only going to run 33s and 3" springs you dont need more hight.

also iver heard bad things about downey like the springs getting kinks in them, you may want to concider an old man emu lift they are great for what you plan on doing with it. and will be fine for 33s.

 

dont know if you seen my thread or not , but I have done a crap load of POR-15 ..

check it out https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f114...-build-131775/ hopefully it might help .