Thought I should start a thread about my Hilux. Im from South Australia, and my dad bought it in about 2000. Its a 1985 LN65 2.4 diesel dual cab Hilux. It had an old lift kit that still had maybe an inch left over stock (since sagging). Had a bit of rust in the tray and a few spots of rust in the cabin. In 2000 though it was still a reasonably modern 4WD, at least considering the FJ45 we grew up in. Dad was a cameleer and exploratory driller, so having a reliable 4WD was a necessity. We spent most of my childhood travelling between places he worked, and at the time (late 80s/early 90s) we spent most of our time away from bitumen roads.
Anyway the Hilux was sitting in the driveway from about 2005 onwards, because he couldnt justify selling it for what he would have gotten then. Despite the absolutely bulletproof engine and.... ah everything except the usual rust. So in 2007 I got my license and it became a gift to me. I managed to damage the front right pretty badly, but Dad pushed me to fix it and he showed me the basics while getting me to do the actual work. After a year of it sitting and being panel beaten, it started up first turn of the key and it was back in business. I then renewed the lift in 2010ish. And built a custom wooden tray with metal rails from an old bed. I got headers and a custom 2.5inch exhaust put on, which to this day is the best NA diesel exhaust Ive heard. And I also did a closed door paint job to a cream white colour. It was a fun ute, and I got really into off-roading around the state. I even took it to the snow (yes it snows in Australia, in some places... sometimes) and spent a few months crunching around while I did seasonal work.
Eventually the rust started to become more and more evident in the cab. The rainwater drain system is flawed (Im sure most of you know this!) and leads to a few rust spots that leak through the firewal seam, and in the corners where it drips into the footwell and rusts through the floor. I wanted to fix it but to actually get to those parts you need to pull ALL of the interior/dash out and various engine bay components.
But, my good friend who was inspired by the Hilux and our adventures, who then bought a 90s LN106, and had it written off by a distracted driver "the sun was in my eyes", well he offered me a fair price and bought it from me. Conundrum averted. This was also good because the Hilux didnt really leave, it just moved out nearby. Sax (the purchaser) is a mechanic and he decided to install a turbo-kit. He ended up also getting a new diesel pump to get it running properly. We did some work on the engine internals to see what the condition was beforehand, and he said he was surprised because everything seemed essentially brand new. This was the engine at 350,000km, no rebuild so far! He had the ute for.... 5 years or so, and had most of the driveline and engine in great condition. He had a friend paint it with him, and it looked great. Shiny Holden Monaro yellow. BUT... it seems that the friend who helped him (a painter) forgot or didnt know this paint had no hardener in it, or not enough. So slowly the paint started to distort and almost run, and small channels started appearing here and there. It still isnt fully set and its been a few years now. So one day he decided to sell it, but again knowing how good it was and the cosmetic issues it would be tricky to sell, despite the growing market value of these models. Anyway, he offered it to me for the exact price I sold it to him for. So here it is, back in my hands, with a turbo but otherwise the same old girl, just needing repainting AGAIN.

So this is where Im at now, it still has the rust issues in the cabin. Luckily in South Australia it is generally very dry, so we have a lot of old cars here. The chassis is totally fine, despite some bending and such at the very front and back from off-roading fails and a poor choice of hitching when pulling out or being bogged. But as far as the driveline goes its all ok.
I am ripping the panels off, and all of the interior and headlining. My plan is to try to deal with the rust issues, as best as I can. Then to repaint it the stock yellow, so that I can get another 35 years out of it!

This picture is back when I had it in about 2009, after Id fixed the front right, before Id done anything else. Sax, the good friend who bought it made this book for me about the Hilux when I sold it to him

 

one of the most recent pics before I started taking it apart

The engine with the turbo install... uh as you can see the snorkel is not doing much


The worn 35s were a bit much, back to 31s for now

And this is when I first got the Hilux in 2007

The tray I built (mid-build)

More tray pics from the book Sax made me

When I was painting it cream white

With the worn out 35s

 

And this is today, in the process of stripping it down



Im a little torn on exactly HOW FAR to go with the repairs. Im not really equipped to fully remove the cab where I am. Im thinking Ill just fix what I can on the firewall, and in the cabin pillars/window edges/etc. And then paint and reassemble everything. I could go all out and clean the chassis and every bent piece of forward and rear chassis, but I dont think Ill have the time to really get it done. Its pretty daunting. I have a stick welder and and air compressor but Im very much at an amature enthusiast level, as opposed to a lot of the brilliant builds I see here by people who have a lot of skill in fabrication.

 

This is basically how I had it before selling it. This is pre-lift kit (still on the old sagged leaves)

 

Got the headlining almost ready to come out. It was brittle at the back window and the front window, but like new all along the sides. I tore it in a couple of spots where it was brittle, maybe two or three 1-2cm rips. There was already one little rip on the driver A pillar. I may cut the pillar parts of the headlining part off, and just keep it as one large roof piece, then maybe put some similar vinyl down the pillars later. That way I eliminate most of the little rips too


I was sitting on an old tyre and I liked the angle

YES. I did. I broke the windshield when I was taking it out. I had a hard time finding information on how to take it out and in my haste a crack formed.... but at least that simplified the process after

 

I built a little dolley the same width as the chassis with an old bed frame and two metal caster wheels from an old disused engine stand. The tray is surprisingly light, even with the roll bar and rubber mat in it. Its big so obviously I need an extra person to lift it up and down, but I would still guess its only about 100kg at most.


Unfortunately I had a hell of a last year. I had to suddenly move house a few weeks after I made my last posts, which meant shifting all of the Hilux parts and the vehicle itself to the new place. Then I discovered I had Tennis Elbow. My work is half physical and half mental, so the manager let me stay on light duties for the rest of the year while I had physiotherapy and looked after the arm. So here I am now, I finally have time free and a strong arm! Just in a new location.

 

Some of the rust Im working on. These areas arent so bad. Ive followed a few rust spots down a few seams, and I think I should be able to treat most of it. The most important parts are on the windows; I will have to do a bit of structural repair, likely in the form of metal grid sheets and fibreglass filler. Luckily I can get to it all as I have the roof lining off, etc. I know I wont be able to REALLY get everything in every spot, under the body or on the inside of the pillars, but I can say that I will keep the body in ok condition for another 10 years, without rust being visible on the window edge. I have the sheer luck of living in one of the driest regions on Earth. We have no road salt, or anything like that, because it never snows, not even close, and for 1/2 of the year we get almost no rain. When I was a teenager we had a drought for 10 years! So my memories of high school are of dry dead sports fields and 2 minute egg timer timed showers.

But then there is the dreaded footwell. I will almost definitely have to cut some of it out and do a bit of careful stick welding. And under the dash where the fire panel has a horizontal seam, I have to awkwardly remove and patch rust. Thats the zone that was poorly engineered by Toyota, that rusts when water pools in the gutterways that take the windscreen runoff water. Right where a seam happens to be as a weak spot. Its how water gets into the footwell to begin with, which wets the carpet without you knowing and starts the rust in these models.

 

That's one cool ride! I had similar rust around the windshield frame and delt with it last fall. We do live in a rust belt state unfortunately. To address the inside of the A pillers and the frame I injected Fluid Film every spot that I could get the nozzle. A lot of the issues are from the chrome trim trapping moisture and debris. If The truck still had the trim I would not have installed it but it was missing anyhow so that decision was made for me 😉 good luck with the repairs.

 

I finally got to the point I could get the interior in again (not the seats or belts yet, just the HVAC, instrument cluster, dash, etc). I only had to take it out a few times by forgetting to put something in in the right order. All in all it wasnt too painful.

Then I spent a while trying to start it. Lots of cranking but no firing. I was inspecting the whole fuel system, and bleeding the injectors, untill eventually I realised I hadnt wired the kill switch (diesel shut off solenoid) that has some non standard wiring, and so when I did it was running fine!

Now Im at the point where Ive finally finished stripping the old unset yellow paint. So there will be a day or so of sanding, then prepping with masking tape/etc, and then painting! At that point I will mostly be done. I need to get a windscreen installed and Im keeping an eye out for a reppacement drivers seat.

My windscreen uses a removable rubber seal, as opposed to the chrome I tend to see on a lot of US Trucks, or maybe the chrome trim is an addition? Anybody had any experience with putting a window back in, as I may want to add some mastic or sealant just to keep 100% of water out. Plus Ive repaired the window seat, so Im hoping Ive kept it straight and it will seal, but I figure if I havent its probably a good idea to use some extra sealing

 

Such a cool truck. Subscribed!

 

Well, it probably wont be AS cool when Im finished. What Im going for is a fairly basic look, as if its just a surviving vehicle with a lift and a snorkel, and a bonnet scoop. I'll paint the bonnet yellow as well. But inetead of the "Holden Monaro" yellow, Im going to paint it the factory yellow, that 1980s Toyota colour that you used to see everywhere.

 

I ended up doing a fair bit of sanding back to metal, in places where it would help overall, where the old paint was still hanging on, or it was really thick in general (This thing has been painted a few times now). Im almost finished doing the main hand sanding on the cabin, and just have the tray to get through before I can start getting ready to spray!

 

Im finally starting to mask it up ready for primer

 

trust me, the prep is smooth.... well, as smooth as I can bother :p

 

Ba Da Bing

Ba Da Boom


So the paint shop (it's a great place called Crash Supplies in Adelaide) didnt have a recipe for Toyota 561 yellow in 2-pack. They sent off for a recipe converaion from acrylic, but we're given this as an almost identical option via colour matching instead. It's an Audi "Brilliantgelb" (has a few numbers on the tin, I think: LY1B, but maybe F1136 or 510). It's nearly identical to the original yellow, but I'd say it has a more solid, rich pigment. Ever so slightly. It's pretty good actually!

 

It looks very good!

 

Well... I mean dont get up too close and its amazing. I was still spraying with a $90 Gun, in a fairly dusty environment. I was surprised there were no insects about, trying to land on the fresh spray.
On an old BMW I had, I used the same gun and had a fly fly through the spray, and so it got thrown onto the surface.
Oh, and I really skimped on the roof, simply because I was spraying from thw tray and a ladder, and once the sides and tray were wet I didnt want to bother climbing back in and holding the dirty hose around, or knocking it on paint.
I concentrated on the sides, just to relly give them a solid coating.
The gun also has slow leak that occasionally would fling off at a random trajectory. So lets just say the bonnet was sprayed with a lot of different distances and angles while I was making sure no drips were coming off.

Id be keen to buy a proper spray gun or set one day, as I think Im starting to get the hang of how to do it cheaply but fairly well.

The window is in now. Cost a fair amount to have it installed, and I got a new seal. The old one was probably... 20 years old maybe. The guy did in 20 minutes what would have taken me many hours, especially by myself.

Ive noticed either a lot of air, or probably a bit of water, or a lot of water, is in the diesel system. Ive only idled it twice, for maybe 10 minutes, but its doing an erratic idle, bit with a sort of rhythm. lt will start to struggle very slowly untill it gets quite shaky, and then as if a clog has passed it will.shoot up by 500rpm or so and start to slowly die over a minute or two.
Maybe I should just get it out on the road for an hour or so and see if it clears up. I mean it is that Top Gear engine. Italian tune up.

 

The paint job looks good, and I like the color.
Do you have the windshield seal part number?
The pickups around here came with the rear glass protection you can see in your first comment photo, do you plan to install it back?
Do you have more info about the roll bar?
How is your elbow?

 

No I didnt get the part number, I think theyre generally the same on the same model. I mean most of the parts are the same throughout, but there are some differences so dont take my word on it!
Im going to put the same rear glass back in (factory glass with factory vehicle maintenance stickers) with its seal. It seems pretty easy, compared to the front. Id really love one of those sliding windowa for the back though. I dont see them here.

So, the rollbar is an aluminium Holden Rodeo bar, painted black. It was a factory option, and on special editions in something like 2003. It fits well on the Hilux by chance, though its a bit bulky, i.e. the feet of it jut out a bit over the thin tray wall, inside and out.


The arm was a struggle as far as sanding went. I had it permanently wanting to get inflamed and sore. Most of the sanding I actually did left handed, which was a bit strange at first, but you do get better over time. The arm is pretty good now, the muscle strength is increasing and is close to normal, but its tricky because sometimes I put too much strain on the temperamental tendon and then have to nurse it for a few days.

 

I like that roll bar in your pickup.

I meant the metal protection behind the cab, do you plan to re install it?:





Glad your arm is getting better.