spokane.yota.man

i finally finished my big project of getting my 87 pickup back on the road. so here is my "build down" build up thread. my truck has sat in the garage taking up space for years and i finally decided it was time to sell it or time to actually get it back on the road. of course i decided to keep it! i was too lazy (and busy) to write up as i went so i'm telling it all at once so sorry for the long post in advance.

before:







it ran but not very good so i started by replacing the weber with my stock carb that i gave up rebuilding 10 years ago when i first bought the truck and didn't know what i was doing. that was quite a project but after a ton of research and a parts carb i got it back together and its running pretty good, as good as can be expected for a 23 year old vehicle with 230k miles. the carb was 100% dissasembled so im impressed that i kept all those loose parts together for so long but also that i figured out how to get it put back together. i will try rebuilding the weber someday but the stock carb just seems to be a better built carb. winters get cold where i live so i like the more advanced choke and cold weather tuning of the stock carb.

next i made the hard decision to give up on the off-road build. i work full time and have a house and family and so i knew that i wasn't going to be wheeling any time soon so i did away with all the off-road stuff. i want a truck that's better on city streets and i am really excited to have an empty bed once again, now i can actually haul things! i sold the 32x11.5 tires on 15x10 wheels, hi-lift jack, tool box, cb-radio and took out the rear lift blocks and turned back the torsion bars. with the money from the things i sold i bought some lightly used 31x10.5 tires and some new 15x8 black wheels. i wanted the back up a little higher so i bought a set of sky jacker long leaf add-a-leafs but they were too long and gave too much lift. so i cut off 6" from ea. side and that lowered it closer to where i want. i left the back slightly higher considering it will probably sag a little as those springs get broken in. so between the rebuilt carb, smaller tires and lowered suspension it drives much nicer, as i expected. i can actually use 5th gear on the highway!! i didn't realize how stiff it was from the torsion bars until i lowered them, i won't do that again. it is a much nicer ride now.

since it was running a lot better i figured i should get it looking better. i replaced both doors with some from the junkyard since they were both in bad shape. then i spent weeks sanding and prepping. i'll spare you the details on that, but it was the usual, sand, clean, prime, missed a spot, sand again and so on. i removed everything from the vehicle that i could to really do a complete paint job. i built a paint booth in my 2 car garage which worked out pretty good. hung plastic and used 5 box fans and 7 furnace filters for the air circulation. i sprayed 1 coat of primer and 3 coats of acrylic enamel from tcp global online. since the truck is cheap i wanted cheap paint. i probably spent around $300-400 for all the supplies including paint and primer. i borrowed a spray gun and a compressor which would have been spendy had i needed to buy.

some prep:



the intake on my booth:



ready to paint:





primer:



finished:











so i think it came out pretty good. i like the color, not too flashy but something that is different. i had no clue what i was doing so considering that im happy with the results. the main imperfections are from missed spots on the prep work. i put enough time into it though to where im good with what i got. it's a lot better then it was. the color is dune beige which is a toyota color that was used on 1970's fj40's. my favorite part is the black toyota decal on the tailgate. i got that from james dean creations who is a fellow yotatech member. i think that really pulls it altogether. i still have the nerf bars which might go back on and i plan on getting the windows tinted soon. so it might not be as cool as it was but it's closer to what i want now as oppose to what i wanted when i was younger. it's really nice to have a pickup again also. my wife and i just bought an 05 camry so we have the perfect combination of vehicles now. a good family car in the camry, a good camping/hunting rig in my 98 4runner and now a good running pickup. we also have two 4wds now which can come in handy for the winters where we live. most importantly instead of just taking up space and collecting dust my beloved yota is back on the road! let me know what you think.

HighLux

Nice job. Nothing but respect for saving your yota.

BigBluePile

iTrader: (3)

Nice job and good use of the garage to DIY paint booth!!

BrianJE

Nice Job neighbor! Wish I had a garage to paint mine.

spokane.yota.man

thanks guys.

thanks. good ol cheney! i'm looking forward to heading out there saturday for the big eastern vs montana game. i haven't been to cheney for a while, lived there for years while at eastern. good times. the garage paint booth worked out ok, the bad part is now some of my floor matches the truck. i guess it gives me an excuse to do the epoxy floor paint.

toyospearo

nice work!!

Junkers88

Well done! It takes a lot of guts to start a project like that, even more to get it finished.

wcasey5

Great result!

spokane.yota.man

thanks toyo, i believe i got the color idea from you.


thanks. it wasn't as hard to start as it would have been a few years ago. i figured i didn't really have much to lose since the truck isn't really worth much. it wasn't worth selling and it's priceless to me so i'm just glad i got it to where i actually wan't to drive it again.

Nervo19

Nice truck! I appreciate the write up on painting. Epoxy floor paint? Have you checked out http://garagejournal.com
They have a whole forum on garage floors. Great site.

feathergirl

hey nice truck! I have the same year, brand new paint too but just plain white....I am trying to see if anyone knows if I can use another kind of tool to get the spare off with. My mechanic had a long-ass screwdriver and got it down, but I need to be able to change the tire if I get a flat as I will be driving 1200 miles soon. ANY suggestions? that don't cost alot?

maco35

Best thing to do is get one from the junkyard or check the classifieds on yota tech.

feathergirl

Thanks, I'm new to the forum so I would need to figure out how to post to classifieds but that is super helpful. Yes I wish I could just weld a tool together....just don't have my Dad's welding machine with me....