For those who haven't seen my truck, it's a 1986 turbo xtracab pickup, and it's from Alberta:










I got a call from my insurance company the other day, asking me when I was going to give them the safety inspection on the vehicle. I had totally forgot about it after I bought the truck. So, I took the truck down to my brother, who is an apprentacing mechanic, and got him and his boss to go over it.

His boss took one look at it, and told me "this thing is junk. The frame is rotted out, see:". Then he proceeded to go over the entire frame with a fine tooth comb, and TRY to find a rotted spot. He found nothing. The frame on this truck is almost perfect, as is every other mechanical system on this truck. I was VERY surprised. whoever had this truck in the past, did a very good job keeping it up.

The rust on the bed failed me though. Something about ruining the structual rigidity of the panel, and they're afraid of pieces falling off. The truck's getting a fiberglass bed in the spring, but I can't afford that right now. So, it's time to do some rust repair, and pass the truck!

I started grinding down the passenger side yesterday. Now it's a huge gaping hole in the side. I haven't uploaded the pictures yet though. I'm going to grind off all of the rust, then treat the metal, and rivit in some new sheet metal over top. I need to call the insurance company, and make sure they'll accept it as a repair though. If not, I need to finish hooking up my welder, and get ome welding rod.

And the buildup of yet another vehicle begins!

 

Have you considered a cheap/used flat deck? I'm sure you could pick one up off a wrecker.... or buy the marlin flat deck kit here

 

thats crappy about how they failed you truck just for the bed...
but, its good to see another calgaryian yota!!

 

actually, yes I have considered a flatbed, but not as a permanent sort of thing. If they won't pass my rust repair, I'm taking the box off, and making a cheap flat bed on it.

Small update, I found a local POR-15 distributor.

 

who distributes por15 in calgary?

 

Mopac.

 

that sucks that they wont pass it man.. is the floor of the bed rusted out?mine was ate out from the bottom behind the back tire to up and over the wheel well. i just bought a bed off a buddy that had flipped his. and about the guy sayin it was junk.. does that not piss you off? thats what everyone said about mine at first now its turned a couple heads

 

My bed fell apart on my 82 I had to do a flatbed on it.

Oh well part of being a rust belt. I feel your pain although my 86 runner isn't as bad.
I did the fiberglass and tiger hair to fix those pesky spots around the rear wheels where all 1st gen runners rust.

Hmm another cheap way might be trim off the lower spots on the bed fix the lower deck of the bed. It might be ugly but it's repaired as long as it's a box and can hold things. Throw some mud flaps behind it call it a day.

 

Looks like a typical canadian toyota pickup. Most of the ones in ontario are worse than that.

 

repair? I see an unrepairable bed, but hats off to you for trying.

*sigh* I guess I'm not a visionary.

 

OK, I'm dying to see what it looks like after a good brushing. If you are really in for the cheap and dirty, just get some self tap screws and screw some tin on and you're "done" in an hour. It seems like they are jerking you around because it sure doesn't look like any pieces are going to just fall off. It hurts their pride that they laughed and then couldn't fail you. Fenders are cheap. If you just spray can them, it could be quite reasonable.

 

I just did some rust repair myself with a new bed .. check out this thread ..

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...ghlight=por-15


and just to let you know , if your buying from http://www.toyotafiberglass.com , you better get your deposit down .. booking into JULY /09



.

 

wow thats pretty bad rust on the bed but the cab looks like its in very good shape. I know a few guys here in edmonton that would pass that truck for safety no problem... and for like $40!

 

I swear I'll post pictures this weekend.

I started grinding, and half the bed's gone

I've built a new frame to attach the bottom of the sides to, and have started cutting and bending sheet metal to fit. The wheel wells are flat with the sides now, it made it easier to bend the metal.

Rust was cut out, anything remaining was goen over with some rust converter, then primered.

 

Wow. Rusted like that one would almost think that it came from somewhere out here in the Atlantic Provinces. I always thought a "western truck" ment rust free.

 

'bout time

 

Excellent...beats ordering it and waiting for it.

 

Oops, 8 months later, here's some pics.

The only one I could find of the progress. I think the others are on my old phone




And, the final product today. It's not perfect, but it's a million times better than before. Take note of the dents around the wheels. I went wheeling with some 31s, and under full compression, I guess they rubbed a little

 

dude it looks armored

when's the fiber bed go'n on?

 

As soon as Corey ships it to me.......

I think the estimated delivery date is like November 09. I've decided on one of his custom widened boxes, as well as a set of widened front fenders, giving me 6" more width front and back.

I'm currently building a bigger, better motor for the truck. I need to upgrade the axles for the power,, so I figured why not go full width.