Long time lurker, first time poster. Found this gem on my local craigslist the other day. Test drove it yesterday. Runs well, super clean body. New parts littered around. 180k miles. No rust on the body, mint interior. Frame has a 6” long rusty crack running in front of the passenger side lead spring. Other than that it’s a solid truck. Minor rust on the frame scattered around. Would you all pay $4700 for this?

Im on the fence of whether or not it’s a good deal, and if it IS a good deal, would the frame fix be worth it?

 

Kind of depends on what area you live in. I'd have a hard time paying $4700 for something with a cracked frame. Also the bench seat is torn, so the interior is not mint.

 

I ended up buying it for $4300. Little love here and there, she’ll be alright.

True, but very little staining. Dash is in great condition too!

 

Let's see some more pics!

 

To a normal person no, to a Toyota lover heck yes it is

Yea more pics please!!!

 

I’ll send more pictures as I start “refurbishing” this truck. I’m going to plate off the frame where it’s crusty, and will be on the hunt for a clean cali frame sometime in the future. Would a V6 single cab frame fit a 22RE? Other threads made it sound like it wouldn’t bolt up, and that I’d need to grind off the mounts from the 22RE and move then over to the donor.

in the meantime, I’m doing my research on engine rebuilding. Is it called rebuilding if you don’t actually machine anything, just replace parts? ie gaskets, oil/water pumps, timing chain, valve adjustment, timing reset, etc. It runs fine, I just have no knowledge of previous maintenance and want to start a baseline.

 

The 3VZ-E trucks and 22R-E trucks have different engine mount locations, so you would need to modify the frame. The easiest thing to do is to get a 22R-E frame.

If you are not completely taking the engine apart and having parts machined, I would not call it an engine rebuild. You are probably doing what I would call an engine refresh.

 

I found a mint V6 frame for $500 OBO, already pulled and ready to go. Guess I’ll keep looking.

Yes- refresh is the term! I’m making a list of parts to buy. I will keep you all posted. Thank you all!

 

“Refresh” complete. Turns out the timing chain was in perfect condition and the plastic guides had barely any wear. Oh well I replaced everything I intended to anyways. Thinks looked very good though - very little carbon buildup on the valves and intakes. Cylinder walls still had the cross-hatch scoring.

Question - before and after my work on the engine, typically it would take 5-6 complete turnovers before starting, and once warmed up it typically started much sooner, if not on the first catch. I’ve done some reading on the cold start injector, if my injector is fully functioning what else could be the problem? Any ideas/experience with this? Thank you all!

Edit - to clarify, I replaced all gaskets from the head gasket up (including valve stem seals), adjusted valve lash, replaced plugs and wires, replaced all 3 drive belts, flushed and replaced coolant, etc. I am replacing fuel and oil filter this weekend... maybe the fuel filter is clogged??

 

Went to go drive it down the block after sitting for a couple hours. Cranked 15 times before slowly coming to life. I started to smell something from under the hood, so I popped it and fire coming from the rear manifold. Quickly put it out, and after inspection saw the injector plug had caught fire. No idea why. Ordered all new seals in case it was a gas issue. Going to replace all the crispy wires and try try again

 

Update! Bought an injector refresh kit (seals, filters, etc). Repaired the crispy harness, refreshed the injectors, topped off the coolant, replaced the fuel filter, did an oil change and she started right back up.

Brake and battery lights came on though shortly after though. After a little googling, I ordered the alternator brushes from my local dealer for $23. My old ones were SHOT! Completely crumbled apart when trying to remove. Exchanged them this morning and NOW she’s running like a top.

CEL code 21 and 12 (I think). Need to do diagnostics for the oxygen sensor, but the code 12 I’m a little stumped on. What have you all done in the past to get around this? Something something distributor signal. My truck is running great. Any experience with either code/recommendations? Thank you all!

 

12 is something about the position signals iirc NE(?), could be loose connectors, could be fire related, could be you tryed to crank it over with the distributor unplugged to prime fuel and oil, and good be a dieing pickup coil in the distributor.

 

Yes the code 12 went away after driving it a little bit - WHEW!

I had been having trouble with hard starts after resting for a while so I double checked the timing and it was off 5 degrees, resting a 8 degrees. Moved to the FSM recommended 12 degrees and runs much better.

Trying to get rid of the code 21 - ohm’d the O2 sensor and got an open circuit, so that is DEFINITELY the issue. New one is ordered.

Question - how many O2 sensors are there? It’s a 1992 22RE. I can only find one. I could have sworn there were supposed to be two?

 

My 91 only has one pre cat.

 

Got it. New sensor will be in tomorrow. Thank you for the info!

 

O2 sensor is in, and no check engine light! As I was removing the old one, the harness connector disintegrated - so off to the local pull a part. Snipped off a very clean female end AND snagged a quartz clock, all for $5!

So far so good. Running like a champ. I have plans to reinforce the frame where it’s crusty, replace all bushings/ball joints, and rebuild the drum brakes. All this winter. Should be fun!

 

Quick question - every now and then (usually once it’s warmed up) I’ll go to start it and it will crank crank crank away, nothing. I turn they key again to start and it catches immediately, no matter how long I let it crank away the first attempt.

At first I thought it was fuel pressure related, or CSI related, until I realized it reliably started after only 2-3 cranks after sitting for a week. This ONLY happens after I’ve driven it and try to start it again an hour or two after it’s warmed up. Any suggestions? I have no problems replacing random parts here and there until the problem goes away, I quite enjoy it actually. But I figured I’d reach out to you all first. Please let me know!

 

based on your description of the frame I think you paid $2K too much but with out pictures hard to really say

 

I’ll send more pictures of the frame as I start welding parts back together.

Probably paid too much, true. But honestly, what’s another 2k?

 

The extremely difficult part is done! (Not really...)

Located and picked up an extremely mint 127k 1993 frame with both front and back axles still in tact. I mean MINT. Looks almost new! All for $350.

Frame swap will begin shortly. So stoked.