colsoncj

always a possibility.... I've been thinkin about that, but that is too far down the road yet. Goal is the 85 first, then the 84. Right now the 84 is just a twinkle in my eye.

TORTIS

iTrader: (1)

you remind me of a friend. he bought a 84 pickup to fix up 8 months ago. all he uses it for is storage. he needs is a timing chain and a tune, and i told him i would help him, but he is to lazy.
i have ZUK building me some 3rd's with aussie lockers for my truck, and after that i want to check on putting a R151 trans into it. W56's just don't seem to last. get this project done, and i would like to come wheel with you guys so you can school me in the art of offroading.

colsoncj

Well, its time for an update.... (no they just arent sitting there rotting, I've been waiting for a break in the weather).

I still have the interior gutted in the 85. I've got a bunch of days off coming up for christmas, which I'm going to used to clean the interior parts, and put the interior back together. Should have that done by monday.

The donor motor that is sitting in the 84 is finally spinning now. the rings were lightly seized to the cylinders. it took a couple weeks of sitting in kero to free it up. the starter was also hung on it, which wasnt helping matters. It still only revolves about 3/4 of a crank revolution, so as soon as i get 2 full revolutions of the crank out of it I'm going to reinstall a good starter and work on firing it up.

The goal is to get the 84 running, and hopefully a little mobile, enough to check the operation of the engine and trans. That should let me know if there is anything I need to do or fix on either between pulling it out of the 84 and putting it in the 85. The fuel injection conversion will also happen between the pulling and the putting. I hope to have it ready to try to start and run by next weekend (not this coming).

Robert, sounds good on the wheelin... come on out anytime!

colsoncj

Update again. Got the entire enterior cleaned in the 85, and all the interior parts. Its ready for the interior to be reinstalled. Also tried to get the 84 running and i just couldnt get the compression high enough to kick, so I pulled it out. Already got it disassembled and took it to the carwash and pressure washed the block and head. Got a new crank kit, new rings, and good rods/pistons, so as soon as it dries out, its reassembly time.

I've also decided that I'm just going to rebuild a W56 trans for it. Since I'm going to the length of rebuilding a motor for it, I might as well.

Now for some pictures!

Scrub a dub dub on some interior:



Now isnt that purty:



Hosed out and scrubbed interior:




Motor pulled out of the 84:


Disassembled, power washed and drying out:

MOCRAWLER417

Cory, It's great to see you getting after these trucks. The mexicans are still calling me about them They cleaned up nicely too!!

colsoncj

hey its good to see you finally reared your head on the site, welcome! Ya, I'm getting to them, mainly cause I want to see at least two out of my yard before summer! Once I get them done and return to wheelin, we should get together and go wheelin.

On a side note, should have another update after this weekend....

MOCRAWLER417

I'm gonna rebuild my 85 xtra cab. who or where do you suggest I get a head for it. As of now the only thing I know is that it has a blown head gasket. Prior to it's untimely death, the motor was getting a little weak. Do you think I should rebuild it,or get a new motor. I'm kinda leaning towards a rebuild.......Just for the fun of it.

Terry

colsoncj

Terry, just rebuild it... no doubt.

On the head, do you have one at all, or do you need a whole head? shoot me an email and I can help you out with some advice, and maybe someone to take care of your head work (I got a guy that does all mine, been doin it for years....).

MOCRAWLER417

Nope, you got all of my spare parts The only one I have is on that truck. I'll call you.

colsoncj

Well an update: I'm currently taking some time away due to my brother blowing up his motor in his 86 4Runner (which is now at my house, for a total of 6 toyotas in my yard, 4 of which dont run, for those who are counting). But we'll get to that in a minute.

While working on this motor for the 85 that I pulled out of the 84 I decided it was junk . While I was disassembling it I noticed the thrust washers for the crank were improperly installed and that the crank had walked forward. I had made the assumption that it only did it a little, and just scared up the main cap a little. Well, the short of it is it did a little more than scar it up. Determined the block is now a large paperweight. Pics:

Bad #3 Cap (thrust cap):



My new paper weight:


So now that I needed another SD block I went on the hunt. Then I remember my mom had a good block from a 87 pickup sitting in her garage that just needed bearings. I thought, awesome! So Christmas Day (timing is everything) I asked her if I could have it for my projects. She agreed. So I drug that shortblock home, and stuck it on the stand. Then I did all this:
















Then after doing all that I called it a night. Then it dawned on me. Since I had already decided that I'm selling the 84 pickup too, I should just finish the motor for it, since thats all it should need (I had it cranking and ready to go before pulling the paperweight out). So, off the stand with the 85's pretty short block, and back on the stand for the TD motor I had started on way back when, (before the decision to go FI in the runner).

Pretty 85 4Runner motor off the stand:


84's TD motor back on the stand and lubed up:



Another new crank ready for install:


So then I get that nice shiny crank installed, on to find out that the thrust is out of spec... So I had to pull it back out. That was last thursday. My mom was coming out to visit Friday, so I just had her deliver a new replacement crank for me. After I had installed it (it checked out good too) and installed the pistons and rods with new rings, she got a call from my brother. This is when I found out about him blowing up that motor. Now, can you guess the play by play that followed?

Well, heres a starter: remember that nice pretty block for the 85 I just built a bottom end for? Remember where it came from? Guess what its original purpose was for.... It was a "just in case Chris (my brother), blows up his motor we have another." so I got to surrender my beautiful short block to my little bro. Now my mom says shes going to make is square, so we'll see.... I really think I'm about to get the short end of the stick.... not only do I lose the motor, but I also get to install it (free of charge of course cause my brother is more broke than the dishes in a dysfunctional abusive marriage - probably a bad analogy, but you get the idea). I'm sure it will all come out alright in the end, my mom is good for her word, plus doing this for my bro is helping her out big time (cause if I didnt do it, shed have to pay soemone to do it), but this is setback in progress....

Well, after I get his rig rollin again, I'll start back on finishing up the 84 pickup and will update when I get to that! Hope everyone's had a good new year!

colsoncj

Update time. I finished up my brothers motor (the motor that should have gone in the 85.) Painted it blue, almost a perfect match to the exterior of his truck. Should get it put in tomorrow and away it goes. Also got my 84's motor back on the stand and am starting to work on finishing it up. Now for some pics:

I found the failure of my brothers motor to be a cracked/spun/shelled #3 rod bearing. Also saw some good wear on #2, but not bad enough to lock it up
(unlike #3 which locked er up.) Only got one pic right now, but will get more when I start building that motor for the 85.


Pics of the finishing of my bro's new motor:















Ready to go for tomorrow:


Also, the pictures make the motor look lighter in color than it really is, its a couple shades darker, but looks really nice. I was going to disassemble the intakes and clean them up, but I decided they worked before so he can mess with it.

Cargun

Whatever, you know you like the baby blue

colsoncj

Update: Got my brothers truck done, took all day sat, but it left the house that night running good (minus the fact it needed the valves adjusted...):







Now I'm back to finishing up the motor for the 84 to get it ready to roll. Got it partially painted, now just need to do the final assembly:

Brenjen

Dude...all that reading left me more confused than a dog with three tails but I did catch that your brother got a fresh engine out of you; that's mighty sweet of you to do I hope to have a trail capable rig sometime this summer so I can tag along with you guys on one of you many wheelin' trips & give the mall crawler over to the wife for full time rural mail delivery duty.

colsoncj

Ya there is a lot of plan changing thats gone on...

what are you thinking for a rig? getting something new?

Brenjen

Actually looking at a Y.T. members rig if I can scrape together the cash. That way all the hard work building it is done & cheaper than buying all the parts myself. The guy's got a set-up exactly like what I wanted to do with the '95 when I bought it - sas,arb lockers front & rear,sliders,diff armor,custom rear guard/bumper etc. I could do without the rust,sunroof & lift but still a pretty nice rig & it should be exceptionally trail capable; actually it should be more capable than I am! I've wheeled some over the years but I'm far from a skilled "crawler"

colsoncj

sweet! if ya get it, start a thread and post up some pics!

Brenjen

This is the one I'm thinking about, it should be more capable than me.

Tough Looking Truck

Brenjen

Well I was regrettably unable to pony up the dough after the daughters braces for that ride, but as soon as my truck is capable I'm going riding with you gents, bet your butt. I'm struggling to get everything together but I'm hoping to at least install some ARB's. Does that John cat not ride with you guys anymore?

colsoncj

John's been pretty busy... havent gone with him in a while. Still talk to him from time to time, but his work is keeping him moving.