This is a new project for me and wanted to document my journey.

My first Toyota was a 2001 Tacoma. I sold it after I put a 100,000 miles on it. Purchased a 2007 Honda Ridgeline and eventually got rid of it.

After thinking back on it I really missed my Tacoma and started to wish that I hadn't sold it. The new Tacoma's don't appeal to me, to big and bulky. I started looking for a used 2001 Tacoma and had a very difficult time trying to finding one. I eventually started looking for older models. In the process I started researching the history of the Tacoma and how the truck had evolved. As soon as I saw the 79-83 model year I new that I wanted to purchase one.

My search started local with no luck. I started to expand my search to other states. Once in a while I would find something. I would call only to discover that it had been sold. After searching for six months I decided to become more aggressive. I started searching every night hoping to find something that had just been posted hoping that no one had called yet. I started to get people telling me that the truck was still available. When I would tell them I was from another state and needed them to hold the truck for me they didn't have any interest in selling to me.

So finally I found a guy with a truck in Oregon and offer to wire him some money to hold the truck. To my luck he decided to help me out. Two weeks later I was able to fly to Oregon and purchase the truck. I had it shipped to me via a national auto transport company and received it three weeks later. Here are some pictures the day I purchased it.

I will continue the post as I will need help during the restoration.

Very little rust underneath.

Rear diff. is leaking.

Front leaf springs are flat.

Engine is leaking oil from every place it can.

Odometer quite at a little over 200,000 not sure how many miles are on it.

Interior needs to be completely restored.









Damage to front passenger fender.

Very little rust on the exterior.

Bed is in pretty good shape.





Bumper needs to be replaced.

Front needs to be rebuilt.

Over all very excited to start restoring to original.




So my plans are to turn this truck into an SR5 even though the VIN number would indicate that it was originally a Deluxe model. The colors I am going to paint the truck with were only used on the 1982 SR5 model. The paint scheme was gloss black on the bed and beige on the front. I've got the paint codes for these two colors but have no idea of how I am going to get the strip decals. The strip decal, I believe, was Gold and Silver with gloss Black and Beige pin stripes. Maybe someone has a suggestion. Here are photo's of the truck with the color scheme I would like to use.

 

If you upload photos to photobucket.com you can copy and paste the [ IMG ] code, and it's that simple.

I'm excited to see this. It sounds like we have similar projects.

 

Thanks, I have not set up photobucket so will go so. I have lots of things I need to post. I,m looking to bring this truck back to original. Will look over your profile for inspiration.

 

Next step is to remove the topper and sell if anyone is interested please let me know.

Take off the 33"s and sell.

Went to Denver to Yota Jim's yard and found some original chrome wheels. The wheels had quite a bit of rust so I dipped them in Oxalic acid and removed all the rust. I then polished and sealed to bring back the shine.

 

Looks good. Any progress or pics?

 

Gotta start from the ground up. Nice truck BTW. Wish I was closer to Yota Jims to go rooting around for parts, but again my pocketbook wouldn't like it

 

Man I wish I was close to CO Im in the process of building a campershell it would be a lot easier to pick one up....lol....looks like a great project!!!

 

I love your idea, making it an sr5

 

Hi--just checking to see if you've made progress with the restoration. I wanted to mention that I've never seen Toyota trucks come with those chrome 8 spoke wheels, stock. Those are just generic, aftermarket wheels. For a restoration, you probably want to find a set of these:



I found a set of them on Craigslist for my '85. They clean up nicely with aluminum foil and water. They came on 1985 and earlier trucks and 4runners as well as FJ-60 and FJ-62 Land Cruisers.

 

He is restoring a 1982 truck and yes all Toyota trucks from 1980-1983 with factory chromed wheels had wheels as he has shown.

 

Hopefully this restoration is still moving forward..OP hasn't been around since June.

 

sweet truck

 

Brandonlow27,

I am getting into your project a bit late. If you are keeping it original, I may be of some help. I still have my '82 4x4 I bought new in Nov '81. It only has about 308K miles on the original engine. I bought it with a 4 speed transmission. It went out about 298K miles. I put in a 5 speed rebuilt by Marlin Crawler. I have a bone yard and a few sources of original parts.

I am envious of your original chromed bumper. My truck lost it by a mechanic's mistake. He let the truck roll down the drive and hit a trash dumpster. The accident took out the rear bumper and the tailgate. Luckily, I was able to find a '83 tailgate. The bumper is apparently not available unless it is bent up worse than the one I had. I put on a new tubular, I found available in OR. I sure wish I had the original. Let me know if you would sell or trade your rear bumper. I am also envious of your dashboard. Please advise on how it was rebuilt. Mine just started cracking up and falling apart about 5 years ago.

Feel free to contact me if you need advice on the truck. I have been through most every problem. My guess, you need advice on the original Carb, ECM and EGR for example. Your post suggested you had everything leaking oil. Looking at the the pics in your post I would bet that if you cleaned off all the oil stains, replaced the oil pan gasket and then found you still had oil leaks, you would find it at the front of the engine. The leak is probably the main seal at the front of the engine. At 200K you probably need a new oil pump anyway.

Let me know if I can help.

 

Go to http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/ and you can find a chrome new bumper for your truck.

 

Thanks for the lead. I have seen those bumpers. They are not like the original and look cheap. I went with the tube bumper for a different look. One of these days I will try to figure out how to post a picture of my truck so you can see the old girl.

 

I ordered my non-chrome bumper from them. I was very satisfied with it.

 

I don't understand why this was directed at me. This is not my thread, I don't have a first gen truck, (in fact I have an 86 4runner with a tube rear bumper, a cracked dash, and zero chrome), and I have only made one post in this thread. It seems as though this thread has been hijacked from its original purpose. The OP hasn't been around since a little over a year ago