Finally got back to the truck after a few fix it jobs on the home front. Also our daughter has a new Corolla which she parks under a pergola at her home. The pergola has a typical beam roof which has a several inches thick layer of Virginia Creeper on it, so even though her cars never get snowed upon they do get dripped on causing some annoying spots on the paint. With her new car being Blueprint (a very dark blue Toyota color) that shows every random drop of water we decided to construct a second roof on the pergola to shed any water away from the car and towards the lawn area. Here are a couple pics of the second roof now that it’s finally complete.

This is one of the main support beams for the extra roof along with a support post. They’re both 6 x 8 Doug Firs. Had to take a hedge trimmer to the side just to clear out enough creeper to work.

Support beam on the opposite side along with a 6 x 8 support post. Secondary beams are 4 x 6 for with 2 x 6 purlins every 30”. All hardware and fasteners are from Simpson’s architectural product line. Roofing is 29 gauge steel 36” wide sheets.

 

Ok back to the truck. Finally got the brakes done on the left side and the wheel back on. Have a good weekend everybody.

Purchased this brake shoe repair kit for the back wheels five years ago and it’s finally on. That’s a little embarrassing.

 

That’s some thick creeper bush sir!!!!

 

Yes it’s crazy thick Disco. The previous owners of the home told us they sheared it down to the ground to facilitate the house painters and that within a year the creeper had completely covered the pergola.

 

Discovered upon the completion of the rear brake job that the e brake cables were too short by about 2 1/2” on each side. Found a Simpson flat connector, cut it in half and fabbed up a couple 2 1/2” extensions. Here are a couple pics.

Simpson nailer on left after being cut in half. Finished cable extension on the right.

Cable extension installed.

Glamour photo of rear axle with completed brake lines.

 

Been wondering if the hoist will lift the engine high enough to clear the grill area so I hooked the hoist up to the long block and did a test. The hoist will lift the engine up to 48 1/2” off the floor. The top of the truck grill area is 47” off the floor so it looks like the bottom of the pan has an inch and a half clearance.

Tomorrow is looking like a fairly slow day so hopefully the engine is in by this time tomorrow.

 

Good evening fellow Techers. The 22R went back in like a dream today. The motor mount bolts still need to get tightened up but the engine to bell housing bolts are all snugged down and the garage floor suddenly has a little more room. Here are some pics.

New flywheel, clutch and pressure plate installed.

The lift maxed out just clearing the front end.


All bolted up.

 

Oooooooo exciting indeed

 

Thanks Disco!

One thing I spent an inordinate amount of time stewing about was the clutch fork assembly consisting of the fork, throw out bearing and clips. Finally figured out how they should go together but forgot to take pics of the new parts assembled so I assembled the old parts and took a few pictures on the off chance it may save somebody a little time.

Front view of assembly

Top view with the back of clutch fork on the left side. The clips have a curly q on one end which fits into a depression in the back side of the fork while the other end wraps around the ear on the clutch collar holding that in place. The clutch bearing (on the right hand side in this pic) is pressed onto the collar with the round face of the bearing facing the engine.

End view

3D view


Installed.

 

Good morning. A couple factoids from yesterday’s install;

The round sling used to cradle the engine during the lift was the absolutely perfect size. Overall it’s 1” wide x 6’ long.

An easier method of installing the motor would have been to loosely install both halves of each motor mount to the block and then just lowered the motor right down onto the motor mount perches attached to the frame. That’s ultimately what I did and it was way easier than the alternative.

After installing the motor the front end of the truck dropped one inch.


Picture of the sling used in the lift. These slings are crazy strong. This one in the basket form has a capacity of 5200 pounds.

 

Had a few extra minutes to clean up from yesterday and fab up an LSPV extension to compensate for the OME suspension lift and larger tires. Here it is.

 

Figuring out the engine compartment wiring, exhaust and front grill area. Got the 4 into 2 section of exhaust piping bolted up to the exhaust manifold and then ordered some additional exhaust parts from Summit to arrive Monday.

The grill area has some challenges. It needs some type of a filler strip behind the top tube of the bumper which is getting mocked up with cardboard in the picture. Also it’s going to be tough trying to figure out where to put the OEM turn signals. The original plan was to cut them into the valance but at this point it’s hard to tell if that’s going to work. Will push the truck out of the garage tomorrow and get a better picture of the front end.

 

Alright the truck got moved out far enough to get a good look at the front end and there is not enough room to cut the turn signals into the valance so it looks like there may be an opportunity to fab something up as part of the filler piece behind the bumper and install them below the headlights. There’s enough room for them but just not sure as of yet how they will look. Here’s a couple pics of how things are fitting together.

 

Make the clear lights next to the headlights the turn signals. You could even put dual filament bulbs in there and still have them as parking lights.

 

Excellent idea! I was stuck in a box not thinking outside of it. That’s so much easier, cleaner and less expensive. Thank you!

 

Lazy day today but a good day to address the fact the front bumper almost completely obscures the Toyota grille badge. With a little help from a die grinder the badge got relocated to the center section of the grille. Also included is a picture of the beginning of the filler strip. Cheers.

 

Worked today on filling the void behind the top bar of the bumper on each end.

Added piece to each fender to fill the area otherwise occupied by the end caps on the OEM front bumper.

How the areas look with the bumper and filler strip in place.

Front perspective

 

The filler piece behind the bumper is getting bolted to the two fog light tabs welded to the bumper just in front of the radiator. On each end the bumper will bolt down to fabricated brackets underneath each headlight bucket.

The bracket on the left was fabricated specifically for the filler strip and has a capture nut welded on the underside to facilitate ease of filler strip installation.

Capture nuts welded on the bumper for the two front mounts.

Test install. Bed lining the filler strip is next.

 

Lots of busy work today including Herculining the front filler strip and backside of the valance, stripping seam sealer from the bed sides and painting the headlight buckets.
The grille received silver metallic paint over the top of bronze metallic a few days ago in keeping with the silver metallic stripe kit ordered from James Dean Creations so the headlight buckets needed to match. The cab of the truck was seam sealed quite a while ago so the bedsides were over due. Here’s a couple pics.

Filler strip lined top and bottom just curing. Meanwhile All Star Tug ‘o’ War battle takes place in the background.

Bedside seams cleaned of caulking.

 

Today’s goal was to get the exhaust system done. It required a few trips to the parts store but it’s two clamps and maybe a hanger or two from being done. Tried out Walker Mega Clamps to keep the welding to a minimum. Super tight anchoring system and very clean appearance wise. Here’s a few pics.

From the front

From the rear axle

The last two pieces in this photo still need clamps

Walkers aftermarket equivalent of the OEM muffler bolted right up to the two bolt hanger.

One final test fit of the filler.