It started almost 2 years ago..
walkin around my neighborhood and came across a 1980 toyota 4x4 in a yard under a tree. Pretty much a rust bucket overgrown with grass and a pile of crap in the bed. The driveline was disconnected and held up with some clothesline wire? The thing obviously had not moved in ages. Walked up to the door and knocked. No answer so I left a note. Just said I was interested in it and wanted to know if it was for sale. Walked back a week later and the note was gone but no reply. Left another one lol. Asked nearby neighbors and found out a woman lives there but is too old to move pretty much lol so the daughter comes by every weekend to check on her. Never happened to catch her though. But finally after over a year of waiting and probably 5 letters, i finally just happend to walk by and saw someone mowing the lawn. Went home and grabbed my dad and we drove over. Told her i was the one who left all the notes and i really want to buy it. She told me it was her brothers and it had not moved in 4 years. She called her brother and he said he didnt mind selling it. I offered $250. She said that was fine! A week later I went back over and she had the title in her hand. Filled out the bill of sale and paid $250. Threw a tow strap on it and steered it home with no brakes.

First time I saw it




Takin it home



Brought it home and popped the hood.



Worked on it all day with my dad. I Went out and bought a new battery. Hooked it up and turned the key..nothing. Wasn't even turning over. Thats when my boyfriend (83crawler) and his friend noticed the toggle switches. 3 all together. one under my e-brake, one in my little change tray and one next to my fuse box. just started flipping all them and tried it again. It started. Turns out the one under my e-brake is hooked to my coil and the one in the change tray is for my headlights haha. and the other one im not sure about . Guess the guy before me was kinda paranoid? There was a chain on my transfercase to keep it in neutral and an alarm...

so after i ripped all the clusters of wires underneath my dash that went to absolutely nothing, cleaned out under the seats and the floor mats. found 3 pipes under my driver floor mats haha. Replaced everything under the hood besides the engine pretty much..master cylinder, distributor cap, rotor, spark plugs, all new vacuum hoses, fuel pump, rebuilt CARB ($135 down the drain).

heres a pic of the interior with the sweet plaid bench dont mind the giant gash in it



SR5 steering wheel


The bed of rust



Boyfriend convinced me to swap in a 5 speed for 50 bucks. Did it pretty much by myself (better give my boyfriend credit for pushing it in the last little bit or ill never hear the end of it) haha thanks ryan

 

Me and my boyfriends (83crawler) trucks

 

Redid the front brakes and my dad cleaned up and painted my grill and bezels

 

thats a score right there and being from oregon hardly no rust got to love the pnw

 

Nice find! and a good story.

The truck looks very clean.

 

ya no big deal my girlfriend(80firstgem) has a truck to

 

Thank you more pictures to come

 

got the dome light to work!


installed an SR5 gauge cluster with working gauges/lights!

 

cleaned up and installed the back carpet


and swapped my non tilt column for a tilt column!

 

Bought another weber from a buddy and its running! kinda. I have a MAJOR exhaust leak. Boyfriends (83crawler) giving me his header.

He found me an almost perfect dash pad at the junkyard today and surprised me by buying it.
BEFORE


AFTER

 

Sweet truck! Dash was a nice score. need to remove shifter scrape and paint why you have the boot off. Good job.

 

very nice find indeed. look forward to seeing this one progress. long live the first gen!!!!!!

 

Thank you! ya the boots not going back on for a while so I have plenty of time to make it all perdy.

 

Nice find!

 

i wanna put a 3rz in her truck with some 37s and 529s and