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I seriously feel like I did, but I can understand where my buddy was coming from. Chicago sucks to own a truck, especially if you dont have a spot to park it. He has no tools or auto experience and shops here will straight up rob you. 2k in work versus getting rid of it quick, he took the quick route and I made out really well.
Holy crap! So its been a minute. I had to switch over to the third gen section to get some help on the wheels of the 1990. They were super seized and ended up having to ditch those, get different hub assemblies, rotors (they were also seized) and calipers. Still after registration and new parts the thing has only set me back 900 bucks.
Anyway I was able to get back into the 83. Ive started stripping the fenders, cleaned the engine bay up, and pulled the seats and carpet (have you seen a cleaner cab?) I got the u-joints off the drive shaft and ive started prepping that to prime. I've removed the rear drums for the LCE kit and ordered an ENGNBLDR rebuild kit for the motor. And finally going to try and pull the cab off this week.
I wanna coat the bottom of the truck with a liner and then paint on top of that the same matching orange, was searching some options does anyone have any suggestions or have they ever painted on top of a liner before?
Engine is at the machine shop, getting bored +.040 and tuned by Marty at WolfEngines (current record holder for GP hydroplane racing). You should see the 1400 hp alcohol blown supercharged v-8 hes working on right now...
Anyway, probably going to order the disc brake conversion kit from LCE this week, I have one question though to those that have done it. From the info I gathered the kit they offer doesn't fit 15" wheels, the guy on chat suggested 16" rims so they don't hit the caliper. They also suggest using a 1inch spacer if you stick with the 15" rims. I currently don't have any wheels or tires for the truck those are on and staying on my 1990 pickup.
All the options for tires and rims is so confusing and I don't know what to look for. I want something that looks as close to classic as possible but will still fit the rear brake conversion, I'm not sure if I should go with the spacer option or go with the larger rim size. I was looking at summit racings 15x6 vintique rims and I don't want tires as big as the 31 Falkens that were on there previously. I would still like to have all terrain tires but perhaps something a lil smaller (maybe bf a/t's). Idk what do you all think? trying to make this thing look bone stock but but have some bells and whistles. Thanks!
But I take that back. I think fj40 hub caps on steel wheels looks really good.
Yeah these are honestly the two options ive been considering...the american racing style wheels are really cool, but dang with stock whites with hub caps, oof! Sexy!
I did some searching and found that you can still get oem fj wheels with hub cap clips for a 130 a pop, that should be the same lug spacing right? Also, I'm assuming I'll need spacers if I did a lce disc conversion (although i was reading up on some other peoples disc swaps and using monte carlo calipers and clearing 15" rims albeit they werent running stock wheels)
I believe the fj wheels should fit fine and you will probably need spacers.. Why are you ditching the drums?
Honestly, before i started and really got into research on the subject (ie portioning valves and lspv and the effect of swapping to discs) I thought it was just a good upgrade...that being said ive realized most people are only doing it for offroading and that really isnt my intentions with this vehicle. I havent gotten rid of my drum stuff completely although there might be somethings I preemptively chucked out. Idk, have I gone to far? is this not recommended for a daily street driver? Im a noob haha...
Haha I'm not a brake pro. I think set up right it could work great. Plus disks are a better setup than drums. A member on here kawaz something (the one who beautifully restored a red first gen pickup) did a disk brake swap and it was not a crazy off roader.
Good to see a Chicago guy doing up such a clean first gen. I just left that area for SoCal... lots of Toyotas out here but my '83 is sitting in Tennessee (long story). I hope to ship it out soon. Good work, it really looks like you have a great place to wrench on it. You will definitely have a rare truck for that area! See mine below:
Haha I'm not a brake pro. I think set up right it could work great. Plus disks are a better setup than drums. A member on here kawaz something (the one who beautifully restored a red first gen pickup) did a disk brake swap and it was not a crazy off roader.
Yeah thats were I got the idea. That build is perfect. I am really ahpoting for a similar quality. He used those alcoa style rims but i think im gonna go with the fj40 wheels. I just love that classic look.
Originally Posted by thedrewski86
Good to see a Chicago guy doing up such a clean first gen. I just left that area for SoCal... lots of Toyotas out here but my '83 is sitting in Tennessee (long story). I hope to ship it out soon. Good work, it really looks like you have a great place to wrench on it. You will definitely have a rare truck for that area! See mine below:
Yeah my truck is a head turner out here. I'm from San Diego where old hiluxs are almost a dime a dozen, always wanted one growing up and finally got my small japanese truck. Seeing a car in the midwest this old without rust is just unheard of.
So I purchased two new tools to help me along with this project:
1. An external pressure pot side kick. Its mobile but has the option of attaching to my blast cabinet later when I am not using it to blast chassis parts outside.
2. A tuxedo cr-3000 auto rotisserie. I didnt want to build a one time cart to hold my cab and have to sketchily have it lay on different sides to get to spots while painting, I figures it was a goid investment. I'll post a build and review once its in early this week.
Motor still at the machine shop. How do you guys get that collar off the rear axles to replace the bearings? I tried slamming it on the floor, I dont want to cut it. I have access to a bearing press but it seems like a waste of time to fab a tool to press off those bearings, how much do you think a shop would charge to press them off? Fabbing something up would be contingent on that.
That is a heck of a rotisserie, you're really going to kill this build it looks like. If I had a shop big enough I would love to get to my cab that well.
Crazy, I work in San Diego now. I live a bit north up the 15.
That is a heck of a rotisserie, you're really going to kill this build it looks like. If I had a shop big enough I would love to get to my cab that well.
Crazy, I work in San Diego now. I live a bit north up the 15.
Being able to do stuff like this is why I moved out of San Diego, born and raised and still too expensive. Up the 15, you military? Moved to Chicago 4 years ago and love it, I live in a huge live/work space. attached to the garage is a 2 story appartment with an attic I finished out to house two more rooms for some buddies to live in. The section of the garage you see also has a second floor above it that is an empty hall. We built a bar in there and have a halfpipe (will always be a socal skater), its friggin sweet but nothing you could ever achieve on the west coast. I'll be in San Diego next week though, so i'll definitely be enjoying some surf.
That's so crazy, I'm glad you like it so much! We left because of the weather, my wife and I love the desert and Murrieta has tons of that. I can understand needing more space than San Diego but being outside of it as we are it's not bad, we have more than before anyway (although I have a 2 car garage instead of a 2.5!)
I'm not military, everyone here asks though. People seem surprised that I would just move here for a job. I ride motorcycles so I'm in heaven here. Twisty roads and hot weather, old Toyotas everywhere... I can't believe it took me 30 years to get here. Chicago has a lot of good though. I can see loving it after spending time living on the opposite end of the spectrum.
That's so crazy, I'm glad you like it so much! We left because of the weather, my wife and I love the desert and Murrieta has tons of that. I can understand needing more space than San Diego but being outside of it as we are it's not bad, we have more than before anyway (although I have a 2 car garage instead of a 2.5!)
I'm not military, everyone here asks though. People seem surprised that I would just move here for a job. I ride motorcycles so I'm in heaven here. Twisty roads and hot weather, old Toyotas everywhere... I can't believe it took me 30 years to get here. Chicago has a lot of good though. I can see loving it after spending time living on the opposite end of the spectrum.
Oh yeah! Chicago weather is gaining on me. Im a full time cycle courier so im outside in it all year and of course winter is the busiest for food delivery...great money though and keeps me fit. My girlfriend an I are probably gonna be moving to her old home Nashville (funny your trucks in tn) once we finish our grad degrees. But you actually pointed out what i miss about back home, nature in your back yard and motorcycle riding, illinois just has awful riding, its too flat.
03-22-2017, 07:00 PM
