KawaZX636's 1983 Toyota Pickup Lives On
 

Hey guys....I was the lucky guy to end up with Dave's awesome 1983 Toy. He did an amazing job and I have big shoes to fill with regards to being the caretaker of this truck. I can never fill them btw. Anyway, rather than continue the build up thread I thought I would start this one to share the installation of Air Conditioning. Here in Texas the 110 heat index persuaded me to spend almost $3K to have a complete Vintage Air (Gen IV Magnum) AC system installed. Yes that is a chilling amount of money (smile) but I plan on driving this truck enough to make it worth while. Here are some pics I took during the visit today. Total shop time will be 3 weeks...about half waiting on parts. This system will use all the original dash vents and totally replaces the original heater core system.
An interesting fact...the owner of the shop told me he was the leading Houston, Texas port installer for the Toyota dealers back in the early 80's. He has installed hundreds of AC systems back in the day. This project is in good hands.
Thanks, Garry

Nice !!


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AC is a worthwhile investment at this time of year with the humidity in this part of the country. Nice score on the 83. You will have one of the nicest ones around anywhere.

Picked it up Friday and the AC works great. My son and I took it to a local Saturday night car gathering near Kemah Texas and it got alot of attention. Thanks to Dave. Amazing how many people came up and said "I use to have one of these back in the day". We had a great time and were cool on the drive. Lovin it

Big investment in both the truck and having the A/C installed.
I am glad this truck went to someone that appreciates Dave's labor of love that went into the truck.
Enjoy it!

Nice work Garry! When are you installing the autopilot??? LOL Its good knowing that Pepé is getting the attention he deserves!!

Thanks Dave. Proud to be able to enjoy and take care of your baby.
Here are some pics of the final AC install. I recommend the Vintage Air system even though it is a large investment.

I also wanted to give the truck a little wider stance....love the look of tires sticking out a little. I installed 1.5" spacers. The front pics compare the passenger side with spacer versus the driver side without. Other pics are after all done.

Man that paint is smooth as glass! The guy that painted, wetsanded, cut, buffed and polished it did a hell of a job! :great:

Yea Dave....and the guy even mixed some blood in the paint when he cut open his hand. That is what gives it that deep luster.

Nah, that blood is in the frame - still don't have feeling in those two fingers. I thought that when I sold the truck that maybe the feeling would come back. I suppose I was wrong...

Nice... some day I'll return to a 1st gen, with a Vintage Air setup like that, looks awesome!

Latest update. I realize it is not practical but I installed a 7" lift with 35" Nittos. For what I am using it for (Saturday night car cruises) it is awesome...and hey, I can always lower it back down later. I did do the Marlin Crawler high steer crossover conversion which helped tame some wandering/bump steer I was having. To totally make the steering solid I would need to install a panhard rod. I also lengthened the front drive shaft by 3".

The door threshold is right at 33" off the ground so it is a jump to get in to.

I kept the factory gearing...again, I am not doing much highway driving and it gets around just fine. Plus I want to keep my options open to making it more tame in the future (lower with smaller tires).

The only thing left is to install a second rear shackle mount to correct the shackle angle (not acceptable at the moment). I will leave the factory one there.

Here it is parked next to my son's 2008 Pre-runner.

Your family doesn't like red do they? lol.

Such a gorgeous rig your have!

Yea we get alot of comments about that. I drive a red Miata as my daily driver, wife drives a VW GTI, and the son of course drives the Tacoma. All red.

Neighbors just shrug.

The lift and tires set that truck off. Looks amazing. Like a brand new lifted 83' model, Kawa did not amazing Job on that resto, I'm reading it almost daily to prepare for my current project

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Enjoying the updates - please keep us updated w/ lots of pics of this awesome truck!

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This is one of my favorite Toyota's ever, but man the lift and tires just look great! I started reading your thread and thought "WHAT could you possibly do with this thing?" Other than enjoy it. Gah. Great to see a Yotatech classic staying around for me to gawk at!

I like this pic....BC Offroad in Pasadena Texas did the high steer crossover conversion.

I had to do it....LED lighting. One thing I found out is the white color option provides enough light to actually work on the truck in the dark...like changing a tire on a dark road. Thankfully I have not had to take advantage of this.

Garry