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My name is Paul and I live in Las Cruces, NM. This story starts in 1985. When I was growing up, the family always had Toyotas. My mother drove an ‘85 4Runner that my dad bought new off the lot. It never broke down. She had a lead foot, always drove it very hard and I’m certain she never changed the oil, just topped it off at the full-service stations that we all remember from back in the day. We sold it in 1994 because we had an 88 Landcruiser, the 4runner get driven that much, and I wasn't old enough to drive yet. Although we loved the Landcruiser very much, my dad always said “I should have never sold that 4runner.”
Fast forward to 2011. Gas prices were high and the full-sized diesel truck I was driving was chewing away my paycheck… bad. I knew that I had to get rid of it. I remembered the old 4runner and said to myself, “I gotta get my hands on one of these old Toyotas.” I wanted the same platform as my mother’s 4Runner but I knew that I wanted a truck. Although the climate here is dry and rust-free, most of the 4wd trucks from the 80s around here had been chopped, caged, beat up or not practical for a daily driver. I found a Craigslist ad for an ‘87 pickup in Pagosa Springs, CO for $4800 with a freshly rebuilt motor. Pagosa Springs isn’t really near anything so the ad had been up for a while. I took a chance and went to go see it and ended up driving home with the truck that day.
I worked on that truck for a couple of years until I had it the way I wanted it. I even put in A/C as the summers here are unbearably hot. I loved that truck. As luck would have it, my truck was stolen on December 28th 2014 from the fire station parking lot in the middle of the night while I was at a structure fire. The thought that someone would do such a thing is as despicable as it is disappointing.
The timing was bad. I was in paramedic school and didn’t have a lot of time to devote to solving this problem. Oddly enough, the truck resurfaced a month later stripped down. I bought it back from the salvage yard and sold it to another fireman.
I was back to trolling craigslist looking for a truck. I used this as an opportunity to find a yellow first gen as I had wanted one for some time, but it had to be the original color as I am not a fan of painting a truck a color that did not come from the factory. I found a suitable truck in San Diego, CA. The body and interior were nothing short of “mint condition” so I drove over there on spring break from school and trailered the truck home.
The engine was in decent enough shape. It sounded strong and pulled hard. After a couple of days cruising around, I started making a list of things I noticed on the truck that needed attention. The front leaf springs were flat as a pancake (haven't fixed yet), the passenger door didn’t open (fixed), the radio didn’t work (haven't fixed yet), there were leaves in the blower fan (fixed), the ammeter didn't work (haven't fixed yet), the tachometer only worked part of the time (haven't found the short yet) and there was some surface rust on the chassis that I was going to attack (fixed). I drove the truck for a week before some serious valve slapping started to happen. The engine was toast. Frustrating, but life is too short to dwell on the past.
I parked it in the garage for the next 6 months until paramedic school was over. I simply didn’t have the time to work any overtime to pay for a rebuild. I would go into the garage to do laundry and I would see it there. It was depressing. I started to pile dirty clothes on the hood of the car so I didn’t have to look at it. It helped… some.
In September of 2015, I graduated from paramedic school and the next week, I got a bunch of guys from work together and we tore that tired 20r engine out of the truck. I took it immediately over to a machine shop called Hobbs Performance. They have built many fireman’s engines over the years and were definitely trustworthy.
I then got busy working overtime to pay for this project. In the end, I logged 300 hours of overtime from September to December 2015 to pay for the engine rebuild and all the parts I decided it needed. Nothing too crazy. Basically, if there was a part that could be improved upon, or a reasonable modification that had been tried and tested, it was employed in this build.
I probably spent 50 man hours chemically treating, scrubbing and repainting the chassis. It was back-breaking work, but it was worth it.
The 20r engine was retained as I felt that an engine swap wouldn’t be right with a truck this clean. It has been bored .20 over and has an Engnbldr 261 crawler cam. Its been fitted with an underdrive pulley, Pro clutch system, and desmogged with the necessary block-off plates from LCEngineering.
The Toyota alternator was swapped for a GM alternator and bracket kit from Trail Gear. The entire coolant system is brand new and a Weber 32/36 carburetor sits atop the manifold and a Holley fuel regulator keeps the whole system in check at just over 3psi. The header is a RockRipper header with a 2.25” exhaust and a Turbo Muffler from Summit Racing. The original L43 transmission has been flushed as well as the transfer case and both axles.
The truck has a lopey exhaust note and pulls hard through all the gears. It runs a rougher than I would like so I am focusing on timing and setting up the carb right now.
You'll notice that it originally had no rear bumper. This is the Smittybilt I salvaged off my old truck before I sold it.
I remember what my dad said when he proclaimed “I should have never sold that 4Runner.” The truck will never go up for sale. I'm going to rejet, adjust the timing further, fix the radio, tach and ammeter problem immediately, but other plans in the future include a front end knuckle rebuild, new springs up front so it sits level, adding A/C, and I'll always make sure it’s blocked in by another vehicle when it’s parked at the fire station.
Stay safe. –P.
Update: I will continue to post in here as I encounter problems, solve them, and take on new projects related to the truck down the road.
Here is what I found out after hours upon hours of trial and error:
20r Weber 32/36 Jet Settings at 4100ft elevation Main Jet: 140 Secondary Jet: 140 (increased 1 size from factory) Primary Idle: 55 Secondary Idle: 50 Primary Air Correction: 165 Secondary Air Correction: 160 Pump Nozzle: 50
Idle Mixture Screw: is currently 3/4 turn out.
I had been trying to tune this carb for 2 weeks. It turned out that all my problems were solved when I went back, reset valve clearance to cam specs and set the timing once more. Truck runs great now at 13* advance.
Currently getting 12.6mpg. I think this was becuase my timing was off. I will report back here with the changes in fuel economy once things stabilize.
That Ammeter is tricky. There should be a small fuse box at battery with 2 fuses in for ammeter. it gets its reading across a fusible link (short run of fusible wire).
Not sure about posting a link to another forum here, but if you PM me I'll send you the link to a post about our Ammeters. Actually its for a Land Cruiser but tech is same.
I also have a couple of ammeter's made by the company that made them for Toyota. That little fuse box will have a tiny check mark on it, same on face of gauges. Aftermarket gauge company was called Arrow in the States. Yazaki in Japan. little check was Yazaki's and Arrows logo.
I also have 1980 Schematic for tracing if you need it.
I temporarily gave up on mine and ran factory voltmeter. its punched down a little different (ammeter 2 positives going to gauge. voltmeter switched positive and ground going to gauge) I kept it under the hood by grabbing 12volts off old fuel cut switch that went to factory carb, and grounded @ battery.
Will address it again someday, but for now voltmeter is OK.
Also mileage seems little excessive. Even when I was running too rich @ idle I was getting 17mpg's. I'm also running 32/36. I was running idle screw too far in originally the 1.5 Weber states is maximum and way too far ran in for my Weber. anything over .75 of a turn in and I was dumping extra gas from the enrichening progression hole in side of primary barrel.
I have a fresh rebuild on my 20R, header, 4 speed, and those same 4.375 gears you are running but mileage seems a lot different. my tires are 33x10.5x15's and mileage is off about 5 miles per hour @ 65 so I was actually doing a little better than the 17 I previously stated. I guess altitude might play a part?
In my re-jet kit there was an instruction sheet that was titled "Special Note" it really helped me understand what was going on with my carb. and why it was idling so rich.
Also mileage seems little excessive. Even when I was running too rich @ idle I was getting 17mpg's. I'm also running 32/36. I was running idle screw too far in originally the 1.5 Weber states is maximum and way too far ran in for my Weber. anything over .75 of a turn in and I was dumping extra gas from the enrichening progression hole in side of primary barrel.
I have a fresh rebuild on my 20R, header, 4 speed, and those same 4.375 gears you are running but mileage seems a lot different. my tires are 33x10.5x15's and mileage is off about 5 miles per hour @ 65 so I was actually doing a little better than the 17 I previously stated. I guess altitude might play a part?
In my re-jet kit there was an instruction sheet that was titled "Special Note" it really helped me understand what was going on with my carb. and why it was idling so rich.
Thanks for taking the time for this discussion. I will PM you about the ammeter. I have a funky connection with a box that appears to attach to the passenger side of the positive battery cable at the terminal. It looks very old and worn out. I suspect that one of the connections that goes to that box might be bad and making the ammeter not work. Maybe thats the fuse you speak of. However, I am running a GM alternator. There were some wires that went to the original alternator and I'm not sure how the wiring is supposed to go because the color of the wires does not match the wiring diagram colors in my FSM schematic. I would say that could be part of the problem, but the ammeter didn't work before I did the rebuild. The ammeter does indeed say yakazi.
I know about the idle speed screw and the fuel dump if the butterfly exposes the valve. That was the problem I solved on my buddy's FJ60 weber. As far as my truck is concerned, the poor milage was likely due to a timing problem. I think I have ironed it all out. Stay tuned.
Hey buddy, I am in the same boat as you are! I have a 1979 Toyota 4WD, mine is red though. My father was the origianal owner of this gem. I'm looking for small but rare parts. Would love to have your input and help with this. If you would like to help a fellow Toyota lover out I'll send you my email address.
Glad to see the buildup thread! Definitely bummed to hear the original motor crapped out so quickly though. I wouldn't have guessed by the way it drove! Way more fun to drive anyways with that new one in there anyways I'm sure.
03-15-2016, 04:07 AM
Thanks for the kind words.
