I have always admired yotatech and the rigs people build. Being the dreamer I am I have always wanted to build a nice toyota but funding always seemed to be the limiting factor. Now that I have graduated college and got a real job I can afford to finally by a toy. Now if you are looking for an extreme off road build this is not the right thread for you because my goal is to build a capable off road machine but still be able to daily drive it if I want. After playing the waiting game for the right truck to come along (which took a while because they are like gold up here in the Pacific Northwest) this is the "gem" I found. 1990 toyota extra cab, 22re, 5 speed, 4x4, 220k for 1200 bucks.

The day I got it home
Sorry in advance for poor phone pictures they are the only ones I have on hand.

The Good:
All straight body with original panels
The motor runs and it sounds good
Clean title
Minimal Rust
Just had the Head redone

The Bad:
"Pops out of first"
Smokes some
Needs Air Flow Meter
Lots of stuff that will Nickle and Dime me

The Ugly:








This is what the back seat area looked like




Even after a vacuum this thing was pretty nasty



I Just cannot imagine being in a vehicle with an interior like this. Only one Solution ... Gut it!



Progress on day 1!



The only thing that the day light proved is that she looks good from a far but she is far from looking good! Oh well she is a work in progress.... To be continued.

 

It seems like a really good deal to me! Nice work so far.

 

that truck would be $4k around portland

 

Seems like a good price to me. And it looks to be in great shape, looking forward to see the progress

 

$1500 1991 4X4 San Diego (no rust), only thing I could have asked for was the extracab.. Buildup underway, after a tear down and cleaning to ungoober it..
Not the DD so no hurry, going to be a great winter driver when finished, then we going to work on some upgrades.. early 90's were great years for this P/U
EFI, never carburetor ever again, far too spoiled

Good Luck on it J

 

Alright so it has been a Crazy last 10 days working out of town in Butler, IN but I finally made it back on Saturday afternoon to make some progress. I now that I have had some time it seems like the harder I look at the truck the more small problems keep popping up... oh well I bought it for a project! So first I knew that the drivers door latch was all jacked up because the bushing on the door hinge had come apart which let the door sag. When the door sagged the p.o. must have figured if it is sagging and not closing well the he better slam the door harder... which led to this


So I pulled the latch, went to the wrecking yard and got a new latch ($18) and had my buddy just tack something together so when I make right hand turns the door does not fly open (I'm speaking from the voice of experience Its Ugly but it was pretty bad when I got it and it is something I can come back to and clean up later. And yes it is the wrong shade of white but it keeps the rust away...




Now do deal with the real issue of the door sagging. I saw on a youtube video of a guy doing this for is half or tube doors. I don't have all the pictures but when I do the passagener side door ill but more dillagent with the camera. I pulled the door off the hinge and then took a sawzall to the hinge pin. You can see the wearing on the hinge pin and the bushing literally fell apart when I took it out.




It was kind of a pain to get it out but with some persistance, hammer, chanel locks and a screw driver I was able to get it out. Now I drilled to part of the hinge that connects to the door with a 7/16" bit. Do not do the half of the hinge that connects to the body. I learned the hard way but i did by 2 extra bushings from McMaster-Carr part number 9440T15. I was pretty easily able to press the new bushing back in but be careful because these bronze bushing will break if you put to much pressure on the flange.



Then I just put a clevis pin back in which I also got from McMaster PN: 92390A225 . This is the drivers side top hinge and the clevis pin has to go in upside down because of the way the door curves around the hinge. If you look close this is the hinge I messed up on by drilling both halves of the hinge and there are actually two sets of bushings on it but Ill snap another picture of the lower hinge which was done correctly.



Drum roll please..... the door lined up perfect and actually shuts good! Alright back to the grind but more to come.

 

That truck is in great condition and hard to find. I would be happy just finding a cab and frame. Taking the carpet to the carwash will make a big difference on it cleaning up. A little at a time and you will get it. Welcome to Yotatech.

 

Thanks Terry! Alright folks this is a longer post but I promise to have some pics at the end so hang in there. So back to the updates as as unable to fill you in on all the wonderful quarks with my toyota. So I will take you on a trip through time to 4 weeks ago when I got the truck. I bought it knowing that popped out of first and the owner had only had it for a short time and had picked it up from someone who let it sit for two years. He told me he only drove it in his yard to move some stuff around and just had the head done. Also it needed an air flow meter he pulled one off another toyota he had and it ran what sounded to be pretty good. I searched Craigslist for an AFM but everyone i got in contact with seemed to have already sold them. I was not very patient so I figured i would try to repair my current AFM and buy a new one if all else failed. I checked the resistance but one of them was 10x higher than it should be. Also when I pulled the AFM off the Truck the flapper would only open a minute amount ( see below) .



No wonder why it wouldn't run.. It couldn't get any air. When I pulled the top off the AFM I noticed that the one arm in the green circle would hit the other arm green circle which is crazy because it appeared that it had never been opened.



So I did the impatient thing and bought a new one ($229) Bummer but It is a piece of mind knowing it is freshly rebuilt.




The tags were 2 years expired he offered to tow it to my house which was only 15 minutes away. I got it back cleaned the interior as previously detailed an got it registered and licensed in my name the next day. The maiden voyage... I hop in the truck and head to work (3.5 miles away on country roads). The first stop sign hang a right, and the drivers door flies open! I scramble to grab it and manage to stay in my lane while I take off. Shift to second.. Smooth like butter. But I also look behind me to see a looming cloud of smoke Shift to third... Nothing! It wont go in no matter what I try so I skip it and go to fourth... A small grind but it takes in fourth. About now My foot is buried in the pedal and it is struggling to do 45 MPH. I shift to fifth just to test it and it works great but do not have enough power to sustain. Now this is my first experience with the 22re and I had heard they were gutless but it was almost unsafe how little power the truck had. So after work I cruise the city street (35 MPH) make it to the parts store and grab the basics, Plugs, Fuel filter, Air filter, Rotor, Wires, Distributor cap and oil/filter. After changing everything except the fuel filter( it looks like a bugger to get to) I start it up and ... it still runs like a turd. So I check the timing, the distributor fixing bolt was missing so oil was seeping out all over the the engine. When I put a bolt in it and check the timing the timing mark was going from TDC to 20 degrees After TDC... of course it ran terrible. So after stabbing the distributor again I check the timing and now it is 20 degrees BTDC to 8 BTDC but it is maxed out. I tried like TEN times before I realized that when the guy had infact... gotten off one tooth on the timing chain so for now not wanting to tackle the timing chain I just set it to 8 degrees before top dead center ( should be 5) and called it a day. I know this is an interference engine but there was no noise so I think I am in the clear for now. I took it for a ride and it actually had power for a change! I broke the 45 MPH barrier!!! Still smoked so I did a compression test and it was 160 across the board but plug one was nasty black and fouled which considering I just changed it worried me. Valve seals it my guess so to the parts store for some 18 dollar valve seals... and he said it was rebuild alright on to greener pasters. I decided to take care of somethings that make the drive nicer. The stereo was Circa 1992 sony that was missing buttons and didnt work. So my father in law had an extra deck sitting around and this is the result




I really only needed the AUX port but I was surprised to get radio reception because of this... my antenna? Does anyone have any good suggestions for a replacement?



Also while I was picking up a 4 runner door for a buddy I made an impulse buy and bought a set of SR5 buckets! They are tan but nothing a seat cover cannot fix. They are worlds more comfortable than the crappy bench seats that were in there. 100 bucks for the pair which i thought was a pretty fair deal and I liked the fact that they should be a direct replacement.



Out with the old and in with the new!












A little wear




Probably my new favorite tool which made this job only took like 40 minutes including the cleaning









A good scrubbing then I hit it with a shop vac and they came out pretty well.
The only bolt that didnt line up on the seats was the drivers front near the center. There was already a hole there but it didn't have the nut welded on but $1.72 at the local parts store M10 x 1.25 and the problem was solved.



Also does anyone know of a in expensive replacement method for the Extended cab window plastic latch?




This drivers window latch was the source of most of the headache and molding in the truck. It was wired shut (the source of the rust) but not tight enough and when it sat for 2 years lots of moisture got into the truck. I replaced the wire with zip ties as a temporary solution but I am looking for something better.