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So, this is my current rig, it is an 87 Toyota Pickup 4x4 22r with california emissions setup(bleh). It has had a bit of a life before my dad got it, and then my dad did some stuff, and then I got to work on it after I got it from him. I bought it from my dad sight unseen, he had it for about a year or two before I bought it, so he had already done some work that it needed. Anyways, he left the interior alone, so that was pretty nice condition when he got it. He painted it, had no body damage or rust, which was awesome for a truck he bought in Colorado. It had 117k actual miles when I bought it from my dad, but the previous owner clearly did not understand how to do fluid changes, since the motor needed to be replaced, and the tranny was crapped out, and the carb was junk. My dad tossed in a used motor, replaced the transmission with a used one from a 90 pickup, and he stole the carb of of his 83, and tossed it on the rebuilt motor. It came on 31" tires, from a hilly area, and the gears were never changed, so probably not the best for the truck. Anyways, I had some stuff I needed to do to get it "done."
I had gotten to work really quick in making some small cosmetic upgrades, since she seemed to be in good working order, you know, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
So the truck was mostly stock, except the suspension, but oh well, I dont really have a desire to change that anytime soon. The kc lights looked dumb so don't worry, they are removed.
I had driven it around a few thousand miles, and the tired engine, kept getting worse and worse with the oil leak from the crank shaft seal, eventually it was dumping a quart a day, and that was even after changing the seal. Then one day it a piston ring took a crap, and it was time for a rebuild. On a budget, due to being in college, about to be a recent grad, which means the student loan repayments begin, I was strapped for cash. I pulled the motor, and took the long block to a company called AutoSpec in phoenix az. For the 85+ 22r motor, it is $600 for a rebuild. I was a bit sceptical, but they did all the machining, and included a master rebuild kit, They gave me back a completed longblock, and it all looked like it was going to work. I put the accessories back on, and dropped it back into the truck, I put in a new clutch and flywheel as well, so that was supposed to be the end of that. Autospec did the valves, timing chaing, decked the head, and the cylinders were 30 over, and they gave me a replacement crank for $70 because mine was trashed, allegedly. Out the door I paid $670 for a fresh rebuild, not bad, and it only took them 2 days to do the motor.
With the motor being built, I ordered a new cap, rotor, wires, and plugs from LCE, as well as a s stage thermostat(not too impressed, but it works). I also put in a K&N air filter, no real improvement, just seems to collect dirt a bit more, it is always dirty. Anyways, I got it back together, and it fired right up, I was actually impressed that the engine fired up and was operating perfectly, except the rattling that comes standard with the 22r. All in all, I was happy. The hardest part was putting the intake back on and plugging everything in, 7" of lift was making it hard to work on the truck, as you can see, I litteraly had to be in the truck to finish buttoning it up. I ran it down the street, through some mud, it was a champ.
After 3500 miles, my truck blew its head gasket, no big deal, I had a 10k/10year warranty, so long as it was not related to me not having oil or me not keeping coolant in the truck. At least I diagnosed a bad headgasket on my own, I know my truck, so I took it to autospec. I told them it was losing water, but I had not over heated it. He checked his glue seal, and he said I had not overheated it, and asked why I thought it was a HG failure. I said, well, it is a 22r, it is losing water, and I smell exhaust in the rad. He told me my safety cap was the cause of the water loss, so I replaced with OEM cap, still was happening, except now oil in the water, and water in the oil, so I was getting upset, I called them back, said I had to bring them a long block, the way they gave it to me for them to warranty the engine, screw that. So I went ahead and replaced the HG on my own, it took 2 days, but the time it actually took was probably measured in hours. I pulled the head cleaned the surfaces, got a toyota HG, I sprayed it with the permatex copper spray, and used a layer of the head gasket shellac to install, and torqued to spec. The head had pitting by the 4th cylinder, which is where the HG also failed, so much for them decking it, and making sure the parts were good, but oh well, I did not have another head, except for the one my dad had 600 miles away. I put the pig back together, and fired it up, all the symptoms were gone, yay! In short, AutoSpec was a good price, did quick work, but I would recommend putting some money aside and doing the HG properly. They were a good value, all the gaskets and seals I needed to finish, along with the timing kit, and oil pump set, and the machine work, it is easy to say, I may use them again in a future truck, but not have too many expectations, it is what it is, and their warranty is a joke, but you get what you pay for, and I got crappy head gasket. So after my head gasket fix, I drove to NM, to get another head from my dad and some more parts.
The whole trip up hill, from Phoenix to NM I had zero issues, except it was slow, but that was nothing new. I got to NM with all of my fluids at the same level as when I had left, so I would call that a success. While in NM, my waterpump started to leak, so I replaced it with an OEM water pump, no biggie. My dad had a complete power steering setup that would fit my truck, so we put in the gearbox, the pump and reservoir, and bam, I had power steering. It is freaking awesome, only thing it the gearbox is tired, and leaks a little, so maybe a rebuild kit is in order, but no big deal. My dad also had parts for the A/C, so we put in the condensor, compressor, the dash pieces, and hoses, and wires, that was so annoying to get in, I still need to get the A/C serviced, I did not have the vacuum pump, and would rather have that done right the first time. My dad also wanted to trade me a set of rims and tires, so I got upgraded to some 33's which filled in the space better. Since I did not overheat anymore, I left him the head, and found a new windshield washer reservoir, and replaced my wiper arms with the arms from a 92 pickup, which is way easier to change the blades on. I also changed out my deck while I was up there, so I can actually listen to music. The crappy vinyl seat was also replaced with a cloth seat from a 90 pickup, way more comfortable. It drove home like a champ.
I took one more trip to NM, got a new passanger mirror, and a bumper guard, not sure how I feel about it, I think I will be building a custom bumper, but we will see how that works out, since home made bumpers always look like crap. I also changed the front shocks, so it is definitely a better drive, needs new stabilizers and rear suspension done, but that can wait.
On my list of things to do
-Get A/C serviced
-Install power windows(manual regulator took a crap)
-Install clinometer(I have one that matches my dash)
-Install SR5 cluster
-Install new gears (Trying to decide between 5:29 and 4:88)
-Install power locks(key only opens driver door)
-Install sound system(two amps, one sub, and all my speakers)
-Install header and test pipe(my dad has those in NM)
-Get bed liner
-Get camper topper(leaning towards a softopper, I like to use my bed occasinaly.)
SR5 cluster, I changed the bulbs to LED, went green, white, green, I like the look, wiring in the tach was easy, but the oil guage crapped out, but I have another cluster, but that cluster has a smashed lens, so I can move all my good parts to one cluster, and call it good.
Updated on the HG, it has held together fine for the last 5k miles, so I am almost out of engine warranty from AutoSpec, I sent the RPM's up to 5k once, for a short bit, and everything held together, so I figure if that did not break anything, normal driving should be fine. I also decided I want to upgrade some stuff on the motor later this year, like a new head, upgrade my cam, and put a muffler that is not rusting away. I also want to find a new mirrors, I think these are too small, the FJ60 mirrors might fit, worth looking into, might try out a set, if they don't work, I am sure they will fit my dads 83. I had been wanting to update all of this for a while, but between finishing school, looking for work, getting a job, I have not had time, but I had some downtime during trainging, so bam, a huge build dump, haha. I usually lurk, but I think I am going to be more involved now that I have the means to be online more often. Any questions or suggestions, I would be more than welcome to receive them, I know my truck is a bit of a mall queen, but the body panels are all matching vin, the bed, doors, dash, I mean everything was damage free, and it is so low miles, I did not have the heart to risk damaging it. Second I get hit with hail, or a small car, I will prolly turn it into a rock crawler, so yeah. I am looking at getting a few more trucks now that I am working at a car company as an engineer/software developer.
Okay, so I have made a few upgrades to the truck, fairly simple. My brake master cylinder died, so I decided I should do all the brakes while I was at it. New shoes were a pain to adjust, as it was my first time doing the brakes, but I got it all sorted out. I bled all the brakes, used the brake bleeder kit from vatozone, it worked all right, kind of handy when working on the brakes by yourself, which I was. Pads were easy to swap out, all in all, it was fairly straightforward. The master cylinder and brake booster were replaced with the master cylinder and booster from a 92 4runner v6 4x4. It all bolted right up, pretty much plug and play, definitely could feel a difference in the brakes. Does it work any better at stopping, could not tell you for sure, but it feels like it does. Not saying it is an upgrade really, I am actually just stating that it fits, I make no claims on effectiveness or safety of changing your brake components. When I bled the brakes, I followed the order that is listed in the Toyota bible, which is full of information.
Last edited by B1gR3d; 11-20-2015 at 07:42 AM.
Reason: added photo for context
The brake bleeder kit also works great for the clutch fluids, my clutch line was leaking, since it had a break in the line. I found out it was leaking at the intersection, when I could not shift out of neutral, and the clutch pedal was limp. Very dangerous experience, pump the pedal and forced it to shift into second and floored it, until I got home, about 2 miles of that, really sucked. Toyota sells the clutch line for about 8 bucks, so that was nice. Installed it and bled the lines, really nifty tool.
I also installed the LCE header, really nice quality, comes with all the necessary hardware, was at my door next day, with their cheapest shipping option(I live in az, so that is a factor). I bought their flanges, and welded up my own pipes, made a test pipe, so I can swap in the cat whenever I need it. I am running 2.25 pipes pretty much straight back into a Borla ProXS turbo muffler. The sound is nice at idle, at W.O.T. it is a little ricey, but not that bad. The truck is loud outside of the cab, in the cab it is okay, with the windows up I can hold conversations without yelling haha. I would recommend LCE's flanges, and their doughnut gaskets for the exhaust work well, decent priced. Summit racing is where I bought the clamps, pretty good price.
I also bought seat covers on amazon, they are called A25 bench seat covers, they claim to fit the 84-95 bench seats, I bought it for both of my toyota's, my 87 and my 92, the fit is good, the color is good, I am pleased with them. they fit snug, in the photo I had unhooked the bottom, so it looks loose, but they tighten up really nice. I bought the charcoal covers, and it looks like it has a blue hue in the color, which actually turned out really nice in the trucks, the 87 is grey interior, and the 92 is blue interior. The seat in the 87 did require fabrication for the newer model seat to fit. The front brackets mounted right in, but the rear brackets needed to be cut, turned around, and welded back on so that the holes line up, I can post photos later. I just bought tacoma seats from a 2001 extended cab tacoma, the holes only match up with the front outside brackets. I will document the changes that are needed to install them.
Last edited by B1gR3d; 11-20-2015 at 07:52 AM.
Reason: added photo for context
Thanks, I appreciate that, I got it during the last year of college, it was a spring semester, and I graduated in the fall, so progress was slow, and during the spring, I made little progress while looking for work, this fall however has been leaps and bounds, since I found a solid job, even fixed up a crappy little 92 2wd pickup to have as a backup during the 87's downtime.
So I got the tacoma seats in. They are NOT bolt in, the front outside tab lines up, that is about it. The rear outside tab needs to be cut, and moved forward, the front inside tab needs to be bent down, and a hole drilled to mount it(still need to do it). The back inside needs to be cut and moved, I lined it up with the seat belt hole, not sure how safe that really is, but I did that. My thought process for the lining everything up was to place the seat, and line up with one hole, bolt it in. Mark where I want to cut the other tabs, remove seat, cut tabs, and put seat back in, and bolt in. Then I get the cut tabs, bolt them in, and that would give me the seat lined up with the tabs, I can add metal and weld, and I would know that my holes all line up. I think it is a pain, takes some decent welding skills, moderate cutting skills, and patience. I lack patience. When welding, place wet rags around all cloth areas to avoid burning down your truck, the seats or the carpets. When done welding, hit it with some paint, and call it a day. Needs seat covers, there is a local place that makes seat covers, so I am going to check with them on cost, or might order a set off of amazon. My seat position places me higher, which I like, I can now easily rest my arm on the door. The angle of my sitting is very comfortable, nice geometry to reach the pedals, and I clear the roof. I am 5'10", so it might not be that great for a taller person. I like the room under the seats that I now have, I can fit both amps under one seat, which is a huge change from before.
The seats after installing.
Inside front tab, already folded down, still needs a hole drilled.
Rear outside tab, needed to add some material to get the angle where I wanted it.
Front outside tab, I made zero modifications.
Rear inside tab, added material, cut and relocated, the biggest pain of all.
07-23-2015, 10:19 AM
