A lame beginning. Arguably not even deserving of a thread, but I promise to improve with time. That's the point of a build-up, no? To reveal the process?

First, my brand-spankin'-new '92! Along with its long-lost twin siblings.




I remember drooling over project rigs my dad's friends would have in their garages, and eventually discovering enthusiast forums filled with threads much like this one. I specifically remember thinking how insane it was that people were rich enough to afford $800 suspension, or multiple vehicles to justify having a project rig that they didn't have to drive every day.

Well look at that, now I'm a grow'd-up little boy, and have a project of my very own!

Bought the truck ten days ago. Already have a respectable pile of parts in my living room, and more on the way.

Truck: 1992 Deluxe, 4x4, 3.0L, 5-speed. Factory options are power steering, and air conditioning. Paid $3,500, with 172,060 miles on the clock.

I've been prowling for an xtra cab for about six months. Sold my 2006 Silverado to trade up to a truck in this generation. Managed to find exactly what I'd wanted, at a better price than I've seen many in worse condition/higher miles go for.

Things that needed attention: Leaking valve cover gaskets, leaking rear main seal, leaking oil pan, blown PS pump, missing an oxygen sensor, and timing was clowned up by the smog tech 'to make it pass.' Transmission occasionally pops out of first.

Getting close, but not quite there: Suspension, tires, clutch, some radiator corrosion.

Parts ordered so far:
- Marlin Crawler heavy duty clutch - $239
- Rear main seal (OEM P/N 90311-A0027) - $33.42
- Valve cover gaskets (OEM 11213-65010) - $18.38
- Front crank seal (OEM 90311-40022) - $8.53
- Camshaft plugs (OEM 11188-65010) - $17.38
- Camshaft seals (OEM 90311-42027) - $19.72
- Ignition wires (OEM 90919-21528) - $93.34
- Spark plugs - NGK 2087 BKR5EYA - $19.60
- Radiator - NAPA aluminum/plastic -
- PCV Valve (OEM 12204-65010) - $6.89
- Oxygen sensor - Denso 234-4050 - $42.78
- Water pump - way too cheap, see story below. -> Edited to add -> Tripped over a screaming deal from Amazon, but bought the wrong pump without the connection for an oil cooler - oops. Returned the Amazon one, bought one from Autozone to keep moving forward.
- Timing belt/tensioner/idler/spring - Gates TCK240 kit - $82.78
- Thermostat (OEM 90916-03079) - $21.52
- Distributor cap & rotor (OEM 19101-65040 & 19102-70160) - $28.15
- Power steering pump - NAPA
- Requisite gaskets, grommets, FIPG, etc.
- Accessory belts - all Gates - $36.05
- Four-hole fuel injectors - Bosch type - $125
- Knock sensor and wiring harness (OEM 89615-50010 & 82219-35010) - $42.56
- LED dome light (burned out when I got it) - $5.49
- Fuel pump pre-filter (apparently NOT a fuel filter..) (OEM 23217-11020) - $12.44
- Marlin Crawler transmission seat and socket - $19.98
- Magnetic drain plugs for diffs/transfer case/transmission - $19.96
- Handful of OEM trim tidbits that were broken/missing - $34.94
- New driver side window regulator, hoping to fix stiff window - $17.91
- Pioneer DEH-X8700BH stereo head unit - $138.49
- Pioneer TSD1002R 4" speakers for the dash - $49
- Pioneer TSD1602R 6.5" speakers for back seat - $78.72
- Pioneer GMA3602 amp for 6.5's - $61.52

Total so far (for prices listed): $1,273.55

I decided to go after the burned out HVAC bulb today, and it devolved into this:



"Oh, while I'm in here, I may as well pull the stereo so I can have the OEM head unit out of the bracket and read for the new one....AWWW RUST?!"

So I spent a couple hours wire wheeling/brushing the braces behind the dash. A little more work to do tomorrow, the sun ran away from me today. Coat them in some primer and plug it all back together. Hopefully find time this weekend to shuffle my garage a bit and shoehorn the truck in there so I can begin my longer-term teardown to put all the parts I've accumulated into her. That work will obviously include changing all the fluids and filters throughout, general service stuff like greasing driveshafts, valve clearances, etc.

Future (relatively immediate) plans:
- Swap the bench for buckets. Hunting for a decent deal there.
- Cruise control. I'm a leadfoot, cruise control is a money saver, not a luxury item.
- Rebuild my hubs. They're incredibly stiff. I'm the third owner, and I'm told it had been in 4wd once in its life (and earned a caved in rocker panel)
- Fix the rocker, then armor up.
- Hopefully find a home for my 10k winch on the front to clear up the shelf space in my garage. Planning on soliciting a some folks at Overland Expo in a couple weeks
- BFG T/A KO2 33x10.50's
- Remove bed, clean up all the rust I can, bathe in POR15.
- Continue hunting down service items that need attention.

Longer-term plans (ever-evolving):
- Compressor and rear locker to start. Possibly a front locker later.
- Fab a dual swing-out rear bumper, spare/jerry carrier.
- Sleeping arrangements?? In the shell? Ditch the shell? Rooftop tent? Ditch the bed altogether and fab a camper?
- Suspension??
- New power plant??
- Dual levers? Dual cases??

I haven't brought together prices on everything yet, but will do so as my end-of-semester schedule allows.

Funny story: Searching for the best prices for all the above parts, I was running OEM part numbers through ebay/amazon/google and comparing. I find two part numbers for water pump. Water pump, or "water pump assy." I start searching both, to attempt to determine what the difference may be. Prices are pretty consistent everywhere I look, with the assembly being about $12 more than just the pump - all roughly $130 range. Until I hit Amazon:



I send the link to my buddy to brag, they fixed the price to $138 literally within five minutes of placing my order. Pump arrived intact, Toyota stamped pump, in a Toyota parts box, with the appropriate part number and all. Win.

Since you've all got more experience with this truck than I do, I'm very open to advice/must-do items, especially while I'm gonna be elbow deep in the 3VZ-E over the next couple weeks to install all the parts I have now. Trying to dodge any need to tear it back down for a long while by planning ahead.

 

Good luck with the new project, you sure front loaded your work here with all those parts! That is a big list of things to do. I am sure you will have a lot of fun with it though, and learn a bunch about your new toy. Keep us posted on the progress! Pics are good

 

Thanks bomber!

Already learning. Spent most of today tearing down/cleaning/flushing things. Reached the point where I took off a nut from the thermostat housing, threw it in my magnetic dish, took off the next one, saw the first on in the dish and said "aww ˟˟˟˟, where did I forget to put that nut back on?!" and spent 10 minutes going back over everything before I realized I had literally *just* taken it off the same part I was working on haha.

Not much in the way of photos today. Got my dash all back together, with new speakers and head unit up front. Holding off on amp/rear speakers until all the "real" work is done. Had to pull both bumpers and the hitch receiver to fit it in the garage, but I have about 2.5" to spare haha.

Scheming tonight, not sure what order to attack in from the point I'm currently at. Thinking tear down to the knock sensor then build back up doing everything along the way, swap the timing belt last.

Said I'm learning already: Water pump isn't where I thought it was, so I was looking at god knows what when I figured out my water pump needs, I chose poorly. My $20 OEM pump is useless to me, because I've got an oil cooler and was too dumb to inspect thoroughly.

 

Well dont stress the water pump too much, for 20$ you can easily sell that off and get the right one and still be at a great price. Funny, I had a hard time finding the water pump you got, I went with an Aisin kit for an oil cooler model because they were cheaper, even though mine doesn't have one. Ended up just tapping and plugging that hole. Too bad we couldn't have traded

If I were you I would start the engine work, and definitely check those valve clearances like you mentioned. Keep it up

 

Current progress, pictures to come (not that I took many):

Replaced knock sensor and wiring harness, front crank seal, water pump, thermostat, and fuel injectors. Checked valve lash, and just pulled the crankshafts to make the whole process simpler since I'm doing it alone and don't feel like buying the fancy-pants valve tool that seems to have mixed reviews anyway. Got the old, blown PS pump pulled out and the new one assembled ready to install when I get back to that point.

TONS of scrubbing/wiping/cleaning to try to make any future leaks visible.

Installed the new stereo and front speakers. Spent entirely too much time scratching my head trying to figure out how to re-pin the dimmer wire into the factory stereo connector and remove the green "illumination" wire that remains unused.

Pulled shift and tcase levers to get ready to drop the transmission, and just ran out of steam. Taking a day off to peck away at some homework and relax. I've been burying myself in homework and final exam prep during the days, then wrenching until midnight or 1am most nights. I was hoping to have it all buttoned up and running again yesterday, but just don't have enough time to work on it with school commitments.

Valve lash has me worried. Only one intake valve was out, at .012, with max spec being .011 - not too bad at all.

Exhaust valve spec: 0.009 - 0.013
Exhaust valve actual:
Cylinder 1: 0.006
Cylinder 2: 0.006
Cylinder 3: 0.006
Cylinder 4: 0.006
Cylinder 5: 0.008
Cylinder 6: 0.0015

Most of them don't scare me too much, but cylinder 6 definitely has me worried it might be burned. I ordered shims today ($15.50 each from the dealership, ugh) and will have them in a few days. At that point, I'll button everything the rest of the way up and do a compression test to see what it looks like.

In the meantime, I've still got to drop the tranny to do the clutch, throwout and pilot bearings, rear main seal, and reseal the oil pan. Going to change fluid in the differentials and tcase, grease the propeller shaft, and replace the oxygen sensor and fuel filter while I'm down there.

Decided *where* to mount the amp for my rear speakers, just need to figure out *how* to do so. I'll have pictures of that process, because it'll involve plenty I've never done before.

Found the inevitable handful of cracked vacuum hoses that need replacement. Fan clutch looks filthy and feels lazy, so I started looking into that, and realized mine's most likely shot, so I ordered a replacement from a wrecking yard with a "One-year guarantee and unconditional warranty," which arrived today, covered in rust and black grime - worse than mine on all fronts. With that research, I also came across the famed hatred for the ring-type fans, and decided I don't want to play that risk, so I picked up a fan for a '94 4runner to replace mine when it all goes back together.

Kind of a strange confluence of items living in my engine bay. Animal nests under the intake manifold, injector wire "trough" case thingies that hold the injector harness along the valve covers turned to dust when I touched them, etc.

Knock sensor wiring harness looked brand new. Head gaskets look brand new. Crank sprocket pulled off by hand once I got the harmonic balancer bolt off (breaker bar under frame rail and bumped the starter). So, lots of things that say "nobody's ever opened this thing for anything once it left the factory," and plenty of oddballs that per all my reading, should have been in FAR worse condition than they are.

 

92' FOR THE WIN! This is an awesome build thread!

 

Alright, some photos as promised. Not many, and hardly interesting. Most of the photos I took were close ups of my labels so I can sort out the vacuum lines when I reconnect everything, and I won't bore you with those.



Getting started - draining the coolant, and rolling around outside in the rain to get the bumper and tow hitch off.




First signs of progress, a few things out of the way.




Intake plenum off, things cleaned up a bit, new knock sensor and harness installed.




I don't know why everyone says PCV's are a pain to change, I found it quite easy




My super fancy cam sprocket holding tool. Make sure you use your new timing belt for this so you know it'll be strong enough




New injectors and valve shims installed, cams out, just before beginning reassembly.




If you look close, you can tell that each of the exhaust shims is dull, where the old intake shims are shiny. Fingers crossed that #6 valve isn't burned!




Cheap window regulator off eBay - obviously fits as described. The conversation with them is ongoing, they asked for photos and VIN and all to sort the issue out.




First steps to going back together!




My current resting point. I have another class in a couple hours and my final project is due, so I decided not to start playing with FIPG and torquing things just yet.

 

Well, I hit my first angry point working on her. Installing cams, following FSM judiciously in regard to torque spec and sequence. Install the first (driver side) cam no problem. Reset torque wrench (brand new CDI wrench that was calibrated less than 60 days ago) to 27in-lb. - approx 3Nm - for bolts that call 16Nm. Arbitrary low number to do my first 'snugging' pass. Second pass around 10Nm, then the final pass.

Bolt #2 on the passenger side cam stripped out before hitting 3Nm. Didn't even begin to feel snug, just kept turning. After the first full rotation I was a little thrown off, since I'd spun it down to contact with my fingers - shouldn't be THAT far to 3Nm. Stop. Check wrench setting. Start turning again, go another full rotation with no resistance. Take it out and it's wearing the threads out of the head.



The resting point for the foreseeable future.

I went ahead and installed the LH valve cover and reinstalled the distributor and water outlet. Figure I might as well get as much done as I can and get parts off the bench. Gonna drop by NAPA tomorrow and see if they have a torque wrench for the crank bolt, since my biggest one only goes up to 150ft-lb and it needs 181.

Guess it gives me time to crawl underneath and pull the tranny finally. Decided to finish the engine up before I did that, but plans change.

Also just realized I forgot to re-check valve lash on the driver side in my anger, so that valve cover will be coming back off tomorrow.

Now to begin research on fixing the stripped head. Helicoils the best option? Not something I've ever had to deal with. I don't think drilling and tapping for a larger bolt will really work since it's the cam journal, but there may be room there. Might just see if I can clean it up with a tap and drop longer bolts in. Oh well, tomorrow will be play time, when I'm less angry.

Decided I'm going to keep a list of OEM part numbers in this thread as well, for anything I've had trouble scratching up.

 

Valve shims for the 3VZ-E:

Local dealership charged me $15.50 each for these, they can be had online for under $10 each. I wasn't clever enough to find the part numbers before I needed mine though, so here they all are for anyone looking.

Hmm..Seems to be no great way to format tables here. I uploaded an excel document of the info to this post, if that'll help anyone.

Shim----------Thickness (mm)----Thickness (in)-----Toyota P/N
Mark 2.200----2.200 mm----------0.0866 in---------13753-65580
Mark 2.250----2.250 mm----------0.0886 in---------13753-65600
Mark 2.300----2.300 mm----------0.0906 in---------13753-65620
Mark 2.350----2.350 mm----------0.0925 in---------13753-65640
Mark 2.400----2.400 mm----------0.0945 in---------13753-65660
Mark 2.450----2.450 mm----------0.0965 in---------13753-65680
Mark 2.500----2.500 mm----------0.0984 in---------13753-65700
Mark 2.550----2.550 mm----------0.1004 in---------13753-65720
Mark 2.600----2.600 mm----------0.1024 in---------13753-65740
Mark 2.650----2.650 mm----------0.1043 in---------13753-65760
Mark 2.700----2.700 mm----------0.1063 in---------13753-65780
Mark 2.750----2.750 mm----------0.1083 in---------13753-65800
Mark 2.800----2.800 mm----------0.1102 in---------13753-65820
Mark 2.850----2.850 mm----------0.1122 in---------13753-65840
Mark 2.900----2.900 mm----------0.1142 in---------13753-65860
Mark 2.950----2.950 mm----------0.1161 in---------13753-65880
Mark 3.000----3.000 mm----------0.1181 in---------13753-6B010
Mark 3.050----3.050 mm----------0.1201 in---------13753-6B030
Mark 3.100----3.100 mm----------0.1220 in---------13753-6B050
Mark 3.150----3.150 mm----------0.1240 in---------13753-6B070
Mark 3.200----3.200 mm----------0.1260 in---------13753-6B090
Mark 3.250----3.250 mm----------0.1280 in---------13753-6B110
Mark 3.300----3.300 mm----------0.1299 in---------13753-6B130
Mark 3.350----3.350 mm----------0.1319 in---------13753-6B150
Mark 3.400----3.400 mm----------0.1339 in---------13753-6B170

Crush washers for the banjo bolts that connect the fuel crossover pipes to the fuel rails, item 23802D (circled in red) in the image below: Toyota P/N 90430-12026

Dealership got $2.40 each for these, can be had for 1/2 that online easily. (So, kids, the moral of the story is plan ahead.) You need eight if you remove both fuel pipes. FSM calls these the "No. 2 and No. 3 Fuel Pipes." The crush washers are a non-reusable item.



Toyota P/N 90430-12026 circled in red.

 

Looking good.


I wish my truck was white!

 

Thanks Hwyman! I'm stoked I tripped over a white one. I would've taken anything in the right condition/cost position, but was really rooting for white or red.

Update from the past few days:

Took a long weekend to hit Overland Expo West. Even better than last year. Think I found a line on a bumper, emailed the manufacturer to continue the conversation we started at expo. Also spent entirely too much money on books and motorcycle gear.

Running either side of that weekend: Damn good thing I removed the LH valve cover, as I totally botched my math for valve shims and got all the wrong ones. Sorted that out, fortunately the dealer was happy to exchange the wrong for the right ones, so no money lost on that mistake. I'll update the valve shim excel document with a correct valve shim calculator when I get around to it. Figure it might save someone else my headache, but it will also help me out next time I have to do them.

Got the correct valve shims. Helicoiled the stripped cam journal threads. Wanked a cam seal putting it all back together. Got that replacement, spent today building everything back up.

Starting things out this afternoon. All valves are checking out in spec now, got the covers on last night.




It's starting to look like an engine again!

Next "drat" moment, realized I never ordered crush washers for the fuel dampener. Even I am now wondering "when am I gonna learn?!" so I meticulously went over the rest of the job in my head and ordered (hopefully) the rest of the gaskets and such, along with a couple more that I had earlier said "screw it, I'll just reuse it."

Once those come in, I'll be able to get the plenum back on. Going to have to figure out vacuum lines, because I was going through my photos and realized I have no idea where a few of them live. Quit for the night because the rest of the belt covers and fan/radiator components are in the bed of the truck, and I've got to push it out of the garage to get to any of them.

Honestly spent most of today's working time under the truck degreasing and scrubbing everything in sight.

How I solved a couple of issues that seem to come up a lot: Cam sprockets were both removed and torqued to spec using the old timing belt and two pair of vise grips as pictured above. You do have to reposition the belt for tightening/loosening each one, and be mindful of your routing. I was paying attention and noticed the tensioner bracket (spring tensioner) would be running close to the belt the first time I did it, and I still managed to route the belt around it and bend the hell out of it. Easy enough to fix, but be mindful and you won't have to fix it.

Removing harmonic balancer bolt: put a breaker bar under the passenger frame rail, bump the starter. I had all my ignition wires already removed at this point, but if you don't - be certain to disconnect yours.

Installing harmonic balancer bolt: rotate to piston 1 BDC (close is good enough - 180* crank rotation from TDC alignment mark on the pulley, I silver sharpied the pulley and just cranked it about 180*) then painstakingly feed string into the cylinder through the spark plug hole. I used about 12 feet of 550 cord/parachute cord. Rotate clockwise until the piston compresses string, torque to spec. I had my roommate holding some tension on the timing belt and feeding it by hand as I went through the necessary rotations, this would be a PITA alone if you care about keeping your belt installation marks correct. *VERY* important: make sure you've got the camshaft set to TDC compression for cylinder 1 - if you neglect this, you'll possibly (probably?) ruin your valves.

Hopefully I can wrap up most of the engine stuff tomorrow. Not likely though. After tomorrow, my schedule goes into straight chaos, then leaving town for a 6,000 mile motorcycle trip until early July, so I'm probably close to where it'll be sitting for a while.

 

Alright, been a while since I've updated anything. Life's been crazy. Took a month-long trip on my motorcycle - 8 states and a little bit of Canada. Awesome.

Back to the truck though! The engine is 100% together, actually was before I left. Only things not installed are plugs and wires (waiting on locking socket extensions because I can't seem to win the battle between spark plug socket and crap extension) and a whole bundle of fluids.

Then the engine came back apart at the bottom. Just got the oil pan off today and started cleaning it up. Found some odd plastic bits inside that I'll clean up and see if anyone can ID.

Tranny/t-case, drivelines, front differential are all out. Pilot and throwout bearings were done a while ago, new clutch, pressure plate, and flywheel waiting to go back in during reassembly. Just need to finish the oil pan work, hopefully this weekend, and put everything back together - then see if she runs or if I destroyed something.

Also waiting on some fittings for the fuel filter. I obviously destroyed the tank-to-filter fuel line trying to get the filter out. Much hassle with multiple dealerships, one incorrect part ordered, and discovery that the rear fitting on said fuel line also didn't want to come off - I changed plans.

I'm keeping the factory hard lines in place, cutting them back a bit, and adapting in some braided stainless line. My solution *should* work for anyone wanting to relocated their filter as well. I'm going to start another thread for what I put together if it all ends up working. No point if it fails miserably. The front and rear fuel lines are both threaded M14x1.5. As far as I can tell, this is true on all fittings. The front hard line definitely is on both ends, and the rear definitely is going into the filter - I'm not 100% certain about the other end, but I'd call it a safe bet.

I'm using stainless Swagelok compression fittings to adapt to the hard line (8mm OD - almost exactly .250" ID) then 1/4" NPT to -6AN adapter, followed by -6AN braided stainless hose, into a -6AN to M14x1.5 fitting into the filter. I ordered enough of most things to do the same on the front, with the exception of hose ends. I figure I'll give it a go on the rear first, using the factory connection at the front. If no leaks, I'll bust it back apart and put in the same setup at the front just to make future filter changes easier. The same scheme could easily be extended to relocate the filter, or even adapted to use different filters if someone wanted to for any reason. I'll confirm when it fails miserably and soaks me/my garage in fuel, assuming I don't burn to death in the process.

I'll toss up some general photos this weekend of where she sits. Getting close to done, which is getting exciting. Would have been done ages ago, but it's been around 110* lately, which severely cuts into my progress in any given day.

 

Few quick shots. Got the oil pan and baffle plate off and cleaned up. Need to roll back under her and button up the new rear main seal, then it can all start going back together. Hung up trying to find a second set of hands to simplify the job to hold things in place so I don't jack up the FIPG job. My go-to wrenching buddy's girlfriend and grandma are in town this week, so I'm out of luck for a few days.

Engine as it sits now. Had to buy the brace, or leave my garage door open (in town - no chance) for the duration of the work because there's no room for the hoist with the door closed.

The belly. Garbage shot, but looking pretty desolate down there.

Bachelor level: 1000. This was after much scrubbing with a brass brush, picks, degreaser, brake cleaner, and windex. Couldn't manage to keep the tiny flakes of RTV off. If it kills me, Darwin will be proud.

 

Ruined a rear main seal. Awkward sideways/overhead position on the creeper, without enough light to see what I was doing, and a liberal application of 'stupid.' New seal came in yesterday, so I put the front end back up on stands to ensure I'd be able to see what the heck I was doing, a better light, and the job was painless. Let the FIPG on that set up overnight, re-cleaned and degreased the bottom of the block and got the oil baffle plate FIPG'd and torqued into place. The only way I could come up with to install the oil pan and baffle plate without risking screwing up the FIPG was to throw in the baffle plate, let it cure for 24 hours, take the bolts back out and install the oil pan the same way. So for now, the baffle plate is curing up, I won't have any time to work tomorrow, so hopefully Tuesday evening I can get the oil pan in. From there, it's just plug & play to get the differential, tranny/t-case and drivelines in.

Obviously that's all too easy and without issue, so I also discovered my fuel filter adapter fitting and the 90* hose end are too long to fit between the filter and the crossmember support in the stock location. Figures. There's one orientation that the 90 nestles into place, but it forces me to bring the braided stainless hose under the crossmember, and that's not acceptable to me. Now I'm debating whether to create a solution to move the filter forward a couple of inches, or completely relocate it, such as into the engine bay. Leaning toward the latter, but that becomes a bit more involved, as well as a bit more expensive, so I've got some pondering to do.

 

Got everything back together tonight, aside from cosmetic stuff - bumpers, grille, etc. Everything mechanical is in place! But I'm waiting for gear oil to show up to refill the diffs and tranny/t-case, so I can't very well run it without holding the clutch. Tried starting - won't start. Occasionally get a cough, but nothing more.

So the head scratching begins. Possible causes come to mind:

-Out of gas. I was playing to figure out where my low fuel light comes on leading up to the work. I started thinking "man, it's been on E forever.." and searched online, only to discover some of these don't HAVE a low fuel light, so I'm very close to out of gas, possibly enough so that re-priming the fuel system dried me up too much to start.
-Fuses. Checked, all in place and good.
-Double checked ignition wires, all solid.

Start pondering deeper. Hmm...I'm an effin' moron! When I re-mounted the distributor, I just slapped it on there and let it mesh with the camshaft however it wanted - I didn't even think about alignment. Once I realized that, I dug through the FSM, and sure enough, the distributor has to be installed when the cams are in the correct position. Extremely obvious and total no-brainer, but the price you pay for having no clue what you're doing on a project like this, missing "obvious" things. 'tis how I learn, so I'll dig in this weekend and reinstall the distributor correctly, dump in a little more gas, and see how she feels. Hopefully I'll even have my gear oil by then and be able to take a victory lap. At least it's an easy to fix mistake!

Bright side: no leaks in my fuel system up to the relocated fuel filter. I want to get it running to "prove" my solution to myself, then I'll post a thread on relocating, my way.

 

Distributor, it was. Took a little bit of MacGyver-ing to find TDC compression on 1 with everything put together and no helper, but once I had it figured out, picked up a new distributor o-ring (which I never replaced the first go around anyway) at the dealership, reinstalled the distributor the correct way (honestly, the FSM kind of blows for describing this procedure) and threw everything back together.

....deep breaths....

Fired up on the third crank. Already MUCH tighter than it was before, if that remains consistent. Since I don't have any oil in the tranny, I didn't want to take my foot off the clutch, so I didn't let it run more than about a minute, but it seems happy. Once I get the oil in, I'll fill the thirsty bits, get the timing set, and see how she drives.

I never realized how exciting and relieving it would feel to hear an engine fire up for the first time after all that work haha. hashtagnoobfeelings.

 

This is awesome man! You're doing great work! Such attention to details! Your truck looks great and hopefully will be running flawlessly for you once you button up the other parts!! Also super jealous of your truck body as it looks mint!!

 

Great looking truck you have and looks like you are getting several things taken care of.

 

Thanks guys!

Got everything wrapped up today. My Harbor Freight timing light was DOA, so I bought another from Autozone. Got all the fluids topped off, timing set, put the bumpers/grille/hitch on and drove about 60 miles without any signs of trouble. Holy christ is it a smoother, stronger, and tighter drive now. My registration is conveniently up at the end of this month, so I'll probably go see if it passes smog in the next week or two.

Replaced all the window weather strips and window run on the driver side today, a LOT easier to roll up and down, except one spot that seems to catch. I did not replace the lower/front run, as I mistakenly thought it was all one piece, so I assume that's my problem. I can't seem to find a part number for it online, however

Running wires for speakers/amps. Nothing fancy/over the top. I don't care about having a "bumpin system," but I can't live without music, so I got some decent speakers and a couple amps to run them. Need to figure out how I want to bring power into the cab, and work on mounting the rear amp and speakers. The front is mostly done, head unit installed and working great, new speakers in the dash, which are way better than the stock ones, but still obviously lacking any lows.

I think the next effort is going to be a bumper and winch mount. Having trouble finding a winch bumper I like, but once I stepped back and looked at the front end of the truck, I think I'm just gonna fab up a winch plate out of steel that'll mount to the frame, then a bumper out of aluminum that will box it all in and serve the bumper role independently. We'll see, just a thought for now.

Suspension is high on my list as well now. I've never tinkered with suspension at all (of course, I've never done most of the stuff I just completed, either...) so I need to do some research. I discovered I can get a suspension & steering kit on ebay for around $75 that includes upper and lower ball joints, idler and pitman arms, and outer tie rod ends. This seems cheap enough that it should just be avoided, but I'm simply basing that on "$75 for 8 functional vehicle components? They've got to be made out of chewed bubble gum." so if anyone's got any feedback, please let me know.

Next couple of paychecks will be new tires, which kind of upsets me, because that leads into regearing, which leads into lockers, which leads into compressor....Gear oil is already not cheap, I don't want to crack my diffs that I just filled

 

Wow, I've been absent a while. For some dumb reason I took most of the winter (bearable weather) off from wrenching. Now that it's breaking 100* again, I'm getting back at it. Go figure.

Accomplishments since my last post:

- New tires, five BFG T/A KO2's, 33x10.5.
- Finished the stereo install including amps for front and rear speakers. Pulled power in through a firewall grommet behind the glove box, ran power and signal cables to the back-seat-mounted amp on opposite sides of the cab under the carpet. Fabbed rear speaker mounts to go in the factory location out of 3/8" ABS. Again, nothin' fancy. Just better noisemakers to entertain me on the road.
- Fuel filter was relocated into the engine compartment, I probably have 5-6,000 miles on it now without issue. I keep meaning to write up a how-to, for anyone curious. I need to sort out a better mounting solution though, as I initially zip-tied it to a wire bundle "for a few days, just to test" and haven't touched it since haha.
- Sold the camper shell, and pulled out the slide in bed liner. Honestly cannot believe how clean the bed is under that thing. I'm guessing it was installed brand new in 92, and from the looks of the liner it never even received any abuse. Going to Line-X over the rails in a couple months when the money lines up. Probably going to coincide with the rocker panel repair so I can just Line-X the bottom edge of the body at the same time.
- Got an electronic speedo recalibration box gizmo. I figure it'll be more accurate and more versatile than simply regearing the differentials. Waiting to install it when I do cruise control though, since I'll be tapping some of the same wires.
- Picked up an R151F and a second RF1A gear drive transfer case. Guess that means I'm going to dual cases. Tore down one case already. Wanted to meet the pixies that live inside and make it work. We now understand each other, so I feel much more confident in rebuilding both cases myself. Going to swap the 23-spline input from the R151F tcase into the extra case I got, replace all the bearings and mate it to a Marlin crawl box adapter. Also have to modify it from forward shift to top shift, but that looks easy enough. That wraps up the crawl box, the actual transfer case I'm going to do a full rebuild - all bearings and seals, and jump up to 23 spline 4.70's. Debating 30-spline output shafts still - they're pricey, and I don't know if my 3.0 is stout enough to really instill fear in me. I plan to pick Marlin's brain on that; going to have them rebuild the R151F for me instead of taking on that chore myself.

All that said; suspension is my next main target point. Going to do a full rebuild of...basically everything. Upgrade and brace the idler arm, urethane bushings all around (including cab mounts), new OEM ball joints and tie rods, 1.5" ball joint spacers, then full Old Man Emu dressings: shocks on all four corners, rear leafs and shackles, torsion bars, and steering dampener. Piecing all this together bit by bit. I'm aggressively paying off all my debts at the moment, so superfluous things like truck upgrades and eating real food are kind of back-burnered for the time being. Only a couple months' worth of delay until that goal is accomplished though, so shouldn't be too incredibly long before I'm back wreaking havoc.

Evolved longer-term plans:
- Brakes need love, debating rear disc upgrade. More research needed to inform that decision.
- Still need seats. I'm being a picky bitch and keep turning down things I find. One of these days I'll end up meandering through a Pick-N-Pull just looking at what's inside everything.
- Both bumpers - decided I'm just going to buy another welder. Lots of gluing metal together to be done on this project, and I'm tired of trying to coordinate with my one buddy who owns a welder - no big projects coming that way. Super stoked I sold my Miller a couple years ago
- With the welder comes two bumpers, and a bed rack/shell abomination I've dreamed up. Haven't yet pulled measurements or mocked anything up, but the idea is to handle a rooftop tent, raft on top of it, essential tool storage (hi lift, shovel, ax) to be accessible, and also provide security for items in the bed, possibly some small amount of dry storage.

Kicking around the idea of a TDI swap. Have a buddy back home wrapping one up, figure I'll go tool around in his rig and see if it appeals to me.