whelan709

i've loved these trucks since i got my licence and i needed to have one! So as my first vehicle, I bought my 93 pickup almost four years ago for $900 and have finally decided to start my build thread. I've been in school and haven't had any time to work on it but i get stuff done when i have the time and money.

The truck started life as a plain, rusted pickup with nothing done to it but wear and tear. The only bad thing about the engine was the seized alternator. got that fixed. now It's been in my shed for almost 4 years and still starts first turn, Just like it was run everyday. compression test soon and checking the timing chain when i get the base pan off.



So i started to tear it down.



Frame has a few bad spots, the rear tubed crossmember is gone and the left frame rail is bad around the cab mount.

Started tearing down the body and cutting out the rust. There was a lot.




I kept finding more spots as I took the truck apart, I fibreglassed where i could and ordered new rockers and cab corners for the truck. Got them installed and a rough patch of body filler on.


I also got rid of the old bed and could not for the life of me find another one so I decided to put one on from a 00 tacoma, a little modifications and voila! one retro bed!

Soon after, I bought a 05 ninja 636 and didn't care at all about the truck! But after one summer of riding, I was driving down the road, mid-novemeber on the bike and someone cut me off, I hit the car and flew over it. The bike was beyond written-off.. Managed to spin the car 180 degrees. I think her wheels were turned though.

before:

After:



So three months went by with me wishing i could work on my truck. Then I get the insurance money on my bike and seeing as how i had the loan payed off, I did some searching for a lift and tires. Wasn't much else to do in my bed. I also bought some parts like a new bumper and mounts, seat bracket, headlight housings, fuel filler neck, and a few odds and ends.

Ended up buying the rough-country bracket lift, never wanted to go with a sas. wanted to keep it pretty simple. Going with a blazeland kit eventually. I also bought a set of 15 inch rims and got a sweet deal on a set of goodyear duratrac's, 33x12.50r15. total cost of rims and tires, $900.


Eventually got it all and began to install.





The front lower control arms were pretty bad so i decided to get new ones in the process. I also had to get a new/used front diff cover because the bolt was rusted into the bushing and i had to cut it out.

A week or two later after waiting for parts, I finally got it on the ground again.




back to school, Never had much time to do anything lately, all new brakes and rotors, new hood, and doors that won't be used but i wanted to see what the colour looked like.

As i was doing more work on the bed, I realized my gas tank was actually leaking. A few pokes with a screwdriver and some holes appeared..
In search mode for a new gas tank.


Also, since the taco bed has the gas tank on the left side, I decided to go the easiest route and marked and cut a hole in the other side of the bed. I also got a filler neck housing from a jeep and bolted it into the hole, modified the filler neck housing to fit the filler neck and voila, one more quick fix.








So that leads us to today, and a fun day it was. I decided to take the windshield out and re-finish around it.

I used some metal brake cable line and it seemed to work fairly well, also used a lot of utility knife blades, ended up cracking the windshield, I got too inpatient.
There is a lot of rust and seems the p/o had already tried to fix it with some body filler, Time to get the die grinder out, and the wire wheel.






the truck isn't right side drive, I just took the pictures with my laptop, so they came out mirrored!

More in the next few days after I get the two new doors I ordered!

westjohns yota

looks good, what kind of motor? 5 spd or auto? cant wait to see paint!

whelan709

thanks. oh ya, should have mentioned that somewhere!
22re 5speed 288k on the odo. original motor and head gasket if i'm not mistaken

i'm going to be painting it the new toyota speedway blue

New colour for an old truck!

whelan709

So today I got more done on the windshield, got it cleaned up and got some primer on it.


Also finished installing my new energy suspension bumpstops


and got the extra cab windows out, easier than i thought! got some more paint prep done.


More as i move along with the build, doors on friday!! can't wait, it'll be like christmas! going to prime them well and rust proof so they'll never rust! (for a year or two)!

Terrys87

iTrader: (1)

I actually enjoy doing the bodywork. Just wish I could do the cutting and replacing that you are doing. Subscribed

whelan709

I don't mind the body work too much either, when i get into it i can't stop but getting body filler on and waiting for it to dry is the most boring part. i'm a perfectionist too, so trying to get a body line perfect is so time-consuming. and when your impatient, being a perfectionist sucks!

Still a lot to come, future plans are new rear leafs, ski plates, rocker guards, 4:88 gears and an auto locker. And hopefully one day, with extra funs, a blaze land or total chaos long travel kit!

whelan709

So just a little update today:
Got two new doors in, installed them for fit. Right door fits perfectly, left door, not so much. There is a little dent i never noticed when i picked it up just in front of the mirror hole, and the door is twisted or something, the top of the door is out almost an inch out, while the bottom is in about 1/4 inch, throws the whole door right off!

Check it out!
Right door:


Left door:




I also got around to taking out the back window, I thought it would be the hardest one, but after seeing in the manual how to do it, this was by far the easiest window to remove... 2 minutes, done!



and final thing for today. I kept the front emblem from my 91 parts truck and decided to cut the TO off and was left with YOTA, i'm painting it and am going to stick it on the tailgate after the truck is painted:
During paint:

finished:

And that's all for now, next will probably be frame repair!!! yay....

whelan709

Little odds and ends done today, got the bottom of the right fender re tapped and bolted on to test fit. got all those nonsense bolts that hold the fender on behind the bumper bolted up too.



I also got a bit more body work done on the right door, got the corner of the cab done fairly well, not perfect but it'll do.



That is all for now, hard to get work done while i'm in school, a lot of work to do!
Hopefully more bodywork in the next few weeks, still looking for a gas tank!

whelan709

Decided to pull the base pan today, with the diff. drop brackets, it makes it 100 times better to take off, still a bitch to get the pick-up out, going to take the stabilizer off seeing as how that was the only thing in the way when i took off the pan. This way, i can put the pick-up tube back on without having to put the pan in place.

Had no water or crap in my oil when i drained it for the first time in four years.


Also found some pieces of timing chain guide which i believe to be the factory guilds.



But that being said i'm pretty sure the guides were done because the pan looked like it was never removed but the front of the pan where the timing chain cover goes was full of new (or should i say not as old) liquid gasket. Going to take the valve cover off and take a look anyways. Just in case.

Started to clean up the pan a bit and take off all the old gunk and rust.

Started to sand blast it and found Four small holes in the pan which are easily fixable with the welder at work. just a few tacks and done!


Going to try and get more done this weekend. Exam time is soon,

Highly debating doing a top end and front end rebuild on the engine to the point now where I had a dream about it last night! weird but true,
so should I just do the head gasket and timing chain? I would like to do it for piece of mind but money is tight and maybe it doesn't need to be done.

Also priced a new gas tank at $275.25 canadian + tax (13%)

Oh and next post will most likely have some frame related things and possibly body work.
That's it for now.

whelan709

Long time since i posted last, had a school and ˟˟˟˟. But i got a lot of stuff done lately, I bought a new gas tank and base pan, cut out pieces of frame and did some wiring for a fuel cur-off. thats all i can remember so far.
So Here's the gas tank,



It was bare metal so I primed it and covered it in layers of bed liner! the thing is going to out last the rest of the truck!

So I had to do a little fixing with the fuel pump, the wire was rusted off + and - so I took it apart, drilled out the little brass positive end and hooked it up with a screw and a new eye thing. another pic!







The two blue ends are clips that will easily clip into the wiring so there's no issue with connecting and disconnecting the fuel pump wires from the wiring. Just a little to help for installation and future removal!

I also got some bodywork done on the cab corner, one down, one to go.



I also cut out the rear tubular cross member from the frame, was very rusted. the two rear frames are also kinda rusted going to be replacing them soon as well.

More to come soon, Exams done next week so ill be getting more done!

whelan709

So got a lot done lately.
got a new fuel sender gauge, $150.00....

I also started cutting out some rusted frame rails, the usual spot right under the end of the cab.





I also got the old LSPV off, the mount was rusted but surprisingly 3 bolts came out of the frame with ease, the fourth i had to cut off because it was stripped, drilled it out and got a new one for it.


as you can see the bracket is done, i need a new one!



Anyone have a new LSPV and bracket I can buy??

That's all for now, more frame work in the weeks to come, I keep updating. hopefully i can start painting in a few weeks!