History first then loads of pictures...had a jeep cherokee(hated it) then traded that for a pre-runner s-10 then after to many bad looks from the cops I searched the local CL and found my truck I have today. Guy I picked it up from was more than excited to get rid of it strait trade accoss. ill explain later.. We met in a parking lot in cholame CA aka: butthole of america. My step dad drove with me down there to help check it out (2hr drive) It had two different size wheels and tires front and rear the stereo was ripped out(literally) one headlight worked and had no shift boot so all you got was exhaust fumes on what seemed like the longest drive home of my life. let me explain. when you turned the headlights on the buzzer would not shut off. no shift boot meant you had to crack the window so you would not pass out. two different tires meant death wobbles so you could not break 50 mph. lets just say I was more excited than my step dad was.After getting it home let me show you what I picked up.

Thus the story begun. My name is Ricky and I would like to welcome you to my thread and to my build know as Lucy.(its a love story really) Ricky+Lucy
She is a 1986 Toyota pickup base Ex cab with a 22RE 2.4L Manual w-56 tans.
Loads of more photos to come just running low on time today. be patient....

 

Ok so this is how she sat back in 2013 when I picked her up and put all same size cracked,old BFG all terrains on 10% tread left.first things first was to tackle the stereo, gotta have music ya know!
After installing a new deck and tightening up the torsion bars just a bit to level it out to remove any wheel rub. did a tume up_ oil, filter, fuel filter and all topped off all fluids. Started to run like crap and have terrible compression. HEAD gasket it was...

 

Looks clean, Rick!
Meet the cousins (Mine's with the kayaks, the other is a turbo) ...

 

subbed for what looks to be a clean truck and similar goals

 

Nice rigs. So after the new head gasket I had to pain the valve cover red considering it was my first Toyota.

 

Where i asked my lady to be my GF
never ended up using this tac.
look at how bad the cam lob is....
then after College i decided to join the air force where the shipped me off to Texas and Mississippi for training. I was able to come home for one week to help out the local recruiter and see my truck again but when i showed up to my parents place to pick it up my step dad robbed my battery. lucky I found another laying around that would hold a charge. Lucy fired right up. although after review and her running a little rough it was time for a valve adjustment. turns out the cam was completely shot. the lobs were 1/8th of an inch worn down. So off to the local parts store after work and picked up a new cam. Luckly that weekend a girl I was interested in finally agreed to hang out up at Hume lake CA so I took my truck up the mountain and it did great. Also where you see me standing by the side of the truck was where i asked my girl to be my girlfriend right before I shipped of to japan for 2 years.
Also had this old bumper laying around the shop that was modified to fit a ford ranger so I welded on some tabs and put it on.

 

Well about a year and a half went by and I was getting home sick being stuck on a small island so i decided to come home for 2 weeks and she friends and family but most important my woman(not lucy) I flew home and hopped in my truck and the rear brake drum started leaking like crazy. could not go see my woman till i picked up a new slave cylinder. and brake booster. Pics above. I did however make it to see her and after careful planning I asked her to be my wife. She said yes. We were officially engaged Here is some more pics that we took at the pismo dunes before I had to head back to japan.

 

Well after being away for what felt like forever I saved up about 1 month of vacation time. got my orders to SD, came home (CA) got married honeymooned in cambria and lake tahoe then packed up a moving truck and loaded up both my wife's belongings and mine and drove from CA to South dakota.took i think 4 days, after living in hotels and finally arriving to our new base we found a rental home with a 2 car garage Best part was when I unloaded the truck I drove it down to the closest tire shop for some free air and a guy came out asking about it and we got to talking, turns out he is building a 83 4-runner and is in a local toyota off-road club. at the time I had no idea what it was or how big it was but there is more to tell on that as this story continues. Anyways where were we? oh ya,got all moved in and continued on the never ending build/fix issues. this time I was determined to do a full/partial rebuild on a budget. I bought me a harbor freight engine stand and got to work. Pulled the motor piece by piece and contacted the local machine shops for prices on hot tanks and resurfacing. (ballin on a budget).

 

right before i pulled the motor

started taking everything apart


nasty leak
new HF stand

time to call up my buddy who has a pressure washer

 

Will post more once I get home.

 

Congratulations on your marriage. My wife and I celebrated our 20th last weekend. Do you plan on doing a sas on this?

 

 

Great thread, love all the pics. The ones on the beach with your new wife are just fantastic.
Be sure to back up all your pictures... I just lost a HDD with EVERYTHING on it from when I was young. It hurts....

BACK UP YOUR PICS! I feel like I'm starting my history over