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Hey, so my wife and I recently bought a 73 Chinook and are doing a light restoration on it. I'm finding that sourcing parts for this rig is pretty tricky, but I'm having a lot of fun working on it. I thought that doing a build thread would be a fun way to share the project and, hopefully, get some good information about tracking down parts.
Right now I'm particularly interested in finding a windshield somewhere. Does anyone know what years had the same windshields? There's a 79 Hilux at a nearby yard, but I'm not certain that it will fit.
Anyway, below are some pictures that give an idea of how far along we are with it. I'll try to post periodic updates, too.
Trailering it back to the Portland area from Bend, OR. A picture of the inside when we got to it. A better shot of the current inside condition. We have a cheap laminate sheet that we might use for the floor, though carpet is our first choice. But we have the laminate and it's fine, so we might use it. A shot of the goofy double cylinder front brakes. Gross and impossible to adjust. There were no pedal brakes when we got it, just the cable operated ebrake. Those cylinders were not easy to come by. We put new pads on and new drums up front. The back drums were able to be turned. We also did wheel bearings all the way around, which involved some special tracking down of bearings. For the rear bearings, which were not at all what's on the books for the Hilux, I brought the original in to a bearing place here in Portland. We had to use a press to get them in. It was a pain, but I'm glad that we now have all new rolling and stopping parts. It was just a little bit more money to get a new master than to rebuilt the old one, which may have been too pitted to use anyway. Carb rebuilding in our apartment. Rebuilding this Aisan carb was a nightmare. The kit came with about 2/3 of what was needed and a lot of the gaskets and whatnot were ambiguously sized. Still, it's on now and runs smoothly. I built 4 gaskets for this rebuild. 18R-C, seems like a fine motor. Not as familiar with it as the 20r. OLD. New electrical tune up bits including points, cap, plugs, wires, and rotor. These things made a huge difference. Getting a new/old seat from an 82 Toyota Corolla (or whatever) to fit. Used the original brackets from the Hilux and drilled the seat frame in just two places. A shot of the old seat next to the new. Two "new" seats in the rig. We shampooed them with a carpet cleaner first.
Right now we're getting a new radiator to fit. It's a new one built for the early 80's trucks, but it fits alright. The old one was a brass number that leaked everywhere. A heater valve in the cab also leaked all over the place, and I think that I have a generic valve that will work to replace it. Just slowly working through one system at a time. Here's a short list of upcoming projects:
complete radiator install (it's so, so close)
go on a decent drive to diagnose other potential issues
install new water pump when it comes in
double check vacuum lines and decide what to keep/discard/cap
check rear leaf springs and maybe replace shackles
remove warped and leaky top and rebuild its (wooden!) frame
design/build extended bed frame
sew bed/bench cushion covers (we have foam ordered and already have fabric, thread, and zippers)
Anyway, I hope that you enjoy the look at the Chinook. Let me know if you have any advice or if you have a source on parts.
Last edited by Jason Hess; 09-05-2019 at 02:18 PM.
Reason: forgot some details, typos
The Toyota Chinook campers are by far my favorite Toyota camper conversion!
I don't know enough about these early Toyota trucks and campers so the more you can post up the better.
Those are interesting brake wheel cylinders. The old ones look original, or OEM parts were sourced during a previous replacement as they are ASCO brand (Aisin Seiki CO, now just called Aisin). It looks like they have a single piston each, making them basically half of a traditional wheel cylinder. That is probably why there are two of them.
It looks like you are local.
Good luck! I know this is going to be a fun project!
So, we have the new radiator mounted up and running. Here are a few pictures of the setup we put together to mount in this new radiator, which is wider. We pulled out the thermostat for now because we were worried that it wasn't letting coolant through. We also have a new water pump on the way. It seems to run and cool pretty well now, considering the condition it was in when we got it. Still, on our maiden test drive after putting all of this together the truck died whenever we stopped. When it was cold it seemed to be fine, but warm it just wouldn't idle, especially as the truck came down from speed. Any Aisan carb tuning tips to keep the warm idle going?
The original radiator was wider, so we made this little aluminum wing to make it so that the new radiator would mount. Note where the frame narrows at the bottom. The long bolts allow the wider radiator to clear the narrow frame. It also brings the front of the radiator closer to where the front of the original would have been, which will be good for the fan pulling through air. We could find no stock hose that worked, so I found two hoses with 90 degree bends (NAPA numbers 9943 and 7564, two of either would work) and a piece of copper tube. For good measure, here's a picture of it with the top up.
Last edited by Jason Hess; 05-13-2019 at 08:31 AM.
Good questions. There is a little fuel window, but it's a little foggy from being so old. The vacuum lines and emissions stuff is mostly a mess, but I've been cleaning it up as best I can. There is this little box (pictured) that offers some help, but I'm still looking for a good emissions diagram so that I can connect everything properly.
I'll do a little more standard carb tuning stuff next time that I work on it and I bet that I'll be able to get it figured out. I'll update here if the problem persists.
So, I'll try to post here where I complete a project on the Chinook that might be helpful to people. But I also wanted to share this photo album of pictures from the project. We'll probably be adding pictures to this pretty frequently.
Made a tiny bit of progress earlier this week. Discovered that the brake booster wasn't the cause of the engine dying when it came to a stop (a great relief, to the wallet and to my time). I went through all of the vacuum hoses and trimmed or replaced anything with cracked ends or that just seemed sketch. That's all it took! I can now get it warmed up, drive it at speed (well, as much speed as is available) and come to a complete stop without it dying. Even the heat actuated flap in the air cleaner is working properly now that I have the properly sized (40mm) air ducting for it.
I also spent a little bit of time using the leftover (3") aluminum bar stock to fab some simple little wings to hold the original fan shroud to the new radiator.
Still not pretty, but getting there. View of the radiator brackets and fan shroud adapters.
Next up:
-Deal with the heater core (fell apart in my hands)
-Take it on a drive with some highway miles to diagnose anything else
-Possibly replace the gas pedal
-Tackle the leaky fiberglass roof
-And so on, forever
Last edited by Jason Hess; 05-24-2019 at 03:58 PM.
Just a few picture updates to add to the record. Currently trying to track down a crazy issue with the carb (I think). Engine violently lurches and wants to die when I'm cruising at 50-55 for about a minute or two. If I keep the speed under that, then it has no problems. Very strange, but (after a full day of failed attempts to track down the issue) I have some ideas about what it might be. Will update here if/when I get it sorted.
Snagged this awesome and super helpful Toyota engine service manual. The carb diagrams in this thing are so much better than the Haynes. A must have. I had busted this off and managed to get it back on with a small torch and some solder. Not my best skill, so we'll see if it holds. This is the radiator that's fitted in the Hilux now. It's designed for a 1980 Toyota Pickup.
So, a quick update. The rig was lurching, sputtering, and dying when we tried maintaining high rpms. Though the fuel pump did move a decent amount of fuel and seemed to have good pressure, we replaced it on a hunch. Presto! We can now easily cruise at 55-60 with no problems. Now for the fiddly parts of getting the idle just right.
Last weekend we made a little day trip to Astoria, Oregon to test its road worthiness. It made the trip (around 200 miles total) with no issues at all! Slow going on the uphill sections, but on the flats it cruised at 55-60 without a problem.
Nice work. 55-60? That's probably a safe speed. I got my 78 Chinook up to 80 once. I actually regularly cruised at 70. Good thing nothing ever jumped out into my way, though. I think at 30mph you may not survive a crash in those things. Definitely safer than a motorcycle, though
Yeah, we got it up to 65 a couple of times, but it seemed happier around 55. I'm just glad that it can do those speeds at all without too much complaint.
Yup, exactly. 4sp manual. It's fine, but I'll be on the lookout for a 5sp within a reasonable distance of Portland for an eventual upgrade project. It's not on my immediate to do list, though.
Recently completed installing the heater and a new composite heater valve. Now that I've got the heater all tucked back together we can start moving on to some creature comforts. Yesterday we finished the bed/bench covers and new carpet in the cab. There was no custom kit available, so I used a cheap loop pile and worked it in as best I could. To prep the floor I wire brushed out the rust, then covered it in truck bed liner. Both the mat and the carpet are glued in with a Permatex carpet and headliner adhesive from NAPA. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Not a professional job, but much cleaner than the bare floor it had when i got it.
Jillian completed the cushion covers! We've tested them out on the ground and think that going with 5 inch foam was a good choice. Dry fitting the jute pad for under the carpet. Fitting the carpet. Done! The floor mats that came with it work nicely over the new carpet.
05-11-2019, 09:55 AM
Jason's 1973 Hilux Chinook
