First off I bought the truck in November 2007, and now it being November 2008 I have decided to do a build up thread.

Here's what I started with.



When I bought the truck it had 35 dunlops on it, plastic tool box, dog box made out of road signs, a red door and hood, and didn't run. I pulled the truck to my buddys house because it didn't run and let his dad tinker around for about 10 minutes and he had it going. We tried driving it, but it didn't move, there was no rear drive shaft so I got a set of hubs off a parts truck and then we found out that the clutch was no good. So I went to the store and bought a clutch kit for $80 and went back to install it. When we went to take the old trans out it wouldn't budge, we bent a come-a-long trying to get it out. Ended up being that the pilot bearing was sezied on the shaft and we had to pull it through the intire clutch. After that I was riding, I might have been riding in front wheel drive because I had no driveshaft for the back, but i was riding. Then I just gave the engine a little tune up.

A while later I found a set of used 33x14 boggers so I bought them. Heres a picture after I tested them out.



That was the last time that I have really driven the truck. With that experience I managed to blow a head gasket so I had to fix that and while I was at it I replaced some parts.

Timing chain
Water pump
Fan Clutch
Head Gasket
Head shaved
Intake Gasket
Exhaust Gasket
Valve cover Gasket

After all that work it runs better than ever. Now currently the truck sits lonely in my garage waiting for me to install wheel bearings and paint the truck.

So far I have spent:
$600 for the truck
$80 for a clutch
$50 for a tune up
$250 for all the parts from the head job
$300 for the boggers
$180 for front axle rebuild and wheel bearings
$260 for Weber 34/34
$90 for radio and speakers
$25 for new mirrors
$50 for new front fenders
$90 for sunroof
free flowmaster
free civic seats

My plans:

Paint job (underway)
Flatbed
Under coat the frame
Weld the rear
Power steering swap
Custom console

 

That is one clean 82...well before the mud

 

Oh my!
That is the very truck I am looking for. Treat it with care and love for it is a work of art!
Keep posting pics on the upgrades.
I wish I had that thing.

 

believe me there is alot of bondo under that paint, I'm trying to get it all out now. And that was the good side.

 

You got any clean pictures of it with the 33s?

 

I don't have any good ones but here's one

 

what add-a-leaf are you running and are you running one up front ?

 

Sweet first gen. Would you believe I've never seen one in person, and I've only seen a handful of 2nd gens like mine around here? Road salt is evil

Rob

 

Really nice truck!

I hear you Rob. I grew up in Upstate NY, and the only trucks like yours have a flatbed on them, and there aren't even many of those left. I never saw a 1st gen till I moved out west. Now that I have mine, I've started noticing that there are probably 5 others in town.

 

Just updated my plans, will get some pics up soon. My front knuckle rebuild kit is scheduled to be here tommorow, and still trying to sand down the truck for paint.

 

The goodies from Marlin came in today. Probably wont be till the week of thanksgiving when im outta school till i get a chance to really work on the truck.

 

yah keep us posted on how that install goes im due to do mine soon lol probly when I buy a new drag link from marlin ill be getting that kit..

 

Alright I finally got some work done on my truck between school and work. I tore down the front knuckels to rebuild them, found out why the wheel was about to fall off. The bearings in the knuckels were shot, and I mean shot; they were completly shredded. I am going to order some new stock replacement birfs tonight, mine had a little slack in them. Is that okay or should I get new ones?

 

I just did a knuckle rebuild myself. My birfs had a little slack but I decided not to replace them. I think there supposed to have some slack. Not a bad idea to replace them if you have the $$ and then you have the old ones for spares.

 

When I turn it back and fourth it makes a popping noise, is this okay? I made a video but youtube is don't right now.

 

Sounds like you need new ones. How many miles on the truck? Do you know if it's been wheeled hard?

 

215,000 on it and when I bought the truck it didn't have a rear driveshaft so I drove it about a 1000 miles with just the front axle with 35s and then 33 boggers for less than 100 miles

 

heck with it, I went ahead and ordered them. better safe than sorry

 

Good call. Are you running 4:88 or 5:29 gears?

 

I am also curious about the milling you did on your head. Did that affect your chain and tensioner any? What I mean is, did the lowering of the head leave he chain a little loose so it rattles a little? I have always heard milling these heads is a no no because of the oil fed tensioner but I would like to try on my 20R to bump up the compression if it works ok. Thanks for the info.

Thomas