I'm a previous owner of an '83 Toyota 4x4 who sold it years ago and have always regretted it. So, I decided to see about getting one that needed some work but at the core was a solid truck. What I found was an '88 in rough, but solid condition. A previous owner had replaced the engine, though didn't know 100% what he was doing because there are some electrical gremlins I'm going to have to figure out.

Restoration list:

- Check engine light constantly on even though engine runs great.
- Repair cracked dash and repaint
- Replace carpet with new
- Replace seats (thinking either 4Runner or Honda Accord seats)
- Coat interior with bed liner material
- Add soundproofing to interior
- Replace muffler
- Replace suspension bushings
- Figure out weird squeaking in rear axle/left rear brake when truck is in motion
- Tune up engine
- Coat bed with spray-in liner
- Repaint
- Replace windshield, driver window, and rear slider
- Replace steering shock absorber
- Tighten steering that feels a bit loose on the road
- Replace battery tray and mounting equip
- Strip and repaint front and rear brush guards

Have done so far:
- Replaced shocks (fronts were originals; that was an interesting project)
- Re-finished wheels
- Purchased 31X1050R15 BFG All-Terrain T/A
- Purchased new rear slider, just need to replace it
- Topped off all fluids (power steering was bone dry )

Truck on purchase day:

 

With a couple items done:

 

Cost of redoing the wheels came out to about $10/wheel in materials. It was a fun weekend project.

 

u said u topped off ur power steering what did u use? and welcome to yotatech!!! and congrats on the new truck. and the wheels look good

 

Oh yeah, forgot the interior shot:



I'm going to redo the door panels from scratch. The ones on the truck are far too rough to be able to keep. I'm considering adding power windows too, so that will get taken into account when I redo them.

 

STP Power Steering Fluid

 

yotas use atf instead of powersteering fluid the mix of the two will cause leaks and break down of the seals

 

Hmm. Well, I guess that counts as important info. Thanks for the head's up. There's clearly a leak in the system right now I have to take care of since the whole thing was empty.

 

I'm just about ready to get the interior put back together. I'm waiting on a new stereo from Crutchfield to arrive so I can get everything wired up and hopefully will pick up some seats this weekend.

So far, I've pulled everything out and pressure washed the interior. Used my air compressor to blow the dirt out from the area behind the dash. Repaired any rust found then coated the interior with Rustoleum bedliner. Attempted to fix dash cracks (I'm gonna buy a plastic dash cap eventually). Repainted all interior pieces. Purchased new carpet. Purchased new vinyl for ceiling and door reconditioning. Also purchased some thermal reflective material from Home Depot. Removed the air ducts and cleaned (SO nasty!!).

 

 

 

FYI. I used both rustoleum and duplicolor to paint the dash. The Rustoleum was far superior in coverage, spray pattern, and volume needed to get the job done.

 

Lookin good! What are you doing for seats?

 

I'm thinking a late-model Honda Accord bucket seat set. They're cheap, comfortable, and plentiful.

 

Rusto is by far the best!! I've got an 88 pickup aswell. Black too haha. Will be watching this one forsure!!

 

Did you paint your rims? what kind of spray did you use if you did?

 

WOW the dash looks really good, im impressed, ide do the same but the PO put it back together with wood screws in misc places so uhhhh yeah

 

looking really good!


probably the craziest dash I've seen in a Toy was in my buddie's 1st gen Runner, lol

 

das cool^^^ how did he get the lines to match up? paint it in the runner??

 

oh I have no idea, lol. one day he was just like "oh hey, look what I did", lol