Monochrome

Hey all, I've meant to do this for a while just to show all the little things I've done to my pickup since I bought it. I'm not sure it even qualifies for a "build" thread, but you can judge that. The intent of this thread is a reasonable and practical look into what it looks like to buy an older truck and make it decent. The target audience is someone who is thinking about buying one of these Toyotas, want to do most of the work on it though they might not have any mechanic experience, and isn't sure what to expect. Because, well, that was me a year ago!

There will be no awesome SAS'ing, lifting pictures, gearing discussion, motor rebuilds, etc. So if you want to see that, then I'm sorry to let you down! This will probably be boring for you. Maybe someday.

In summer of 2008 I wanted to get rid of my Corolla and get a truck. I'd always wanted a truck and my price range was small, approximately $3,000 or less. I almost bought a Ford and a Chevy but then started doing heavy research when I started reading red flags about domestics.

On the flip side, everyone talked about how awesome Toyota trucks were, and I noticed that they were considerably more expensive given the mileage and age compared to newer/fewer mileage domestic trucks. While that realization may have turned off other people, I did research and realized they cost more and have more mileage because they're just better trucks. That conclusion also brought me to the 22RE and Toyota pickups. Let me just say right now, I'm so glad I did that research!

I ended up finding one off Craigslist in October 2008 that had a bunch of receipts for recent work to the front end, a newer professionally rebuilt engine bored .30 over, and a bunch of little extras like a header, custom exhaust, fender flares, etc. There were some downsides, like the 260k miles, but it didn't seem to major at the time: diamond plating on the side, somewhat smelly carpet, missing panels, dents in the bed and body, rusty bumper, etc.

But she ran very well, sounded great, had decent power considering the engine, and so I was sold. I talked him down to $3k even, despite the fact that he spent $1,500 a few months prior at the dealership replacing practically the whole front end suspension. I drove it home, and it was my first time ever driving a manual, so that was an interesting trip...

Here are the first pictures I took: (the hood is unlatched in the first pic)







Continued...

yoterr

thats actually pretty clean, nice truck,

T4L

That is a clean pick-up. I can relate to this kind of "build"......I'm in th middle of one myself.

iamsuperbleeder

looks good!

very clean truck!





just need some meats on those wheels



I paid 3k for mine too, bone stock, only mind had 276k on the ORIGINAL motor... I don't even want to talk about how much money I've put into it since... lol

toyota4x4907

Nice rig. I kinda like the diamond plate sides.

I paid $3K for my '93 single cab 22re 5 spd with 87K original miles..one of the cleanest yotas I have ever seen. Even had the metal backed timing chain guides already done.

Congrats on the truck

Monochrome

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback! Yeah, I'd like to get some bigger tires, but don't have money to regear. toyota4x4907, I don't know how you found that deal... the BEST I could find in Seattle was around 140k miles and more than one or two imperfections, for $4500.

iamsuperbleeder

well you COULD go 31's without the need to regear; that's what I'm running; but you'll sacrifice a little MPG and acceleration, and your speedometer will be just a hair off

but those tires look almost brand new, so I'd run those first, lol



do you happen to know who makes those fender flares on it?

Monochrome

I couldn't get the truck to pass emissions, as the tabs expired in October. So the first thing I did was give it a full tune up -- also my first time doing a tune up on any vehicle. What made me the most scared, next to accidentally stripping the spark plug thread, was jumping the wrong connectors on the diagnostic terminal. Maybe because it looked like this:



I did a full tune up, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, oil/filter, radiator flush, topped off all fluids. Timing it was fun, a timing gun in one hand and the FSM in the other. She ran well enough to pass emissions. Then later I discovered why it probably failed in the first place:



Pulling the intake tubes off was a bit scary as well, so I took extra precaution by labeling.



Here's the rest of the goods, though I wish I would have gotten factory parts in hindsight. I won't even show you the Fram oil filter...



While doing the tune up, hopping in and out of the truck, I realized how badly it smelled inside. Pretty much like a moldy wet dog. So I decided to take out the carpet and wash it. It was absolutely filthy and had mold as well as spilled oil soaked into the padding on the back:





I ended up leaving it outside for a bit, and then tried powerwashing it, then spraying it with deodorizer. It ended up being all for not, but that's a later post.

Because it was in the factory manual, I decided to inspect and clean the intake as well. It looked pretty good (yes/no?).



All in all, a pretty productive day full of learning about my truck. But since it wasn't able to lock, I decided to order some new door handles and get some new cylinders matched to my ignition key. None of the cylinders were intact, so my truck was always unlocked...



Continued...

Monochrome

Hmm, I'll think about it. I'd like 33s though. And no, I don't know what kind of fender flares they are. I took one off to look for markings, but couldn't find any. The previous guy said they were Bushwhackers, but I don't know for sure.

BigBluePile

iTrader: (3)

That is a great pickup!! Nice!!

toyota4x4907

Whats it look like BEHIND the throttle plate though?

Both my '93 truck and my '95 4runner had/have 31x10.5s with factory 4.10s. You get used to it after a week or so. I've been driving that combo since '05 when I bought my '93, minus 3 months of driving my '88 4runner with factory 225/75r15s. 22re, 5spd, 31s and 4.10 gearing is pretty good set-up.

Also, my sister owned the '93 before I did, but only for about 9 months. she bought it from the original owner for like 5K. She just needed to sell it because she was getting a rav4 so she cut $500 off for me I ended up paying $2500 out of pocket and my mom payed $500 because she had helped my other sisters when buying their first vehicles. This was my first vehicle

Monochrome

The new handles and lock cylinders came in, and I was really excited. I got them keyed to my ignition key by a local locksmith. Total cost for new handles and cylinders plus the match was about $75, and totally worth it. Thanks ebay!







I did a big once-over the whole body and discovered a number of little things that I didn't see when I bought the truck. For example, the diamond plating was pop riveted to the sheet metal. I'm sure that was logical for the PO, but really!?! I'm not a fan of diamond plating, so I already started devising ways to get rid of it. None of them seemed very good. The big issue in my mind was the chipped and flaked paint along the entire length of the truck beneath the diamond plating, and obvious signs of rust.





Then I noticed this pretty large gash in the rear quarterpanel. It didn't look that bad at a distance, but when I got up close the story was different.



In the meantime, my parking brake wasn't working very well (and has since broken), so I figured out how to tighten it up. Then I discovered the previous brake cable, which was so delicately coiled up in the undercarriage of the truck. Why it was left there, I'm not sure...



I'm not a big fan of aftermarket tail lights, so I ordered some stock ones from ebay for $50. When they came in, I was washing my car, and the window guards were so brittle that they shattered with a little bit of pressure, so I took them off. Then I somehow got the courage to tackle the diamond plating. I got out my drill, cried a little bit, and then started drilling out the pop rivets and put a piece of scotch tape over the holes to prevent rust.



The rust and gash damage became more apparent:





After removing the diamond plating on the sides, I started eyeing the ugly tool box and bed runners...

Monochrome

Thanks, I like it too, though it's a work in progress...

Haha, I forgot to take a picture of that. It was pretty clean. But maybe I should check it out again...

iamsuperbleeder

what's wrong with that tool box? I think it looks alright personally

but I also favor blacked out over the polished aluminum






(don't mind the "For Sale" sign... it's not on the market any more )




I don't suppose you'll be ditching the flares too eh?

Jay351

Good stuff, nothin ruins a truck like tacky add-ons

Monochrome

The next step was to get rid of the tool box and diamond plating on the bed rails. I wanted a diamond plate free truck, dammit! A few days later, I finally did it:









I already thought it looked much better, though I knew I would eventually have to deal with those pop rivet holes. Little did I know, the "temporary" scotch tape fix would be on the truck for a year and it would take a screwdriver and some goof-off to remove it!

I decided to focus on the interior. With the carpet still removed due to unsuccessful cleaning, I had been riding with no carpet. The truck was loud, and the bench seat was really uncomfortable. I started looking at the missing panels, and especially the exposed metal behind the seat. Wasn't there supposed to be carpeting there, like I had seen in some trucks? This is what mine looked like:



So, I took my first trip to the JUNK YARD!!!

I went to the Lynnwood Pull-A-Part and found a few trucks in really good condition considering the rest of the selection. And I found a back carpet piece in really good condition, so $8 or so later, I had this piece:



But I would need some replacement carpet, so I ordered some off an online carpet store. They sent me samples first so I could match it as closely as possible. In the meantime, I started looking for ways to ditch my bench seat. That adventure took me to Craigslist, where I looked for weeks to find some SR5 seats in good condition that would bolt in directly. I wasn't able to find any for less than $200 in good condition, so I decided I would have to buy some other seats and fab something for them.

My search led me to some dude's house way out in Snohomish, where he sold me some '89 Corolla seats for $50 in awesome condition that are a 99% color match. I presumed they might bolt in directly, but I was definitely wrong. At any rate, I started figuring out ways of mounting the seats.



I tried many different ways to get the seats to mount; placing, recalculating, shifting slightly, using shims and stuff to get the right level. The final decision was to drill 3 new holes and use a riser, then a huge grade 8 bolt into the cab floor.







And using the old tool box as a workbench (ghetto I know), I bought some steel bars and cut them exactly to size:

Monochrome

If they were black diamond plating, I would have probably kept them. But the silver... it had to go!

And no, the flares are staying!!!

iamsuperbleeder

OH...

is that a rear IFS truss I spot under there, or do my eye's deceive me?

algranger

Aw man i knew this was going to be unexciting why did i click on it??

Jk, everyone knows what an sas'd locked and lifted trail rig looks like but its cool to see the resto threads too

Oh yeah and whenever you remove diamond plate you can usually expect to find some damaged or severely rusted panels underneath

pruney81

That's definitely a clean truck. 3k was a good deal considering all the work that was done.

I'm kind of going through the same situation, I just bought a 1990 with 95k miles with minimal maintenance done to it for $2250.

I've since replaced the clutch, motor mounts, tranny mounts 4 new bilsteins, a parking brake cable cuz the old one was snapped, and I'm about to get a new exhaust next week.
It's rust free though which is huge out here on the east coast