86 Pickup Build up

[SierraExplorer]

Kinda new here and wanted to share the build up of my 86 Toyota Pickup with you guys.

Mods/Fixes:
22RE head rebuilt (334K and running great!)
Matching front fenders (when bought had a 4x4 and a 4X2 fender)
Cranked Torsion Bars (15")
Procomp Add-a-leaf for rear (1.75" of lift)
Procomp Light Bar with Hella 500's
Cragar Series 342 Black "D" wheels (15x7/6x4.5 lug)
Interco TrXus MT 31x10.5R15LT
Snug Top with custom storage and sleeping area (in progress, based off of www.brain894x4.com)
All-Pro front winch bumper (not on but pictured below)
New Paint job! (thats the last thing ill do)

Here's a few pictures:

Before:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/Scratch9/Truck6.jpg

After: (a year after)
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/Scratch9/Truck10.jpg

Rear: (in progress. Thank you Brian for the wonderful ideas)
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/Scratch9/Truck12.jpg

Bumper: (next task)
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/Scratch9/Truck4.jpg

Thats about it for now. I'm planning on doing a bunch of high sierra roads this summer with my brother. I'll be using a book called Sierra Nevada Byways by Tony Huegel to guide me. If you have and thoughts or suggestions id love to hear them. :ylsmoke:

Future plans are...
Dual Battery setup
Winch (still not sure which)
Roof rack (not sure what kind)

Mike

[RoundOut]

First off, Welcome. I haven't been around much either, but it is a great forum and I'm learning a ton, meeting new friends and making great adventure plans.

You have a great looking truck, I especially like your rims & tires. Very agressive looking!


Kinda new here and wanted to share the build up of my 86 Toyota Pickup with you guys.

Mods/Fixes:
22RE head rebuilt (334K and running great!)
Matching front fenders (when bought had a 4x4 and a 4X2 fender)
Cranked Torsion Bars (15")
Procomp Add-a-leaf for rear (1.75" of lift)
Procomp Light Bar with Hella 500's
Cragar Series 342 Black "D" wheels (15x7/6x4.5 lug)
Interco TrXus MT 31x10.5R15LT
Snug Top with custom storage and sleeping area (in progress, based off of www.brain894x4.com (http://www.brain894x4.com))
All-Pro front winch bumper (not on but pictured below)
New Paint job! (thats the last thing ill do)

Thats about it for now. I'm planning on doing a bunch of high sierra roads this summer with my brother. I'll be using a book called Sierra Nevada Byways by Tony Huegel to guide me. If you have and thoughts or suggestions id love to hear them. :ylsmoke:

Mike

I thought mod's were worse than drugs, you can't get enough of them. "The last thing", as in you'll wait until all the others are done, or "the last thing", as in you won't mod it any more after that? I'm always wondering/planning/scheming what to do next, LOL.:Mechanic:

[Grim Reaper]

Cool...another mini toy! :wavey:

Nice build so far.

Be careful on the torsion bar crank. It has some negatives
You run the CV's at a higher angle and that increases wear and puts the CV at a weaker angle increases the possibility of them failing.

You increase the chance of breaking the torsion bar or breaking the tensioner because you have increase how much twist the bar is subjected too.
You decreased your down travel and its actually down travel the give you the most benefit at high speed.

It runs the tie rods at a steeper angle making it easier to bend them or the idler.

Looking at the picture and looking at my stock 4Runner out my window. It doesnt look like that much of a difference in relation to the rim to the bumper. I wonder if somebody lowered your front end to hide some of the typical Toy tail sag.


You can get 33x10.5 on there with a hammer if you rims are stock width and offset. I managed to get 33x12.5's on mine with NO lift.

Here is my 86 and what I have been doing. http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3033&highlight=4runner+build

Welcome to the Forum!

[SierraExplorer]

Thanks for the comments guys. I'm planning on painting the truck at the end of the summer after my trips. Grim i must say i like the 4runner there. Very cool.

Here's an update from the end of the weekend.

Internal storage build:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/Scratch9/Build4.jpg

Partly carpeted:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/Scratch9/Build5.jpg

My second battery compartment: (front left of the bed)
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/Scratch9/Build2.jpg

[Grim Reaper]

Nice wood work.

What battery do you plan to use? if you are going with a conventional Lead acid you need to vent the area around the battery or get a battery with a built in vent and drop it though the floor. Battery for say a 1995 BMW 540i should have a vent tube on it (in the BMW it mounts under the back seat so it has to have the vent).

[kcowyo]

Welcome Mike. :beer:

I like the '86 - '89 4WD Toys a lot. Your storage boxes are looking good.

How do you like the TrXus MT's so far? I really like their aggressive look and the reviews I've read.

You like you've got a pretty good list started already. I swapped the bench seat out of my '85 for some leather buckets from a '92 4Runner. That was a big, big comfort improvement.

I'd say you're on the right track. Hope you're able to get out before the summer to enjoy it :smiley_drive:

[bigreen505]

Welcome to ExPo!

Cool truck, but you know what it really needs (no, not a snorkle!)? THESE! (http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3757)

[DaveInDenver]

Welcome to ExPo!

Cool truck, but you know what it really needs (no, not a snorkle!)? THESE! (http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3757)
Yup, an air locker and 33" kit all wrapped in one. Being that the truck hasn't been running this winter, it's got no wear and tear from pulling stuck cars out, either.

BTW, nice 2nd gen. I like the XtraCab space of the 3rd gen, but have always though the 2nd gens looked nice.

[SierraExplorer]

How do you like the TrXus MT's so far? I really like their aggressive look and the reviews I've read.

I really like the Tires. They grip rock and snow very well. With the sidewall tread it makes ruts very simple to get out of. The 86 came with bucket seats but there in horrible shape. I was thinking of replacing them with some 4 Runner seats.

I've have been wanting to regear but i dont have the funds at the moment or anytime soon. I was looking to do 4.88 but 5.29 would serve better for future changes in tire sizes. I know if i lift my truck, im staying IFS. For the type of traveling that im going to do i dont see a SAS being on my list.

Thanks for all the comments. I'll have more to come.

[bigreen505]

Thanks, let us know about the Trxus. I was considering a set, but I'm concerned about tread life.

[jnelson4x4taco]

Thanks, let us know about the Trxus. I was considering a set, but I'm concerned about tread life.

x2 i like the fact that you can get those trxus in a 33x10.50R15 for around 140 a piece. being that i live in denver, what ive heard/read about their snow traction makes them very appealing. I do travel about 150 miles a weekend driving back and forth from home to school and im just concerned about tread life and road noise/on road driveability.

Great looking truck also, im excited to see how the bed setup turns out. Im trying to design mine so its nice to see some different ideas out there.

[Brian894x4]

Welcome to the forum.

The mini-trucks are excellent platforms. Cheap, easy to work on and very reliable. The only major draw back is that you only transport one passenger and power is a little lacking once you load them up.

I thought your set up looked pretty familier, then I saw where you got the idea. Looking good!

The extra cab will be a nice feature that you'll really enjoy having. I really wish I it on mine. Having all that storage in the back is great, but accessing it is not so easy, so it will be nice to be able to just throw behind the seat things you want regular access too.

Good luck and keep us posted!

[SierraExplorer]

Here are the updates.

Sleeping area complete: (till I think of something else)
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/Scratch9/Build6.jpg

Surco Safari rack:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/Scratch9/Build7.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/Scratch9/Build8.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/Scratch9/Build9.jpg

That ended out the weekend. Unfortunately I found some cooling lines that went bad so I have to replace them before I can move the truck again. Oh well. :)

[Grim Reaper]

Bonus points for the creative use of Unistrut! :clapsmile

[Scott Brady]

Great build!

Have you decided on a winch yet?

The sleeping area looks good, and keeping the sleeping area at the bed floor will add much more comfort. I still dream of building a 1985.

[DaveInDenver]

I still dream of building a 1985.
It's funny how the grass is greener. I had an '84 pickup and a '78 FJ40 and I don't really miss them.

[SierraExplorer]

Bonus points for the creative use of Unistrut! :clapsmile

Haha thanks. :ylsmoke: I have quite a bit left over from work so it was free. About the winch I'm still not sure. There's so many good ones from Warn, Superwinch, Ramsey's, and Tmax it's hard to make up my mind. I suppose i'll think about it more when I get the bumper actually on. I need to paint it still. :violent-smiley-031:

[BajaTaco]

Very cool truck! Welcome to ExPo.

That is amazing how well that battery tray fit in that spot.

[SierraExplorer]

Didn't really do much work on the truck this weekend due to the weather, but I did get a chance to do a little trail testing on what i've done to it so far. I found that my shell has leaky windows on it. How do i go about fixing that? Other than that everything went fine.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/Scratch9/Toyota1.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/Scratch9/Toyota2.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/Scratch9/Toyota3.jpg

:ylsmoke:

[kcowyo]

I found that my shell has leaky windows on it. How do i go about fixing that? Other than that everything went fine.


I had a similar problem with a shell on a different truck a few years back. Clear caulked around the edges inside and outside fixed it.

Nice new pics. Nevada reminds me a lot of Wyoming.

[Scenic WonderRunner]

Truck lookin' good!

For the leaks............if it were me..........

I would first try "Silicone Sealant" .....(the easy way out, Home Depot sells it).

You can get it in Clear......White.......Black.

Depending exactly where it is leaking, you can prolly match up pretty good.

.

[robert]

Looks good- here's a minor suggestion: put some carpet in the front of the bed. Rolling over in the middle of the night and putting your arm up against freezing cold metal is not a fun way to wake up. :eek: It may just be my imagination, but I think having that cold metal near my head was also sapping body heat; I slept better when it was covered.

I miss my old Tacoma....

[locrwln]

Good looking truck.

You are more than welcome to attend a Battle Born Cruisers of Northern Nevada meeting. There is a meeting tomorrow night at the Round Table Pizza in the Old Town Mall on South Virginia and Peckham. Pretty good mix of crawler and explorers. Great bunch of guys.

Jack

[SierraExplorer]

Thanks for the replies. I'll keep that carpet addon in mind. :) What time is this meeting? And the old town mall is the one next to the Atlantis right?

[Grim Reaper]

Here are the updates.

Sleeping area complete: (till I think of something else)
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/Scratch9/Build6.jpg

Surco Safari rack:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/Scratch9/Build7.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/Scratch9/Build8.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/Scratch9/Build9.jpg

That ended out the weekend. Unfortunately I found some cooling lines that went bad so I have to replace them before I can move the truck again. Oh well. :)

I was really trying to avoid a roof rack but I think I am stuck with one. Its roof rack or rack on the back. That looks like a good size. You happen to know the length and width?

[locrwln]

Thanks for the replies. I'll keep that carpet addon in mind. :) What time is this meeting? And the old town mall is the one next to the Atlantis right?


Sorry about that, the meeting starts at 6:30 pm. And yes it's the one next to the Atlantis. Just look for the Toyota's in the parking lot. Hope you can make it.

Jack

[Martinjmpr]

Very nice build up. My first Toyota (which was also the first new vehicle I ever purchased!) was an 85 (last of the solid axles!) Unfortunately, in 1986 I got a little excessive while off roading and rolled it. Truck was totaled and I had no wheels for almost 3 years (though to be fair I went back into the Army right after that and then I was in Germany, so I didn't really need a vehicle to get around.)

The thing I remember about that Toyota (mine was a regular cab with a Glasstite shell) was that it had decent power, though not excessive, and it got pretty damn good gas mileage, in the 25mpg range. The trucks of today are bigger, more comfy and have more amenities like AC, 6 speaker stereos, power steering (I'm pretty sure my 85 didn't have that) and nice, powerful V-6 engines, but they also suck down a lot more gas.

[SierraExplorer]

The Surco Rack is 45in wide and 50in long. The come in other sizes as well. I got mine through http://www.summitracing.com for around $170.

It's funny that you bring up the power with the motor. Mine is pretty gut-less right now when completely loaded. I swore up and down i wouldnt touch the engine performance, but now i'm gonna cave. Any suggestions on how to bump up the power on 22RE without slicing the wallet?

I'll also have picture up later today of my Quick-Fist application for my jack. :p

[Grim Reaper]

The Surco Rack is 45in wide and 50in long. The come in other sizes as well. I got mine through http://www.summitracing.com for around $170.

It's funny that you bring up the power with the motor. Mine is pretty gut-less right now when completely loaded. I swore up and down i wouldnt touch the engine performance, but now i'm gonna cave. Any suggestions on how to bump up the power on 22RE without slicing the wallet?

I'll also have picture up later today of my Quick-Fist application for my jack. :p
My buddy has one about the same size for sale. Have to check with him see if he sold it.
Did you notice any loss of power on the hwy? I am thinking of putting something like you see on the Yamika racks to try to clean up the air flow.

[Martinjmpr]

It's funny that you bring up the power with the motor. Mine is pretty gut-less right now when completely loaded. I swore up and down i wouldnt touch the engine performance, but now i'm gonna cave. Any suggestions on how to bump up the power on 22RE without slicing the wallet?

I think there are a number of sources for powering up a 22r motor. As the greasy old mechanic said in "Mad Max", "Speed's just a question of money. How fast do you want to go?"

But I can't help but think that a lot of our perceptions on what is "underpowered" are based on expectations rather than on actual needs. When I was a kid we had a VW bus and we would take long distance family road trips in that thing. I think the engine was about 65hp, (roughly the same as my 500lb motorcycle.) Of course the thing was "gutless" compared to the V-8 equipped station wagon we traded in on the VW, but we accepted the tradeoff (this was in '74 right after the first gas crisis.)

Going back even farther, the Jeeps of WWII had, IIRC, 60hp motors, and the Dodge 3/4 ton trucks (which weighed 5,000# empty) had about 90hp. Yet, they were able to move around just fine.

Obviously, the WWII experience isn't an exact parallell, since they didn't have to worry about keeping up with traffic on 80mph freeways, but the point is that plenty of people around the world get by with 100hp or less in their motors and it doesn't keep them from being able to travel. They may not have that neck-snapping accelleration that we love in the US, but then again, neither do they have that wallet-draining MPG.

[toyrunner95]

I still dream of building a 1985.

ill trade your my 84 for your taco! streight up!:jump:

[SierraExplorer]

My buddy has one about the same size for sale. Have to check with him see if he sold it.
Did you notice any loss of power on the hwy? I am thinking of putting something like you see on the Yamika racks to try to clean up the air flow.
Not to bad of a loss if much. It's windy about half the year here in Carson/Washoe Valley so if it was, then i wouldnt really notice due to being tossed around by the wind all the time.

[SierraExplorer]

Thank you Dave! Thats great info. :clapsmile

[DaveInDenver]

Thank you Dave! Thats great info.
Yeah, thanks, I'm going through a lot of this right now as I build my engine. There are things that are easy to do and I would highly recommend. The exhaust alone is easy and effective. A cam isn't too difficult and nets good return on money. It can get very crazy in a hurry, so the first 15HP come pretty easily but the next 10 or 20 get expensive.

[Grim Reaper]

I have the 268 EB cam by Teds recommendation for my needs and the gear I planned to run. Its a little milder but definitely picked it up. Passed emissions just fine.

My head was reworked and decked and so was my block to fix a ring groove from a blown head gasket. I'm pushing 10:1 compression and she won't run on 87 octane. 2 inch exhaust but otherwise stock. Pretty happy with it other then having to buy mid grade fuel. Haven't run a full tank with the new gears yet to see the MPG but it was consistently 20+ commuting with the wrong gearing. I expect to see about 23-24mpg hwy without trailer Turing 33x12.5 BFG A/T's

The big thing is gearing. If you change the tire size by 2 inches concider a gear swap mandatory. The 4.88's with the 33's really made a world of difference. I plan on a LOT of hwy so I went with the 4.88's that put it back to stock RPM's. If you plan to haul a lot of weight 5.29's might be in order especially if you have a Auto. I wouldn't run it much deeper then that. The pinions get weak.

Headers do help but a lot of O2 complaints. Pretty well plan to add a heated O2 and that cures the complaint. I have been looking for the newer intake but not been high on the priority list so no comment on how much of an improvement it makes.

[DaveInDenver]

The big thing is gearing. If you change the tire size by 2 inches concider a gear swap mandatory.

Yes! I forgot, since that did not immediately occur to me talking about the engine. I run 5.29 on 33" tires and LOVE it! Gears are key.


Headers do help but a lot of O2 complaints. Pretty well plan to add a heated O2 and that cures the complaint. I have been looking for the newer intake but not been high on the priority list so no comment on how much of an improvement it makes.
The LCE headers I have keep the stock location for the O2 (I only have one). There's a bung welded to the tube between the header and cat, same as stock. I just use the stock O2, fits fine, even kept the heat shield.

[SierraExplorer]

Updates! Got my All-Pro bumper on finally and got some new shocks as well. 9000's in the front and 5000's in the rear. Winch coming up sometime soon as well as the new exhaust. :wavey:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/Scratch9/Truck2.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/Scratch9/Truck1.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y70/Scratch9/Truck3.jpg

[erod]

Great thread, I am getting close to a build up of an 86' 4runner...probably start in a week or two. Dave, and everyone else, great info and pics, thanks much! Looking forward to more!

[ntsqd]

snip.....
I found that my shell has leaky windows on it. How do i go about fixing that?

If it's the old putty-like dum-dum sealant btwn the 'glas and the window frames that is allowing the leakage I'd suggest 3M 5200 Marine Adhesive-Sealant after a thorough cleaning off of the dum-dum.

Some other random thots:

Fiberglass likes lots of small attachment points rather than a couple large ones. Really need to spread the load out as much as possible. I would look into more bolts holding the shell to the bed. My glass shell only has the 4 corners and it is starting to come apart. (Doesn't matter though, I want to 86 the thing & build a hard tonneau cover instead. Just need to work out the tent part of that b4 going fwds on the project.)

Something you might be interested in, I put a 12 volt RV 30 watt fluoresent light in the middle of the roof of my shell. I salvaged it from a van conversion out of the JY. I used a couple small screws and the above mentioned 5200. I can now read in bed, in camp, in the middle of BFE.

The way I wired power for the light was to hang a GM 70's-80's truck twin isolated stud (off the middle of their firewalls) under the bed fwd of the rear tire, and run a 10 ga wire to it from a large current maxi-fuse (from a Mazda?) at the battery. I put a Weatherpak type sealed fuse holder there and ran the power up thru the bed & to the light. Then I used a GM single stud off a 70's Nova core support on the frame at the rear of the last cross member (had to drop the spare to get to the spot). Ran some more 10 gauge to this stud so that I have power at/near the rear bumper. So far this powers a power point in the bed (install accessed by removing the Right tail light) and a Ford Rustang fog light for a back-up light, thru a relay driven by the reverse light circuit.

I can't tell you how much HP the 22R-TE in my 2wd commuter makes at 8 psi, but I can tell you that in a 60 MPH roll-on in 5th that a 5.0 Rustang, driven by a moron, was only keeping up & not gaining. Downside to the T's is the head gasket is suspect. Next plan is to pull it down & have the block O-ringed and then go to ARP head studs.

Give some thot to the Total Chaos Steering Ilder Arm. There are lesser cost band-aids for the stock arm, but the TC part fixes the problem.

Steel bed panels. I've had a 2.5 gallon jug of water freeze solid while I was sleeping in the back of my Canadian built '84 (No double wall panels like on yours) at Eureka Sand Dune in NW Death Valley. I have a short section of in/out carpet that I use for various things while camping in that truck. One particularly cold night I put it btwn the bed bulkhead & my head. There was a difference. If you can get those doubler panels out easy enough I would insulate behind them. And second on some sort of insulation across the bed bulkhead.

A thing to keep in mind on the engine Power issue. Torque is the measure of how much work can be done. Horsepower is only a measure of how fast that work can be done.
A Class 8/OTR truck can't do the work very fast, but it can do a whole lot of work.
An Indy car can't do much work, but what work it can do it does very, very fast.

[MtnMan]

That bumper looked a lot bigger on the living room floor..:p

[njtaco]

If it's the old putty-like dum-dum sealant btwn the 'glas and the window frames that is allowing the leakage I'd suggest 3M 5200 Marine Adhesive-Sealant after a thorough cleaning off of the dum-dum.



my 2c...

3M 5200 is great adhesive/sealer...as long as you never want to remove what you adhered! It does NOT give up easily. I have used a lot of it on boats, including underwater, and recommend it almost without reservation, for the appropriate application.

Do not expect it to have the characteristics as silicone or caulk...it is not at all the same, except the container it arrives in.

Bob

[OverlandZJ]

Nice build...it's coming along well. I love the early Toyota styling.

[ntsqd]

my 2c...

3M 5200 is great adhesive/sealer...as long as you never want to remove what you adhered! It does NOT give up easily. I have used a lot of it on boats, including underwater, and recommend it almost without reservation, for the appropriate application.

Do not expect it to have the characteristics as silicone or caulk...it is not at all the same, except the container it arrives in.

Bob
2nd these comments.

FWIW, The friend of mine who worked in a chandlery & recommended it to me for the application in question and what I used it for told me that the best way he knew of to get it loose was a heat gun.