The Project Pad

On July 1st, 2014, went to look at this 1978 Toyota Pickup, long box. 20R 2.2, currently automatic. A friend saw it and had to pass on it, but I could not let it go. Gave a down payment since it was very short notice.



Has a cool story, which I do enjoy. It came from New Mexico. The original owner stole money from the current owner down there, and once busted, he offered him the truck to make up some of it. Back in 1993 the current owner drove it to our area and then it sat in behind a garage until the current owner asked his son to sell it.

Why do I need it? It will come in handy for the many times I needed a truck.

Why do I want it? I really love the style of this vintage, and I have plans for it. Goals are to wash the body good and clear is how it is. Leave the patina on it. It is not rusted, but the paint is just tired from the New Mexico sun. Eventually plan on putting it on air and tossing a 7mgte with a w58 in it (I have both already). I do want to clean up the interior, remove the door mirrors and put fender mirror on it.

Updated 08/07/2023
Holy shit, back at it.

:wrenchin:
Timeline: DONE/FIXED/BOUGHT

• 2014 - 07/02 - Bought: The Truck
• 2014 - 07/09 - Resto: Bought a NOS Front grill emblem
• 2014 - 07/17 - The truck is home
• 2014 - 07/18 - Resto: Removed Cap
• 2014 - 07/28 - Mod: Removed front bumper & install lip spoiler
• 2014 - 08/04 - Mod: Remove "Dad's" from the tailgate
• 2014 - 08/08 - Mod: Painted front grill
• 2014 - 08/10 - Resto: Install new center emblem
• 2014 - 08/10 - Resto: Repaint TOYOTA on tailgate
• 2014 - 08/17 - Mod: Removed rear bumper
• 2015 - 06/14 - Mod: Installed OEM evo wheels
• 2015 - 07/03 - Mod: Installed rear drop blocks and front lowering springs
• 2015 - 07/10 - Mod: Installed front springs custom spring spacers
• 2015 - 07/10 - Fixed: Replaced ball joint
• 2015 - 07/19 - Mod: Replaced the front blinkers with JDM blinkers and city lights
• 2015 - 07/25 - Fixed: Reinstalled rebuilt carb (thanks Rob!)
• 2015 - 07/27 - Fixed: line back up the rear axle thanks Nate!
• 2015 - 07/16 - Fixed: Replaced front caliper, pads and rotors
• 2015 - 08/02 - Mod: Paint brakes (black)
• 2015 - 08/15 - Resto: Replaced rear tail lights with new
• 2015 - 08/31 - Fixed: Horn (added volvo fiamm horns)
• 2015 - 09/01 - Fixed: Replaced binker flasher
• 2016 - 11/13 - Bought: 1991 Toyota parts truck for the 22RE
• 2016 - 11/20 - Fixed: 22RE new timing chain, new water pump, gaskets, etc. Got it running, not great yet.
• 2017 - 01/08 - Bought: reman 22RE distributor
• 2017 - 01/14 - Bought: plugs and wires.
• 2017 - 02/04 - Bought: all 22RE elctronics (ECU, coil, ignitor, AFM, etc)
• 2017 - 03/18 - Bought: another 22RE engine
• 2017 - 03/30 - Bought: EGR delete kit
• 2018 - 01/20 - Installed the EGR delete stuff and started the rubicon 22RE swap into the 22RE truck
• 2018 - 01/28 - The Rubicon engine is in the white truck and it runs great. Now removing everything...
• 2018 - 02/10 - Everything is removed and the truck is ready for the junkyard.
• 2018 - 06/29 - Removed - 20R engine taken out
• 2018 - 07/06 - Resto: Engine bay cleaned up, sandblasted the intake parts and such
• 2018 - 07/07 - Mod: Clutch pedal installed
• 2018 - 07/08 - Mod: 20R oil pan and pick up removed, sanded, painted and installed on the 22RE
• 2018 - 07/09 - Resto: Painted the waterpump pulley, crossmember and frame rails
• 2018 - 07/10 - Resto: Dropped off everything to be nickel plated
• 2018 - 07/11 - Mod: Clutch master installed
• 2018 - 07/16 - Bought: CNC half moons and the seat is at the upholstery shop.
• 2018 - 07/21 - Mod: Seat reupholstrey is done!
• 2018 - 07/27 - Mod: Some nickel plated stuff was dropped off for polishing
• 2018 - 08/02 - Mod: Polished parts are done
• 2018 - 08/05 - Mod: Engine assembly begins
• 2018 - 08/12 - Mod: Engine and trans are in the truck
• 2018 - 08/24 - Mod: Trans cross member modded to fit the W55 trans mount location.
• 2018 - 08/25 - Mod: The clutch lines, hoses are installed, bled and working.
• 2018 - 12/18 - Bought: New black floor carpet
• 2019 - 04/07 - Mod: Shifter is in, fluid is in, noise blocking rubber boots are in and the carpet is mostly in. Thanks Dennis.
• 2019 - 04/09 - Mod: Carpet is 100% installed.
• 2019 - 04/12 - Mod: The reupholstered seat is finally back in.
• 2019 - 04/19 - Mod: The shift boot is complete with the left over fabric from the seat.
• 2019 - 04/29 - Mod: The floor mats are in and fit great.
• 2019 - 09/23 - Mod: Custom shifter boot is installed
• 2019 - 09/23 - Resto: Custom shifter boot is installed
• 2023 - 07/25 - Fix: Replaced the fuel pump and cleaned up the hanger
• 2023 - 07/29 - Resto: Rewired and made up the final version of the 22RE dash harness
• 2023 - 07/31 - Resto: Installed the dash harness
• 2023 - 08/04 - Ughs: Found the 22RE's timing cover leaked coolant (and into the oil pan). Coolant drained out, oil flushed and replaced.
• 2023 - 08/05 - Resto: Removed the bed, removed the 78s fuel tank
• 2023 - 08/06 - Resto: Installed the 5th gens tank, removed and adjusted the tanks xbrace, ran fuel lines and wiring.
• 2023 - 08/07 - Mod: Fabricated the battery hold down and 78 to 22RE gas pedal mashup.
• 2023 - 08/08 - Mod: Made a seal for the firewall throttle cable cap and replaced the bed bolts with new ones.
• 2023 - 08/10 - Mod: Supplied power to the 78 fuse panel in a temp way. Will look for a 22RE fuse panel harness
• 2023 - 08/12 - Mod: Cleaned up all of the 78 wiring no longer needed, vacuumed the truck.
• 2023 - 08/13 - Fix: Replace driver door seal, pulled the top door pin to finally replace (what a bitch).
• 2023 - 08/14 - Mod: Reposition the 22RE under hood fuse panel (lower).
• 2023 - 08/17 - Mod: Resupplied power to turning signals (?) and wired in the 78 key to the 22RE harness!
• 2023 - 08/20 - Took it to Toyotafest !! Lots of love there.
• 2023 - 08/22 - Bought: Coolant pressure kit and fender mirrors.
• 2023 - 08/22 - Bought: Coolant pressure kit and fender mirrors.
• 2023 - 09/17 - Fix: Timing cover reinstalled
• 2023 - 09/23 - Fix: Pressure tested the timing cover and did not find a leak!
• 2023 - 09/26 - Coolant refilled and bled. Then taken around the block!!

That's a great truck

My dad has a trailer made out of the back half of a similar truck, but I like it better complete!

that thing is tit. I would daily that with a TDI in it..

Lol, you would daily anything with a tdi

ringbearer wrote:Lol, you would daily anything with a tdi

i drive too much, and i like to drive hard, i would go broke with anything but a small diesel.

Got it home (my old house) on 7/17/2014:

It weighs: 2458lbs (looked up the weight since it can be pushed SOOO easy):



On 7/18/2014 I removed the cap:




On 7/28/2014 I removed the front bumper:
Before:


After:

oh my god, that is a cool truck.

Wheels V1.0

I did get a matching set of steelies.

Before:


A buddy sand blasted them for me:


After I painted them:


Another buddy powdercoats, so he took care of these for me:






I painted the T gloss black.


Tossed them on the truck:

So clean! Are you doing gloss or matte clear coat on the body?

ringbearer wrote:So clean! Are you doing gloss or matte clear coat on the body?

I am not really sure yet. This has been on the back burner since I picked up the MR2 and used the fun cash for it. Maybe next year...

Some more updates from 2014 and on:

Bumpers were taken off, and you could see the ugly frame in the lower openings, so I removed the front fascia, sanded the frame:


Put some paint on it:


Cleaned up and painted the grill, then reinstalled it all:


Swapped out the US parking lights for JDM ones:




Then I thought why not put the evo wheels and tires on it. They fit great:


I picked up some lowering blocks and belltech springs (for a mighty max).



Fronts ended up being too low (for evo wheels):


Rear was proper:


Machined a spring spacer:


That is better:


Rebuilt the carb, and still have issues. Not sure if the fuel pickup tube is bent or it has a hole it in. The truck runs great when the tank is full, but after some miles (not more than a 1/4 tank) it runs like it is running out of gas.

I was going to pull the tank this year, but as said, the MR2 and MR2 parts blew my project fund away.

I did toss the evo wheels on the MR2, so I put the stock ones back on the truck. It did become a garage shelf...

I like it. Can't wait to see more of this restomod.

bring this to me and let me put a tdi with a holset in this, and a nice little sidepipe just ahead of the rear wheel. I promise it will be amazing!

Picked up a 1991 parts truck with complete engine, 5 speed trans and although the bed and doors are missing, the rest is all there. the newer 22RE and trans will be swapped into this for the time being.



Later in life it will have a supra turbo power plant. Since My new garage project is creeping up, I do need something to haul stuff.

11/19:
Well that escalated quickly.

Started off as a bad cap... then rotor... then coil wire... then....


then broken timing belt and removing the oil pan to check and find the missing link.

11/23: I cleaned up all of the parts we removed:












11/26:
Cleaned up the mess from the disassembly and starting laying things out:


Installed the good throttle body (I still need to align the TPS):


Figured I would paint the oil pan since it was cleaned and had some missing paint.


Painted with satin black.


11/27 (started, but worked past midnight and video was taken at 1:30am):
Cleared the oil pan (no I am now wet sanding this one, lol):


Rob came over and we started reassembly. The timing chain:


While it was apart, we checked the valve clearances and adjusted a few:


We got the timing cover back on:


And the valve cover and associated stuff back together:


Then it was ready to try and start. We cranked it a couple short bursts, then:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvjP_q5sOHY

Any update on this build? I am curious on how it looks like now.

Nothing yet. Pulled the donor truck into my barn last weekend to free up a garage bay (so I can work on my mk2 supra engine swap AND have space for daily beater servicing and repairs).

I did use the evo wheels on my MR2, but now have some SSRs for that, I will put the evo wheels back on the truck. Since it is winter, and I was storing it, I used the bed for more space.

The current look as posted a few posts back:

Picked up another assembled 22RE (head,engine,manifolds and distributor) and will use all of the 91 pickup's electronics, harness, trans and such for the transplant this summer.

Feb 2nd 2018
I removed the harnesses today, all with out cutting a thing. Tomorrow I will pull the fuel tank harness and start putting all of the other parts so I can get rid of the truck (whats left of it).


Feb 3rd 2018
The trans is off, both engines are on stands and ALL wiring is out and in a pile.




June 25 2018
Garage is staged and things are off and ready to go for nickel plating.




June 30th 2018
Spent the afternoon pulling the engine and trans Friday.


today was HOT, i just cleaned up the messes.

July 6th 2018
I spent today... cleaning...and sand blasting... oh and my back knows all about it. ugh.


There was a heavy thick amount of oil build up on the front crossmember/subframe. Some time with simple green and plastic putty knives it is finally pretty clean.


I sandblasted some of the stuff i am going to nickel plate (I am going to paint the throttle body and heat shield). Tomorrow I need to remove the PCV tray to clean it out. Once I get it off I am going to drill and tap to install thread locked bolts.


July 7th 2018
I was all over today on car projects, but did get to rip off the PCV tray and clean it out. I also tossed in the clutch pedal assembly and saw that I need a new clutch master cylinder. I also pulled the oil pan and pickup off of the 20R. Thanks Joe F for the help with that mess.





I am swapping the oil pans tomorrow and if I have the time, drop the engine and trans into place to figure out the other unknowns.

July 9th 2018
A few photos of progress. Not enough to really know what was done. Sandblasting, die grinding, priming and painting the stuff not getting nickel plated. I also cleaned the lower subframe enough to actually repaint it, heh.













July 21st 2018
Since the truck's factory seat was cracked (new mexico and all), the owner while there put a navajo blanket over the seat. it was still in the truck when I got it, YES! The side facing up was terribly faded, but the side facing the seat was fresh as new. I asked my upholstery guy about replacing the torn faces of the seat (bottom and back) with the good side of the blanket and he loved the idea. He talked me into replacing the sides with black vinyl which I should have planned, doh!

He dropped it back off to me today and boy am I happy with the plan.

Here are his photos of the progress:


































Not bolted back togther, but set up together:


Aug 3rd 2018
The nickel plating and then the highlighted polished parts are complete. Now to install them.



Aug 5th 2018
Assembly is taking longer than originally expected as I am polishing a bit more stuff, lots of cleaning on the other parts and painting the other stuff I didn't/couldn't plate. The throttle body color is off, but at least it is clean.













Aug 13th 2018
Well it is in, with a couple of smallish issues. While the driveshaft fit perfect, the auto trans crossmember does not like up with the 1991 5 speeds trans mount. It is the same 4 bolt mount, but it is around 3" off. I tried swapping the trans mount around, which helped, but it still off. What to do.

The second one is a small one. The 78 front crossmember's engine mount bolt holes are a bit closer to each other than the 91 engine mounts. I pulled the 78 ones off the engine and just need to lift it and swap them (probably Wednesday).

So far:


Aug 15th 2018
The engine mounts are swapped.

The one facing the camera is the 78 one, behind is the 91. You can see the holes on the left do not line up. I also figured out why they changed them... the closer holes make it impossible to use a socket or box end wrench on the top side hardware.



Aug 25th 2018
The cross member mod to the trans mount fits. I only have two bolts in, which should be fine for the first drive and get it to a lift for more mods.





The clutch master, lines, bracket, hose and slave are all in, plumbed, bled and finally working! Thanks for helping bleed them tonight Jim.








Thats the end of 2018 for this

April 7th, 2019:
Work has commenced. Dennis came over and helped out a bunch. The shifter and baffle are installed as well as the fluid being filled. Then we tackled getting the carpeting in... mostly. We ran out of time.

Since the truck was auto, the shifter hole was in the perfect place for the W55 trans, although I did cut about one inch at the front of the hold to make sure the trans was not going to vibrate on the trans tunnel.

I will trim more of the carpet this week and then get the seat into the truck (I will cover it all with carpet protection-tape to keep it all clean during the wiring process).



Since this is a bench truck, the center console (I will be dying this black) is small and the shifter is far forward. I plan on trimming the front section of the console and then getting a leather shifter boot made to fill in the hole.

April 9th, 2019:
the carpet is finished. next up dropping the seat in



April 13th, 2019:
Seat is in and it is lovely.




Also trimmed the "center console" to make room for the shifter and the custom shift boot (before black dye):


September 28th, 2019:
A couple weeks ago I cleaned and plastic painted(dye) the center console and installed the shift boot made out of what was left from the seat blanket. LOVE IT.



Nothing more until 2023 (I buy too many cars).

On the July 27th, I found out why I was missing power at a harness I split to bring it into the cabin, but did not reconnect them, Doh! Dang notes.

Pulled the pump to find this:


Cleaned the hanger up before replacing the pump:


New (smaller sized) pump mounted up and once connected I was able to find those 4 wires, reconnect them and boom, started right up! Now the fuel pressure was high enough the temporary return hose that I had a plastic fitting to reach back to the tank turned into a Vegas styled fountain of beauty with the stench of danger (fuel). Off the to the store to get a brass replacement (still temp, but now I can run it).

On July 29th:
It was wire clean up time:


Finished (white wires are grounds for each kick):


July 31st:
22RE harness installed into the dash. Just need to make a bracket to mount the 22re fuse panel in the kick.

Wiring mostly finished passenger side:


Driver side:


A substitute battery installed for the time being (before I go small lithium):


Bed comes off tonight August 3rd.

On August 4th:
well sh*t.

timing cover is leaking coolant on the passenger side. Time to pull it all back apart. The gaskets will be here Tuesday and hope to get it back together for Toyotafest on the 20th.

This weekend I will work on getting the fuel tank in. I did not get the bed pulled yet, but I do have it prepped for it. Bed is empty, bolts are sprayed, engine lift is here (an extra hand if needed) and it is ready.

git r done

We are up to date now.

Bed off, 78 fuel tank removed, 5th gen fuel tank mounted (relocation of the forward tank x-brace), fuel lines ran, 5th gen tank wiring complete. Still plenty to do but the bed is just new hardware away from being put back on. I wanted to yesterday but I remembered just after everything closed. Dang Sundays.

Bed off (saturday):




A couple things the cab was hiding:




The x-brace I needed to cut off and move back to where the 5th gen tank is in the photo.


Time to weld (Sunday):


Done:


The 5th gen tank wiring brought into the cabin. I do need to pull the carpet back up on one side to send it under:


Just new hardware away from being back on, Here you can see the tank had to be set back (thus moving the x-brace) to clear a bed mount on the correct side for the fuel filler door:


I also had to use the 78's filler neck and vent tube as the 5th gen was much smaller at the body side.

Finally, no more wires and fuel lines hanging over the fender. Phew what a weekend.

yesterday into the night:

Bed went back on!


Then I worked on the battery hold down bracket. It was from a newer pickup, but the front end was wrong, so it was time to modify it. I did not take a photo of the first cuts sadly.

How it started:


Novice time! After the first 45* cuts, bent up 90* and welded, then cut and bent back down:


The radiator end was too long, so I cut that off and used it to add material to this section:


Once done and cleaned up:




Painted and installed:


Then it was onto modifying / merging the 78 foot pedal with the 5th gen top section (cable end). The 78's parking brake is RIGHT in the way. So I had to bend the top around it:


bent and welded to the 78 pedal around where it kept the cable angle best. Painted and ready for install later today.


This is version one as I already know how I want to change it next time, but it will do. I do need to add a bit longer "stop" bolt to behind the 78's pedal, but need another set of eyes to make sure I have that adjusted right.

Now onto the coolant leak...

From the 8th:
I started off swapping the original bed bolts to new M12 1.25TP (same as stock) JIS flange bolts and nuts:


Then tossed the gas pedal in (later buying a more fitting pedal stop bolt to not stress the cable or pedal). here you can see the bend around the parking brake:


The fire wall side. The original rod system left a large hole (and the welded nuts were a bit wider than the 5th gen firewall cable mounting points). Before:


after some thick garage door foam was trimmed acting as a seal (fits perfectly tight now):


From last night:
I took a couple days off and started working on "no power" to the 78 fuse panel. I checked every single repair manual's wiring diagram and cannot find where the feed (I could not even find the correct colors) comes from. So I bypassed it and once I buy/find a 5th gen fuse panel plug (its on the back), I will convert all the 78s fuses to the 5th gen panel. For now, it is driveable (other than the lack of coolant/coolant leak).

To dive into that now? A week before Toyotafest or not? I think I will just start it enough to pull it onto and off of the trailer and worry about the timing cover leak after toyotafest. I have a few other small things I need to do to this and another larger project I HAVE to do tomorrow.

For now, the current fuse panel mounted/installed and some bypassing until I get the fuse panel wiring pigtail I need:


Happy to have lights again. The first fuse I supplied power to: