Topic: Loki's 88' Build-Up **56k Beware** Now on ALL 4's

[Loki]

Ok…well I have been on this site for a couple of weeks now and thought I would show my truck from birth to current. There are lots of pictures and feel free to comment good/bad/indifferent. I can take the criticism better than the compliments sometimes.

I started with an 88 Pickup standard cab. When I bought it, it had a 5” Trail-Master lift and was IFS with 571’s front and rear. Rear was Lincoln locked and the front had a Detroit quick lock. Here is what it looked like stock as I’m about to start the transformation.




Scary Lift Blocks



After I got the truck in the garage, Lagen and I started to get the primary mission completed. REMOVE THE IFS CRAP. Using a handy little tool (plasma cutter) we quickly removed all that crap and salvaged some bolts and what not for scrounge.

[Loki [OP]]

With the IFS junk removed, we started prepping the frame for new parts. Such as shock hoops front spring hanger and knocking all the rust and crap off.




Sky’s front end spring hanger was pretty cool. Lagen noticed that there were 3 holes on each side of the hanger and started thinking about why they would be there. Light bulb came on and we scrounged up some bolts and figured out that they were for mounting the hanger to the frame. We played with some angles and when we finally got the shackle angle we wanted, we welded the hanger in place. (Pretty cool design from Sky-Manufacturing if you ask me…it allows you to mount it in 3 positions until you get the desired angle for shackles)

[Loki [OP]]

We also started lining the Jigs up for the front end shackle hanger and tacked them in place. A steady hand and a cutter carved these nice holes in place. (don’t worry…I cut some plate steel and reinforced the frame due to the hole being really close to the new hole we just punched out.




There’s always a supply that never seems to be overlooked when we’re working on trucks…BEER

[Loki [OP]]

I believe after that is when we started on the rear end of the truck. We started of course by removing the tank…not much gas in the tank and of course the fumes are more flammable than the liquid, so better safe then sorry since we’ll be using a cutter and a welder right near it. Plus…frees up tons of room under there for work space. For the rear springs I went with the 63” Chevy springs and a Chevy swap kit (I believe it’s from Sky…bought it from a buddy of mine.) Did all the measuring and lined everything up. We lined up the front hanger and tacked it in place…then we put the spring on and realized that we were going to need to drop the rear shackle hanger 2” due to the front being a 2” drop hanger. So we made some mounts, and tacked them in place when we got the right angle.






I always love spark pictures, so here we are cleaning up the frame to position the rear hanger. (Note**when we removed the stock springs, we had to use a portable band saw because the bolts were rusted to the sleeves of the spring pack…it’s a handy tool to have around.)

[Loki [OP]]

Well since the funds were kind of slow and I was still waiting on parts to come in, I thought it would be a good time to start working on the front axle. I started with an 85’ SFA and took it to clean it out… (Big waste of time to pressure wash it…a can of brake cleaner works wonders…and I have a surplus of it.) I ordered an upper truss, knuckle gusset kit and some diff armor. After I removed all the stock crap that was on it with the plasma, I prepped it for welding and let me tell ya, I’m getting pretty good (I think) at sweating welds with the plasma cutter. Anyhow here’s the axle from when I started to when it was finished.

Stock

Having a plasma cutter really helps...I’m getting pretty good at sweating welds off to minimize grinding time.

Here I am test fitting the upper truss

Truss stitched on here...

Diff armor getting wrenched on

This is the first time putting the axle under this truck. Here we set it up to get the shock mounts lined up...also installed the knuckle gusset kit.

Here's my girlfriend grinding down the steering stop gussets...I think we pissed off some neighbors last night this thing's almost ready for paint

[Loki [OP]]

Anyhow, after I got the axle all done up, we tested it out and lined up the shock hoops and welded them on with the gussets. The angles of the gussets were off so I fixed them with the hot wrench.

Here's the axle primed (etching primer)

Here it is with a couple coats of paint drying up. I’ll toss it back under the springs tomorrow.

Here’s a picture of the hoops and gussets...the primer looks yellow, but it's the same stuff I used on the axle


And I got a little bored and made a video of my axle. I know...I have too much free time on my hands

[Loki [OP]]

I sent my dirty injectors in to RC Engineering last week to get them cleaned and flow tested. They did a total overhaul of the injectors and Santa Claus in the big brown truck (UPS driver) just gave them back to me. I have to say just out of pure sight, they look 10 times better. I can't wait to install these bad boys. I have my daughter right now, so maybe if she goes to bed, or on Friday I’ll throw the top end back together.

They went in with an average of 180 CC/Min which is a pretty good pattern, but they came back averaging 190 cc/min with excellent patterns.

They are balanced out at 1.1 72.38 total system lbs per hour and they might even have bumped the hp up to 115.8 at 80% duty cycle depending on the other components

I also had my plenum egr tube (not valve or VAC) and my throttle body hot tanked a couple of weeks ago as well, so I can't wait to see how it runs after I get it all back together.

Here are some before and after pictures just to show the difference in appearance alone.


And here they are after I got them back




For 87 dollars...I couldn't have asked for much else. They replaced o-rings and a few other parts to bring them back to life, and they have a lifetime guarantee.Anyone else do this with your injectors?

[Loki [OP]]

That’s about where it’s at right now. I just got my tax return today and I’ll be able to start building the guts of the front axle…Longfields with hub gears, Sky’s widening kit, hydro assist steering, hy-steer, tons of stuff. I also ordered my rims and tires today (37x12.50x15 MT/R on 15x10” rims with 2.5” of backspacing) I have tons of other parts all over the place too. I’ll update the thread when progress is made.

I’m looking for seat rails too and all the mounting stuff. I just found out today that out of all 8 bolts that hold it to the floor board, 3 are installed on each seat rail….and I found this which is really scary. (Course threaded wood bolt installed in a high density plastic of sorts…I’m glad I found this before it was too late).



Future purchases include MC drop in 3rds…5.29 Detroit Rear, 5.29 High Pinion Detroit front…MC MC07, twin stick, All-Pro flat bed kit customized into a full exo-skeleton, paint of course, not sure on the front bumper…I might build my own, WARN 9000lb winch, who knows.

This is the 3rd Toyota that I’ve had the pleasure of building; and I’m glad to say, this one is all mine. Questions, comments…let me know what you think.

[DTB]

Anyhow, after I got the axle all done up, we tested it out and lined up the shock hoops and welded them on with the gussets. The angles of the gussets were off so I fixed them with the hot wrench.

looks real good...how did u line up the gussets originally? those injesctors look real nice.....i need to do that same thing. nice video btw!

[Loki [OP]]

If you're talking about the gussets for the shock hoops, i just eyeballed it. they came with the hoops

If you're talking about knuckle gussets, the gussets were quite simple actually...the bottom was lined up with the center of the wear pattern from the knuckle the top we lined it up parrallel to the top of the U-Bolt flip kit. Then since my buddy had his 85 there, we checked the angle on his shock hanger and welded it solid. That kit kicks arse. To line up the hoop, i placed a 2x4 inbetween the bottom shock hanger and lined it up then welded it on

The injectors will cost you 24 bucks a piece...unless you're military, then you'll get a 20% discount, they apparently respect the military, i guess that's why mine came out to 87 bucks...which included shipping back to me.

I just learned how to do that with videos, so i was playing around.

[Loki [OP]]

Well since i'm still waiting for my longfields, sky-widening kit and a few other things to get in, i might as well post up some pictures of the stuff just chilling in my kitchen waiting for installation.
Parts list as of today (un-installed)
-Rear Diff Armor
-New Rear Spring Perches
-New Front Calipar Hard Lines
-Magnetic Low Pro Drainplugs
-Differential Stud Eliminator kits
-Rock Rings
-Backing Plate Eliminator Kit
-Hy-Steer
-Hydro Assist Steering
-Vented Rotors
-Master Knuckle Rebuild Kit
-Knuckle Pull Scale




I called about my rims/tires today. Apparently 37" MTRs are on national backorder, but he found a set in AZ. so they will be ready for pickup by Friday. My rims are shipping in wednesday. I can't wait to roll this thing out. I'm sure this weekend is going to be a work weekend, i'll get more pics up during the build. I might even bring my steering box into work and tap it for the hydro assist.

[DTB]

mmmmmm i love new parts

[kneedownnate]

I'm assuming what's happening is cool, but I'm on dial up so I really don't know what's going on

[Duffil]

I'm assuming what's happening is cool, but I'm on dial up so I really don't know what's going on

 haha  i just spent like 30mins and only got halfway there...think mig, girlfriend with grinder and Plaz torch.
looking good.

[Loki [OP]]

yeah sorry...i should edit the title to say something like "Not 56k compatible" or something like that...it's getting there though (btw i love the smiley )

[Loki [OP]]

Well i got home today, and noticed that santa clause came by again with his big brown truck...looks like i need to get crackin...
i'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

Thanks Jake...it's a perfect match for my interior...

And now for the really really good stuff...i saw the "Made in the USA" sticker and knew who's company it was





Now i'm just waiting on a couple more items, and this axle will be done. i'll be able to take it on it's first test run.

I'm thinking this weekend maybe the mix-challenge here locally to pop her cherry.

[Loki [OP]]

Anyhow...i just got my knuckles cleaned up...they were filthy. I used about 2 cans of break cleaner, a couple of chissles, a wire brush and a lot of elbow grease.

Here's a couple of pictures of how they looked before i started.



Here are a couple of shots of the knuckles all cleaned up. There was seriously crap equivelant to 2 cups of that i scraped off the knuckles.




I need to take a shower...that crap got everywhere with my mad wire brush skills...of course the one night i decide not to wear my coveralls

I'm taking them down the street tomorrow afternoon to get them tanked so i can start building the knuckles and getting my front back on it's feet. More to come.

[CRS]

on your injectors did you mean LC enginnering? I have mine boxed up and ready to go if you did.

[Loki [OP]]

no...i mean www.rceng.com take a look it's differant than LC Engineering

[CRS]

Awsome !! mine our on there way. Thanks

CRS

[Ramrod]

whens this bad boy getting some duals? everything else looks sick

[Loki [OP]]

CRS - Did you send them to RCeng or LCeng? I swear you won't be dissapointed with RCeng

RAMROD I'm looking for a donor top shift case right now and that's the next thing on the list...

Update from today though
well..i didn't get my widening kit in the mail today, but i did pick up these...i think my kit comes tomorrow then the front is going together.




In case someone is going to mention there only being 4 rims/tires there. my spare tire is still at the store, and they are ordering another rim and it should be here next thursday. 2.5" backspacing 15x10 and 37" MTRs

[Duffil]

dude...4 cans of Seafoam!?  Dare I ask?

[Loki [OP]]

dude...4 cans of Seafoam!?  Dare I ask?

between my roommate and me we have 3 trucks, 1 car, and 1 motorcycle...ask away you ever use this stuff before?

[Oddmar]

Where did you order the 2.5" backspaced 15x10 rim from?

[Loki [OP]]

discount tire direct...call them up and ask which rims are available for custom backspacing. they'll hook it up

[Duffil]

once or twice. lol

[Loki [OP]]

after hot tanking the plenum, egr tube, throttle body...the only think that really needs to be cleaned out is the intake manifold...my truck is getting this treatment again when i get it out of the garage. That stuff works awesome if you ask me.

[dov'd85]

Where did you order the 2.5" backspaced 15x10 rim from?

do you plan on running some do it your self beadlocks? if so get some new rims. or make sure yours are not reverse centered!!!

[Kurlee Daddee]

Cool buildup.

That housing complex looks pretty familiar. Is that near Communications Hill in San Jose?