Topic: Re: 1983 Toyota Pickup Restoration

[kawazx636]

Here's what I started with...

The day I bought it:




Did a few things to make it more road worth (31's instead of 33's, rough desmog, Weber 32/36, cheap temporary exhaust, factory front bumper, new grille, removed body lift):

[kawazx636 [OP]]

I drove it around for about 6 months before I decided it was time to start the restoration.  I had a baby on the way so initially I was just going to rebuild the engine since I had an obscene amount of blow-by and do the restoration later, but one thing lead to another and the next thing I know my truck is in a thousand pieces in the garage...

Yanked the engine:


Had the block bored out .020 over and decked:








Rebuilt the head:


The crank was in great shape so I just had it polished.  Engine was re-assembled with Engnbldr parts:




























Every single part on the engine was either very meticulously cleaned and powdercoated or replaced.  Much of the factory hardware was also replaced.  At the desmogging parts came from LCE along with the Spiral Weber adapter and wire loom kit.

[kawazx636 [OP]]

With the engine completed, I decided that it looked too good to just drop back into the truck so that is when I decided to go for the full blown restoration...

Broken down the cab and removed it from the chassis:

[kawazx636 [OP]]

From there, I rolled the chassis back over to my little garage and began breaking it down for complete rebuild:


I had some rust rot in the frame at the front shackle hanger on both rails to deal with the the previous owner attempted to "fix"so I had to cut out his patch and start over:


Cut out the rust and boxed that section:






Broke down and removed the front and rear axles for rebuild:

[kawazx636 [OP]]

Stripped everything from the frame and sandblasted it:


Axles too:


Cleaned, powdercoated and rebuilt the hub locks:






Cleaned and powder coated all the steering components:




Painted the axle housings with POR-15 and top coated with Chassis Coat:

[kawazx636 [OP]]

Assembled the front axle (used Trail Gear knuckle rebuild kit):




Assembled the rear axle (used Sky Manufacturing GM rear disc brake conversion):




Finished frame sandblasting:


Painted the frame with POR-15 (2 coats brushed on, knocked down with 220gr sandpaper and sprayed 2 coats) and sprayed 2 coats of Chassis Coat top coat:

[kawazx636 [OP]]

Mounted the engine and tranny (All of my suspension hadn't arrived yet):




Finished up GM rear disc brake conversion:




Bought 15" Ion Style 171 wheels (wrapped with Falken Wildpeak 31x10.5 tires for now)


Installed stainless Rock Ripper Headers and built exhaust with 2.25" piping, stainless flex pipe and Thrush Welded muffler (Exhaust will eventually be replaced by full custom stainless):






Finished installing the suspension (went with Old Man Emu 2" springs, Bilstein shocks and Trail Gear 5.5" shackles)






Installed Sky Manufacturing heavy duty tie rod:


Bent all new brake and fuel lines:




Braid stainless brake lines:


Blasted and painted fuel tank and skid plate:




Powdercoated shifters:


Blasted, painted and rebuilt driveshafts:






Installed Sky Jacker 9000 steering stabilizer:


Completed rolling chassis:

[kawazx636 [OP]]

With the chassis done, it was on to body work.

Scooted the cab over to the small garage:


Finished stripping interior:




Cleaned up and re-taped the wiring harness (removed the smog computer and all smog related wiring):






Cab complete stripped:


Cut out the floor pan and rusted out areas:








Patched up some panels:


Made new panels to replace the back side of the rockers and welded them in:






Made new body mounts:








Floor pan design:


Body mounts tacked in and test fit:

[kawazx636 [OP]]

Floor pan fabrication (14ga steel):
















Seat test fit (I will be using Corbeau Moab seats with adapter brackets, not factory):


Gauge pod, cup holder and console design:


Gauge pod fabrication (I will have a oil pressure gauge, volt meter and mini tach mounted behind the shifters):








Center console fabrication:






Cup holders:




Cowl vent shaving for a smoothie cowl (Rust preventative measure, if you have a first gen then you know what I'm talking about):

[kawazx636 [OP]]

Some weld grinding and clean up (I still have a whole lot more to do):




Shifter plate fabrication (Using hurst shifter boots):








Final console look (everything will be smoothed and powdercoated for durability):




Fabricating seat belt reinforcements:




Seat belt installation mock up:


Disassembled, powdercoated and rebuilt the steering shaft (too cold to work on the cab):

[kawazx636 [OP]]

And that is where I stand today.  The cold, wet east coast weather has got me at a bit of a standstill on the body work.  I just need to finish dressing some welds, give it a thorough sandblasting and I'll be ready to shoot an epoxy sealer once I get some warm, dry weather.  I'm not really in much of a rush, I would just like to have it done sometime before summer gets in full swing.  I ordered a bed from Corey at Toyota Fiberglass and he should be getting that to me some time in April.  I feel like I'm in the home stretch, but I know there is still a lot of work to do.

[bkuknyo]

Nice ride

[toyyota]

Nice work, a few of us on Marlin have been through this type of build. I was right there with you, until you cut the floor out. In California you can still come across rust free (ish) cabs. I haven't seen the aftermarket step side beds in many years! Thanks for saving another one.

[TheChewMaster]

very nice work, glad to see someone can be meticulous

[Rocksurfer]

Wow, this belongs in the build up section! Oh Glen!   II 

[kawazx636 [OP]]

Thanks guys!  It's a labor of love or a love of labor...not quite sure how to classify the build yet.  All I know is that it drains my wallet and pisses off my wife so it's got to be a good thing, right??? 

I'm not quite sure where the stepside bed came from, but the hideous thing surely isn't going back on it.  I have Corey from Toyota Fiberglass building me a new bed for it now - should be here sometime around April or May.

I had originally started this thread in the Build Up Section, but a mod moved it to the intro section - not to sure why, but it's here now.  LOL