Topic: First Gen to Third Gen build, Updated!!

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Hi everyone, i thought i would post my build up of my pickup.The truck is almost finished now but I'll start from the top.I've had my 81 since 1999 and have built it up nicely. Then i came across a really great deal that i couldn't pass up.I wasn't looking to buy a project because i loved the 81 and there was no problems with it.The wife was all for it also because she wanted the more comfy interior to ride in while wheelin!So I bought a 92 4x4 shortbed from my wifes co-worker for 1500 bucks.The only thing wrong was the headgasket was blown, the truck was in excellent condition. It had 165k on the truck 60K on the bad engine and 25K on a rebuilt trans.Here are some pics of my 81. Whats left of the 81 is still for sale see under trucks for sale in this forum.

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Swapped in 90 22re in the 81

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And here is the beauty i picked up for $1500.I drove it home on three cylinders.I couldn't even feel the miss at freeway speeds,  at idle was a different story 

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Real clean interior and Engine bay.This truck belonged to a collage girl and it was her first car.Her parents took the truck in to shops for all maintenance.She teared up when i drove it away but i was grinin from ear to ear

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Shoot even the bed looked like new! More to come!

[bluetoy84]

Sweet looking rigs    I hate to see you get rid of such a clean 1st gen truck.   Those things are hard to find. If I didn't live on the other side of the country I might would buy it. 1st gens rock 

You practically stole that '92 .   I just built a 3rd gen myself. Maybe I'm getting soft , but I do like the more cushy interior. Having A/C that works is nice too.

Nice rigs ,now lets see some build up pics on the '92.

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Thanks bluetoy, it was a screamin deal.One of the big things for me was i drive it every day and living in oregon its nice to have a good heater and defroster.I thought it was dumb how toyota designed the heater on the 81, it has dash vents but you couldn't get heat out of them, just cool air?! Anyways enough about the small stuff on to the build! My plan was to swap most of my goodies from the 81 to 92. I had 5.29s & arbs in both pumpkins, marlin hysteer, a 90 22re i rebuilt and most of the major componets i needed to swap.The first thing i did was  swap engines.My 22re moved the 81 on 37" mtrs real good but it was a kick in the ass driving it in the 92 with stock tires.I'll say this about IFS, it sticks the corners good! One wheel burn outs were fun too!

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Pullin out the dead engine. Which i sold with complete harness for almost half of what i paid for the truck!

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Heres the engines side by side, gettin ready to race.My Friend and i pulled out both engines and almost had the 92 runnin in the same day and we started wrenchin about noon! I kept the harness in the 92, the only difference between 90 and 92 were some of the sensor connectors were different. Just swapped said sensors and it was a piece of cake install.

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A couple more recent pics. I ditched all but one vacuum hose, not counting the PCV hoses and the egr which makes it a lot simpler to work on.The engine runs perfect and will still pass DEQ.

[BigMike]

wow, clean trucks man

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Thanks mike.I wanted more flex out of this truck, so i used marlins 4" springs front and rear.  After i got the sas done and the truck back down on all fours, it was a lot taller then i expected. I'm glad the springs have settled about 2". The springs work great. My friend and i thought it would fun to put my bigger tires on the stock truck, if you compare the before and after you can see just how much lift these springs give.Those are 37" mtrs and 35/16 boggers.

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When i first tested the 37s on it, they looked puny  And i was thinking that is sure a big 5" lift   .

[Makohon]

lookin damn good!!!  

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Thanks, it was a lot of work, but with the help of a good friend it was fun! Heres some pics of the sas.

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Our version of a long travel ifs!

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Time for the hot wrench

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Much better!

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I tried to use a hole saw to cut out the shackle hanger hole but it was a no go.  Look closely at this pic and you can see the inner frame gussets that play heck with the hole saw. I ended up using the torch to cut out the hole roughly then finished it up with a snap-on carbide burr in a air die grinder, worked out sweet!

[chim]

Impressive! Your surgical with that cutting torch!

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Springs on

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boxed in the engine mount

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shock hoops done, front end is on the home stretch

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Axle, brake lines, steering done! now on to the rear

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Tacked up rear hangers. 5" eye to eye

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Rear springs in. Notice the Sweet exhaust hanger setup

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Setting the rear pinion angle

[iNfErNaL]

Looking damn good man!.

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Perches welded up and gettin ready for paint

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Thanks infernal

Rear axle bolted in. Here's a better view of my high speed, low drag exhaust setup. There is a big difference in the frames between the 81 and 92. It wasn't even close   . The saftey wire worked until i made it to the muffler shop, barely. It would stay tight until it warmed up, then it would rattle and transmit noise into the cab like crazy! I drove it like that for about a month!