Should i buy this 85?

I just bought my 95 taco and while the frame was coated, it was coming off and a little rust.

Where I forgot to look was under the door sills. When you got in the truck the whole floor would flex because it was so badly rusted it wasn't even connected. The previous owner swears he didn't know about that either.

So, I would check that. Get down and look. Or just push on the seat.. does the whole floor move? lol..

May have to do some fiberglassing this spring. After I replace the half shafts that are shot too.. lol.

 

I'd be worried about how hacktacular that truck is to start with. Non running engine, bad transfer case (would need a top shift replacement), questionable frame repair, highly questionable suspension setup...etc. Sounds like one helluva headache to me. I'd look for a solid running 86-up pickup to start with for a second toy before a hacked up SFA truck. All you really get with a factory SFA truck is the front housing. Everything else goes when you really build it, you need an ifs width rear housing, ifs steering box, ifs hubs, rotors, etc.

 

My bad. I scanned the pictures too quick. Well since the engine needs fixing anyway, just find a fuel injected engine or a 3.4 or something to swap in lol

 

Yowza. Some of the observations and suggestions are all over the place. From the photos it's clearly a carbed 22R that doesn't look to be that well maintained mechanically from what is visible in the engine photo. You're definitely going to want to do a compression test at the least to make sure mechanically things are not too scary.

If the frame is really bad, it will be a constant headache even if you plate it. You're better off looking elsewhere or swapping frames.

It's clearly already got a solid front axle, and while the seller says it will clear 40's that only because of the ghastly bodylift that should come off ASAP. Not to mention that if you offroad in it, anything larger than a 35" will probably chew fenders badly.

There is really no reason to swap in a different axle unless you want full width for some reason. The Toyota axles have excellent aftermarket stuff out there now that can hold up to big tires just fine. Get some chromo inners and Longfields with ARBs and the axles will be fine.

It doesn't look like a bad project. Hard to tell if the body is as clean as it appears or if it's a bondo-n-blast paint job, but if it's gonna be a wheeling rig the body condition may not matter to you.

If I were picking it up, the mechanicals would be the first thing looked at and dialed in before ever driving it. Then the body lift would come off (again before driving it). Swap in some decent bucket seats and start building it.

If the motor was hammed and needed work, a 3RZ or even a 5VZ would be an awesome swap but will require new motor mounts, and the full wiring harness and ecu from the donor truck. Or just fix it and run it with the carb. The Weber 38 seems to be a good fit for these trucks. That's what I had on my carb'd '85. I ran mine with some 5.5" Alcan springs and Bilstein shocks and man it was smoooooth.

 

almost threw up when i saw the rims.. swampers would look sick though, i'd say go for it