1983 Toyota Pickup

Thanks Max, I'm actually reading your build thread right now. I'm hoping mine turns out somewhat like yours.

 

subd for future awesomeness

 

Great looking truck, i love that era of trucks.

 

I made some good progress today on the donor truck. We pulled the cab, engine, tranny, and transfer case.









Once I get everything else off, I'm going to get the frame sandblasted. I'd like to figure out a way to clean up the inside of the frame somehow. I'm planning on using POR15 for the outside, and the inside will get coated with an internal frame paint made by Eastwood.

 

Just do it right the first time, even if it costs more and takes a little longer. Im having to redo things now.

 

@Max-4 Yota, what would you have done differently if you could do it all over again from the start?

 

I wouldn't have done the 63's, probably would've went with all-pro springs.

 

There is a guy on Yotatech that has the trail gear 5" lift. I really like his with 35's, but that lift F&R is pricey.

 

Yeah but ones it's done, it's done. I've learned it's better to spend the extra upfront than skimp. You'll end up spending it down the road if you plan on keeping it. Just my $0.02

 

Awesome looking truck! Will be following closely In a perfect world, I'd love to buy a newer Tacoma in about a year or two and strip my T100 down and redo everything and make a nice beater/woods truck out of it.

 

Looking good man, take your time and do it right. I also have a nice 79-80 tailgate with no rust and has been in storage for 20 years that's for sale if you know someone interested.

 

Toyotaman29, ill keep an eye out. If I had a lead on a decent bed I'd be interested. Anyway, I got the axles and and all the other drivetrain parts out yesterday. I've been searching, and there is a place in Burlington, NC that does acid dipping. He said it'd cost $375 for the frame and it'd come out as bare metal, inside and out. So if my stepdad is down for the drive (he has the car trailer) then that's probably what I'll do.

 

Sounds good, I wonder if there's anywhere they could dip the whole frame in black paint or under coating, I'm sure it would be expensive but you might could check with the guys that spray bed liners, they may have some ideas on sealing the metal from rust, later man.

 

I picked up from frame today from being acid dipped. I made a mistake, though, that needs to be addressed before anything else. I drilled drain holes in the frame to let water and dirt get out. I've only done one side of the frame. The problem is I've drilled them 1 inch on a 2.5 inch frame. The wholesaw bit looked smaller at the time lol. Anyway, i think I'm going to weld a washer with a 0.5 inch hole in it over the 1 inch holes. That's the only thing I can think of that might save me, do you guys have any suggestions? Here are some pictures:







The last picture is the size of the drain holes.

Also, I found a guy with a parts truck. He has a instrument cluster with a factory tach for $80.00. And another guy has an IFS steering box for $75.00. Do these seem like fair prices? The instrument cluster seems high to me.

 

The frame looks good, I think some big flat washers with 1/2 inch hole should be fine and drill a few on the other side with a 1/2 inch bit. The speedo cluster seems a little high but check around and see how many are still available, on the steering box is it power steering box and pump for the 79-80 or for the newer trucks?

 

I'm not sure about the power steering. Mine originally didn't come with it. So I'll need the box, pump, hoses, etc. A lot of people seem to be bracing the frame when they use the IFS box and crossover steering. I'm still trying to figure out if the bracing involved is just the mounts for the box or if people do additional bracing along with the mounts. I also believe I can cut off the mount on the inside of the frame where the arm mounts from the frame to the axle (can't think of the name). It's in line with where the steering box mounts. I'd like to atleast have the front lift setup before the cab and everything else goes back on the truck. Debating between RUFs and waggy springs, leaning towards the waggys. The cab needs floor pans so I have a little bit of time to figure it out.

 

Welded up the holes with some 1/2 washers today, and started painting the inside of the frame.





In the last picture you can see the paint coverage. The Eastwood internal frame paint is supposed to be a 360 degree nozzle. It has four holes in it. You can see where it hit the bottom, top, and sides. I used up two cans and I'm ordering some more. A friend of mine used one or two I think on a build he is doing, but I don't know how he got away with using so little. In other parts of the frame it looks like it only hit the bottom. I thought the coverage it provided was very inconsistent. Some people talked like one can last awhile, but I only got one can per side done, and it's still not even close to being fully covered. I taped the hose to a clothes hanger line to try and cover it as best I could. We'll see what happens the next time around.

 

I picked up a shutz gun and Rust Fighter made by 3m. So far I'm pleased with the results. While painting the inside of the frame I noticed a spot that had rusted through. So I cut the bad spot out and fitted a piece for it:



We originally tried welding it in the my stepdad's 110, but it didn't cut it:



I ended up buying a welder:




My welds after day 2 and some free advice:



Today I ground out the crack and chamfered the edges for good penetration. I ended up blowing two holes in it. So what I did was spot weld it until it was all filled in, ground those welds down, and then made complete passes over it again.



Feel free to critique my welds, and/or give advice.

 

Nice work, cant say much on the welds as im trying to learn but they look clean to my novice eye. Keep it up

 

Looks good Corey, especially the ones on the top, those frames are thin and you can burn a hole through real quick, I turned my heat down a little and that usually helps, the new welder looks nice and will definitely be handy, keep up the good work, later...