Box Rocket 1985 reg Cab Pickup

I picked up a 1985 pickup that I actually used to own almost 20 years ago. I sold it in 2002 and it has sat for most of the time since then until last year. It popped up for sale locally and I bought it back for a project to work on with my second son who turned 16 this past summer.

This is what it looked like when I originally bought it in 2000.
minitruck1985 by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Just before selling it it looked like this. I built a custom flatbed for it, added highsteer and IFS steeringbox, all new suspension (5.5" Alcan springs and bilstein shocks).
flatbed_e by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

The truck was originally a 22R. The guy that bought it from me had an SDS fuel injection system from LC Engineering installed so it's now a 22RE with many OEM parts as part of the system but a standalone ECU created by LC Engineering.

Here's the truck after I got it home last week.
Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

 

Onto a bit more news that isn't quite as exciting. It was about a 40 mile drive home after buying it. It needs an alignment to straighten out the steering wheel but otherwise it drove beautifully and purred along smoothly. Got it home and my oldest son that has the 1980 pickup was home and we went for a short drive, which was also nice and smooth. My wife was working and when she was done working she wanted to go for a ride too so we hopped in and were going to drop my youngest son off at a friends. Started it up and it was suddenly making all kinds of noise. I'm still confused because of how sudden the change was, but I've started digging into it. Obviously I didn't drive it when it started making noise. Just got it into the garage and shut it down.

Here's a vid of the sound.


Pulled the valve cover to take a look, still need to check the timing chain guide and get a set of feeler gauges to check the valve lash, but nothing obvious was visible with the valve cover off.
Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Dropped the oil pan and checked the oil. It was a little dirty but not bad and no metal whatsoever in it. Started checking the rods, and didn't notice any vertical play, but a small amount of fore and aft movement that seemed equal on all 4 rods. Here's another vid.


I ran out of time last night so tonight I'll remove the rod caps and try to get a look at the bearings. Also need to pull the plugs and check the plug wires. This truck has coil packs instead of a distributor as part of the LCE EFI system. But I'm gutted by the thought that this motor is shot right after I get it home.

 

there's no distributor. Pretty cool stand-alone EFI setup in this truck with coil packs instead of a dizzy.
Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

 

It uses a standalone ECU, it's a system created by SDS (Simple Digital System) for all the components other than the Toyota intake and the coil packs which are GM units. It is still available. Been talking with LCE a bit as I troubleshoot it. The more I learn about it, it's a pretty cool system.

Spent some more time on it again last night with a buddy that's an electrical wizard since that is not my forte`.

The system uses a crank position sensor to handle timing and that was the first thing we checked and verified it was working correctly. Using a timing light to just check for proper spark to all cylinders we found that cylinders 2 and 3 were not firing. Went and picked up a new coil pack and it continued to not fire on cyl 2 and 3. (new plug wires were used). We swapped positions of the 1-4 coil pack with the 2-3 coil pack since we had verified that the 1-4 was working. The new Coilpack worked fine when used in the 1-4 position and the other one didn't work in the 2-3 position which pointed us to an issue inside the ignition module. We found one of the transistors on the ignition board wasn't functioning properly. The ignition module could all be replaced but it's sold as a replacement unit with both new coil packs and runs a few hundred bucks. Instead of going that route I'm going to try just replacing the transistor. It's a $4 part and will just need to be connected to the board. Crossing my fingers that this solves the issue, but at the least, was confirmed that this was at least part of the problem and would explain why it stopped starting and could also explain the clattering and shaking of the motor if only cylinders 1 and 4 were firing.

Here's the ignition board. One of the transistors on the top edge of the board is what we found to be bad.
Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

 

Here's some detail on the SDS system directly from the SDS site for anyone that's interested.
http://sdsefi.com/specific.html

 

My son spent some time Saturday sanding the body to prep for a repaint. Also working out bed configuration options using waterproof surplus boxes that I've had sitting on the shelf for a few years.
Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

The new transistors for the ignition should be delivered tomorrow and I can see if that fixes the engine woes.

 

Great build going to follow this one.

 

DAMNIT can only see the pics of the motor...still following though

 

Looks neat, hey do you have a build thread for your other son's truck . I remember seeing photos somewhere but can't find them again

 

Yes there’s a build thread for the 1980. For some reason the moderators moved it to the Hilux section of the forum.

 

Fixed the ignition module, truck starts and runs now.

 

Drove the 80 to go pick up some new seats for my sons '85 minitruck. It had a nasty benchseat that I worried about spreading disease. These are VW Jetta/Golf seats, identical to the ones I swapped into my 80 except these are cloth rather than leather like I have in the 80. Power recline and seat heaters. These are really comfortable seats and I've like them a lot in the 80 so I was stoked to find another set for a great price.
Seats by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Now to finish getting the truck ready for paint.
Seats by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

 

This truck finally got some new paint this past week. As with my other son's truck this is a first car and I'm sure it will be banged up so no high dollar paint job. Still wanted it to look decent but didn't want to worry about it getting dinged or scratched. So once again it was a rattle can job. Turned out pretty good if you ask me considering the $50 cost investment. My son picked the color. I'm sure someone will ask, so it's Rustoleum Slate Blue (Satin Finish) with a few coats of Rustoleum clearcoat on top. We had a few blemishes on the base coat which we wet sanded and resprayed. It's not perfect but looks good from 10 feet. Need to replace the windshield trim, but we might just clean it up and paint it black to get rid of the chrome. Lots left to do but it's taking shape.

Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

There was a hole in the hood from the old DIY snorkel that we decided we wouldn't keep. Thought about patching the hole, or replacing the hood. In the end, we used some hood vents. They are ebay vents for a Ford Focus ST.
Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

 

That's a cool truck! I'm gonna follow this build.

 

We have "similar" trucks. Subbed!

 

In on this one. I had a ‘83.

 

Cool. I have a 1980 as well.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/box-rocket-1980-hilux.455427/

 

Couple things recently, none of which are very big but were on the list.... Painted the windshield trim. Added the tread pads to the sliders. Also a couple shots of the motor with the coil pack setup for those that were curious about how it looks without the distributor.
Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

Untitled by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

by Adam Tolman, on Flickr

 

Digit!


I like the blue.