First Gen Rehab - Saved from the ashes

A little about my first gen story.... (scroll to pictures to skip the BLAH)
This thread is a tribute to the 3rd first gen I have owned. I rebuilt the rear frame on the first one I had in highschool shop. Sadly I sold the second to avoid the same issue. The guy I sold it to completely transformed it into a beautiful work of art. I paid $800 sold it for 3k something and he sold it for $$$$? (red truck below) I am not discounting how much work he had to put into it, but ever since then, I have had a bit of seller's remorse for not finding a donor frame. The search for a new taco went on for a year or so when finally a truck a friend had while I owned my first one (this is important later) showed back up burnt to a crisp. I had a 3.4 swap planned and someone answered my search ad for 80s pickup parts with the burnt taco, but I'm sure glad they did! Around this time I'm starting to put together a plan to get this thing back into shape, but where to find a running first-gen that doesn't cost an arm and a leg? Well, I go search up where my first-first-gen ended up, and to my luck the guy still has it. Apparently, my rear frame rebuild only prevented its certain death by 6 years or so. Feeling down about my craftsmanship, I met up with him and apologized that it didn't last forever. He said "you gave me a good deal for it and it lasted a while, no bad feelings here" or something like that. I ended up driving my first taco back home with wooden blocks holding the rear frame together but go dummit she still ran great. With both the crispy white 97 and sad rotted out purple 95 acquired for free and in the yard, the project began.

Apparently the guy replaced the injectors to try and fix a missfire. When he started it back up they leaked and splashed the manifold... the rest is history. From my talking with him he definitely has not had many hours with a wrench and I can almost guarantee he didn't know to grease the new orings before smashing the fuel rail on.




I was feeling a bit better about this enormous project I brought upon myself after an hour with a wire wheel.

When I got the dash removed I was a bit bummed because I thought that the fire might not have licked the plastic down there but the entire hvac system was trashed so it was gonna be a full swap.


Palpable mood increase when the interior crud was cleaned up.

quick splash of paint and I was ready to get on with it. I really wanted to replace the sound deadening but it generally takes shit about a week to get here regardless of what it is so I pressed on without it. I can still get it under the seats when the time comes. This is the last interior picture I took everything from the purple truck went in just fine.

Working inside now, fall is on my tail for this project. I only have a Fwd jetta to get around the snow if this falls behind! I was sure to get

$30 3m 5200 (06504) Permanent Bonding and Sealing for Boats and RVs Above and Below the Waterline Waterproof Repair, Black, 10 fl oz Cartridge

3m 5200 in all seams. I got inside the wiper cavity best I could manage. Now here is where I made a mistake. Don't get mad at me.... for the engine bay I used rustoleum appliance epoxy. Its the toughest paint you can buy locally here and its not too expensive. (cost was an issue with this and so far I was only out my time) I thought it had some properties of real automotive epoxy. As it turns out it has pretty poor chemical resistance. I sprayed break clean on it recently and its not up to snuff. You live and you learn. My neighbor is a diehard Toyota fan and uses a paint shop that carries Dupont automotive paint and by the time it gets flown in on an Alaskan bushplane to where were at its $120+$30flight for a PINT!! I absolutely could not have swung that back then.


Everything swapped over. Man I'm not exaggerating when I say everything. Every little tiny fucking plastic clip. I wanted it to be as proper as possible.

Sadly I did not take many pictures of my progress after the engine paint fiasco. Here's some of the adventures she's been on since. Above were happily cruising at -30F with 300,000k on the donor 3rz. Just had an epic sled adventure up in the Yukon.

the fun didn't stop for this truck. I found a much lower mile 3rz out in the middle of nowhere. After a 4 hr drive I got chained up to get to a rolled prerunner. I pulled that bitch in 2 hr with my partially homemade engine crane.



Some technicals about the swap:
The 97 had cruise control and the passenger airbag so unfortunately I lost those when I went to the base model 95. The 97 had the a.d.d system and I had to source that from a clapped out 4runner. I didn't want to bother with a manual hub swap as the carcass being able to roll was a huge plus for hauling it away. The 95 harness had the provisions for it with the exception of the switched transfer case ground and the solenoid relay. Its a pretty simple system so I just installed all of it near the fuse box under the hood.

I'm happy to help anyone who has their own ambitions! Nearly this entire project cost the shitty paint I put in it. $100 maybe. Get out there and save the first gens!

Next up frame swap on a $800 TRD 3.4 Manual with abs and power windows! 70k mi


My 2nd taco after I sold it:

 

This is fantastic! I enjoyed the read. Wish I had the mechanical knowledge to work on my own truck!

 

Thanks man!

 

What a project... it looks great! I like second gens a lot but would love to own a first gen at some point. They just look right. Unfortunately, it seems as if all of the ones around me need a frame swap.

 

Now thats whay you call a project. Good stuff