1981/83 Pickup build

But where do I pull the power for the ignition coil?

 

This is a picture from the 81 when it was running. I don't have or know or remember what plug was connected. I know one of them was. The green plug on the back of the Alternator was connected to the orange cable seen in this picture and also to the voltage regulator plug on the inner fender (you can see it it you look close)

 

Voltage regulator, the 2 green plugs are the truck side of the alternator harness for the 81, the alternator is in my 83, and the 2 plugs above it in the picture are the plugs to the alt,

 

All 4 plugs, 2 on left are the truck harness and two on right are the coil plugs.
This is the 81, it has square plugs from right to left are the 2 power plugs, diag plug, distributor plug

 

And this is the 83, same deal except they are round plugs.

 

I did find out in the past, any of the sqaure or round coils will work with the wires spliced.

The turbo is the only one that has a different ignitor. The later styles that are smaller I have never tried.

 

Part of the problem I am having is that my 81 was pieced together when I got it. The 83 cab was pretty much untouched. So I think I have to work backwards.

I have also never done anything like this before so this is all new to me. I am learning as I go.

 

I do know that the voltage regulator are different between the two and I think that doesn't help me.

I understand what you are saying about the alternators being different I just can't figure out the differences. If that makes sense.

I need a few more hours and some more reading and I may get it.

I was just stoked I got the dash to light up!

 

Ahh. Brain fart.. I just looked at your picture again, what is the letter code on your coil?

You should have 2 single wire plugs, those are the power and ground, a plug that is un used, and the 2 wire red and white that go to the distributor for an 81 or 83.

I have a few coils around still, I will pop the hood on my 85 and see what I have goin on for plugs. You should just need to splice them in, we just need to identify which ones!

 

I have always just known there are 2 alternator options and called them A and B.. I don't remember myself. The plugs are different though so its easy to identify if you have the right one or not.

If you need a voltage regulator I have a few still.

I have gone through close to 10 alternator on my 81, but the one on the engine now has been going strong for 3 years. Fingers crossed.

 

I will take some more pictures tomorrow.

Where is the letter code?

 

Should be on top. Could be missing. .

In this pic there is a BJ and XG

Toyota made it complicated by changing plugs every year or 2

 

Here is another thing that confused me. On the wires going to the distributor from the igniter there are two wires a red and white. And there is more stranded wire wrapped around those.

 

Yes there are two different Alternator types for 79-83. One of them has a green band and one of them has a black band. The green are used on trucks with the years of 1979-to 1983 4x2's these alternators only put out 40 amps. The black alternators are used on trucks with the years of 1981 to 1983 4x4's these alternators put out 55 amps. The plugs are different for both.
Green:


Black:


I have the Black alternator. I have done so much reading and digging in the past few days about the charging and ignition systems of these trucks. Just about everything I have read talks about the two styles of alternators and plugs. I have yet to find something that tells me where the other side of those wires go (not into the alternator but into the voltage regulator or elsewhere). Toyota changed the charging system year for year in these trucks so they are all different.

The voltage regulators between the two of my trucks are different. The 81 has a round plug with a pig tail that goes to the plug to the alternator. The voltage regulator that is on the 83 has a somewhat oval weird shape plug with no pigtail for the alternator.

Now, here is what I am thinking. If I can pin out each plug independently between the two (81/83) I should be able to splice in the plug from the 81 into the 83 voltage regulator and be good to go.

This is only part of my problem as I am still tracking down the ignition coil issue, and where/how to hook that up. I believe I can do the pin out for this as well. Maybe I should do the ignition coil first, and try to get it to crank.

My head is spinning and my brain is trying hard to figure this out, and every time I think I got it, I get more confused. I am making progress though.

Another quick question: I have an external in line fuel pump. What circuit should I tape for this?

 

You can do it right and run power from ignition to a relay the to a pump.

They don't draw much power, at least not the the little inline carb ones. I would find any on with ignition power, take it from that and run it direct.

I had mine tied to the acc power for the radio, I just did both at the same time. Then I got a radio and replaced the mechanical pump.

 

Are you missing the pigtail? Or voltage regulator?

The ignition coil should be super easy once I have a chance to get out and look for one with your plugs, unfortunately I don't have a running carby truck right now but I have a neighbor with another one so I have access to get it checked out.

I have spliced the coils before, a set of jumper wires to test before you cut the plugs helps out.

 

Do they ID alternators on the Tacoma in a similar fashion? I have no idea what the output is. Would be nice to install that on my pickup though.

 

Tacoma alt swap isn't practical. If you want more power 1 wire gm swap is cheap and super easy, and if you want to stay yota a rewound high output is usually like 150 bucks.

If you do a 1 wire gm, you will need to take the bulb out of the idiot light

 

I will check my spliced ones, pretty sure that extra wire is just the shielding.