Aleu - The Rebuild of a 1980 Pickup

gotta start getting the parts together for my 3rz swap coming up here in the next 5 months. need to get an engine mount conversion kit, transfer case, and an electric fuel pump to be able to use my current gas tank, and get a 1st gen tacoma engine bay fuse box so I can get the wiring harness working so the motor can work.....gonna be fun lol

 

Hell yeah! Got my custom plates reserved for both my tacoma and first gen pickup, Aleu is for my pickup and the other is for my tacoma

 

just made the purchase on the transfer case for the W59 trans for the motor swap in september!

 

Well....there goes all my plans.....just realized the W59 trans tcase drops down on the opposite side of my front differential. So I either need to find a different front axle...or a different transmission....fuck a this bullshit....I'm seriously pissed and am about done. I don't know what fuck to do anymore

 

Well I think I found a fix for my problem, marlin crawler and trail gear have an adapter kit so I can run my gear driven G52 tcase with the W59 trans. So I just need my buddy to buy the W59 tcase off me and there's the money mostly for the adapter kit. Best part.....I have TWO, yes, TWO G52 tcases....so if I want to in the future....I can run dual cases!

 

did some TLC to the floors today, still need to make another run to Lowes and get some more sheet metal to cover the rest of the holes up. The rear tail wiring group also got a streamlined fix lol, finally electrical taped all the damn wiring and swapped the tail lights so they are on opposite sides so I can have my blinkers on the outside. that was really bothering me they werent haha, they also go moved from the top of the frame to the rear of it. Also out some bondo and paint on the holes the idiot of the previous owner drilled just to have his damn light bar on there lol, so hopefully once I get the rest of the holes in the floors covered...no more water in the cab haha

 

well.....my drag link finally came off............but not how it was supposed to haha. I tried so many damn things to get this thing off and nothing worked, I got the pitman arm plug off but the steering arm plug did not want to come off for anything. So, I sacrificed my drag link socket, which is pretty much a big flat head that connects to a 1/2" connection, and I welded it to the plug. But instead of the plug breaking loose, the whole drag link itself ended up coming off of the ball mount from the steering arm. I think the steering arm hole got bent a little bit coming off, so I ended up reluctantly buying a new one even though I wanted to rebuild this one. Once that part came off and I noticed it was a little bent...I knew it wasnt going to be able to be rebuilt lol. oh well, id rather get another one and know that there will be no play rather than use one that is possibly bent and risk anything happening. the current drag link had like 45* of play in each direction, which while driving at higher speeds is very difficult to keep the truck going straight...and is, in my opinion, very dangerous with having all that play while at higher speeds.

So....Aleu has no steering as of right now sadly until next week when I get the new drag link in lol. oh well, id rather wait and get a good part, then drive around with a part that is not up to par and possibly bent and wont be able to be rebuilt

 

woo! so another big update, I have floors! well......for now haha, until I get my tank of gas for my welder and properly get them welded in I just have them drilled in and rusto bedlined. But it works, also got all my gauges hooked up and they all work except for the oil pressure gauge since the fitting I got is a tad too big and wont thread into the block. The tach was confusing at first....but I found there were only 2 spots the it could possibly be spliced to, so through process of elimination, I found that one of the two wires wasnt connected to anything; so I connected the tach to that wire......and boom! it was the correct wire haha. So happy to finally have a tachometer, im not all too worried about no having a speedo as I can use my gps on my phone for that, im more worried about the RPMs and shifting at the correct spots.

Everything is coming together finally, just waiting on my new drag link to come in next week and then when payday rolls around, ill try to get my rear driveshaft shortened so I can take the girl out of 4 high and run in 2 high and have 4x4 available haha. here are some videos to share lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acIh7Q7lH3s&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdX9YlMKs1o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRzSc0a3ySQ

 

for some reason...my floor photos didnt make it in lol

 

Dude, lets get we

 

Uhhh, what? Lol, looks like you posted before you finished typing or something haha

 

*weird

 

Miss my 22r, thing was a rusted beast.

 

Not sure what I'm more jealous about your patience with the truck or the truck itself. Really regret selling mine at the moment.

 

lol

nice! and to think I said that when i got the pickup haha, here i am now with plans of putting a 2.7l 3RZ in the baby now lol

well.....the truck has been extremely infuriating at times lol....but oh man is the truck fun to drive and everything has been worth it you can thank that for the nice big spider crack in the center of the windshield haha. I forgot that the heater tube that connects the lower radiator hose to the timing cover needed to be bolts on to the motor mount. motor got dropped in and I realized it.....so an hour and a half later....still the bolts for some reason DID NOT want to thread back in lol, so I got so fed up and pissed I took the bolt and threw it at the window, the first time nothing happened and the bolt just bounced off the window; the 2nd time however....it made a nice big crack in the window. But that window needs to be replaced anyways lol, I was more worried about where the bolt flew off to than the crack it made in the window haha.

im really happy with the truck though, even though Im completely in the hole with how much I spent getting her here....it pretty much has been worth it lol, I dont ever plan on getting rid of either of my trucks until the day I die. but if something does happen and I can have both the trucks with me, Ill send one of them back home to my parents to hold onto until I am able to get it again

 

I wish i would have been patient when i bought mine, had it for about a month couldn't get it running and sold it. Always loved the early 80s and have had 2. Hopefully i can get another one soon.

 

maaaaaaaan that thing is niiiiice! cant believe you got rid of it! it was a time consuming process getting the ol girl back up and running lol. But it was worth it in the end, I now know how to take apart a motor and put it back together and make sure the motor is some what timed properly lol, dropping that damn motor back in was such a pain haha

 

Do you have a timing light? It's really easy to do. From watching the exhaust vid, it sounds a little off.

 

yeah I do, i just havent messed with it yet, not too sure on really how to use it

 

Three clips on the timing light: Battery positive, negative, and the third uses induction to trigger the light, you clip it around the #1 cylinder ignition lead.
Check the manual for what it should be set to at idle, i.e. 16 degrees BTDC at idle, etc.
Loosen the distributor, point the gun at the crank pulley where the timing marks are (clean it before you fire it up), twist the distributor until the timing mark get to where you need it, tighten it down.