My first project car, a 1976 Pickup.

Discussion in '1976-1983 Build-Up/Project Threads' started by Will Wagner, Nov 29, 2017.

  1. Will Wagner

    Will Wagner Newbie

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    Location:
    Roseville, CA
    Truck:
    76 longbed
    been thinking about starting this for a long time so now i'm doing it.

    I bought the truck in February 2017, from a guy who just didn't have enough time or money to fix it. He said it needed a new transmission, saying that "the gears no turn" (he didn't speak English that well) but I bought it, limped it home from across town and got home.

    took these shots when i got home.

    The truck is a 1976 Toyota Pickup Long bed 5-Speed

    first pic.JPG Capture.JPG

    when i was limping it home i realized how bad the transmission (w50) really was. It sounded like a dying pig in every gear, but especially in 2nd and 4th.

    I knew that it was a PROJECT and the whole project car curse of fix one thing, find a broken thing. I have only been fixing the truck so far, with no mods.

    First things first, i got underneath to see how bad it was and of course it had the under the fenders swiss cheese and there was holes in the floorboards by the gas pedal. the gas pedal was not connected but it was with the truck. We patched the floorboard with a piece of sheet metal.

    Trust me. I'm no bodywork guy. When i bought it, it had damage on the front driver fender and on the rear driver side by the brake light.

    [​IMG]

    So, with a few bodywork tools only used by professionals, a hammer, railroad spike, and a piece of a 2x4, we 'cleaned' it up to this

    [​IMG]

    it looks terrible, but if you saw it before, it is so much better. the main point was to fit a taillight and the rear indicator, so i was successful in my books.


    I took a few months off because of school but i returned to truck time when i found a 60 dollar w50 that SUPPOSEDLY worked, but he took it out and put it in his garage so i swooped that thing up and cleaned it up (it had a lot of dirt and grease on it. but got it cleaned, dropped it in, attached it to my 20r, and went to drive and somehow, in some lucky way, that 5 speed was BUTTERY. it went through all the gears, didnt grind, overall amazingly good. (still have the old w50 in my garage if i ever want to fix it)

    We noticed that the exhaust manifold had a crack down the "gooch" between the two exhaust ports so instead of getting a whole new mani, i just got some jb weld metal glue stuff and not thinking that it would actually work, it actually worked. somehow. it flows good now, and i even have the heat shield on it so it makes it look decent for a stock mani.

    I live in California, so i need to pass smog. and i have a 76. IT IS ONE YEAR OFF THE SMOG EXEMPT YEAR OF 1975. anyways, rant over, back to the build

    A friend that works at a shop near me came to my house and helped me tune the carb because i thought that it was running a little weird, idling high and surging while at high rpm, and other power delivery things. he came to tune it, and turned some of the screws on the carb then told us the surging is because of a bad carb-to-manifold gasket. So i took of the carby and while it was off, i replaced the intake manifold gasket, put the intake back on, then put the cab on, new vacuum lines, and a new filter. got it all back on started it up, and idled at around 900 rpm (instead of around 2500 rpm). running overall better as well.

    Also, when i had the manifolds off i decided to change the head gasket because oil was in the cyl 2 exhaust port. dont think that was an issue and know it has new head studs and bolts.

    Now is time for the part that i almost gave up on. electronics and wiring.

    my headlights would randomly turn off or mess up on hi beams, so i looked at the fuses, relays, and everything looked okay, but it was not okay. i unplugged the headlight relay, looked fine. plugged it back in AND EVERYTHING WAS OKAY. my turn signals wouldnt work, so i went to the local junkyard, got a new switch, same problem. got new turn signals, same problem. changed the fuse, same heckin problem. finally, i changed the ground setup on the new blinkers to ground on the signal itself instead of on the truck, and the blinkers worked.

    Now. so far, i have swapped the tranny, fixed the wiring, fixed the exhaust leak, new gaskets all around, new head studs & bolts, and a steering wheel from a later model (3 spoke to 2 spoke) and some other things i forgot about. but it is now roadworthy.

    Around a month ago, we went to go get it smogged at a local star shop, so we drove it there, and got pulled over but the cops were chill and let me go. pulled up the the shop and he pulled up the vin and said "wait. ive seen this truck before." and the truck used to be owned by a guy that works at the shops brother, (the owner before who i bought it from) so the whole garage liked the truck, even the brother came by to check on "Molly" (his name for the truck) sad i didnt get to see him though..

    anyways it was at the shop for a few days, failing 2 tests, and then he went through and serviced the EGR system, and tuned the carb differently and he got it to pass. it was there for 4 days and he only charged me for around 4 hours of service just because it brought back "his nostalgia from the late 80s" working on these old pickups and he even offered to buy it off of me, butttt i said no. It ended up passing on the third run, somehow.

    and as of me writing this, it is finally legal to drive on the road. :clapping:

    mods coming hopefully soon if not later in its life:
    • swap to a pre-smog cab
    • Lowering around 3-4 inches
    • Bench seats
    • maybe a 4 lug conversion so i can fit these ssr mk1's in my garage
    • Molded and steamed carpets, new dash
    • Nardi Classic
    • and a lot other engine mods when i go to a pre-smog
     

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  2. fred heath

    fred heath Addict

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    Location:
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    Truck:
    1978 Toyota Galavan Motorhome.
    i even have the heat shield on it so it makes it look decent for a stock mani

    Delete the heat shield. This is what caused the exhaust manifold to crack the first time.
    This was a very common problem on the early 20R engines.
    I wouldn't depend on the JB weld for a long time fix. Welding is the way to go.
     
  3. jetas

    jetas Grand Toyotaholic

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    Keep up the work bro and dont get discouraged.
     
  4. Perkolator

    Perkolator Toyotaholic

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    Location:
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    Truck:
    1975 Hilux
    Nice truck, I always liked that original color. Glad to see another Hilux close-by being fixed up.

    I dunno if swapping cabs is going to benefit you any, it's still a 1976 on the chassis and engine block and you'll have to deal with smog. You may want to talk to a smog referee and confirm things before you start gathering parts for that. I looked at 3, 77/78 Hiluxs before I decided to look only for a 1975 just to avoid smog hassle and to get the front discs, 20r and larger cab vs the pre-75 2nd gen Hilux.

    If you're looking for a bench seat, I might possibly be interested in your bucket seats depending on their condition. I hate that the PO of my truck swapped them for a bench. Haven't really seen any buckets from these trucks for sale yet.

    Those wheels would be awesome but I dunno about downgrading to 4-lug, it also sounds like A LOT of work just for some wheels. I've seen many times on CL similar wheels with a solid backing and no-holes, I think they were American Racing Outlaws or Cragars can't remember

    PO put one of those eBay dash caps on my truck and it looks surprisingly good on there, you kinda have to look hard to tell it's a cap.
     
  5. jetas

    jetas Grand Toyotaholic

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    You dont eed to swap the whole cab. If you have the title, VIN plate and license plates from the pre-smog truck, just swap those and done.

    Maybe need to cut and weld in the numbers on the chassis but i doubt anyone figured toyota did that to begin with
     

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