Hey guys! Looking at picking up a 1981 Yota hilux this weekend, It was an ex farm ute but from what the current owner has shown me in the way of photos she looks pretty crisp for the age. It has the 18R 2L Petrol engine with the 4 on the tree transmission, I have heard that these are gutless motors, im not looking at turning it into a race car but I was wondering what everyone elses thoughts were on these, Will also be looking at making it a little lower to make it easier to load a sports bike on the back, I have had a read of torsion bars and blocks but was wondering if you need model specific blocks or not? Anyways hopefully the deal works out and I will be a new active member, Cheers.
Welcome buddy. Cool truck, hope ya get it. And no, blocks aren't vehicle specific. Just make sure the u bolts are for your axle diameter. Most kits will have ones that work. If you lower it I would consider reworking that rear bumper hitch setup to not be so low. Maybe run a smaller spare tire or move it up top as well.
Cheers mate, Will wait and see what comes of it, I am yet to see it in person so it may not be too bad as is, its completely stock stereo and all so should be a good wee truck
Welcome! I hope you decided to purchase this truck. The R motors respond well to modifications, so you can get a little more kick out of the 18R. Show us some pictures of the interior. I imagine that this truck has the under dash tray below the glove box. I would love to get my hands on one. Perhaps you can check if that part is still available in your country. Rick
Got a picture of what you mean? I only have a half assed one that was sent to me but will surely take more photos if I get it, but I can call a few wreckers around the place for you and see what I come up with, I dont mind organising parts etc around the place, have done so on a few motorcycle forums as well (I think you mean the black underslung box? have a look at this link its like NZ's version of ebay) http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/car-parts-accessories/toyota/exterior/auction-673395129.htm What sort of mods are common on the 18R motors? I see alot of chit chat of a carb upgrade and alot of talk of swapping to the 18RG Celica twim cam head and associated top end parts, Any basic bang for buck mods?
Cool! That is the part, although I would need a tray for a LHD model. I appreciate you looking around at the wrecking yards for me. Can you also check with your Toyota dealer if this part is still available, please? It's p/n 55611-89103. I did a favor for a mate who lives in Finland and I sent him some parts from the US. First of all, you can advance the ignition timing. It will make your truck more responsive. A Weber carb is a good upgrade over the Aisan/factory one. A 32/36 carb is good. Ensure a good tune-up with quality parts. Try out the 1st one and report back.
A weber carb, a better ignition coil and plug wires, and a better flowing exhaust. Those are universal 4 cylinder upgrades. You can also send your camshaft to be reground. What that means is they take some of the bottom of the cam lob off making the lump lift the rocker arm higher. Again, its a universal engine mod. Good option for engines that don't have easy to find aftermarket cams.
Otherwise id build a 22r for it and copycat the stock setup those had, with the above mods worked into the mix.
Cheers for the advice, Off to look at the old girl tomorrow and if I get it ill go from there I was thinking Free flowing exhaust first up if and when I decide to do anything to it, Knowing me I wont be able to help myself and will end up doing some sort of modification, first up will no doubt a stereo of some sort, might hide it away somewhere seeming as she is stock, might as well keep it looking as close to stock as possible.
You could mount a stereo under the edge of the dash. Or down in the console in front of the shifter. That's what I did. Check my thread. I did it to add gauges to the dash tho, not keep it stock.
Cheers will have a look! Bad news, Last night some F**k stains came up my driveway and smashed my wing mirror off my car, I was supposed to be driving the car down south as we were going to swap the ute for the car if we both agreed on it, however now that the mirror is shagged, Ill have to wait a few more days.
Find out who did it and shoot them in the ass with a pellet gun. That's a bummer. Hopefully you can find a new mirror and get yourself an old truck. They're fun being so easy to work on.
Yah I'm pretty annoyed about it, there was some big teenage party up the road from me apparently they done dmage to other peoples stuff as well, car mirror is no big deal it's not that old of a car so second hand is plentiful, if they touched my bike that would be a different story, it has an alarm so I would have been outside and ontop of then balls and all quicker than the you could say oh ****
Bad news, Was about to drive south after work to go pick the old girl up, I have been to the point of excitement my misses said "If I hear one more thing about this ute, you can go sleep in the shed with your motorbike".. Honestly this suits me fine, I love my bike almost as much as my two daughters.. anyway back to the story.. The guy sent me a txt in the morning to tell me his son had stacked the ute in a ditch and it was poked, So I wont be getting it anymore .. Doesnt mean you wont see me around here though! I am prowling around trying to find another Hilux
Im back! Im looking at a later model Hilux this time round, almost exactly what I wanted to start with, the one im looking at is a 1991 Toyota Hilux 2.4 Diesel double cab, I dont have any pics just yet, just waiting to confirm finances etc but my old man works with the owner and vouches for it, so im pretty keen, its bog standard with around 280,000km (173984 miles). Will update with pics if I go ahead with it!
Sucks about the deal falling thru but at least you found out before you got there. And it sounds like the new deal will work out just as well.
Yip! Just need to wait and see as the finances for this one will be on the old man, so he is going to organise it for me seeming as he knows the chick who owns it. Not super keen on Diesel as here you have to pay for a normal petrol ute say, $400-$600 a year for registration which is basically a pile of levies and charges to say you can use that vehicle on the road, Plus a 6 monthly warrant of fitness $50-$60 per month to say your vehicle is safe for the road But for a Diesel you have to pay road user charges, so you have to buy km's i.e you buy 1000km, once you travel 1000km you have to buy more otherwise you get a fine if get caught. But at the same time Diesel is like half the price per litre of petrol.
Usually you can use a universal block set for the rear , i had the same truck here in cali , i swapped out the 2wd bed & fenders for 4wd bed & fenders , it'll give it a lower wider look to it without being lower
