Hey y'all! Like the title says, I'm trying to get a '94 X-cab from a friend. He's the original owner and has put a little over 220K miles on it. It has the 22RE and 5-speed manual. He said it overheated or something (he's an I.T. guy, not a mechanic) and he figured it was time to step up, so he bought an '07 Tundra. I haven't had a chance to see what's wrong with the truck, but I may be able to get it for a few hundred bucks. I have an '02 S10 Xtreme that really just needs to be parked with the amount of money I've dumped into it, and a '98 S10 that's my daily driver. I plan to lift it so I'll have something to do some work with. I want the Toyota to be my "frustration" project. I want it to be there for whenever I feel the need to cut and burn some metal. I don't want to fix the various dents/dings it has throughout and turn it into a show truck. I want the most cushy-riding 14" tires on some old-school steelies on it as well. I just want something to reliably bag/drag, with the comfort of A/C and stereo, and not have to worry when I park it next to someone at the store and they scratch/dent it more when they fling open the door of their urban assault vehicle. Somewhat of a rat rod style, I guess you could call it...

Anyway, this is me and I hope to learn and maybe even share some knowledge/info here. The first thing I'd like to learn is where the hell can I find air suspension link kits (bolt-in and/or weld-in) for this year model of truck?! I can find 'em all day long for S10s, but none for Toyotas. I don't wanna do a simple bag-over-axle setup because I want more lift and a better ride than that. Can someone please point me in the right direction? Some installed pics of some of your pre-fabbed and home-grown setups would be great as well. Thanks!

 

First off welcome to TM! You can find tons of aftermarket parts for these toyota mini trucks. DJ suspension is the first place I would look but im more of a tech guy here on the sites, hopefully another member will chime in and point you in the right direction. Feel free to ask questions as this is what the forums are here for. Good luck with the truck and post some pictures

 

Welcome to TM!

 

Welcome to the site...one thing you can do to see whats wrong with the Toyota is to look/check the oil. If its a milky color & has a real strong odor then its very possible the head gasket is blown or it could as simple as a clogged radiator. Toyota's are great trucks so matter what the problem is it will be worth it in the end.

 

welcome to TM!

i recommend checking out www.twistedminis.com.

or maybe cando. but the toyota doesn't have near the aftermarket that the dimes have. up front you just need a torsion truck bag kit. it will also need a new/modded trans member, as well as a z'd frame to truly lay out.

 

Thanks for the warm welcome! The fact that you guys weren't so quick to sneer at me for having an S10 (or two for that matter) gives me a good feeling about this site. I've been a long-time member of mys10.com and it's what I consider to be the more mature, open-minded, and friendlier of the S-truck forums. I hope I've found the same of the Toyota truck forums. I talked to my friend last night and he said I could trailer the truck home for $500. That's fine with me, I just gotta convince a certain someone that we have a place for it. So, if all goes well, I'll be spending some time here as I cut on this li'l beast.

Ah- the forum tech guy. Nice to meet you! I'll check out DJ and I'll definitely post before, progress, and after pics.

Thanks!

I haven't had the chance to look at the truck personally as my friend and I are over 40 miles apart. When it ran hot, he called me and I did my best to diagnose it over the phone with what he told me. When I had him check the dipstick, oil filler cap, and radiator, he told me there was a milkiness in the oil that he'd never seen before. The truck still starts/runs fine for the few minutes he drove it to the end of his driveway, so I'm hoping that the head gasket just failed from age and it's not a warped/cracked head or block. The radiator is only a year or two old.

Thanks!
I'll check those sites out as well. I read in Mini Truckin' (or was it Sport Truck?) that this generation of Toyota truck is easy to lay and even SFBD with keeping the A/C. I don't plan on any sort of BD at the moment, I just want it to lay flat on the frame. Are there any links to some pics, here or elsewhere, of the necessary mods to lay out F/R? I'd like to have a good visual of what I'll be getting in to since I've never even looked under the frame of a torsion bar truck.

 

I say get the truck and ask him when was the last time he had the timing chain guides done.

I'm pretty sure the chain ate through the timing cover and now he's mixing oil and coolant. If you can fix that ASAP, then the motor can possibly be saved.

 

Hmmm... Would that be an easier and/or cheaper fix than the head gasket? To my knowledge, he's never done anything to the motor other than basic maintenance and tune-up stuff. I obviously have much to learn about the 'ol 22R. I hope I can get the truck so I can learn on it. Is there a quick way to diagnose whether it's the head gasket or timing cover?

 

Sounds good bud

 

oh yeah, i have a 94 pickup also.


btw, timing job...

will need a kit from engnbldr.com, TED's a great guy

there are plenty of writeups on the timing job online.


before you jump into a timing job, see if its just a head gasket or not...

probably same difficulty