Just drove from the South Bay of the Bay Area to Yuba City, California (2.50hrs) to close the deal on a 1972 Toyota HiLux. I'll have pics tomorrow.

I recently asked my 82 year old grandfather exactly what year truck he used to own. It was a yellow 73'. "...Toyota shield on the hood," he recalled.

Although this HiLux I just purchased is registered as a 72' it was made in the latter part of 72' - RN20.

In short, close enough to grandpa's 73'.

Even though I had a chance to purchase two different 70' HiLux (RN10) this week, alone, at fairly reasonable prices, neither brought back childhood memories like this 72' did. So although the RN10s are absolute jewels in their own right, in the end I had to PASS on them both.

I feel absolutely fortunate to have finally found pop's truck, although in RED.

 

sweet! but....... i was promised some text pics of the truck today.....

 

Burnzya:

LoL. By the time we got up there the sun had JUST disappeared. My cellphone camera stinks in the dark. I'll get some posted today.

 

I absolutely love this truck!

1972 Toyota HiLux. 18R (141k orig miles / documented). 4-speed.

Will have other pics in a couple of days. This was the only break in the rain where I was able to take a few decent pics. *Hood emblem is in the glove box. Couple of the stems are missing, but otherwise in nice shape. Motor runs strong, but too much gunk in the tank, which ruined a couple of fuel pumps. Once the weather clears up, the first thing I have to do is take down the tank.

Amazingly very very little rust in the bed and floor boards. No rust around any of the window frames, cab corners, or at the fender bolts. None. One of the main reasons I jumped all over this truck.

I'm sure there are some unmolested cleaner ones out there....but I've yet to see one in person. Last one I saw was a rust bucket going for $200, non running, with DMV back fees up the ying yang.

 

nice Joe! is this one a long bed??

 

Nah. Just the angle of the pic made it look like that. Side by side with my 77' SR5 short bed - it was slightly shorter.

 

great find!

its red

 

Pretty cool, thats the exact same truck as mine, cept yours wasnt cut up and sold in pieces like mine , Does it say 72 on the title or just on the vin plate, mine says 72 in the door jam and 73 on the title, what about yours?

 

1972 on the title. 1972 on the jam. It's a Dec/72' truck.


Thanks, Comrade. To be honest, had I come across YOUR truck out here, I'd have purchased it. So don't feel too bad. For some reason, RN20 - 72's and 73's are not easy to come across, at least in my area. And when you do come across them, they're either rotted out or six hours away and going for $2000+ in "good" condition.

I kinda got lucky with both distance and price on this one, which makes it that much more special to me. Although not quite the steal you got your truck for!

Aside from the emblem on the hood, I don't think there is a whole lot of difference between ours and all the other RN20's. But I love the badge on the hood-thing. Plus, it was my grandfather's particular model.

Again, tougher to come across than all the other 2nd Generation trucks, in my book. I'd hold on to that baby, If I were you. Just take your time, put her back together the way she's suppose to be.

You'll come across some people here willing to help you out with it - including me.

 

The last time I bought a truck from an area north of Sacramento (back country) there were tons of dirt, leaves, twigs, acorns, etc. hidden in all the little crevices of the truck. There was s**t actually growing in the taillight lenses! That was on my 79' (search: Green Thumb Detailing), which was purchased out of Oroville, California.

My new 72' was no different.

The back of the bed had so many leaves and acorns I was able to fill a standard green garbage bag 3/4 of the way full.

But what really bothered me was the grill area at the base of the windshield.

It was jammed pack with almost anything you could find in your backyard. I personally feel that this along with the drain behind each of the front fenders, is a vital MUST clean area.

There is a drain on each side of this grilled area and if it's clogged with years of dirt, mud, whatnot, it will hold the water and will eventually cause any exposed metal to rust. Which is why so many fenders have rotted away at the areas where it bolts onto the body. Worse case scenario is if that area where the hood brackets bolt down to rots away. I can't see that being a real easy fix!

Do yourself a favor and check yours. Reach in there and clean it out. Make sure you clean it good. Just try not to use anything sharp so to avoid scratching the paint and unnecessarily exposing metal to the elements.

I broke apart a wooden hanger and carefully reached into the corners and tight spots to get everything I could out of there.

Carefully unbolt your fenders and clean out the drain on each side. You'll be surprised how much sh*t has caked up behind there.

I used a hose at both access points; behind the windshield wiper motor and the plate with 4 screws just above the brake booster. (Thanks BURNZYA for the info.)

1. Cleaned out what I could by hand.
2. Use a skinny and long piece of plastic or wood to reach into the tight spots and break loose anything caked up in there.
3. Thoroughly wash the area down with a hose and water.
4. Soap. Spray bottle works great.
5. Rinse thoroughly
6. Dry what areas you can reach.
7. Leave the access panels off for a day or two to thoroughly air dry the areas you couldn't reach.

 

thats a good tip. ive always done that to our old dodges at one point or another. still havent to my toyota. a tip to add to that, is if it does have bare metal rusting inside to spray it with some rust preventing paint. it wont cure it but will help slow it down. just lay some cardboard over the top vents so it doesnt hit the body to badly.

its also a good time to replace the wiper bushings if they are bad.

 

The new Weber arrived yesterday evening.

From searching out a backup 20R on Craigslist I came across a guy who recently sold his 1st gen Celica, but still had a bunch of little nic-nacs he wanted to sell - including a one-piece adapter for the Weber 32/36 and a custom block-off plate for the egr.

$30 for both!

I printed up bits and pieces of info from online, which should help a ton. Bought a few packets of rubber vacuum caps, carburetor cleaner, starter fluid, but forgot the coolant like an idiot.

Going to wait for rush hour traffic to clear to go back to the parts store.

Now, without a garage to work in, hopefully this NorCal weather stays dry for the next few hours.

 

I just got a 20r today for the 72.... dont know what year it is but my mechanic friend said he thinks 77, and its a good fit, nothing too complicated in the swap.

 

That's great!

Yeah, even great running 18r's are tough to rely on. You just never know when it's going to call it quits.

My 77' is going to end up donating all it's good bits to the 72'. Everything from the motor/tranny/complete front end to the taillight lenses. Hence my posting the Weber here.

I can't stand being at the mercy of Smog Checks, so a swap is a MUST.

 

Im lucky no smog here yet!

 

Finally got the Weber 32/36 installed on the 20r.

What a freakin' difference!

Oh, man, I love this carburetor. Idle, torque, are all great. But it's when those secondaries kick in that have me grinning BIG TIME.

R.I.P. (stock carb)


HELLO Mama! (Weber 32/36)

 

lookin good joe! if my 79 wasn't an auto, and i planned on keeping it i would install one .

guess i'll have to settle for the 1uz in the hilux instead. lol

 

Needless to say the 1uz is going to be silly-bad-ass. Hands down.

But just for the love of old school engineering at it's best, someday you gotta get yourself even just a rag-tag rust bucket / parts hauler, with a simple 2xr and throw a Weber on it.

You always read posts where everyone swears by em'. But it isn't till you actually do it, do you appreciate the difference.

Still isn't enough reason to take her to the Salt Flats - but it's so much more fun to drive her, now.

 

i took the windowless camper shell off my 4x4 today and sat it on my 79, and i have to admit i wouldn't mind keepin it and doin an old school static drop just to screw around with. i even have all the stuff for a 5 speed swap except the 5 speed....

 

hate to sound like a newb, but whats the difference between a RN model and the regular?