I bought an 84 two wheel drive 5 speed regular cab to commute to my summer internship in June (2013). It had 190,000 miles and 50,000 on the rebuilt 22r. The frame was in great shape with no rust, but the body had a little rust on the passenger side and the front end looked like it had seen better days. They guy I bought it from was a local artist so I gave him the asking price of $1100 cuz I kinda felt bad trying to greaze him.

My original plan was to drive it for the 3 months that I needed wheels and then put it back on craigslist or sell it to a friend for like $500, but I fell in love with little turd instead.

I have been working on a motorcycle rebuild all summer so I haven't devoted much love to LT but during this school year while it's parked at home I am going to start make it the truck it ought to be.

My short term plans are to replace the bald tires - the front tires have ~20% tread left and one of the back tires is a snow tire - and replace the front quarter panels and hood. Long term I would like to put disc brakes on at least the front to increase the stopping ability, upgrade the suspension. It would be cool to put in a 2jz with independent rear suspension some day, but that's another topic.

The only work I have done so far is to replace a failed thermostat, replace a leaky clutch master cylinder and slave cylinder, and put in a junkyard radiator out of an '86 when I got in a wreck in Yakima last weekend. I trashed the canopy that came with it and drilled out a Coors light tap as a shifter.

I want this truck to be a reliable daily driver sleeper that's safe to drive. I live on campus at the UW so I don't drive during the week.


The box underneath the dash is the animal house horn by WOLO so that I can drive around playing ice cream truck songs lol

Here's a pic of the snow tire & rusty ass tailgate

 

You have a great base to start with.

 

Looks good! Welcome to the site!

 

Puget Sound area folks: what garages do you take your trucks to?

I figure I'll probably catastrophically destroy something eventually, might as well know where to take it before I do that haha

 

I haven't destroyed mine enough to require anything more than my own garage... but there are plenty of other Puget Sound guys on here who can help out... These trucks are pretty easy to work on, unless you need specific machine shop work.

 

I'm thinking of swapping heads and getting a larger bore maybe. Big maybe haha $...

From my experience on the suzuki bike I've been working on, I don't trust myself to crack an engine open and put it back together without making it fubar. How much performance can you get without doing any internal engine mods? I'm cool putting a Weber carb on and doing exhaust work, and maybe new cams, I'm just scared to bust into the engine

 

I've started a build thread here (http://www.toyotaminis.com/forum/bu...s-23/84-sleeper-little-turd-17289/#post185576) for anyone who wants to follow Little Turd