Hey everyone, I'm new on the scene here and I thought I'd properly introduce myself since I'm probably going to be asking plenty of n00b-ass questions. I'm Javy, and I hail from San Diego, via San Francisco. So I'm a west-coast cat, born and raised. I'm new to the mini-truck scene in general, and I picked up my baby girl ('94 2WD DLX) this last Feb with the intention of making her nothing more than a daily driver/bike hauler. At the very least, I could turn her into something a bit more fun to drive, given some time. But the goal was to pay a bit more, so I wouldn't have to shell out any money for a while. Let me start from the beginning... I overpaid for her, first of all. Like, a lot. Like, so much so that I'm embarrassed to tell you guys. Either way, part of the reason I paid so much for the truck was that it was in really good shape cosmetically, compared to the others I had seen on Craigslist. It had a nice paint job, nice stock rims and newer rubber, a pioneer head-unit with hands free and blue-tooth, an alarm and power door locks, new plugs and wires and even rebuilt at 190k. He told me he had replaced everything, and she only had 40k on the "rebuild". I asked him for supporting documentation over the phone and he said he had it, but after a 2 hour drive in SoCal traffic, I was just to anxious to make the deal and drive home. I forgot to ask him for it, until it was too late. I was in a tight spot, and I really needed a vehicle anyway. My soon to be ex-wife had taken our only car (she doesn't work, btw, so wtf?), and I couldn't move out of our apartment using my Gixxer, so a mini-truck was the obvious solution. And after all the dust settled, I'd have a sweet ride without the work. Best to just pay up front. Riiiiiight..? Besides, she ran strong, and there was no timing chain rattle (it was warm, so I likely wouldn't have heard it anyway). Only thing I saw was a little bit of oil on the oil pan, but not enough to make a big deal about it. **** it. He signed the slip, and I rolled out with my first truck! Drove it home from OC and I was impressed with the trucks peppy little motor!! The 22RE was living up to expectations, and I was happy with my decision!!! But, the honeymoon didn't last long... She was leaking oil... bad. And it was coming from the block. It was all over the front right corner of the motor, and the right side of the front suspension was covered. Ok, bad luck. I was betting I could fix it, I just needed to figure out exactly what it was. After all, these things are supposed to be easy to work on. How hard could it be? Shop Guy: "Hey man, who did your rebuild?" Me: "Uhh, the guy I bought it from." Shop Guy: "Yeah, well they really did a Micky Mouse job on it..." Me: "**** my face..." I'm paraphrasing, but the point being that the seller guy lied to me, and probably took the truck down to the cheapest shop in tijuana he could find. Who knows what he actually paid for, but what he got was reused gaskets covered in not-silicone. Guy tells me he has to yank the motor and re-do to ALL my seals. Doesn't sound so bad. Me: "How much?" Shop Guy: "$1500 out the door." He may as well have said "Hack off a finger and we'll talk." I was ready to let her sit and rot, alimony ain't cheap... plus I had my moto. I could wait... riiiiight? Welp, fate struck again, and about a week later I walk out to the street to get on my bike and head to work. Turn the corner. Bike is disappeared. Gone. Forever. But no time to spare! I was late for work, so I hopped in the truck and ate my tears like a real man!! Get to work, do work stuff, and now it's time to go home. That would've been great, except my car keys decided to unhook themselves from my carabener keychain and jump out of my pocket somewhere on the Navy base I work at. My only key and alarm fob disappeared. Gone. Forever. So I spent a good 4 hours of my off-time looking for my keys at work, to no avail. I ended up having to drill my ignition out later that weekend and put a new one in. Only problem is I can't lock or unlock my doors now... So I got that goin' for me. As if that weren't enough, I couldn't duck this leak anymore. I needed a reliable vehicle, and I wasn't going to get reimbursed for my bike anytime soon. I had to bite the bullet and tackle this leak. Luckily, a buddy of a buddy is a Yota guru. I just had to ask for an introduction, save a little dough, and drive an hour and a half to Corona. He took a look at it and we determined that the guy at the shop was full of ****. He then proceeded to hook me up with a valve adjustment (they were WAAAAAAAY off, btw), found that my timing marker was missing so he gave me a spare oil pump, fixed the leak around the timing cover and gave me some guidance for my impending exhaust manifold gasket replacement. I couldn't belive the difference after he sorted out the valve train! She's so smooooooth now. And it was way easy... I had no clue. The drive back to SD was magical, and for the first time in a while, things were looking up for my little truck. I woke up the next morning stoked to drive in to work! She was so much more fun to drive. I had to tell everybody! Alas, my second honeymoon was even shorter than the first. My brakes we're getting squishier and squishier. WTF!? NOW WHAT?!? I get home (barely), pump the pedal a few times and find that the front right brake line has cracked, and not only had oil been soaking my right-front suspension components. They were covered in brake fluid too!!! Can I catch a ****ing break...? Anyway, I stop bitching for a second and go handle my biz. Fixed the brake line, and handled the exhaust issue. Now that the exhaust is all tight (save for a couple studs coming loose, the rust-hole in my muffler that I just found yesterday, and a few missing exhaust bolts that ol' Mickey Mouse lost) she doesn't sound the the Mystery Machine! So anyway, that's the last 3 months with her in nutshell. If you made it this far, thanks for reading. You guys all seem like very savvy dudes, and I've been trying to soak up as many ideas and cost-saving methods as possible to make my little hard luck truck fun and comfortable to drive. So with that, I've set a couple short term goals for her: 1. Finish buttoning up the exhaust 2. Air Cleaner/Battery swap 3. New-to-me OEM wheels (haven't decided what yet) 4. Soft bed-cover 5. SR5 Interior (Seats and instrument cluster/tilt wheel) I haven't really decided what I want to do to her suspension-wise, but I'd like to keep a smoother ride. A mild drop on some bigger tires looks good to me, especially with the 4Runner front-end. Anyway, hope to get to know you guys a bit better and maybe get this little beauty up to snuff. Peace -Javy TL;DR I'm new here, I have a '94 2WD DLX. boobs
Phew, that was a read. It's a good thing you found this site. You'll be able to find info on how to do a lot of upgrades and fixes yourself. I myself have been learning quite a bit. Welcome to TM.
Welcome! Sorry about your luck man! Yes, i read the whole thing, lol. As you fix things and know you've done it RIGHT, you will build faith in it again... Good news is that you have a pretty clean truck to start with. People will mention throwing blocks under it and letting down the torsion's....My advice, CA roads SUCK! Do it right or curse the roads as i do, haha.
Overpaying for one of these trucks is in socal is pretty much mandatory unless you get lucky lol. Seems like youve had alot of fun with it so far. Welcome to TM
Welcome to the site and what a story. But yes there is tons of info here on these trucks. Welcome to the site
