I just wanted to introduce myself and tell you a little about who I am. First off I'm a father of twin girls and seriously addicted to racing and fishing. I am a small town deputy sheriff in Wyoming, but don't worry as I'm not one of "those guys" as my hobbies include motorcycle racing (drag and road race) as well as building drag cars in my spare time and I also build custom bikes and fish, a lot! I love to have fun and if it burns gunpowder, diesel fuel or gasoline it's probably something I enjoy playing with

My Toyota is called "Junior" and is a 1983 2wd pickup with the 22R, 4 speed manual trans and short bed. The truck is in amazingly good shape and is soon to be my daily driver to and from work. I work in the next town over from where I live so I drive 38 miles each way. "Junior" will be built with the goal of extracting the maximum possible fuel milage while still being fun to drive. I will experiment with a lot of things on this truck and my end goal is to be able to get a consistant 30mpg traveling 65mph. It may not be achievable, but I'm going to have a ton of fun seeing how close I can get to that figure. My last mini truck was a '91 Sonoma with a 350 V-8 that I was getting 24mpg out of so I think I can get close to 30 with the 22R.

My background consists of a degree from Wyotech in automotive, collision/refinishing, street rod building, automotive upholstery and buisness management. I used to own a custom shop back in GA and did full blown street rod interiors as well as drag race engine and suspension setups. I've raced AMA amatuer series as well as multiple NHRA drag classes.

So far I have bought a new timing set for "Junior" as well as a Weber conversion and have a wideband O2 setup to closely monitor my air:fuel ratio to help in dialing everything in. I'll post tons of pictures as well as detailed reports of each step as I progress in my quest.

Well, I guess that's enough of my long winded introduction. I'll post up some pics of Junior when I get a chance and look foward to sharing ideas and knowledge with the members around here. I've been lurking for a couple of months now and there seems to be some good knowledge base on here.

Thanks,
G

 

put on a weber..drop in a 5 speed. bam 30 mpg @ 70mph easy. just keep that 4 speed rear end and drive like you have an egg between your foot and gas pedal.

 

Well, if 30 is going to be easy then I may need to change my goals for something a little loftier I enjoy a challenge more than anything

BTW, what 5spd would be the best swap? Out here in WY we have a very poor selection in junkyards and what you do find is almost always 4wd due to the intense winters out here. I'll most likely have to find something on ebaymotors so it would help to know what I'm looking for.

Thanks
G

 

welcome to TM. i dont remember my gas mileage i was getting on my truck back in highschool but i was running the 38mm weber downdraft with power pullies and a lc street preformer header. pulled good and was very fun to drive. your report will be interesting to read, cant wait.

 

Welcome to TM. Watch out guys i spell ............ LOL just kidding bro. got any pics? Love to see this thing.

 

Welcome to TM

 

welcome!! its cool seeing someone else from wyotech i went to the one in pa though but i also took collision/refinishing and street rod and i wish i would have stayed for trim and upholstery. if smiles per gallon is what ur after my 82 diesel gets about 38 at 65mph its a turd when it comes to performance though but i still like to brag and seeing as u have been checking out the site for awhile u should know how much we love pics so post them up!!!

 

Welcome to TM!

 

30 mpg is easy....Only in a toyota!

My 82 2wd longbed 4 speed got 32mpg consistantly driving 65 mph, with stock tires, stock exhaust, stock 4 speed, stock carb, basically everything.

But I do have over 200 PSI cranking compression. I.E. one tight and ready 22R.

I got worse gas mileage going to a w58 (the highest overdrive 5 speed you could get for a 2XR) for two reasons.

One, it was out of the -torque- range of the motor, like 2,200 at 70 mph. Good for v8, bad for a 4.

two, I drove the living snot out of it. 5K plus shifts and cruise speed over 80.

 

Well, thanks for the warm welcome. I know some of the forums I visit are leary when they start to smell bacon It seems you guys are top notch though and definately passionate about your rides. I thought I would throw in a couple of pics along with a teaser of what I'll be doing this weekend.

Here's Junior as he sits right now:


It's not terribly pretty, but it is straight and in great shape for the age. Just take a look down the side, not much in the way of dents and defects



And this weekend I will be emptying this box out and finally getting rid of the issues that are caused by my current california emmisions carb (which also happens to be cracked!) All of the emmisions stuff will be coming off as WY does not worry about that.


Well, that's about it for now. Again I thank you for the warm welcome and advice. I'm stocked to see that my goal of 30+mpg should be attainable and look foward to posting some good tech threads as I go through this build.

Thanks,
G

 

welcome! one of my best friends is retired mesa p/d.

one life lesson i learned from him is cops are everyday people doing a job that a lot of people couldn't handle!

thats the cleanest 79-83 bed i've ever seen! is it original or has it been bodyworked?

 

Don't trust or listen to this man !!!

He is a spy, sent to spy on us !!

He is part of them !!

They are watching us !!


























Just kidding

 

Thanks guys, it's nice to find a group of people that seem to understand.

As to the truck bed, it is original with a black spray can paint job. The guy I bought it from brought it out from california and was going to paint the truck black. He rattle can painted the bed first and then started on the cab, but stopped mid project. I found that the black wiped off with a little paint thinner on a rag and so I cleaned the black off the cab, but left the bed for now. The bed has one of those heavy plastic bedliners in it and I think that's the reason it survived without getting banged up. I lifted the liner and the paint underneath is in really good shape, but slightly rusty here and there from the liner rubing the paint off. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet, but I am thinking of fabbing up a custom fiberglass tonneau cover for it and then lining the bed with a spray in liner or carpet for when I carry stuff. Mostly I'll carry stuff on a trailer though so the bed really won't get much use.

Time will tell. I tend to make a hundred differnt plans and then go with whatever seems right at the time. my first project will be to build a custom console inside to mount my stereo and a couple of speakers. I've built many things out of fiberglass/wood composite so these littel projects will be easy work.

Thanks,
G

 

And always remember, it never hurts to have a cop on your side

 

Wow thats a clean truck! Nice to see another former tech student on here. I just graduated and got home from the Laramie campus, took Collision Refinishing, Streetrod, and Chassis Fab.

 

welcome dogg!

 

Thanks for the continued welcomes and it's nice to see some other tech students around. I'll add that I graduated from the Laramie campus when it was the only campus back in the 90's

Yes, I'm an old guy

 

Welcome to TM!

I out a Weber 32/36 on my 75 Hilux and it runs like a bat out of hell...right out of the box.

Sweet...

You'll love it.