Took the Yota off the road a while back,due to an oil leak and some other issues...I bought an F150 to use while fixing the Toy,and got a decent offer on the Ford,so i guess it's time... I cleaned up most the oil with rags and degreaser,no water because it was on the lawn, and a LOTTA oil on it...(I'll do it right when i can drive it to the firehouse and use the wash bay), changed the crankshaft seal, re-torqued some bolts,etc... First pic is during disassembly, some cleaning already done...Second is toward the end...I did more after,but no pics... While i was at it, i straightened the radiator support and gave it a coat of paint...i got some ideas for a homemade bumper and grille,and i'm on a no budget,so we'll see how that goes...
Thanks...gonna sand it a bit and shoot it w/ matte black for now,to hide some of the fugly...here's a mock-up of the new flatbed...
No show on the Ford sale yesterday,so still no $ to put in the Yota, but i put some time in today...junked a Nissan last week,so i snagged a few parts...i used the grille with some bit of cutting and shaving...side markers were broke,so i used the turns out of the old Yota bumper for markers,and a pair of turn signals off a 93 Grand Prix i junked last year...the bumpers will be made out of 4x6 PT timbers...the one shown is short,but just to get the idea...i have a 16 foot timber leftover from a job,so will get both bumpers out of that...
I'm kinda having fun with it...wish they were Toyota parts,but i get what i get,and this is a No-budget build...so far,in the last 13 months since i bought it for $200 with 52,000 miles, i put a used starter (free),and an oil seal ($3) into it...plus a $100 wrecker bill when my kid rolled it into the ditch...it now has 79,000 miles...not bad for three bucks.... I been banging some of the dents out,but it's slow going with the bad shoulder and lack of funds(been outta work since January)...had the hood off today...the lip on the front edge was flapping loose...straightened the hood quite a bit and reattached the skin in the lip with a putty knife,hammer and dolly...the roof was a bit tricky,and when i find my "comma" dolly, i'll try to smooth it a bit...
Yeah,we all like to see the big buck builds....but that just ain't in the budget...i really thought there would be more response than this to a "No-buck" build... To me,Toyota is synonymous with cheap...cheap to own, cheap to run, and cheap to fix... Oh,well...i will continue to build and run this thing for as long as i can,and will continue to post pics whether anyone looks or not
Ditched the wooden bumper idea...just too backwoods ghetto for me... Somehow, i managed to not scrap the mangled original front bumper...so i rang the neighbors' ears with that for a few hours, painted it gloss black, and came out pretty good...still haven't found my body dollies yet, so still some hammer marks, but definitely better than the wood...i'll get some pics tomorrow... Sanded the rear of the cab and started the flat-black rattle-can job...Wally world has cans for a buck apiece...that's an hour away,so i'll get more next time i'm down that way...
A few pics of the painfully slow progress... Still a lot of work to do,just a lack of funds to do it...Workers' Comp suxxx...
