My name is Chris I reside in the small town of Fayetteville, Arkanas. Just recently bought this 79' Toyota pickup for basically nothing. After a head and an intake gasket, it's running strong. Still in need of a carb rebuild and the parts for that are on order. I'm only $550 into this project so far. I have a feeling that this is going to be a fun one.
Whats up Chris, we lived in Bentonville/Rogers for 10 years and then my wife got transfered (Damn Walmart) and we had to move and leave all our friends, two years later they cut her dept by 50% and let her go over the phone after 12 years, I'm still bitter over that whole ordeal, I really miss living there, it was our first home together. Anyway, I like your truck, too bad we are not there any more we could of helped each other out. You should look up this club called Definite Obsessions, guys name is Richard, really cool the one time I met him they are close to you and there is also a shop close called 3rd shift customs I believe, might be some help. There is no custom shops or clubs here, ones that specialize in Mini Trucks that is. what are your plans for the truck? Welcome to the site and take it easy Pete
Hey Chris! Welcome! I'm glad you are having fun so far with this project. I must admit that these trucks are the BEST that Toyota rolled off the line. Being the original owner of my '82SR5, I can speak for the reliability & the enjoyment I've had since my junior year in HS. Just like Pete asked in the above post, "what are your plans for the truck?" Rick
Thanks for the welcoming replies. Current plans are to get it reliable and safe. Something else I forgot to mention, It only has 54k miles on it. The odometer may have been rolled over but the inside of the engine is barely worn, so I'm thinking that it is only 54k. As far as plans for later, I'm looking at engine and transmission swap ideas because top speed is 70 (if you push it hard) due to current configuration of the 2.2L and the 4 speed manual. I would also like to go with an engine that is 96 or newer because I am very familiar with the OBDII system. I also want to lower it because the thing feels like driving a go cart and it is so much fun to drive around on curvy roads. So what are your thoughts on engine and transmission swaps? What have other people done? What works? What doesn't? etc. I will get more pics up as I work on it.
You'd be surprised at what a built 22r can do in a light truck bump the compression up add a high flow head and cam side drafts or large weber followed up header exhaust .can make it a fun truck for the twistes and stop light drags . I'm for keepin it Toyota powered but there are multiple options just depends how wild you wanna go
When I decide to have my engine rebuilt I am going to get the master kit from LCE and like said above have the compresssion bumped up, new head, bigger cam ect. I want to keep the reliability side of it but it would nice to have a little more power.
I guess I come at all this from a different angle. If that sweet little engine only has 54k on it, and the rest of the truck looks to be pretty much 'original', if I had snagged her, I'd just bring her back to "new" again as she is, keep her as stock as possible...I'd save the choppin' and droppin' and heart transplants for a beater that needs beatin' anyhow But hey...the cool thing about these little beasties is everybody has their own idea about what to do with 'em, and as Douglass Adams said: "Go to it, and Good Luck!" And enjoy yerself while yer at it, too!
If I was going to simply flip the vehicle I would keep it original, but after driving it a little bit I have decided that I am going to keep it. The truck is awesome, The only other truck I have owned that I liked even close to as much as this one was my 01' Chevrolet S10. Honestly this is a lot more fun to drive even though it's winter and the heater doesn't work. I want to keep everything Toyota at least. I have been looking at the 2.7L I4 from the 00' Tacoma or the 3.7L V6 from the same vehicle, I am still looking into the weight of those engines and the cost of swap. I am wanting to end up with around 300ish horsepower and about that in torque. Anymore and I feel it would be undriveable. That said if I go with the I4 I will most likely be putting a low pressure turbo charger on it. I want to lower it for the handling gains, not for the look. I want to change the bench seat to some bucket seats preferably stock looking. Since I used to do car audio professionally and I still enjoy a well rounded system I want to make a custom center console with a 10" sub firing toward the rear of the vehicle or 2 8" subs down firing. I can make some custom kick panels to mount speakers in the front and It has a couple of boxed 6x9 speakers behind the seat. All of this is for later right now I need to get it running sound, reliable, and safe. Back to the heater, there is a switch that says Cool/Off/Heat on the lower right of the a/c control panel. Well there was a switch it's kind of not there at all. Any ideas on where I can get one of these? Does anyone have one? I have a PayPal Account and will pay for it. I need to get the heater going in that.
THose all sound like great ideas...I've been trying to figure out what to do about a sound system, as we've only ever had those awful little speakers in the bottom of the dash. Be great to see your kick-panel box ideas, as my plastic kick panels are pretty much toast at this point. Been figuring it'd be better to put some decent 5" or 6" speakers there, and have some sort of sub box behind the bench seat or under it. And, as a former car audio pro, what's your recommendation for head units and speaker brands? I was looking at Alpine stuff on Crutchfield's site, but I'm a long way from making any decisions yet.
Nice truck Chris. How about some interior and engine pics? Beebs, you cant go wrong with Alpine. I have Alpine head units, door speakers and amps on my Tahoe and Toyota truck.
Alpine is awesome as long as you amplify them. I have a personal preference for Pioneer Decks and Infinity speakers. I used to have an Alpine in my s10 I spent 400ish on it when I still got a discount the 250ish pioneer that I run now which at one point was in my s10 sounded better out of the box without any kind of tuning. Infinity (aftermarket) speakers and amps have the richest well rounded sound I have ever heard. Polk audio comes in at a close second for me as well. By the way I just tried to kill a bug on my screen aguilar3, you got me. I'll get some pics up here soon. Also that center console I was talking about requires bucket seats.
Pioneer head units is all I've every had except that one Sony deck that slipped in there some how But yeah all my boys swear by Polk and infinity I just don't like dropping lots if money on speakers I like pioneer two ways gotta have the mids and highs
I've actually just ran the entry level Polk and Infinity speakers and that seems to be enough for me. Think I found the engine I am going to go with. Blacktop 4AGE Anyone? You know the high revving engine out of the AE86. Well a newer version of that engine that was produced from 95-98 in front rear and mid engine setups. I am finding them all over the place online for around 2k with almost everything I need for the swap. They come with 165 Horsepower and about the same in torque out of the box and I have seen people get 8500rpm out of these things like this one - 4AGE Blacktop 20v dyno full power run - YouTube
http://www.toyotaminis.com/forum/build-up-project-threads-21/1979-pickup-15823/#post168276 Here is the build thread I started. More Pics coming soon
