Hey everyone

I picked up this 1973 Hilux on Sept. 12 (pic's to come). I have been looking for one for a couple of years now so when I saw this one on craigslist for $700 I headed right over to check it out. After a little talking down of the price and talking the wife into it we settled on a price of $550 plus $20 bucks for diesel to borrow his truck and trailer to get it to my house. First thing on the list is to get the truck to idle. after a little tinkering on the idle adjustment on the carb, boom, got it. Unfortunately the wife won't really let me spend any real money on it until I'm done with PA school (5 years ). The work on this little guy will be very slow but I plan to keep you guys updated with tons of pictures.

Next on the list is to run through the breaks and get her stopping good. As of right now when you step on the breaks you make an awesome right turn Also working on getting all of the lights working. I've got to do some re-wiring to get all of the clearance lights up to par.

More to come...

 

As promised here are some pictures. If you've already read my into thread then you've probably already seen most of them.

Last night I got the front right clearance light working, required some wire patching. But I could not find what that matter is with the rear clearance light on both sides. I'm hoping to figure that out soon. I do have a problem with the blinkers, they flash once and then stay on but dimmer than the flash. could this be just the flasher unit that's bad or will I need to find a new switch? The hazards work, so I'm thinking it's probably the switch. Any ideas, let me know.

Oh ya, pictures

 

Tonight I got the rest of the clearance lights working. Here's a picture of some patching that the front right light needed. And the rest are of the working lights. The back clearance lights were a pain in the butt, but I finally figured out the problem was that the ground was not making good contact. Now just to figure out the turn signals, any body have the same problem as me with the turn signals?

 

So, this weekend I figured out the problem with the turn signals. Turns out that the turn signals only blink once and then stay on, but only when the engine isn't running. As soon as I get the engine running the blinkers work fine. Good deal for me. Anybody know if this is normal or if this is going to become a bigger problem?

 

Not to sure about the blinker problem . But looks like you found a pretty solid yota

 

Thanks scrub, I wish I had some more money and time to put into it now, but that's the way it goes. Next Steps are to figure out why the brakes are having troubles, clean out the carb, make sure the timing is on, and replace the fuel filter.

 

Motor Idles too High

So, it's been a while since I updated this. Ever since I got the truck the idle has been quite high, by this I mean that if I adjust the idle down at the idle adjustment on the carburetor the motor quits. I thought maybe it was a problem with the carburetor so this weekend I rebuilt it (not as hard as I thought it might be.) Next Idea was a vacuum leak, so I checked that and it's not a vacuum leak so I'm not sure were to try next. Any idea's? I could really use the help on this one.

 

any updates? Interior pics?

 

32/36 Electic Choke

Hey guys,

Thanks for asking. The truck has been mostly sitting recently. Being a full time student, working 25 hours a week and having a wife and 5month old boy, makes the truck, I guess, in fifth place . For Christmas I got new front brake cylinders from the in-laws (thank you rock auto). so I put those on and put the front breaks back together. Then a few weeks ago I was doing some perusing of Craigslist and found a Weber 32/36 for 100 brand new. I snatched that up for $80 and got the adapter plates for the truck on e-bay. I also went ahead and got new intake/exhaust manifold gaskets and took the manifolds off and cleaned them and put them back on with the new gaskets. I had to plug the holes in the exhaust side of the intake manifold, 18r-c guys will understand, where the choke air heater line was. Now the new carb is on an I am waiting for some free time to get the fuel connected and the throttle connected. I'll try and get some pictures of it posted soon.

 

Sounds like you got some work done real fast lately Dig the shortbed!

 

Peoria? Your in my neck of the woods. I work around 59th and Olive and live around 83rd and camelback. Have you been hear a long time? I've probably seen you driving around.

 

sounds like you are having fun,I don't know if you want to keep your truck stock or not,but In my 74 Hilux I put in a 5speed trans and disc brakes off of a 77 truck,had to modify the firewall to move the clutch master cylinder over to allow room for the larger brake master cylinder and use the wheels from the 77 to clear the calipers....also put in a 20r motor,was a real pain doing that alot of modification,carb/linkage on opposite side,water outlets on radiator hookups were different locations,had to modify motor mounts,worth the swap though,20r motors are so easy to come by....

 

Nice little truck. If you ever want a 75-78 style grille, headlight switches, dash parts, stuff like that let me know. I have lots of little stuff stashed away. As for the weak blinker I think it's voltage level. My 78 does the same thing running or not if the voltage gets down to about 10. Check the battery terminals, replace the clamps if they're junk. Check blinker flasher, it's behind the radio. Clean any grounds and wire plugs. Hope that helps.