Been a long time lurker here and I am finally ready to start my own thread.

Hopefully it will be a motivation for me to maintain this project at a constant rate.

I have unfortunately let my truck sit for a while not running (4mo). Cosmetically its in great shape but after dealing with the previous owners mistakes, dishonest mechanics, and a lack of time on my part to fix the problems I let it sit. Fortunately, I have an extremely flexible job/schedule now and a new work space that allows me to work on the truck in the winter (Chicago.)

This will be the first automobile I've ever worked on. I've been a bicycle mechanic for years and currently a bicycle framebuilder and I've also repaired several motorcycles so I know how to use tools, look at things mechanically and read instructions, but I know this will be a challenge. This is my dream vehicle, originally being from Southern California these were a mainstay back home and I always lusted after owning my own first-gen truck. I finally found and bought this '83 about 2 years ago and I am over neglecting it. I want it to be perfect and I wanna do this build up right cause this could very well be one of the last vehicles I want to own. Fortuitously a new coworker of mine has experience restoring cars and is assisting me with the project so I have no excuses now.

 

I had made a forum post a few months previous when my truck first broke down to see if I could assess and fix the issue on my own. I narrowed it down from peoples advice that it might be a carb issue so I had purchased a Weber 32/36 (Came with the truck!) rebuild kit and a manual choke conversion kit (someone thought it might be my EFS so I did away with that all together.) Of course like previously stated I never actually got around to fixing that.

The only work that I have had done by an auto shop was electrical (new water pump, alternator, distributor, battery and some wiring fixes.) The first time I got it back the battery wouldn't charge after a week from picking it up and they said it was something faulty with the alt and battery and that it would be replaced for free because it was under warranty. After picking it up the second time from this shop after they "fixed" their mistakes the truck broke down entering the highway only two weeks after getting it back. Frustrated, broke, and feeling duped I let it sit in my garage until I got the gumption to write some forum posts and assess the damage on my own. Of course when I went to go check the carb, the fuel pump, and the efs, my brand new (from the shop) battery was dead. Ugh! So I biked to Autozone and had them charge the battery, guess what?! faulty battery won't charge. So I don't know what the hell these dudes did and thats $2,000 I'll never see again. But I digress that was 4 months ago and the sting has started to wear off, I'm just excited to actually make this thing hot!

Last week we pulled my truck into my work space. Had to do quite a bit of arranging and its a tight squeeze but it fits in my welding area with room for me to work around the truck and to still get to my paint booth.

My buddy Zach (Auto Mechanic) and I started to assessing why it isn't starting. I purchased a new Optima Yellow Top (I'm doin right! no expense spared!) and from the forum advice I had received I bought carb cleaner and checked to make fuel was being pumped. We couldn't get the truck to start after spraying cleaner and it is getting fuel which made us wonder if it was getting spark. Zach checked the distributor and wasn't seeing an sparks jumping. Z hasn't ever worked on old Toyotas mostly restored Ford and Chevy's out of his dad's transmission shop in MO, he's wondering if there are common ignition problems we should be looking for?

We are gonna pull the engine next week, in the meanwhile he had me pull my carb and start rebuilding it since I had the kit for it.

 

Man that beast is in good shape. Hard to find those mirrors and fenders that haven't been cut for mud tires. Good luck with the build. Tony

 

Thanks Tony!

So I pulled the carb and started rebuilding it. I paint bicycles so I have a full HVLP set up. I decided that I wanted to do something different with my Weber so I blasted the bottom half and sprayed it with black Imron, it came out really well. I am also currently polishing the top half of the carb, which lemme tell you really sucks! I thought polishing stainless steel lugs on a bicycle was a pain but man the nooks and crannies of the carb are really hard to get to. I am making progress though, I started by masking and blasting it, flap wheeling it, sanding in 80 grit, 120 grit, 220 grit, 400 grit and now I am on to 600 grit tonight, then 1000 dry, 1000 wet, and a buff. It already looks shiny as heck so I am really excited once I get that mirror finish on it. Should be a damn good looking carb.

 

Nice custom touch. Redline/Weber may run with your idea.

 

Woof! I finally finished polishing and painting the carb. I don't think i'll ever polish a piece that small or with as many nooks and crannies again. My fingers are sore and caked with aluminum dust but damn I like the results!

This week I am going to take off the bed and assess any rust and start sand blasting and painting the frame. Ordered a rear disc conversion kit from LCE also.

 

Que Pues Compa.

Good luck my man will be following your thread. I currently own una 88 but currently looking at a 83 that is to good to pass up. Keep us posted on what you got going on.

Suerte!

 

Gracias carnal!

I pulled the bed yesterday. Not to much rust going on with the frame. Just some surface stuff which will be easy to clean. Snapped a couple frame bolts in the process but nothing was super rusted down which made the removal easy.

The bushings on my leaf springs are pretty warn looking so I think I'm going to by a whole kit to replace the F+R along with the shocks. Any suggestions for a moderately priced kit? Also is there a way to measure the springs currently installed to see if they are lifted? I dont think the truck is lifted any more than stock (it looks like the PO just put on larger tires) but i want to make sure before buying a kit. I dont think i want anything crazy, this is going to be a daily driver, some moderately priced kit that wont brake the bank OME are nice but i cant afford it and i wont be doing much ORing in Chicago.

 

Daystars are a good product

 

Awesome! I saw there kit with a 3" lift for like 300 bucks that sounds pretty right for me. I dont think it had any lift the leaf springs are definitely original, i kind of remember the PO saying something about new springs when I bought it from him but that was two years ago so idk.

 

Stock ride height from center of hub to fender well is 21" I believe

 

Had to switch gears a little bit, the engine crane was being used for a galaxy 500 my buddy has been working on.

We finally got that engine back into the galaxy which was a total pia. We were unfortunately not working in my garage on that project rather in another small garage that didnt have a functional roll up door.

With only a 1.5ft between the front bumper and the door, it was a heck of a challenge getting the right angle to move the 302 V-8 block back into the bay.

 

I did get around to pulling my gas tank and stripping the paint off of that. Only some rust around the welds and inlets but that should clean up easy in the blaster.

There isnt any rust on the interior of the tank. I've heard good things about Red-Kote, do you all suggest using it as a preventative measure even though the inside of the tank is pristine?

I also pulled my crank shaft and pulled the spider bearings out of the u-joints. That isn't rusty but I'm still going to repaint it.

I have boats loads of old stock Dupont Imron and I plan on using that as my basecoat for the frame and all the under parts in the truck. I'm still not sure what colors I want to use. I have tons of a nice warm yellow, bright aluminum, and of course black. I definitely want the frame to pop, even with it being primarily hidden, whatdya all think?

 

That would be cool, to have the under carriage painted with something other than black. Would be first I've seen

 

Yeah I've seen a lot of black, Lons your frame turned out great! But yeah I got super lucky with finding this amazing stock of Imron. I have 30 cans of the stuff, lots of blues and violets and other wild colors like green gold.

I wanna find a color that complements the Terra Cotta (which I also got ppg to mix up a quart of). Leaning toward the coarse aluminum with maybe black accents on parts. We'll see...

 

Pulled the gas tank. It was in pretty good shape and only minimal rust around the welds. I cleaned and stripped the old paint off, sand blasted and primed the tank. I will coat it in Black Imron single stage enamel this week and post photos.

 

Also got the engine out this week. Ran into some trouble with those 2 upper bolts connecting the transmission bell housing and back of the motor. Luckily, a snap parts sales man lives next door so I bought a 3ft extension bar and was able to get my socket wrench to clear the t-case to get them off. Woof!

Also scored this set of brand new Kennedy tool boxes off craigslist. Any machinist out here? Thought yall might appreciate them.

 

So, a friend called me up and told me he was going to donate his truck to NPR if he couldn't find a buyer.

Its a 90's 22RE 4x4 xcab longbed with 72,xxx miles on it. He didnt want to spend the 2k to get it back to better driving conditions. He was asking $500 but took $300 and some future machine work from me. It runs has very little rust, needs the brakes worked on, the muffler replaced, front trail arms, new tires and rims (which I have from my truck), and some electrical. Deal of a lifetime!

Which is also very convenient since I've been using the ladies car to drive down to a trade school three times a week, she's been very generous, but i could tell she's been getting irritated.

More updates and photos on my 83 to follow including:

-Stripping and painting the front fenders
-Completely tearing down the engine
-Painting the drive shaft and removing the bearings from the U-joints (woof that sucked)
-removing all the emissions crap
-prepping the cab for removal

 

Wow that is a seriously good deal

 

You stole that truck for $300!!!