vokeyz

Hey all,

I've been sneaking pictures in my other thread of a project my father in law and I are working on since before all this Covid crap hit the fan. He's at the root of why I have a love for these old trucks, and I really like that we get to build this thing together. First, a bit of background history on the 81':



Back in 1985 when my father in law was just a teenager, he recalls always wanting a Toyota for off-road. He had a cool yellow 71' bug, (which then was not cool) as his first car, and when he saved up enough cash, he paid 4,000$ for this 1981 on October 1st 1985. At the peak of his teen years he was very excited to have an offroad truck so new with less than 50,000kms on it (46,000 or so is what he recalls it having when he bought it). It was a prime example back in the day, having been a company vehicle for an agricultural distribution center with no modifications to speak of (if he remembers correctly and if I do too as he told me this story many years ago, a few times).









It didn't take long for the modifications to begin and the truck to head further and further offroad. Bigger tires, higher suspension, ARB air lockers, and an original 80's Marlin Crawler dual case adapter were among the primary modifications.



They got into some fun according to pictures:








And one gratuitous photo of a friend who flipped their yota on one adventure:



He wheeled into his 30's, and just before the turn of the century, the truck was totaled in an accident in British Columbia with a logging truck that had it's load break loose on the old Port Man bridge. The accident was scary enough to make any family shutter, but Brent only suffered minor injuries, and walked away from the accident. The frame was totaled and the body panels on the front damaged. Had the truck not been lifted, the chances of death would have skyrocketed as a log went straight into the front of the engine bay. My father in law isn't what I would call an emotional man, but I could tell that was a sad day for him to recall as it was a bit of his youth he didn't want to part with. In the fall of 99', he determined to buy it back from the insurance company, and rebuild it for offroad use.

There was an engine swap done in the 90's at some point which changed out the 22R with a 20R that a friend had laying around. In the accident the engine was wrecked enough to warrant a change and with it being a pre-efi engine, and the carburetor stalling out multiple times on the Rubicon trail, that was enough for Brent to seek out a fuel injected engine. 6-7 years later there was a donor truck bought for the engine and wiring harness containing a 22re. The truck had rotted out from north-eastern salt climate in Canada. The engine was freshly rebuilt though and had barely been broken in before it was in Brent's possession. I did a compression test recently and found that each cylinder was within 1 psi even though it had been sitting 13 years to date. During this time, my father in law ordered a new All-pro suspension kit, axle gussets, and a whole re-manufactured frame made of 3/8's square tubing with additional under-plating. This was the end of the project for a while. The 2008 economy hit wallets hard but did this pretty hard to my father in law which pumped brakes on the fun projects.







Cue 2019, the new shop is built, times aren't necessarily better financially with oil not doing well, but since I'm around and want to go wheeling with pops, it's time to get a move on. I began the tedious process of marking the factory wiring loom, and removing a wiring loom from an 88' 4runner my father in law bought as a donor vehicle (there are a few of these lying around haha). I pulled the ECU and various looms and components I knew we would need to get the engine running. I don't love this part but there is something very satisfying about becoming keenly aware of how the wiring is meant to work, and then re-purposing it for a customized use.







I realized traction was actually taking place when the tires and wheels showed up. My father in law is a funny man. On occasion he is known to make a purchase and have it show up without warning.





Of course, 47" x 17" x 17" were well beyond what a stock Toyota could ever hope to wheel with, let alone with stock axles. So this cued the 1 ton axles.



We had no idea how to make this work now. It became clear that suspension was going to have to be creative. It also became obvious our cute front clip was no longer going to work, no matter what we tried. The rear will remain on the all pro toyota leafs, but there will be long term plans for 4-link back there.











After pulling everything out of the engine bay, we cut it.



Off it came. We also had to get the original all-pro hoops off and front leaf spring suspension. Next will be to rework the other components on the front end, to make way for a 4 link suspension we're in the process of ordering. What's happening with the all pro stuff? Well it just happens to be destined for my 91' 4runner, that we will be solid axle swapping in the near future, once I collect a few more components.







That's where things are at as of now. There's a long, long road ahead but we're moving forwards. I plan to update this thread as we cut, build and break this rock crawler. It is so fun to be building something so special with family. KOH 2022? One can dream.

Ivans’s

Loved all the pics! “Somewhere behind those new tires & wheels, there’s a truck!” Holy Moly! 😳

swampedout

Thats a great story! And a cool truck

Casually ordering 47s and waiting for them to show up for you to find out is pretty funny.