iv been lurking and searching YOTATECH for a while so i figure its time i made a build thread.

project "Red Rocket"

i have a 1990 toyota pickup with a 7m-gte. bought the truck a couple years ago off here, drove it 38 hours from Ontario California, to Thunder Bay Ontario in January, through a blizzard (quite an interesting story).

ever since i got the truck back home it never really ran right, i had some problems with the wiring harness, coolant system, and oil burning issue(only on decel ). it all started in 2011 in the middle of winter (gets around -35 Celsius). the truck stared hating life in the cold and ended up throwing engine codes. loge story short the engine harness was the culprit. bought two used ones and then pieced them together to make one good one. Now on to recent events, i took the truck off the road for a while and bought this.

1991 bmw 318is, great little car.


this is before i took it off the road.


now on to the work. i basically wanted to replace everthing that i knew was worn out or on its way.

"the list"
coolant system (rad, hoses, water pump)
intercooler piping
timing belt
turbo
clutch
head studs
head gasket
valve seals
and some head work.

took me a couple months but i got it done. here are some progress pictures

this is where is got fun...

looks pretty sad at this point

this was the start of the rebuild portion. (after hours of scrubbing parts.)

clean parts (head ready to go to the machine shop)

and now the head with new valve seals. i also deceided to do it right and get rid of the factory head studs and replace them with ARP studs and also a Cometic head gasket.

now with the head back on


getting closer to the finished product. really had a fun experience with wiring but i managed to get it all back together.


the turbo i got is an upgraded version of the stock ct26

and now the intake and intercooler.

old intercooler set up, this was my first attempt at a turbo anything, it was good for up to 7psi but anything over that it would blow a line off .also got the cooling system together.

i dont have to many pictures of the intercooler piping but it was just as bad.

on to the new set up.

and because of the intercooler piping i had to relocate the battery under the rear driver seat. (i do have a box for it just haven't installed it)

bought my friends headlights, retrofitted hid's (forget what they are but i can ask if needed) but now its back together and on the road!


recently i took out the power windows and locks. (that was a nightmare!) this is one less thing i don't have to worry about when is gets -35 and my truck keeps shorting out fuses (its already happened)


and now on to more new stuff!!!!
thanks to Scotty at Addicted Offroad couldn't be happier with everything!

prp seat. making seat rails from stock sr5 seats, more to come soon.

and now some armour!

also picked up some tube doors from a friend of mine that sold his truck.

and the colour i might go for my bumpers (colour of the tube doors)


going to go drop my my stuff for powder coating and waiting on a 1 inch body lift to install the sliders.

its been pretty stressful up to this point (what project isn't) but it's been worth it, and now i know that i have something that will be reliable for maybe a year?... i am far from done with this truck

 

Looks good, if you dont mind post up a picture of the light coverage you get at night time with those.

Nothing is more aggravating than electrical problems. Glad you got it all sorted out

 

sure. but all i have is a cell phone and they are pointed down quite a bit, been cursing around with some cars and everyone was complaining (truck vs. lowered cars)

 

nice truck man... been thinking of doing a swap in mine... what size tires and lift you running on your set up now

 

33x12.50x15 downey springs in the rear (no lift, i do have new shackels tho) and 1.5inch balljoint spacer and sway away torsions

 

and i really like those head lights do you remember where you got them

 

custom made checkout www.theretrofitsource.com i do belive they are 55watt fxr's