Got the motor in yesterday, and the trans mostly in. I wanted to sling the motor/trans/t-case in all as one unit, but my garage door wouldnt allow me to raise it all high enough to get it in. So i had to do it separately, finished up at about 10:30 last night.



Motor in, trans bolted up but supported by a jackstand.




Today, i did the tires which damn near killed me in this heat, brakes, finished the trans/t-case install, bolted up the crossmember, did shifters, ect. Found a HUGE problem though, which nearly cost me the weekend. I had measured and figured i was going to be close on frame clearance out back with a stock rear axle, since i havent found a wider one in the boneyard for cheap yet. Installed the tires, and the passenger side has about a 3/8" clearance between sidewall and frame, and the driver side is about 3/4". So, a quick call to Marlin, and a set of wheel spacers were ordered and next day shipped. Should have them thursday. I will run them until i nab up an IFS rear axle, and then ill sell them off. Front end came out perfect with spring and firewall clearance, better than i expected. Quite a bit of cutting will be needed, but not as bad as it would have been had i not pushed the front axle forward.

Onto the pics, these are the same Q78-15 TSL's i run on my K5, i just had to change rims to make them work. The wider rims cut down on the height which helped, but they are still 35 1/2" tall with 25 psi, and thats at close to 1/2 tread. I think it looks good, amazing what an extra 6" of tire will do.




Total suspension lift is ~4" in front, ~3" in rear, front axle is 1 1/2" forward of stock, and when i do the new springs that number will change to 3 1/2" forward of stock. Rear axle is obviously in the stock location, and for now im happy with the height, so it will stay as it is. Actually it will probobally stay like this until i cut the frame off behind the cab, which will happen either this fall or winter.

Ill get more and better pics tommarow, along with more work done. The weekend is approaching fast, but i think im going to make it.

 

So when are you going to have something w/ an engine in it that actually runs!?

J/K...looking nice...keep at it!

 

I do have something that runs every day even with nearly 250K miles on it, it even has lockers and could have its old TSL's back on in a matter of minutes, its just not a Toyota

This motor ran when pulled, looked good when i opened it up, so it should run. In theory at least

 

It starts, it runs decently smooth, it moves under its own power, and it steers. Doenst stop to well, is even more underpowered than i thought it would be, and even in low range the gearing SUCKS. The bad news, is that my front driveshaft will not work, there are still no shock mounts, cooling system doesnt cool, power steering isnt power steering, and my spare still isnt mounted. Ill be up at 5:00 tommarow morning to start at the crack of dawn with welding shock mounts/towers, exhaust, and getting the rear axle taken care of. I know there is a lot more, but im so tired i cant remember it all. I was out there from 6:00 to 9:30 today trying to get this thing done for tommarow, i dont know if it will happen or not.

 

nice man makin some progress there. As far as power if you can get 5.29 gears if not those get 4.88's. You might be able to score some 4.56's for cheap if you are low on cash.

 

Ive got an MC07 sitting on my desk and a top shift T-case i need to go pick up. Since this wasnt going to be a road truck, i was just going to leave the stock gears and make up for it with the t-case. I didnt think i would be able to get the dual cases done and make driveshafts in time, so i didnt do it, and now i need a driveshaft anyway, and am once again kikcing myself in the ass for not doing it anyway.

Right now i cant get it to run worth a crap, it will idle somewhat smooth, but once i hit 2K rpm it really starts missing and wont push past 2200-2300 RPM without trying to die.

 

What's your timing set to?

 

The only spot that it will idle without shaking the truck appart, Which is pretty close to 0*. I almost wonder if the vaccum advance isnt working on this distributor.

 

Could be or you are off a tooth on the cam.
The outside vaccum line on the distributor is the high speed advance the one on the inside is the idle advance. You can hook the idle advance pretty much any vaccum line the other one has to be hooked to the carb port.

If you hooked em up right which it look ike in the pic you did then I would say yes a bad vaccum advance mod on the distributor.

If there is too much advance it will miss in the upper rpm range.

 

Also setting your distributor with your engine at TDC 0 deg if you put in our distributor rotor at 12 o clock it will generally line right up and should be close.

Also did you check your carb plate for leaks? Weber base plates notoriously leak. Ususally big vaccum leaks effect your idle alot though.

Have you done your idle control and mixture adjustment on the carb yet?

 

It ended up being a combination of the float level being to low, and the choke running to lean. Once i richened the choke up, and raised the float she is running like a champ. I ran through everything on the spark side first after i got the idle air mix to where it idled smooth, then moved over to fuel.

The truck drove arround the block under its own power last night at about 11:00, just about everything got taken care of exept for a few small things that got taken care of this morning. I packed the truck up for my trip, and rolled out of here at about 3:00. About 45 min into my drive, a noise i heard when leaving started getting more prominent, and more frequent. I was also starting to get tranny problems, it was getting hard to shift, so i had to turn it arround and come back home. I think i need to re-bleed my clutch, it does have some play in it, more than my last toy had anyway. I wont be wheeling this weekend.

But, except for that noise and tranny issue, it drives real nice. It has better power than i expected it to have, goes down the road great, i have no bumpsteer even without a steering stabalizer, it rides decent, tracks straight, its actually enjoyable to drive. I really hated having to turn arround and come back home, but i didnt want to push it and my luck on its first day running and driving. Oh well, Ill keep working on it this weekend, and see what bugs i can work out of it, maybee even paint it soon.

I sure get alot of looks in it when driving arround town, thats for sure, there arent to many wheelers arround these parts.



You can see my tent and everything else packed in behind the seat, i was ready to roll.

 

That's a bummer.
Well it's better to turn around than being busted miles from home on the side of the road or the trail.
I have to change out my transmission soon I am pretty sure it has a bad bearing in it.
I have a g54 tranny lined up to put in it.

 

Input shaft bearing? I roasted one of those in my '83 Toy at only 125K miles, seems to be a fairly common problem from what i hear.

 

Yup that's the one it's at 145,000 miles now so I guess I got a little more out of it.

 

Bugs are being worked out, and ive been working at the motor pretty much every time i drive it. Ive eliminated a couple noises, and have it running a bit better too. Today i actually took it on the highway, and it didnt do to bad. 60mph is about all it could maintain with the wind from the southwest without be running with my foot on the floor, but i was pleased with that. I still have a cam to swap into it as well, and that should really help alot, i just hope it doesnt hurt my current powerband to much.

Dual cases are the next install, i just picked up the last of what i needed for that from the stealership today, so that will be next. Me and a buddy have also started work on our own bender, it will probobally be a few weeks before it gets done, but when it is i will start on bumpers, sliders/rockers, and a cage. Another thing i dragged home the other day was a lincoln 225 Arc welder. Whats nice about this is that i can use my Readywelder as a spool-gun and even use gas to have a true 220v mig welder for very little money, as the old tombstone was free.

 

Lookin foward to seeing the cage. I never thought a 'build up' could be so entertaining.

 

wow that is so awesome. Its so nice to see such a young crowd(i'm young myself but know absolutely NOTHING like this) filled with such knowledge. It is truelly amazing. Great looking truck too.

 

Where'd you get your tires cut like that? I'm wanting to get the Q78's for my 3rd gen eventually. Does the cutting make a drastic difference?

Chris

 

I borrowed a friends grooving iron and did them myself. It makes a difference on the rocks, as you not only have more bitting edges but the tire also flexes better in the tread. It also cut down on road noise, and helped in wet weather/snowy conditions, at least it seemed that way to me. If i dont replace these wit boggers and get another set of TSL's or SX's, ill groove them the same way, ive been real happy with this pattern.

 

I've totally enjoyed this writeup. I can't believe the knowledge and skill you have at your age. Very impressive. Also, the black paintjob looks really nice.