Of course once you buy something used, and then you have a chance to look things over after the purchase, you sorta happen to see a *few* things that you didn't happen to notice during the "purchase passion moment."
The first obvious thing was it needed another engine, 22R. Well all of a sudden all those engine listings on Craig's List and in the papers, etc., sorta just dried up. Seems like it is always like that. You need something and you can't find them. But the moment you get the part, all of a sudden there are tons of the same things around and always at that super bargain price.
Well in this instance, another friend that is sharing the shop with Jerry and I just happened to have this girl friend that had found him an 82 Toyota 2 wheel drive. And that vehicle just needed a transmission put in it so the story went. Well after we looked at it, there was a bit more to it than just that. So we made a deal on the engine in it, that if it worked I'd pay him 300 bux. So he and Jerry got bored one night and popped that engine out and put it in my 81. Well, wonder of wonders, the engine ran like a top!!! So there went 300 bux. However the next immediate issue was the radiator was totally shot. And the one in the 82 wasn't the best of things either. So down to the radiator shop I went, and picked up a new radiator and thermostat.
So a little more history on that truck is that it sort of took a swim in the river for a while until the previous owner pulled it out of the river. So some kid pulled the engine apart and saw that it was beyond his abilities. Well they never changed fluids, etc., or dried out the inside, etc. And prior to that, someone had put the tranny in without the pilot bearing. So the input shaft to the tranny wobbled around a bit, with the outcome being that once we had the replacement engine in the truck and could drive it, we found out that the transmission was totally shot. So we replaced all the fluids, put in another early trans, and put a few miles on the truck. The seats sucked really bad, so out came the seat from the 82 and that went in the 81. The seat needs some serious work by an upholstry truck yet though. We took more bit and piece stuff off the 82, like dash parts, door innards like window crank rods etc. and at least had the truck to the point that it could be driven to see what else it would need.
Another friend sold me a set of 35" tires and wheels, so on those went. We then put in a rear 5.29 geared third member differential to see how the gearing worked out. So as any Toyota fan will have guessed, the stock carb would work fine one day, and spazz out the next. The problem being you didn't know when you'd have a good day, or a spazzed out day. So I went ahead and spent the bucks and bought a new Weber carb kit and stuffed that on. The engine really settled down after that. I spent a couple hundred on metal, gas, wire, lites, etc., and Jerry built a front winch bumper for it and a rear bumper with a class III hitch built in. Also a rock rail on each side made out of 2x3" steel. He also did one of his "bob" jobs on the bed and removed 20" from the bed. Lift wise, it had about a 3" lift if looked like, and was a really rough rider.
Well it needed Hi-Steer, and some good 3" leaf springs for some good flex and to clean up the ride. So we started looking around and ended up doing a trade/purchase deal with another friend and ended up getting a 2nd transfer case, a W56 transmission, an adapter for putting together a double transfer case Marlin Crawler along with the needed parts to do a hi-steer conversion on it. Of course that all necessitated some more parts. This stuff all costs bux........................ sigh............
So the other day I ordered a new dual stick crossmember cradle, a couple 5.29 ring and pinion sets, a rebuilt kit for the front axle with wheel bearings also, diff armor, axle housing gussets, u-bolt flip kits, shackles, front spring hanger, 3" leaf springs for front and rear, rotors, pads and an Aussie Locker for the rear. Now I'm just waiting on the Brown's to deliver the stuff. The truck is up on jack stands. And hopefully in a week it will be back together on on the road.
What I haven't picked up yet is a winch, nor hardened birfields for the front or a locker for the front. And also haven't bought the sticks of tubing for the roll cage. The cage is going to come before the front locker, birfields and winch.
But so far I'm pretty happy with the little truck. I like the first gens much better than the 3rd's. My 3rd that I had I got a bit too carried away with and built it past the daily driver stage, and couldn't use it for hauling the wife's yard waste to the dump. So this one will remain in the daily driver stage that can still haul stuff to the dump, and yet be a wheeler too.
Helps the wallet out. 