[mackerel]

I joined up a year ago when they took away my 00 Tacoma for frame rust and I got a '98 Legacy Wagon, but I've driven light trucks most of my life, and the car just isn't cutting it for me. A truck pays for itself in fuels and materials if you use it right. Just never come home with it empty.

So a couple weeks ago I got an '86 Toyota Pickup, 1 ton, Scott-Lite flat bed, 22RE, 5 Speed, 2wd. I intend to apply buckets of turd polish.

I've got it to the point where it's inspected, and here in Maine that mostly means no holes in the body and all the lights work. It's got to have an exhaust, but as long as it does, I think I'm free to modify it however I see fit.

First priority is to fix what I hope is an exhaust leak and dirty injectors, but what I fear is a head gasket issue. If it turns out to be the head gasket, I'll do the timing chain while I'm in there.

After that, I need to tweak whatever I can for better mileage, and I'm looking for any pointers I can get. I've never worked on something with this kind of emissions control stuff or with fuel injection.

I've got the 225/75R14s on it from the old truck, just because they're good tires and the ones that came with it are junk, but that also means I have spare rims.

I think I'm getting about 24 mpg right now. I got 35 in summer heat with the Tacoma, and I'm hoping I can beat that.