Well to make a long story short, been looking for this truck for ages, sadily it is in poor shape and needs a lot of work, but I found it, and it was a good price
. Came with 2 parts trucks as well, so the main thing I need to do is get the body fixed up so it won't rot out in a year or 2 lol.
Specs:
22RE engine out of some newer truck (don't even know if it is a 2.2L or 2.4L)
4x4 (rear axle needs rebuilt/replaced, was dry when I hulled it, and to load it backwards on the dolly to get it home).
5 speed stick, seems to work fine of the good 3 mins I messed around with it running lol
Body = trashed/rusted, I live in Michigan, it is standard for anything 20+ years old to be rusty
Parts machines:
Both 22r engines (carbed)
Both 5 speed manuals, one is 4x4, other is 2x4
The 4x4 one has a really badly rusted frame, so going to save the axles, drive shaft, and cab, box is already on the truck above and engine/trans from both parts machines are already out too.
Other truck might get fixed up too, not sure as of yet.
No photos yet, will get them as I get a chance. I have to go get the parts trucks yet, but not bad for $550 for it all.
I can't find a very good base line for MPG on this truck for real world driving, seems it ranges from 20 to 28mpg which isn't exactly great, but isn't too bad.
Seems the last owner thought he was handy at fixing up cars/trucks, but his yard is littered with dead machines, he swapped the 22re engine in, but failed to hook up half the sensors. He claims he drove it this way for 60k miles (truck has 140k on the body) and all of a sudden it wouldn't idle, a wheel bearing is hanging up (more like the axle bearing in the rear end), and it has no brakes as the brake lines are rusted all apart. Oh he "fixed" the frame rot problem by welding chainsaw bars onto the frame, I lol'ed when I saw that. His comment "Them chainsaw bars are real strong".
So here are my plans with it in no special order
Get it running right, and road worthy
Clean up the frame, and do a proper fix on it and paint it to prevent further rust
Cut out the rust holes and patch up the cab so it is solid again and the driver's seat isn't bobbing around with the bumps.
Bedliner the underside of the cab, maybe the frame too
I'm not sure what to do with the box, of what the last owner claims, it is a rare box since it is fibre glass on the outside, and galvanized steel on the inside (which has surface rust). Might try to get another cab/box off a non-runner if one comes up on craigslist for cheap with a better body (not likely).
Planned ecomods:
-Belly pan!
-Grill block
-Max sidewall presure on tires (need to be replaced too lol)
-Some sort of boat tail like topper (I got 2 with the 3 trucks I could try to modify)
-Electric fan (have some off other cars, just need to wire up a heat sensor etc to turn it on/off)
-Small air dam (it is a truck, and will be used as one, so can't go down too far, but there is a good 1 foot or so of area that needs to be covered up)
-warm/hot air intake depending how it effects mpg, I suspect a cold air intake would be bad for FE, but might make a flap system, so when I need more power, i can switch to the CAI
Not sure how fast this build will go, but will try to keep the post updated
. My first target of course is to get the truck worthy for the road and do the very basic mods, probably won't be going for this winter, so might do the body work etc all in one shot. My first target once the truck is on the road is 30mpg for my current route to/from work (~40 miles per direction, 40-45mpg in my corolla 1.8L auto). I'm hoping to hit around 40mpg, and I would just drive it all the time to work, since I enjoy driving a stick more, and the fact it is a truck. People throw out stuff quite often that I could pick up to fix/scrap and a truck really helps a lot
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Anyone else have experence with these little trucks? My dad has a 89 Mazda Pickup 4x4 which he loves, but he gets bad mpg (15-20mpg) and refuses to ecomod it in any way
. I know the Toyota engines are known to last forever, and Top Gear has declared the truck to be indestructible.
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Enjoy
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