Jeff's 1992 Toyota Hilux Xtra Cab Project (56K Death)
- Thread starter lewis15498
- Start date
Chello;1775514 said:
Thanks man, it definitely will be.
You guys are overdue for an update. I assure you I haven't given up on the project, just been working hard, and now that the sun ditches me around 4 PM, I haven't been as good about taking progress pics. That said, lets get this show on the road.
Day 13
Stripped down the rear axle and discovered I had a broken leaf spring. Picked up John R leaf springs off ebay. They are are a spring company from the midwest. I had never heard of them but I got them for $103.75 each with free shipping, so I took the risk, we'll see how they do.
Got the axle painted, unfortunately it was a little too cold and the paint didnt set up perfectly, but perfect isnt attainable with the limited resources I have.
About the Eastwood Rust Encapsulator paint, while I really like it, you cannot use it below 65*F, as the eastwood guy told me after the fact. That should have been printed on the label guys!
_________________________________________________________________
Day 14
Beautiful day, got some hardcore painting done. Everything I painted except the gas tank set up fairly well. Not the end of the world, I can always replace it, as the tank had some pin holes in the top.
_________________________________________________________________
Day 15
Mounted up the rear axle, Steering components and one of the FL wheel/suspension. Forgot to get a pic of the rear axle.
I went with Raybestos professional grade balljoints. While they seem to be high quality, the hardware included is not. They use M16 x 1.50 nylock nuts instead of castle nuts. One of these stripped out on me, and I initially thought it was my fault. Then when mounting the upper balljoints all of the mounting nuts stripped out on me, before reaching the TSRM reccomended 25 lbs/ft.
Rock auto exchanged the balljoint with stripped nylock, as I could not find a M16 x 1.50 anywhere without buying a box of 25 for $80-100. I bought class 8 nuts for the upper control arm mounts, but I was forced to used the Nylock nuts on the balljoint studs, as I had no alternatives. You cannot use a castle nut, as there is no hole drilled for a cotter pin. I didnt want to drill a hole, fearing of weakening the stud, but now that I think about it the part that you would drill doesnt see any real load, so you probably could safely drill it. Food for thought in the Raybestos pro VS moog quality debate.
_________________________________________________________________
Day 16
Installed the FR suspension/wheel. The front brakes had siezed up and the wheels would not spin. In addition to this the aluminum rims had siezed to the steel hubs so badly, that if this was a running vehicle, I could have removed all the lug nuts then driven it without loosing a wheel.
I tried numerous methods to remove the wheel. The method that worked was to smash the wheel repeatedly with a 8ft concrete filled lolly column that had to have weighed at least 150 lbs. I think that it worked because the inertia of such a heavy item, is able to strike the wheel and still have some force behind it after the rubber tire deflects. Despite being a big guy, swinging that thing around was quite an exhausting task.
After I got the wheels off, I freed up the brakes, as I really dont have the scratch to replace all the brake components right now. That will be done later Replacing everything including wheel bearings and backing plates from Toyota.
I clearanced the hub hole in the rims and lathered the hub up really good with anti sieze so hopefully I wont have to deal with stuck wheels ever again.
These pictures were taken today, so chronologicly they dont make sense as you can see things I havent done until today.
_________________________________________________________________
Day 17 aka today
Plumbed all of the brake lines on the frame. The nicopp (nickel copper alloy, also known as cunnifer) were incredibly easy to work with. While I cant speak for the longevity of it, I would reccomend it to anyone. Really happy with the results of this. Also got the gas tank and fuel lines mounted up.
If you're interested to do everything I needed three 25 ft rolls for this and the brake/clutch lines in the engine bay, so you're looking at about $150 in materials. I did this with a tubing cutter, craftsman flaring kit, and eastwood bending plyers. You can get all 3 of these tools for about $100 total. So you're looking at about $250 for the job, and you will have the tools and some left over tubing for your next job, your lines will never rust, and you probably only spent a quarter of what it would cost to get all the lines from toyota.
The red stuff on the tube nuts is just grease I rubbed on them to keep or at least slow them from rusting.
Took advantage of the warm day and painted a couple parts, somehow I forgot about the sway bar before, and I had skipped the crossmember because I had plans of replacing it with a budbuilt unit, but its not in the budget now, so I slapped some paint on it for the time being.
Day 18
Getting the engine ready to install I dropped the front sump pan and installed the 3VZ pan. Ive seen others drill out the plug for the mid sump dipstick, but a new union was only like $6 from toyota. I drove the old plug out with a 1/4" extension from my socket set, it was the perfect size.
Plugging up the hole in the oil pump for the front dipstick was not as easy. I bought a plug like the one in the mid sump hole, but it didnt fit so I ended up just tapping threads into the hole. I got a bolt to fit in the hole and covered it in FIPG. Hopefully it wont leak, I dont see any reason it would.
Installed the new flywheel. The flywheel bolts are one time use according to the TSRM so, new bolts were in order. Torqued them to spec. I'm all about using creative methods to avoid buying expensive tools, but I strongly advise anyone who does this type of work to buy a torque wrench.
Also I changed the oil seal and pilot bearing prior to this, but dont have any pics. Rented a blind hole puller which is a really cool tool.
Cleaned the sticky rust preventative gunk off the flywheel. Also cleaned the contact surface of the pressure plate. Installed the clutch.
Tapped out the holes in the block. This would have been easier to do prior to installing the clutch/flywheel.
The thead in the bolt holes on the right side of the block for the stiffener plate were non-existent. Either the 4runner didnt use them. or someone took it off. Could only find m10x1.5 helicoil so now they are 1.5 pitch instead of 1.25.
Finally got the engine/trans back on the frame. Stupid easy to do without a cab in the way.
Getting the engine ready to install I dropped the front sump pan and installed the 3VZ pan. Ive seen others drill out the plug for the mid sump dipstick, but a new union was only like $6 from toyota. I drove the old plug out with a 1/4" extension from my socket set, it was the perfect size.
Plugging up the hole in the oil pump for the front dipstick was not as easy. I bought a plug like the one in the mid sump hole, but it didnt fit so I ended up just tapping threads into the hole. I got a bolt to fit in the hole and covered it in FIPG. Hopefully it wont leak, I dont see any reason it would.
Installed the new flywheel. The flywheel bolts are one time use according to the TSRM so, new bolts were in order. Torqued them to spec. I'm all about using creative methods to avoid buying expensive tools, but I strongly advise anyone who does this type of work to buy a torque wrench.
Also I changed the oil seal and pilot bearing prior to this, but dont have any pics. Rented a blind hole puller which is a really cool tool.
Cleaned the sticky rust preventative gunk off the flywheel. Also cleaned the contact surface of the pressure plate. Installed the clutch.
Tapped out the holes in the block. This would have been easier to do prior to installing the clutch/flywheel.
The thead in the bolt holes on the right side of the block for the stiffener plate were non-existent. Either the 4runner didnt use them. or someone took it off. Could only find m10x1.5 helicoil so now they are 1.5 pitch instead of 1.25.
Finally got the engine/trans back on the frame. Stupid easy to do without a cab in the way.
DAY 19: Auto To manual conversion
So I have been running on the assumption that the holes for the clutch slave cylinder were on the firewall. I discovered that that was not the case, as the auto and manual trucks have different cabs. Seems crazy that Toyota actually has 4 different types of cabs instead of having 2 types and utilizing block off plates.
Regardless it was obvious that I needed to drill some holes. As far as I'm concerned I had one shot to get this right. And due to the tight space it wasnt practical to try and drill from the inside. This left me with no idea exactly where to drill. Instead of playing guess and fret I threw on my fabricating helmet and got to work. :welder:
* The holes on the left of the mount the bracket through the 2 drivers side brake booster studs. The right side is your drilling template. The 2 holes in the connecting (middle) piece are unused (just using up old stock).
HOW TO SECTION:
To make this you will need a welder, 1/8" flat stock, a 5/16" drill bit and a 1 1/4" hole saw, drill (obviously), sawzall, angle grinder and a dremel or other handheld grinder.
First cut 2 strips of stock and weld them together to make the template plate. Using the hole saw cut a hole in it. Position the hole so the two mounting holes for the clutch master will also be on the plate. Clear any sharp edges in the hole with the dremel. Now the clutch master should fit thru the hole with a little clearance. Center it, and clamp it with vice grips exc. Using the 5/16" drill drill right thru the master cyl mounting hole. Throw a nut and bolt thru the new hole, then remove the vice grip so you can drill the other side. Drill the other side then clean up any cut edges and grind welds flush with grinder. Now you have your clutch master template plate.
Bolt the template to the clutch master studs on your new pedal set. You may need to grind off excess material for it to fit properly. Tighten the nuts to secure it in place.
Cut another strip and drill two 5/16" holes in it that will line up with the drivers side studs on the brake booster. You need to be really precise here, and may have to clearance the holes a little with the dremel to get it to fit on the studs. Now bolt this to the pedal set. You can use nut and bolt but I just bolted it to the pedal set with the brake booster since the booster has to come off anyways.
Now with both pieces bolted down. Cut and weld a connecting brace between the two of them. Weld it so that it is true to the brake booster side. Then cut 2 little pieces and place and weld them to bring the connecting strip down to the drill template. try to position them so they wont be in the way of you drilling.
Unbolt everything and you should have something similar to what is pictured above. The brake booster plate is not on the same plane as your drill template. DO NOT BEND ANYTHING as it will screw up the positioning of your template. With the bracket off you can re-weld anything that you could only tack weld when it was bolted up. When you're finished welding grind all the welds on the brake booster side flush or the bracket will not sit right against the firewall/brake booster.
Slide your bracket onto the brake booster studs and bolt your booster to the firewall. Try to center the studs in the holes on the firewall. You now have a template showing you exactly where to drill. Double check everything and then drill away. Use the dremel to deburr your new holes and you should be ready to bolt up, I did a little cleaning first. HINT: Before drilling the 1 1/4" hole take the drill bit out of the middle of the hole saw.
Welded a couple braces on the pedal set before bolting it up to the truck. Not pretty, but hope it will help keep it from cracking. When you bolt the pedal set up DO NOT forget to get a M8 x 1.25 bolt to bolt the clutch pedal tower to the dash brace. There is a threaded hole there just like the one you unbolted for your AT brake pedal. If you forget this you will have clutch pedal issues!
All installed...
