1986 Toyota Pick Up

[DPatell]

My grandfather passed away a few years ago, and since my mom was his only child she naturally received his pride and joy, a blue 1986 Toyota Pickup.

Recently my sister bought her first car, and my parents bought a new van, and also have a Honda Accord. The truck now plays the roll of sitting in the end of the driveway, slowly disintigrating...

I have taken it upon myself to restore this thing as best as possible. It's rusty in places, most noticeably at the joints along the body, the front of the wheel wells and the hub caps.

The agreement is that I do all of the body work, my dad pays for the paint, and then I will be allowed to drive it. I plan on putting in a decent sound system with some new speakers, as the stereo in it now is terrible. It will be removable so I will be able to move it into the next car that I own.

Attached is a pic of the truck when we got it. Definately a little rough around the edges, but only has 75k miles on it, not too bad. And that cap, eugh...complete with blue bubble windows! Needless to say, we took it off after winter passed...

 

[Ryan S.]

Pimpin' ride man

 

[DPatell]

I began by taking an air powered rotary tool and a wire brush to get down to bare metal. I also used a sanding attachment to clean it up good. The plan is to remove all of the paint and as much of the active rust as possible, and then spray it with Loctite Extend Rust Neutralizer. After that, plenty of bondo and paint.

Along the bottom we will be using a rubberized paint that prevents rust. This should help stunt the decay of the truck...

There are a few areas that are almost entirely rusted through, one is right at the base of the windshield. This will have to be cut out and have a new piece of metal formed and then Bondo'd.

Is it worth all of this? Probably not.

It's giving me something to do in my spare time, and giving me some practice for the future, lol.

My dad says it right "You sure do have your work cut out for you, but in the end you'll have a truck that will go from A to B."

Oh, and it's staying Blue. It was my grandpa's favorite color, so it's staying that way.

Here is a pic of me after I had just woken up, in the dorkiest attire in the world...SWEAT PANTS


As I go I will keep you guys updated!

 

[Ryan S.]

Loser....who wears sweatpants

 

[rabidsheeep]

awesome... but errm... where do the rocket motors go?

sounds cool...

 

[Stymye]

wow ! thats a clean garage...mine looks like Sanford and son's

the truck doesn't look to bad either
I've owned much worse looking vehicles than that...hhe

 

[mikeyd]

Originally posted by rabidsheeep
awesome... but errm... where do the rocket motors go?

sounds cool...

If it's like my 85, they go in the back, at least until I get to the launch site!

Here is a web site showing the "upgrades" to mine!
https://members.cox.net/missckt4/toyota_v6_conversion_project.htm

Here is a picture attached

 

[Steward]

Your dad sounds a little like mine...

The one thing of all the things he taught me, the one that means the most is... " If you are going to do it... do it right".

He was right though... having done it yourself will give you a great appreciation and a tremendous amount of pride...!!!

BTW... mine is a '88 Chevy....

 

[rabidsheeep]

i can see this working out quite nicely

 

[DynaSoar]

Originally posted by DPatell
My grandfather passed away a few years ago, and since my mom was his only child she naturally received his pride and joy, a blue 1986 Toyota Pickup.

Check the engine type (the plate on the block, maybe also on a sticker on the air cleaner cover). If it's a "3AC" engine, I suggest you try to buy it from your dad and keep it. Those engines (also put in Land Rovers) were known to last 300,000+ miles. Toyota stopped making them for that reason. I had an '80 and an '81. If I find another I'll buy it.

 

[DPatell]

Dynasoar - Thats interesting! My dad has it at work with him because the van had a blown water pump...not 3 days after we bought it... I will definately take a look at it.