Hello everyone!

Long time Toyota fan here and I picked up my first Hilux earlier in the year. I am no stranger to project cars but this is definitely the roughest gem I have started with. My question to you all is where do I begin?

She leaks, the floor pans are shot, the body is rougher than a 70 year old hooker (no offense to the hooker GMA's out there) but she runs-ish.

Objective
I guess all car projects need to start out with an objective. I want this to be a reliable, quick, good looking daily driver that can carry lumber occasionally when I make a trip to Home Dumbass or Blowes. Basically, I'd like to restore the body, lower it with modern Toyota suspension components that can be replaced easily (No miata stuff if possible), I'd like to swap the engine with something modern and AC. From what I have read, the Beams motor is a good candidate (plus I fell in love with the idea of the Beams engine from the Celica swap I saw one time)

Extra credit: I've alway dreamed of doing something cool enough to get a feature in a car mag. Call me a fan boy, I don't care. I grew up reading Import Tuner and Super Street and damn it, I want to be in one!

Skills

-Light Bondo and paint work (not professional) I plan on sending it to a professional when it's ready.
-I've scabbed suspension and brake parts together to build my 77 TE31
-I've done a few top end rebuilds
-General weekend mechanic skills

Budget

$5K for mechanicals (looks like a Beams swap is $1,500 on eBay) I am sure I'll be right up against that or need to expand for support parts and suspension.

$5K for body, wheels and interior.

With all that being said, should I start with the engine and move through the others after? Does anybody have any tips on doing a swap like this? Also a hook up on a good body part source would be great. The front end of this truck is a bit smashed.

I've included a picture of the truck as it currently sits. Help me bring her back from half dead!

 

First thing I would do is a total frame inspection. Particularly the wheel arch’s. The early frames were made from lite gage steel and tend to rot early.

 

I agree with Fred Heath. You should make sure you have a solid foundation to build on. Fix if necessary or move on if you can't (or don't want to) fix it. No point installing all the pretty bits and finding out you have to throw it all away because the frame is junk.

 

Thanks Guys! I'll get underneath it when i'm off work and I'll send post some pics!

 

Nice looking truck, it would be a shame to paint it... just wet sand it with 600 and clear coat it. The Rat rod look gets a lot of attention in shows, everyone's seen a new paint job before.

 

Welcome and good luck!

I think your goals are reasonable. If you want to swap the engine and the suspension as mentioned, I’d lean toward a whole donor car and adapt the subframe to your truck. There are a few builds here and all over the internet showing how others have done it. This would sorta force you to take care of everything structural and you get your upgrades

I like the patina, I wouldn’t paint it or even clear coat it - too shiny and looks weird to me. Try the light sand/scrub and then diluted boiled linseed oil solution for the patina preservation

 

Matte clear will keep a natural looking finish on the patina. Gloss patina aint right.