Whats up TM?!

I'm Jonathan and I'm from Auburn, AL (WAR EAGLE!!!)

Ive been lurking long enough on here so I figured I'd start a build thread for my heap.

I bought this 89 Toyota x-cab SR5 for $1200 a while back with the sole intention of driving it to save on gas. I drive an hour to and from work so every extra mpg counts. When I purchased the truck it was sitting in front of a mechanic shop with a HUGE dent in the bed (tree fell on it), two flat tires, and the battery was dead. The paint and clear were bubbled up all over the place and the inside had leaves all in it. But, she only had 125,000 original miles on the 3.0 V6 and was a one owner so I knew I couldn't leave her there to rot away. I threw down the money....pumped up the tires...jumped her off and skated home.....sorta lol. She bucked and yanked the WHOLE way home (35 minute ride). So first things first was a tune up and some new gas......anyway....on with the pictures.


This is when I first got her home. Pretty darn pitiful lol.




This is the dent in the bed that was made by a falling tree.


Dent in the passenger door also made by the tree.

 

So I decided other than the tuneup that I really didn't want to drive around with that huge dent in the bed so I went to my local junk yard and lucked up on a bed that was in really good condition. I got a really good deal on it as well so on the trailer it went.


Getting the bed off




New bed on! You can also notice in this pick that I snagged up some new shoes These came off a Subaru STi....ran some adapters behind them and they fit perfect.

 

So after swapping out the bed it was time to do some routine maintenance. I put new spark plugs, wires, rotor cap and button, fresh fluids and slapped on an intake just because these motors have such a hard time breathing.


Intake pipe and filter



Anybody that knows anything about motors knows that its never a good idea to open up the intake without doing the same to the exhaust so I went with 2.25" exhaust tubing into a Magnaflow Hi-Flow Catalytic Converter into a Magnaflow muffler. Ive always been partial to Magnaflow as it gives a deeper tone as opposed to the ricer sound that some mufflers make.


Magnaflow Muffler


Hi-Flow Magnaflow Cat

 

I rolled around with the truck in this condition for a while until I came across a thread on how crappy the 3.0 motor in these trucks were. I read and read and read....some good and some bad. My conclusion....these motors get a horrible wrap because Toyota designed them with a crossover that routes behind the motor heating up the #6 cylinder which in turn causes the head gasket to fail. My solution.....Doug Thorley headers lol. Removing the crossover and stock manifolds and replacing them with headers eliminates the heat building up on the back side of the motor therefore prolonging the life of the head gasket. So the search began for a set and luckily I found some on a 4x4 forum that I frequent due to the fact that im also building an 84 Chevy. Typical Minitrucker with too many projects lol.



Doug Thorley Ceramic Coated headers with crossover, collector and o2 sensor adapter. HeHeHe Doug Thorley liked my pic on IG

So I realized real quick that I was going to have to remove a lot of stuff under the hood to install these headers so I figured that was a perfect opportunity for me to address the oil leak that was coming from both valve covers. The PCV valve on these motors is unreal to get to so I changed it out with a new one as well.


New PCV


New Valve Cover Gaskets


New freeze plugs in the intake manifold. I replaced these after cleaning that nasty thing out. It was full of black junk lol.

 

I also decided during this time to do the EGR/PAIR delete. A little reading on here and I was convinced to also delete the hard lines that ran under the intake manifold. I have to say that it really cleaned that are up. These motors are so cluttered full of unneeded crap.


EGR and PAIR system right where it needs to be.....in a pile on the floor lol.


Sent my injectors off to PRO-Flow down in Florida to be fully serviced and flow tested. I would recommend these guys to anybody looking to get this done. They were super fast and my injectors came back looking brand new.


Dirty AF!!!


Back from PRO-Flow and getting ready to install.


Just a shot of the labeling I did on the 4 million vacuum hoses that this motor has. Had to keep them straight somehow and this worked best for me.

 

Well wouldn't you know that after I get everything back together and buttoned up that something would be wrong. It turns out that my headers dumped out right into my torsion bars. So whats the remedy to this situation you ask...lol...BAG IT!!! Don't tell the wife but this was the plan the entire time haha.




Heat shield I put around the starter since the headers hug up so close. I also wrapped my brake and fuel lines to alleviate any issues down the road.

So back to the internet I go to figure out the best way to handle baggin' this joker. This isn't my first rodeo as I've bagged multiple trucks in my day...just not an import. So I scour this forum and a few others and decided that I would go with pocketing the frame and running a pair of Slam Specialties RE7s. I went this route so I can run less air and it has a smoother ride so I'm told. I'm a member of a few local Facebook Buy/Sell/Trade pages and lucked up on some bags. I also have a friend of mine that is a machinist so instead of buying brackets I enlisted him to build me some. Man was that a good decision.

 

These are just some random shots of the truck in my shop.






So in the middle of all of this nonsense lol my wife and I welcomed our first child into the world. We had Mathew Tannon McClain 2 months ago and have been enjoying parenthood ever since then. Anybody catch his initials lol? Goes along with a certain magazine wouldn't you say haha. So I had to take some time off from working on the truck and it sat as it looks in the previous pics for a few months. The hardest part of having a newborn is over and I'm currently back out in the shop plugging away at this thing.

 

Congrats on the little one!, and the Toy. My son just turned 3 and is showing interest in wrenching on the truck with me. Course the short attention span means my tools start walking around without me. Looking good. Some day I guess I should start a build thread.

 

Nice thread! It's come along way since you got it.

 

Nice start. I found my self in the same situation as you with the Thorley Header, Mine hits the torsion bar as well. I gave Thorley a call and there making the S-pipe that corrects this problem as we speak.

It's also funny how you mentioned that you bought the truck to serve the purpose of a daily and now it's snowballed into something else. Sounds a lot like my situation.

Keep up the nice work. BTW get a pressure washer to that engine compartment. You'll be surprised at the outcome.

 

Nice to see someone try those fat five STI wheels. Harder to find, definitely.

truck looks nice, man

 

I wanna say Ive seen that truck before....lol. Cant wait to see it laid out...!

 

Thanks man! Yeah im trying not to rush time but ill be glad when I can relate to him on that level....even if he does hide my tools lol.

 

Preciate it! It has definitely changed since I bought it but I cant wait to be able to put the first pic of it next to the finished product. That'll be a good day.

 

What motor are you running the Thorleys on? Im interested to see what they are building for you.

The snowball effect seems to be a staple in the minitruckin scene lol. They all start out as "ehh I'll just lower it for a while" and end up being a 2 year build lol.

I've been meaning to break out my pressure washer and get all that gunk out of the engine bay. Do you suggest anything specific to spray on it?

 

Thanks IronNam! I got those wheels for dirt cheap and I've been really happy with them so far. I just got lucky that a soldier on the base I work on was switching to aftermarket wheels and needed the cash fast.

 

Oh have you now lol....wish I could say the same about that reflector collector of yours haha. Man I cant wait to see this thing in the dirt either. Finally took measurements for my upper and lower control arms that my buddy is building. They should be ready by the time I get the front end cleaned up and situated. I'll post a pic of his drawings in a bit.

 

About a month or so ago I happened to see that a buddy of mine was parting out his yota because he decided to build a 4runner so he could fit his new twin girls. I got with him and was able to score some parts that I had been hunting for a while at the friends and family discount lol. I picked up both doors as my passenger door had a long dent in it from the tree that fell on it. I also picked up a set of 4wd front fenders, a 4runner front bumper and valance, and an aluminum fuel cell.


Fender off




A random pic of some Minitruck Scene swag I picked up at LAOTP this past year. This was my wifes first show...and she was pregnant lol.....trooper to say the least.

 

I finally got back out to the shop last weekend and got a little work done. I started by taking out the torsion bars.


Then I moved on to disassembling the passenger side suspension.


Got the bump stops cut off and ground down.


Clearing out for the bag mount.



Ive decided to go with the RE7s so I'll be cutting into the frame soon to pocket it for the larger bag. Stay tuned.

 

I'm running there header on a 22RE but it still hits. I guess they exit around the same location. I'm also waiting for Thorley to send me a S-pipe that corrects the problem. Another member here " DA ROACH " said he had the same problem as you and I until he installed the S-pipe that's required.

For pressure washing the engine compartment. just soak with Simple Green and rinse. For the aluminum parts, You can use EagleOne mag cleaner. Its a mild aluminum acid.

In the beginning, I did the same thing. Check my build Thread out. Ironically named http://www.toyotaminis.com/forum/build-up-project-threads-25/simple-green-15968/