My name is Austin and I live in the central valley in Ca. Im 19 yo and have owned a few different cars/trucks now but nothing quite like the one i have now. I recently stumbled upon a 1984 toyota 2wd truck in really good shape with only 98,000 miles on it. I will take you through a journey from the time that i bought it to present.



This is the day i bought it, 2300 later and a 2 hour trip and the famous 22r was finally in the garage

The very first step i felt was needed was to paint the rims black


finished product with polished paint, paint was HIGHLY oxidized, but not damaged


tacking over 100000 miles


at this point i felt it looked as good as it was going to get and then decided to fix a broken window regulator



from this point on i drove the truck for a few more weeks until one day i came home and saw a cloud of smoke following me and then discovered this..


So here is when i had to make a decision on whether to sell it and just cut my loss, or go for it and replace the head gasket, i was pretty familiar with engine repairs but hadnt done anything like this. i decided to go ahead and replace the head gasket.



some serious water in the oil



had the bed full of parts within on hour....marked ofcourse



valve cover off and i felt i was making good progress but figured i would need a manual before i took the head off





When i finally got to the point where i was ready to remove the head/intake/exhaust manifold, i needed help from my pops lifting it out.
and heres what i got...





discovered high compression pistons too notice how the #4 piston is really shiny compared to the others, got steam cleaned by the coolant leak.

so after i got it all back together i decided to replace ALL the gaskets, so heres a picture of my brother putting rtv on the oil pan.




So... after everything was solid on the motor i felt very satisfied. Although i cussed enough to make it hard for an ordinary person to sleep at night, i felt i did alright.

The day of my very last final i was on my way home and it was very rainy, i took a turn too sharp (with bald tires) and completely lost control and ended up in a ditch. It was my first accident so i was naturally realllyyyyy pissed



do note the grass growing on the bumper



So... off to the tire shop i went with a front bumper like this..




as time went but i finally had enough money to order all of the replacement parts for the bumper and got it back together. the truck had zero frame damage which seemed odd but it is a toyota so not really. but i did get it back together and looking new again.

months later i finally decided to lower it... torsion crank in front, and 3inch blocks in back.. and im just getting started I owe almost everything i know about this truck to my brother Ian, he has always been there to help.

​