Hello everybody! (Hi Dr. Nick (+10 cool point to anyone who gets that reference))
Anywho, approximately 2 years ago I bought a 1976 Toyota Chinook that had been converted to a flatbed, which I lovingly named The Silver Slug. First off, because it's slow like a slug, BUT it's also pretty unstoppable (like a shotgun slug). Long story short, the young man I bought it from, bought it as a rotted out Chinook. He removed the RV and him and his father were going to put a small block chevy in it and turn it into a drag truck. Well, life got in the way and he sold it to me. My plans are to slowly restore it in order to keep it's downtime to a minimum. I have just started working on the driver's side door, and I also picked up a pre 84 (per the selling party) 22R block that I want to rebuild and stick under the 20R head that is currently on the truck. One of the major reasons I am doing this project is for the experience. I am going to do as much as I can by hand and do all that I can to not send stuff to a shop. Obviously, it'll have to go to the shop to be machined and what not, but the rest I plan to do. Here's the plan: List I is the easy low hanging fruit. List II is the mechanical side and List III is the big stuff (mainly engine and transmission rebuilding/upgrading). I am going to use it mostly as a hauler, so I am looking more towards torque then speed. So, here it goes.

I:
Repair and paint:
Doors-if anyone knows where I can get the rubber parts (window channels/seals, weather seals etc.) that would be super helpful.
Hood/trim/grill
body and interior
odds and ends

II:
Brakes (calipers, master cylinder, wheel cylinders, wheel bearings and pads, shoes, drums, rotors, etc.
Suspension-front and rear struts, new front springs (if I can find them anywhere), new leaf springs (again, if I can find them anywhere) with an add a leaf kit.
Drivetrain odds and ends (any old components that may or may not work but still need to be repaired or replaced).

III
Engine
-rebuild 22R block (unsure of where to go with this yet. I would like to do a little somethin somethin. Maybe raise the compression a little? I would like to keep the block rebuild under 750ish. Any input would be awesome.)
-rebuild 20R head. I plan on using an LCEngineering's torquer cam and possibly a mild port/polish. I may port by hand.

Transmission:
-I believe I have an L40 4 speed. I really like the gearing in it, so I will most likely rebuild it but I am not opposed to replacing it with a transmission that is better for hauling/towing. Again, any input on this subject is more than welcome, but be advised, I would prefer (not a deal breaker) to keep a 4 speed.

Hopefully this post wasn't too long, but I wanted to try and get as much info to you guys as possible to make it easier for you guys to help me out.

I GREATLY appreciate all of your help. Thanks!

Side note: I put this post up without pictures, because I know that if I didn't just start the thread, I would never get around to it. I will post pictures as soon as I can. Thanks again!

 

I know this was posted quite a while ago, and you’ve probably found a lot of things by now but I couldn’t help chiming in since nobody else has.

I’ve had good luck finding any and all door and window gaskets as well as lights, signals and misc door hardware and accessories. Apparently a lot of this stuff is still being produced somewhere in Thailand. Just search for RN20 parts on eBay. You might even find some mediocre sheet metal repair skins. I’ve definitely seen floor panels recently. If you’ve got the budget, I’ve even seen replacements for your (probably) cracked dash pad.

I can tell you that the only way to get hood and grille stuff is to do a wide regional recycler search and either take a road trip or get it shipped. Note: pre 75 rn20 hood and grille parts will be hard to integrate because the center support is different as is the hood latch. Mechanical parts, steering linkage, suspension, brake, cooling and motor accessories are widely available with some notable exceptions. OEM parts are rare, and usually spendy, but aftermarket and remanufactured stuff is often as good. There’s very little that can be had from local parts stores, but Rock Auto tends to have decent prices and an easy to navigate online catalog.

 

I’m not an expert on this, but I think the chinook trucks were built on the ‘dolphin’ platform, which is very similar to the original pickup but with beefed up springs and gas shocks, so some suspension features will be different. The Toyota uhaul box trucks were also built on this chassis. It’s awesome, but I don’t know how many bits are different from the pickup. Hopefully there’s some dolphinophiles around to offer specifics.