Hi everyone. Everytime I buy a new Toyota I thank the lord for the forums that support them. So a big thank you to everyone who supports this amazing knowledge database.

I picked up a 1976 Sr5 Longbox. It was a bit of an impulse buy, but there is no going back now. There is a fair list of things that need fixing, but that's why i got it... to learn. I have a limited amount of experience with vehicles, so there should be some good challenges along the way.

Right now I have 3 key issues i need to deal with.

It starts and idles pretty well. There is a smell of oil on acceleration however. I did a compression test, but unfortunately I did it when the engine was cold. 125 on 1,2, and 4, and 115 on 3. I don't want to spend a whole ton of money on the truck, so i'm not really looking at a rebuild at this point.

I took the valve cover off to replace the valve cover gasket. I'm wondering if there is anything I can do to the valves to clean them up...without pulling the head? Perhaps pour seafoam on them or something. In hindsight, I should have done a leak down test before I pulled the header off.

The previous owner took the belt off the smog part, as well as disconnected a couple of the larger hoses. However, there are still a couple vacuum lines connected to the carb. If the engine seems to be running well, and i don't necessarily want to desmog the whole thing, should I be concerned about this? (I don't want to desmog it for the sake of getting a hold of the port covers).

The passenger's floor plan looks like it was made for the flinstones. I cut out some of the bad rust, and i still have a lot more to cut out. I'm looking to weld new metal in, but the brace that appears to be holding the cab to the frame is pretty rusted through, and i'm wondering if any special structural care will be need to fix this.

As a final note, I live in Canada and I am having a hard time finding a website that has parts. Any good recommendations out there?

Thanks in advance for help. I love the feeling of driving this thing, and i cant wait to get it to a reliable state.

 

Are you able to source another cab in your area? Might be easier to cut out sections of another cab to weld back in. I see them come up for sale once and a while when these trucks are parted out.

 

Hi Henry, I think that's what i'll have to do. These trucks aren't extremely popular where I live, and the reason i actually bought this truck is because it was the first 2nd gen I ever saw haha. So hopefully I'll be able to find one!


On another note, after I started dealing with the rust, I just kept working on one problem after another. The brake booster was filled with rust particles so I am in the process of rebuilding that. I replaced some of the lines. One of the rear wheel cylinders was ceased so i replaced both of those, as well as new brake pads and hardware. I replaced the front wheel bearings, rotors, and rebuilt the calipers. I installed a new tie rod, but my POS torque wrench wasn't accurate so I over tightened the crown nut. I'm pretty sure I will have to replace the spindle.

I replaced the gasket on the 3rd member with Permatex grey. I threaded in new bolts from the inside of the casing. I also replaced the leaky outer seals.

I got some leather seats from a 92 Cadillac STS for 50 bucks and mounted them on the original rails. They were pretty much a perfect fit, I just had to drill bigger holes in the caddy's seat brackets. They are heated, so for a fun project I would like to get that to work.

I underestimated how hard it is to source parts for an old truck like this, especially in Canada where ordering from the States is pretty expensive. It doesn't help that USD to CAD is $1.40 right now.