Slowly but Shirlee the '91 Toyota Single Cab

[genera_lee]

Hey guys!

I just moved to Reno a couple of months ago from Austin.

I'm looking forward to having access to some great places to wheel, as well as mountain bike, hike, camp, ski, fish, etc etc etc.

Now on to the truck!


This is Shirlee. She's a 91 Toyota Pickup. I've done a ton of maintenance and interior upgrades, and it's almost time for powertrain and drivetrain upgrades.
circa Jan '24:

This is Shirlee. She's a 91 Toyota Pickup. Pretty much stock except for a sub and head unit the PO installed, as of July 2017.




Single cab short bed DLX
4 wheel drive
22re
5 speed
locking hubs
125000 miles at time of purchase, 128, 5xx now (3/1/18)

And now a couple more pictures.









The crispy clean interior on this truck was a huge reason I bought it.



All these were taken just a few days after I bought it and brought it home on the fourth of July.

My goal for this truck is to eventually build a capable rig that can handle trails, some crawling, and some desert bombing that's built for limited or lightweight overland/expo outings. I also want it to have enough road manners, power, reliability, comfort, economy, and novel modularity to be a potential daily when needed.

I want to use this project to gain new skills (in the garage and behind the wheel) and test out engineering and product ideas and concepts.


This will take some real time to get through and build it like I want. I don't cut corners and I do my best to do things right the first time.

I have a rough outline of how I want it to go, in phases.

Phase 1: Road worthy
- reinstall smog stuff
- NV plates and whatnot
- new battery, big 3 or 4 upgrade
- finish fluids replacement, all redline stuff
- basic tune up stuff (plugs, wires, belts, rotor and cap, filters, etc.)
- shocks
- pads and rotors, shoes and drums if needed
- brake and clutch bleeds
- new 22re sticker
- wheels and tires
- shift bushings
- diff and t-case breathers
- pait bed/clear bedliner
- lots of odds and ends

Phase 1.5: comfy/less slowly but still Shirlee
- sound system upgrade from "just a little bump" to delicious sound quality
- bed storage and organization system
- in cab organization
- soft topper or something similar, or custom
- new seats
- bearings, bushings, engine and cab mounts
- any retroactive replacement/upgrade opportunities
- performance upgrades for the motor, but small stuff (cleaned out injectors, headers and exhaust, intake side swap, etc.)
- new side graphics and tailgate logo
- headlights, side markers, etc. in a slightly different configuration

Phase 2: trail rated
- i'll have to flesh this out later
- includes rtt, suspension upgrades, rear discs and upgrades all around, lockers, bumpers, winch, armor, etc.
- lots of fun ideas for this one

Phase 3: go faster
- diesel swap (edit: no diesel swaps in reno or vegas apparently :( )
- looks like a 3.4, or a 7mgte swap instead - that's ok. i'll get fun spool-y and wastegate flutter sounds either way



----Slowly but surely it will get there and get me there----

 

[genera_lee]

repair conglomerate:


Pretty much the first thing I did was use the truck to move, in the middle of a Texas summer. In the process, it overheated. The coolant was a nasty rust brown with some goop in it, so I flushed the radiator and block. I feared either headgasket or timing cover. Naturally I also did an oil change. Filled her back up with the good stuff from toyota for the coolant, replaced the stuck-closed radiator cap, and all was well with the world. I've since kept an eye on the coolant and oil, and after a few thousand miles, it looks as though neither have mixed and the engine doesn't white smoke, smell like burned coolant, or use coolant. so I think I'm good there.



A few weeks later I went about trying to track down the oil leak I had as well as adjust valve lash cause the valves were loud.
I also suspected a timing chain replacement was in my future.



A little deeper inspection confirmed my suspicions.





New timing chain. oh boy.


I also undid the "blackout" that the PO did to the truck, and repainted the 4x4 on the mudflaps.

Before:




After:




Installed a new valve cover gasket and half moons. That seemed to slow the oil leak, but I don't think thats the only place it's leaking from.

Drove Shirlee around a bit over the next few weeks and now that the valve noise wasn't as loud, I could really hear the timing chain against the cover. After maybe 400 miles I decided to just replace it.
I thought about going dual row, but it meant parts would be really difficult to get if i ever had an issue.
I called ENGNBLDR and picked his brain on the damage to my TC cover. he said any groove less that 1/16" deep was fine. I ended up just replacing the chain, gears, guides (with metal backed ones of course. why waste the opportunity?) and gaskets.
i was able to do the whole repair without removing the head or damaging the head gasket, and without pulling the engine. I dropped the diff a few inches and was able to pull the oil pan without incident.
Starter-bumped the crank pully fixing bolt off with a breaker bar and big steel pipe. the hardest part of the whole repair was getting the lower chain gear off without a proper puller. Turns out the lower chain get was cracked anyway.

Now it drives nice and quiet.

I need to do another little photo session now that it's clean and the engine bay is much cleaner. And of course as I continue to do stuff, I'll include pictures.

Here are a couple pics from the timing chain replacement.

Pics:


A crappy picture of money well spent


new stuff and a clean cover installed


all lined up


The bottom end - yes the gasket got screwed up and now I have a healthy oil leak because of it and because i decided to use an oil pan gasket. Oh well, it jut means i have continually fresh oil!

 

[genera_lee]

All that previous work was done while i was in Texas. I moved to NV in November, then i went to Japan for 4 months for work. during that time i ordered some stuff. when i showed back up to the states, it was like christmas! here is a rundown of my most recent work.

Installed new heavy-duty shifter seats and a shifter bushing for both the transmission and transfer case shifters. That was a pretty interesting install. It took some ingenuity to be able to turn the ring that holds the shifter in place without the right tools, or any tool well suited to the job. The old rubber shift seat just crumbled into 1000 pieces when I tried to remove the shifter too. Luckily the bushing was still in Ok shape. But, overall it took the transmission from feeling just a bit sloppy to tight and impressive for the age of the truck. The transfer case shifters seat was still in decent shape but had cracked in half. So I replaced it too. *One other note important to that install is that the marlin crawlers HD shifter seat does not require the metal ring to go underneath the seat itself. Doing so will prevent you from reinstalling the spring retainer piece*. I'm also in the middle of replacing whatever fluid was in the transmission and transfer case with some Redline MT90.

Busted t-case shifter seat:

I'm also installing new shocks all the way around, and i have an add-a-leaf kit to put on, and new u-bolts. KYBs for now. eventually i'll do a couple inch lift (spacers up front and a 63 swap rear), put on some 33's, lockers, new gears, and go with some 5100s.

New rears installed. It was way easier to remove the old ones than i expected. also the old ones were straight from Toyota. so i would imagine they are stock. from 1991. whoa.

Old shock with no gas pressure justt sitting compressed.

Next on the list: finish horn wiring
install emission equipment and Tuck the whole system
finish the rest of the engine bay cleanup
reinstall grill
Shocks in front
pads in front if needed,
paint calipers and rotors
Transfer case and transmission fluid refill
See what I can do about getting the u-bolts loosened to do the rear add a leaf set.
track down all the little exhaust leaks I have
figure out if injector 4 is leaking gas[/left]

 

[genera_lee]

went out and found a nice little dirt road on my way home from work. I love living in the mountains now! and I couldn't pass up the golden hour photo op.

 

[genera_lee]

i finished a bunch of stuff on my list in the last week or so.

Got the horn wiring done, it was super easy once i took some time to really look at it with a multimeter and the wiring diagram.

wired up in parallel. regular 1/4" spade connectors in the factory plug. EASY

I reinstalled all the emission equipment and replaced pretty much all the vacuum lines with new stuff.

My bible for this mini-project

I am almost certain the truck runs better with the emissions stuff installed. and i get better gas mileage. even after moving way up in altitude.
I also managed to tuck the whole system cause i think it just looks better this way.

Installed a 2 USB port charger into the stock cigarette lighter location. it also has a built in voltmeter so i can keep tabs on the battery. plus it matches the interior LED colors pretty well.

I polished the "Toyota" and "EFI" logos on the valve cover and intake, cause why not. it was like 10 minutes of work for each.

I did the Big 3 grounding upgrade using some 4ga cable i picked up at one of the local audio shops here. i think i still need to do the grounding strap to from the alternator to the block.
I noticed more stable voltage readings, and an overall increase of about 0.2 volts through decreasing the grounding resistance.

big difference in the grounding straps for the block

Finished the shock install. It rides worlds better now!

the old ones had no rebound at all

removed the rear bumper and hitch. time will tell if i like the look. eventually i'll build my own. until then tho...

 

[genera_lee]

I also finished painting the texas flag in the bed. turned out exactly like i wanted!

primed with white over

#nevernottexan

Lastly for this round. i did a bunch of sound deading in the cab. I bought a roll of Peel and Seal from Lowes and lined the door skins, part of the inner door frame, all around the speaker holes, and the big open spots on the inner door panels. i also put some on the back wall of the cab and a little under the floor where my sub and jack sit. It made more of a difference than i thought it would for how cheap it was. took me maybe 2.5 hours to do both doors. and another 20 minutes for the cab. well worth the $17 for the roll. quieter cab, better mid-bass, lower volume needed. less road noise. now i need better weather stripping cause i can actually hear the wind noise. i cant wait to do the rest of the cab now and see what kind of difference it makes doing a full on sound deading treatment before i upgrade all the speakers and what not.

OHHHH really last thing. Picked up an older ARB compressor with locker solenoids and all the required wiring. for $30!!!! it works great and i cant wait to build out my little tire filling system.
Any suggestions on mounting locations would be greatly appreciated.

 

[genera_lee]

spent a little time near Donner Lake and in Humboldt-Toiyabe Nat'l Forest a couple weekends ago. it's like 10 minutes from my front door!

Snow hiking in Chacos is fun! said no one ever

 

[James Deaton]

You lost me at “reinstalled smog system”, but then picked me back up again at “Redline MT90”... love that stuff.

Great job so far... I vote for adding the rear bumper back.

James

 

[genera_lee]

You lost me at “reinstalled smog system”, but then picked me back up again at “Redline MT90”... love that stuff.

Great job so far... I vote for adding the rear bumper back.

James

Hey thanks! I had to reinstall all the emissions equipment cause I moved to an area that requires testing for vehicle registration. I hate the way it looks but it makes the truck run better.

Yeah MT90 made a solid difference in how the transmission feels. It did the same thing when I put it in the transmission of the Mazda RX8 I had. So much better.

I'll have to go thru and show my small overland 2 box setup right now. It will eventually grow to 3 boxes I think, but I'd like to keep it as light as possible.

 

[James Deaton]

We have a 3 case setup, plusmaxtrax (knockoffs), and an rtt.

 

[FJBruiser]

Wow man. She is a beaut!

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[genera_lee]

Wow man. She is a beaut!

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Thanks! i got lucky and snagged a clean one!

 

[Graeman]

Such a nice looking truck. I would love to find one that clean and virgin looking. Totally stock...

 

[genera_lee]

real work done to the truck in the last few weeks. i'll be dropping the oil pan to re-seal it this week. and do an oil change. it leaks oil right now like crazy cause im a dummy and didnt seat it well enough during the TC replacement.

Custom plates will be coming in soon. nothing really to report except it's running great right now!

Now some trip pictures!

Impromptu trip into the local part of Toiyabe. turned into a car camping night as well.

Camping in Tahoe NF:

some big tracks in the mud. dang

campground:

and getting my set up dialed in slowly:

 

[HappyOurOverlanding]

real work done to the truck in the last few weeks. i'll be dropping the oil pan to re-seal it this week. and do an oil change. it leaks oil right now like crazy cause im a dummy and didnt seat it well enough during the TC replacement.

Custom plates will be coming in soon. nothing really to report except it's running great right now!

Now some trip pictures!

Impromptu trip into the local part of Toiyabe. turned into a car camping night as well.

Camping in Tahoe NF:

some big tracks in the mud. dang

campground:

and getting my set up dialed in slowly:

Nice job. Look forward to more. It would be great to have you on the Reno Overlanding runs [emoji41]

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[genera_lee]

Valve adjustments are so much fun on a hot engine....

Finished that up last night. And started on dropping the oil pan to reseal it to the block. Hopefully I'll finish that one by tomorrow evening.

In more important news:

Got my custom plates boy!

So stoked.


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[genera_lee]

Valve adjustments are done.
Oil pan is resealed to block.

Oil change done.
New vanity plates installed. Shout out if it actually makes sense to you, or if you want to know what it means.

Fixed rear bike carrier so it stops scratching the bed and is more secure just in general.
Pic
And I'm currently in the process of putting leds in the dash. I'll have it all back together before the weekend.

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[OverlandHilux]

Good looking truck, I’ve got a 93 Surf. Those looked like bear tracks in the mud. Scary stuff if your tenting lol That’s exactly why I like to sleep in the vehicle.

Nice pictures, you should be making a calendar out of your adventures each year and sell it lol


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[genera_lee]

Good looking truck, I’ve got a 93 Surf. Those looked like bear tracks in the mud. Scary stuff if your tenting lol That’s exactly why I like to sleep in the vehicle.

Nice pictures, you should be making a calendar out of your adventures each year and sell it lol


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Yep that's what I figured. They look a few days old, but it was hella cold that night so I slept in the truck anyway.

I love a good hilux surf. Spent a little time in Japan and saw a bunch of really clean ones with the little baby side mirrors on there. So JDM haha.

Thanks! I've been working on my photography cause I want to do justice to the places I go with how I remember them. Really the whole reason I got into photography.


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[OverlandHilux]

Cool man, yeah it’s got a little baby side mirror on it lol for parking I’m thinking was the original purpose.

Keep it brother [emoji1320]


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