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A vague craigslist posting, a few days of unreturned voicemails, a short drive south, a trip to the dmv, a uhaul trailer, and $1100 later I've got myself a 1973 Toyota Hilux; a truck I never planned on seeing in person, let alone owning. Now I have an excellent platform to start with.. minimal rust, underbody coated, straight body, perfect glass, every single electronic and light works, brakes work, leaks nothing but a drop of coolant from the radiator, and I got it in running in about 15 minutes once I got it home. I figured I would make a small build thread to document my progress on this truck as I bring it back to its full neck-breaking, what the hell is that questioning, ear-to-ear grin making potential.
The basics:
1973 Toyota Hilux
2.0L 18R-C RWD
4 Speed
Maintenance Plans:
Spark Plugs
Wires
Cap & Rotor
Starter
Clutch Master
Slave Cylinder
Bleed Clutch
Replace any needed suspension bushings and balljoints
Exhaust/Intake Gasket
Valve Cover Gasket
Repair/replace radiator
Adjust Valves
Set Timing
Go through wiring and clean up any messes
Reuphoslter dashboard
Straighten out any body damage
Stop the rust from growing and potentially cut and weld some of the rust
Modification Plans:
Lower the truck ~3"
Exhaust
Some vintage japanese 15" wheels.. thinking SSR Formula Mesh
Possible handbuilt removable camper topper
Paint tailgate lettering a patina'd white look
Here she is when I first got her home.
Off to the car wash to try and take care of years worth of grime.
Got her home and changed the plugs and tracked down a bad connection for the hot wire to the ignition coil and she fired right up!
Waxed the entire truck, shined the tires, and cleaned up the wheels and chrome and it shined up pretty good for a 43 year old truck. (The side vents are off in these photos because I was respraying them satin black.)
Pulled the grille off today and started soda blasting it to remove the crappy rattle can job until I ran out of media.
Have some more blasting, sanding, and glazing putty to do before its ready for a fresh satin black paint job. Theres a crack in the drivers side corner of the grille that I am going to have to plastic weld and then fill and sand. I've done it many times before but I'm a bit worried only because of the rarity of parts for these parts.
And that's where it sits as of today! I have a bunch of maintanence parts on right now that should be here the middle of next week. I plan on being able to take it out on the street for the first time on friday if all goes as planned! I'll keep you guys posted with updates. Hope you enjoy!
The basics:
1973 Toyota Hilux
2.0L 18R-C RWD
4 Speed
Maintenance Plans:
Spark Plugs
Wires
Cap & Rotor
Starter
Clutch Master
Slave Cylinder
Bleed Clutch
Replace any needed suspension bushings and balljoints
Exhaust/Intake Gasket
Valve Cover Gasket
Repair/replace radiator
Adjust Valves
Set Timing
Go through wiring and clean up any messes
Reuphoslter dashboard
Straighten out any body damage
Stop the rust from growing and potentially cut and weld some of the rust
Modification Plans:
Lower the truck ~3"
Exhaust
Some vintage japanese 15" wheels.. thinking SSR Formula Mesh
Possible handbuilt removable camper topper
Paint tailgate lettering a patina'd white look
Here she is when I first got her home.
Off to the car wash to try and take care of years worth of grime.
Got her home and changed the plugs and tracked down a bad connection for the hot wire to the ignition coil and she fired right up!
Waxed the entire truck, shined the tires, and cleaned up the wheels and chrome and it shined up pretty good for a 43 year old truck. (The side vents are off in these photos because I was respraying them satin black.)
Pulled the grille off today and started soda blasting it to remove the crappy rattle can job until I ran out of media.
Have some more blasting, sanding, and glazing putty to do before its ready for a fresh satin black paint job. Theres a crack in the drivers side corner of the grille that I am going to have to plastic weld and then fill and sand. I've done it many times before but I'm a bit worried only because of the rarity of parts for these parts.
And that's where it sits as of today! I have a bunch of maintanence parts on right now that should be here the middle of next week. I plan on being able to take it out on the street for the first time on friday if all goes as planned! I'll keep you guys posted with updates. Hope you enjoy!
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