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The shop has been slow last couple weeks, waiting on parts and such.
Dug my ATV out of the shed, first time it saw daylight since Fall 2024. The neutral switch in the trans was acting up, not acknowledging it was indeed in Neutral, which prevents the E-start function. If this has a backup kick-start I wouldn’t be so bad…but a backup PULL-start is no bueno. Anyways, I tore down to the faulty switch, removed them cleaned it, tested, re-install and voila seems to be OK now. Waiting on a new battery in the mail, ignoring the one I had since 2024 wrecked it…unchargeable.
I took the time to install a rear storage box on my ATV while it’s in the shop. Bought this unit from Canadian tire on clearance. Regular price $599, I paid $179!
Fits well too, only had to modify the rear rack slightly. I cut a weld between an upper/lower pipe, and was able to widen the pitch of the rack enough to let the storage box sit flat.
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The shop has seen some action over the weekend, mainly with Matts pickup.
On Saturday we drive to Elora to pick it up from a Buddy who welded in a drivers floor, did a great job.
Saturday when we got back, dove back into repairs and troubleshooting. Trying to solve a high yet weak idle. If we adjust idle below 1,200 rpm she dies.
The truck starts strong, but as it warms up the idle speed increases.Anyways, Saturday we replaced the ignition coil, set the timing to spec as per the service manual, adjusted the valves into spec, and tensioned the engine belts. None of that helped the idle, however the engine picked up that healthy 22R valvetrain tapping noise.
Next I’ll check compression on all 4 cylinders. Maybe one of the top rings got fucked over from being rusted to the cylinder wall for a couple years.
Sunday we made big efforts to increase comfort. Throughout the day I managed to swap over the bench seat to a 89-95 sliding split bench. Had to drill new holes in the floor and crossmember, weld up a rotten foot too. Was all with it. Sooo much better with some lumbar support and being able to recline a little. Matt is super thrilled. He bought this bench seat outta PEI, had a Buddy drive it to Ottawa when he moved, then a third party kijiji guy (Sean, real legend) whom I bought parts off of, met up in Ottawa and brought the seat to Midland, where I met him.
Pickup needs those steering parts, rad hoses and the carpet put back in.
Just rolled into The Shop, a new to us, 1986 4Runner! Unfortunately this truck is destined for the scrap yard, not one square foot of solid floor to be found, was told the frame is worse. So, this is purely a donor to my two 4Runners, and Matts pickup.
Long plan for Matts pickup, rebuild this donor 22RE, and slap it into his’87. Currently it’s a carb truck, so everything EFI is coming out of this donor too. With 350,000kms on the odometer, this 22RE could def benefit from a rebuild, at the very minimum, new seals EVERYWHERE. The front of the motor has an inch of oil/grime caked onto it.
I’m interested in the donor for all the other hard parts. Trans, tcase, axles, hubs, steering parts, plenty of brown interior bits, and all the wiring I can harvest. Plan is to keep spare parts to allow Redee and Trois Belle plenty more years of touring to come.
Did my fair bit of towing today, Matt and I picked up a first gen Tacoma for him, about half hour past Kingston.
2004 Tacoma, 2wd, 4-cyl manual, 200k. Needs brake lines, exhaust repair, alternator, and a cab mount. Overall it’s in pretty good shape, but rust has gotten to it, and that’s the main issue. Matt had his work cut out scraping and treating before it all goes bad.
Last night in The Shop, spare parts hit the shelves. This donor garbage 4Runner gave up her 22RE, and just about everything else. Tonight I hope to pull the last of the drivetrain, and maybe get the trailer loaded. Tomorrow pull the parts that will make the truck stuck to the trailer, hubs and cvs, wheels/tires.
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Well, with exception to the cvs, hubs and wheels, I’ve gotten everything else removed from this donor that I want. Tonight I’m gonna push/winch it back onto the trailer, then pull my final parts.. hopefully the mailman delivers me a signed ownership today…can’t scrap this rust bucket without it. I could just leave the corpse on my driveway and let the town take it away…hmmmmmmmmmmmm
Soon to start the task of stowing away all these parts, gonna be an adventure in packing for sure.
Got the rust bucket out of the Shop last night, satisfied with the thoroughness of the clean picking. I had intended to save the rear axle, but for how rusty it is, and 4.10 open, decided to save myself the back ache.
Just waiting on the ownership. May have to send the fellow another letter in the mail.
The rear inner frame rails are almost nonexistent! Glad I’ve never had to deal with something this far gone
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Now that the rust bucket donor is gone, it’s time to get back to fixing stuff.
Last night in The Shop, I did just that. On Matt’s’87, I replaced most of the steering components in one go. Previously I had put in a new idler arm, but last night the truck got a new drag link, inner & outer tie rods and sleeves. The only old parts in the system are the steering stabilizer and power steering gearbox.
Tonight I’m gonna do some reading in regards to said old gearbox. If I recall correctly, it can be adjusted to take up some freeplay, which is what i hope to achieve.
When Matt gets back in town we will use a string to set toe-in on the front alignment, just a touch so he can get to a proper alignment shop.
Hopefully also tonight I’ll tackle a massive exhaust leak. Sounds like a hanger tore a hole in the rust pipe we are calling an exhaust. But I’ll know for sure after the sawzall makes an appearance.
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It didn’t take long to find the problem area in Matts exhaust. The down pipe separated from itself, and there was no fixing it this time.
I collected the donor down pipe, made a plan, started test fitting and immediately threw out the plan.
Two nights of cutting, crawling on the floor, test fitting and welding has yielded almost an entirely new system front to back. The muffler inlet to the tailpipe remains the same, everything else a big improvement.
22R Custom exhaust
I also finished setting a slight Toe-in, and installing EGR plates (hopefully that improves the high&weak idle that’s been plaguing this lil truck)
A couple more tweaks on the mini truck, pretty confident she’s ready to face the criticizing eye of Mr Safety Inspector. We re-set the rear wheels on the axle (lug centric steelies a pain), pulled the seats out to install the factory carpet, and cleaned all the glass again.
Matt has an appointment for safety and alignment tomorrow.
Insurance has been paid for the year.24-hours from now we OUGHT to be cruising…fingers crossed I’ve dotted and crossed my consonants appropriately.
Sunday night we also pulled the spark plugs for inspection, and compression tested the engine at 155psi in all 4 cylinders when cold. I’m convinced the idle problem is still a vacuum leak. After all the paperwork is sorted out, we will dig back in looking for vacuum leaks. Matt picking up brand new metric vacuum hose from VW today for whenever we get motivated to get started.
The truck cold starts perfectly, but as it warms up the idle speed comes up a little bit, becomes unstable with an audible misfire, and seems weak (for lack of better term). My theory is that we have set the idle to 1,300ish rpm, but the air leak is giving us unmetered air, to the tune of roughly 500rpm. Solve the leak, set rpm will drop too low, fine tune the air/fuel idle mixture and idle speed. As it sits, the air/fuel idle screw is pretty much useless, bears no effect on current idle speed.
Some work upcoming in the shop this week.
First up will be a replacement muffler on the Taco. My rock auto unit disintegrated from the inside out, and the drone ~2000 rpm makes my brain hurt. The amazon man is gonna bring me a new unit tomorrow, hopefully all sorted out in one night. In the meantime, I shoved a chunk of “turndown” into the muffler, it helped SOME on the way to work this morning.
Follow up efforts on Matts mini truck. A couple tidy up items from the inspection last week. Will have to replace the drums and hardware, the trans mount, two cab mounts, one headlight, the washer pump and the wheel/tire combo. The cab and trans mount have me dreading this list. Never done cab mounts before, and the trans mount has one broken bolt in the trans I gotta drill out.
Friday night I welded in the new muffler and almost 2’ of straight pipe. Happy to report the taco sounds pretty good, and essentially stock when not under load.
Also on Friday I started on Matt’s mini truck, by tensioning the V-belts and replacing the drum &shoe on one side. Saturday I put in the other shoe & drum, repaired the washer pump by clearing out some goopy shit. Also changed a headlight. Today I changed a trans mount, had to drill out a broken bolt which took a long time. Anyways, waiting on cab mounts to arrive, then I can swap those in and be done with the mini for a while. Over the weekend we also tuned the carb and timing a little, seems to be running a little better.
Last night in The Shop, great feats of collaborative efforts yielded great results. Matt and I changed the body mounts. Old ones were pretty pooched, will have to un-stack trucks to take it for a test drive.
Later today Matt is coming back with his stock tires so we can swap them over. That will satisfy the last outstanding repair item from the inspection.
Matt plans to drop the the truck for safety Monday morning.
No pictures from last night, too busy.
The Mini is finally road legal! Stop the clock! Passed inspection today, Matt already in line for new plates at Service Ontario.
When I get home we’re gonna put the wide wheels back on, and go RIP on this truck. Get the last of the carbon and cobwebs dislodged.
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