1989 Toyota Hilux SR5 Restoration build (first 4wd)

[Jommy]

Hey everyone,
Thought id do a post on my first 4x4.
Just bought this 2 months ago. I knew it had a lot of hidden rust, ended up being way more then originally thought. The engine has been looked after and it seemed like bit of a rare find. Thats what made me pull the trigger. Auto locking hubs, power steering, space cab, pretty flash for an 89. Only thing that I can see as a downside for off road is its got IFS? First of its kind. Been at it for 2 months straight. First time I've done any welding but I've cut all the rust out and welded in new bits of steel. sandblasted the whole thing and undercoated it, peeled back the interior and coated it in some penetrol. this has turned out to be massive project but I'm nearly finished. It goes on the trailer to get sprayed tomorrow, then ill be able to put it all back together hopefully by weeks end.
Let us know what you think, input for the future, tips, questions, whatever goes!

 

[Jommy]

 

[TYNO87]

Holy crap that is alot of rust. Good work though, I’m sure it’ll come up a treat. What colour you painting it?
What motors it got in it?
Ifs wont hold you back unless you plan on doing really hard core tracks. Still, with the right mods it will go just about anywhere.
Tell us what you plan to do with it eg touring, rock crawling, daily driver etc ?

 

[OneHilux]

How many k’s on the motor? Those 3L’s never die...

 

[Jommy]

Holy crap that is alot of rust. Good work though, I’m sure it’ll come up a treat. What colour you painting it?
What motors it got in it?
Ifs wont hold you back unless you plan on doing really hard core tracks. Still, with the right mods it will go just about anywhere.
Tell us what you plan to do with it eg touring, rock crawling, daily driver etc ?

Im thinking a slight off white.
Its got just a classic 2.8 diesel LN106 in it.
Yeah thats what i was thinking, i think IFS would suit me better anyway.
Just plan on having it for pretty much anything. Going down to South Oz, through the desert, just whatever goes, bit of mud tracking around home, and the daily driver.
Cheers

 

[Jommy]

How many k’s on the motor? Those 3L’s never die...

This ones got 280,000. My dad has same year as mine just a single cab and hes got 900,000 on the car in total. Put in a reconditioned engine at 600,000 but he only puts that down to poor maintenance when he was younger. Still pretty ridiculous.

 

[typhoeus]

Looks like it lived near the coast at some point in its life, so a good look in / around the chassis would be a good idea. You have given the old girl a new lease on life, hope it serves you well. Change to manual hubs and put an auto locker in the front. It will take you to 99% of places you might want to go to

 

[Andrew_LN65]

Nice work on the rust repairs l! Can you do mine next?
Rust is about the only thing that will stop these old girls

Edit: mine is about to tick over 800,000. Pulled the original motor out at 755.

 

[SFA hilux]

This ones got 280,000. My dad has same year as mine just a single cab and hes got 900,000 on the car in total. Put in a reconditioned engine at 600,000 but he only puts that down to poor maintenance when he was younger. Still pretty ridiculous. View attachment 67958

Poor Maintenance, haha! Looking at gumtree so many of these 2.8 have had a rebuild between 2-300000kms. That’s poor maintenance. Some 2.8s may have done more than 600 but it’s still a good innings.
No small job to do that body work, pretty impressive.

 

[Jommy]

Looks like it lived near the coast at some point in its life, so a good look in / around the chassis would be a good idea. You have given the old girl a new lease on life, hope it serves you well. Change to manual hubs and put an auto locker in the front. It will take you to 99% of places you might want to go to

Yeah mate she's lived on the coast her whole life. Im surprised that the chassis actually look pretty immaculate. Its got some little bits of surface rust on it back under the tray but ill sand it all back and paint it up.
Thanks for the tip. I think she's gonna have a few mods before I get to that though haha.

 

[Jommy]

Poor Maintenance, haha! Looking at gumtree so many of these 2.8 have had a rebuild between 2-300000kms. That’s poor maintenance. Some 2.8s may have done more than 600 but it’s still a good innings.
No small job to do that body work, pretty impressive.

We love the 2.8 LN106, simple and humble haha!
Yeah mate she's been a back breaker to be honest, will be worth it when I get her back Friday, put everything back together and go for a drive I reckon!

 

[Jommy]

Nice work on the rust repairs l! Can you do mine next?
Rust is about the only thing that will stop these old girls

Edit: mine is about to tick over 800,000. Pulled the original motor out at 755.

Haha mate if I could do it you could, just the bloody time.
Rust is the only thing, but, any rust can be fixed!
Ooft, thats a pretty good run. How'd you treat the first engine?

 

[SFA hilux]

We love the 2.8 LN106, simple and humble haha!
Yeah mate she's been a back breaker to be honest, will be worth it when I get her back Friday, put everything back together and go for a drive I reckon!

There so good hey, love how they almost start instantly as your turning the key.
So agricultural,
I put 1/3 of a tank of petrol in mine at the servo, the went to sleep while my wife drove Towing a trailer into a headwind. Woke up and we were doing about 80kms flat out. (Which isn’t much different to normal to honest) then as we slowed down coming into the town it was surging heaps and wouldn’t idle on its own.
That’s when I looked at the receipt and realised what I had done. Drained the fuel tank and filled it back up with diesel started up straight away and we drove the next 400kms home. And it never missed a beat!
Don’t think you would be so lucky in a 2020 2.8 Hilux.

 

[Jommy]

There so good hey, love how they almost start instantly as your turning the key.
So agricultural,
I put 1/3 of a tank of petrol in mine at the servo, the went to sleep while my wife drove Towing a trailer into a headwind. Woke up and we were doing about 80kms flat out. (Which isn’t much different to normal to honest) then as we slowed down coming into the town it was surging heaps and wouldn’t idle on its own.
That’s when I looked at the receipt and realised what I had done. Drained the fuel tank and filled it back up with diesel started up straight away and we drove the next 400kms home. And it never missed a beat!
Don’t think you would be so lucky in a 2020 2.8 Hilux.

Like my dad says "no radio no problem, just wind the window down and listen to it sing to you". And every engine has its own idiosyncrasies.
Haha that's a bit of a mistake haha! Yes lucky it was an old banger, they are meant to run on peanut oil mate!!
In a new one you would of known what you had done a lot quicker id say haha.

 

[typhoeus]

When you get it back from the painter, you need to etch prime behind where you welded, or it will come back, especially the metal that's been heated. Even if you have to drill a 1/8th hole and fit a nozzle and tube from a wd40 can to spray it in. Clean the nozzle&tube and use it to spray fish oil in there when the etch is dry

 

[Jommy]

When you get it back from the painter, you need to etch prime behind where you welded, or it will come back, especially the metal that's been heated. Even if you have to drill a 1/8th hole and fit a nozzle and tube from a wd40 can to spray it in. Clean the nozzle&tube and use it to spray fish oil in there when the etch is dry

Yeah mate. I actually managed to get behind everything already with two coats of penetrol and 2 coats of aluminium penetrol. And the new steel welded in is zinc coated. Do you think I should still get in there with some primer?
As with fish oil, gonna fill the sills up ASAP.
Thanks for the help.

 

[Andrew_LN65]

How'd you treat the first engine?

By ripping it straight out and dropping a Supra motor in
Honestly I only drove it with the 2L diesel once, coming home from buying the car. It took forever to start, blew a huge smokescreen and made about 4.5hp
I sold the old motor as needing rebuild but the kid who bought it said he was gonna drop it straight in and keep on truckin'.... its probably still (just) going

 

[Jommy]

Here we go folks. This is her for the time being.