I had my first real opportunity to do a walk around on my truck this morning. I drove it a bit this past weekend and took note of a few things, but haven't had a chance to upload any images. I put them on Flickr, so we'll see if this works... Unloaded and unwrapped. The rear looks like it sits quite a bit higher than the front. Rear end. I have a basic homemade bumper for it in a shed, but I might use it as a template to make another one, with a receiver. Broken hinge. I need to clean this up and weld it back together. All of the latches are pretty loose. I see on one that there is a plastic piece that the bale rests against, but all of them are either broken or missing, so none of them close tightly. I'm also missing a number of rubber bumpers that the sides and gate are supposed to rest against when down. The back corner of the passenger-side cab has had a bondo repair done. Not the best, but not terrible either. Part of the dashboard is broken. Gears and Carry floor mats. I haven't seen a label to know what the lights are, but they look like they're about 5".
Continuation I don't know if this is a normal feature or not. The switch at the back of the arm rest controls the roof lights. I noticed that I have to lock the doors using the key. If I lock it, then close the door, it unlocks itself. Normal?
Labels It would be cool if I could read Japanese, but I can't. I have a rough idea of what some of these say.
The rubber bump stops you can get in a wrecking yard...most cars use them under the hood at the corners,and they come in all shapes and sizes.. The doors are typical of older Japanese vehicles...hold up outside door handle while pushing the lock button down..then close the door with the handle still up/as if opening...pain in the but and leads to broken door handles so just use the key first label is fluids...oil tranny trans. case and diffs and recommended intervals...using backwards compatible synthetic gl4/5 (must state both) 75-90 in the diffs t-case and tranny.....oil is up to you...although 10/40 summer 10/30 (5/30 if it gets near zero where you are) winter is usually good....15/40 diesel spec. oil is good for a few miles to clean out any old sludge (more detergents in diesel oils) next sticker is tire pressures front and rear loaded and unloaded listed in BAR. 1 BAR= 14.5psi since you are not using the original 6 ply tires this is useless info to you,but the recommended pressures are unloaded F and R =26psi loaded F=32psi R=38 next sticker .. can't see it well...but looks to be coolant checking and overflow bottle location the last is engine info F6A engine 657cc displacement idle speed 950 +/- 50 rpm timing 7 +/- 1 degree BTDC at idle speed emisions info if needed C/O %, and Parts per million hydrocarbons last is sparkplugs ngk dcpr7e denso xu22epr-u
That little plastic pcs. on the tail gate hinges. I use vacuum hose and split it. It will make them hold better. No rattles.
My first reaction to your truck sitting higher in the rear was that someone had added "part" of lift kit, the shackle extensions. But then I looked closer to your pics and it seems that you have the stock shackles still..... so maybe your front springs are shot, or thats just how they sit. I can't remember if my suzuki did that or not, but it seems like it sat level. That switch for your lights on your console is aftermarket. I put my switch by the axle lock switch on the dash. And Fupa is right, I push the lock button down, then when I shut the door I hold the outside handle up to lock it when I shut the door. Now after the small fixes you have ahead, what mods do you have planned?op:op:
Mods I'm not sure yet what all I'll be doing to it, but I'm in no hurry. The first thing I want to do is take the back and sides off and take them down to metal. The bed coating looks like a thin spray-on lining and most of it is pealing off. So, I'll smooth, prime and paint the panels, then probably remove and refinish the bed. While I have the bed off, it will be good opportunity to look at all of the bits underneath.
RPM speed One thing that I'm curious about is engine idle RPMs. When I start it, it seems to idle pretty high, but after 5-10 minutes, the RPMs lower and it sounds more normal. I don't have a tach, so I can't see what it's actually idling at. And the exhaust smells like a vehicle that's had the catalytic converter removed. Normal?
Factory setting on idle is around 8 to 900 if I remember right. Yes, with a cold engine at first it should idle high till it comes up to temp. Then come back down. During the summer months it will most likely do this on the first start up in the day. During the winter it will do it most of the time if engine cools down all the way. If you lok on the manifold side of carb. you will see two hoses. One inlet and going through carb. then exiting the carb. This is a coolant line that preheats the carb. on cold starts. Most of these lines are clogged to some degree and needs to be cleaned out once a year. Ive seen some that were so clogged up nothing would flow through it. Its not a real big deal other than it takes engine longer the come up to temp.
More pics A few additional pictures, most notably the headlights. I noticed that the passenger-side headlight is pushed back a bit. I don't know why. I need to get in there and try to fix it. If RHD headlight patterns are such a problem, I may make a plaster mold of the lens shape, then fabricate a fiberglass housing to hold alternatives, sort of like a couple examples I've seen, except painted white instead of black. When I first got the truck, the windshield washers worked fine, or at least the passenger side did. The drivers side just kind of trickled. I found the other day that the reservoir was empty, so I filled it with fluid. Now, I get no spray at all, although I do hear the pump working when I try to use them. Not sure which end it's on, but there's a clog somewhere. In the pickup bed, there are oval shaped indentations in the front and circular indentations in the back. What are these for? Next to the passenger side shock tower is a metal box with nothing in it. What is this for?
in the bed the indent with the hole is for water drainage..the circle no clue.....empty box is for the jack and tire iron/lug wrench
Truck bed cage I'm thinking about building a cage to go in the truck bed. The assembly as shown could probably be trimmed down a bit as to be lighter and still be strong enough. Using 1.5" square tube with a 0.095" it would weigh 140 lbs. 0.065" tubing it would weigh 98 lbs.
Structural To be structural, I think I would need a structure under the pickup bed to tie everything to the frame rails. I have a c-channel bumper that someone had made for the truck. It bolted to the truck with two bolts per side and it's apparent that it wasn't strong enough. The brackets were made using angle iron, which began to bend when weight was put on the bumper. I want to find a stronger mounting position so that I can pull my little trailer with the truck. That project will probably come about before getting to work on the cage.
what size of tires are on it? i have a 91 autozam with 2 inch lift i was wondering how big of tires could i put on it without worrying about rubbing.
Wheels and tires Right now, the thing has 23x8.0x12" tires on it, presumably on 12x8 wheels. I don't see the markings on them. It has no lift at all right now, but I'll be putting on silver 10" Afco springs. Before I put the big tires back on it, I did some work to the wheel wells to fix a couple things. Whoever had the truck before me did some trimming to the body, which left a couple large holes at the front fenderwell. It's had some rust since then, so I cleaned it up as I could then primed and painted with white Rustoleum. Also, as a result of the body mods, there was a nice knife-edge piece of metal sticking out that was cutting grooves in the left front tire. I cut out part of the metal and pounded the rest of it flat, so hopefully no more cuts. I rotated the tires to put the tires without the cuts on the front. With no lift at all, the drivers side tire rubs slightly when turning, more so when taking a bump and the mud flap rubs when in reverse. After the 2" lift, I don't expect rubbing unless I hit a large bump.
It's been a while since I've been on here. I did some work with the truck this past weekend. I also broke my hand, but that's another story... The battery in the truck went dead from sitting over the winter. I bought a battery charger and tried to bring it back to life, but it didn't work, so I had to buy a new battery. The cables have seen better days, so I might find myself replacing them as well. I changed the oil, the first time I've done that since I've had it, but I also haven't driven it more than 300 yards. I took the front wheels off to have a look and the brakes don't look so good. Has anyone done a brake conversion on one of these things to something that's a little easier to source? I've been needing to get new springs for the thing to try to raise the front end a couple inches, but before I buy new springs, I decided that I'd try to shorten the spacers I already have. These things look seriously tall, and they measure about 3 1/2". I have one finished and I'll get the second one done tomorrow night. I found it easiest to cut off the flange, then measure about where I wanted the new height to be, weld the flange back in place, then cut off the excess. I just hope I get the second one the same length. I brought it down to 2 1/4" before bolting the other plate back on.
Looking at the pictures brake pads have plenty of life. The rust on the outside of rotors is pretty common. As for the brakes in general drive the truck they'll clean up. Cutting down the lift kit was a good ideal. Several yrs. ago I started having my welder build 1 3/4" lift kits for Daihatsu and 2" for Suz/Mazda's. You'll be ok with 2 1/4". I would certainly not go over that. If you read a little more about the springs you might do away with the lift and just stay with the new heavier springs.
I got the second spacer finished and painted today, then installed the one I made yesterday. I'm surprised how much difference a 2 1/4" - 2 1/2" lift made. It's noticeable standing next to it as well. My 165 lbs brings it back down a bit but I think it looks pretty good. No more fender-well rubbing.
