Toyota Trucks: '84 refurbishing questions

Howdy all,
Over the last three years I have been forced to rebuild my '84 4x22R dlx
xtracab. Forced, mainly because of economics and one thing led to another
until I have reconciled to go ahead and complete all the things that are
loose, missing or broken. It is a great little truck, emphases on "little",
and I just passed the 250k mileage mark and so I have decided to keep it
even though a new truck may in the future. Thanks for all help.

For your information, I have had the lower end and head rebuilt. The
clutch has been replaced and the driveline was reworked a year before the
negine was rebuilt. I jumped all over my mechanic for the way my truck was
reassembled. I have found a number of mistakes that have been corrected and
are still being corrected, the front drive shaft being one the issues.
GRRRRRR!!!!

I have a front driveshaft issue going on elsewhere in this group and I have
been asking questions about bed lining the inside of my cab. That will have
to wait for awhile. It looks like I will have to rebuild or replace the
carb. Now I believe that when I bought this truck in 1984 that I had an
automatic altitude adjusting carb. It was one of the many things that I
enjoyed about this creative vehicle, for in those days, "creative" was not
part of the American manufacturing ideal. Who in their right mind would
issue a vehicle with a 6 digit odometer? Anyway, I know there are a few
Toyota techs in this group and I would like to know if this feature was
actually there or it was a bunch of hooey. I believe it was, only because
of all the high altitude trips I took where the engine never faltered even
when pitched on a steep angle (near to rolling back over front). I live on
the Gulf Coast, BTW. I have priced the carb from Toyota and they want just
under 1k which seems very expensive for a carb, even for Toyota. I have
been using aftermarket carbs for about 15 years now, but without the feature
above. I have done a little pricing around here and the price I get is
around $500, but I don't know what I am getting exactly. I have seen a
"legal performance kit" from Performance Products that claims 10% more horse
power. This kit, as I understand it, is actually a new Weber carb with
hardware. I am not a rock crawler, nor do I plan to lift my truck to the
clouds. I am a normal user, but I am looking to make this little beauty a
little stronger and try to improve some of its weaknesses in stock form.

Suspension is the next issue and I am not looking for a lift. I am looking
for replacement springs for my worn out OEM units. I am not impressed with
the assemble it yourself Toyota product, nor the price. However, all I can
find on the market are lift kits. I don't really want to lift it because it
would look silly with 235 tires, plus I don't want the expense of larger
tires and rims. I admit that a lift and larger tires do look good and can
bring some added stability. However, I did all these things to my CJ-5 many
years ago and it really just made a big hole in my pocket. So I vowed not
to fall into that trap again. My goal is to replace and strengthen. The
only source I have found so far is Alcan Spring Manufacturers. Has anybody
dealt with these folks? Do any of you have suggestions or resources?

I have looked through the web pages of http://www.toyotadiscountparts.com/,
http://www.car-part.com/, http://www.auto-parts-wholesale.com/ and have been
disappointed overall in parts availability for an older truck. Most of what
I am looking for are driveline parts and seals, and suspension parts. Also
I am looking for replacement seats. I just found a site called,
http://www.cksales.net/miniseats.htm . I haven't spent much time there yet.
Does anybody have resource that cross references seats from other Toyota
models cars and trucks that would fit my truck.

I am looking to replace the exhaust manifold with an aftermarket header by
Performance Products that has the polution stuff on it. Does anybody have
comments on this equipment. Does it bolt up to the factory exhaust system?

Thanks, I will look into it.

"frost203" <com> wrote in message
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