A Strong Engine or a Solid Body?

[Whitey13]

Gents,

Just food for thought.

If you were in the market for a 1st gen, which of the two would be more important to you? Most can be found for dirt cheap and replacement parts are readily available these days so I'm curious what the masses think. Rust free with a boat anchor under the hood or a Swiss cheese body?

 

[KidVermicious]

I'm getting more confident with the mechanical work, but I know nothing about bodywork, so everything else being equal I'll take the clean body and busted motor.

 

[fourwd1]

A solid RUST FREE FRAME is most important to me.
Replacing a frame is a b$/)ch. Once on my 83 is enough.
The frame is the first thing I inspected when I looked at both of my 4Runners.
And I'm not talking about surface rust, these things rot thru from the inside out.

 

[SV_Dude]

As fourwd1 said, you can fix an engine easily and somewhat cheap. But a frame and bodywork can be a pain in the arse, time consuming and expensive.

 

[RiFF RaFF]

I agree with the above.

Give me a clean, rust free 1st gen, and I'll either fix the engine (if possible), or do a 350 CID EFI swap.

:tea:

 

[Driftinfc]

Def rust free body/frame, motors are easily rebuilt or bought

 

[mikebontoft]

clean body, crap motor... you've got yourself a blank canvas.

 

[TechnoMyViolet3]

Totally agree with everyone else. These motors are relatively easy to replace and work on. A truck with loads of rust is very hard to get looking good again.

 

[thatoneguy]

Easy, easy call. I'd take a clean body over a good motor. If it has an excellent body and a bad motor, I can spend $300 on a 22re or take a swap route. If it has a bad body it doesn't matter what the motor condition is - I'm not gonna get the body in the condition Toyota had it in from the factory. And some of the 1st gen runners I see here are incredibly beautiful.

Uh, in short, motors are a dime a dozen. Classic immaculate 80's bodies are not.

 

[Whitey13]

It looks like everyone here is on the same page. I have a very clean, straight 1st gen in my garage that I don't know what to do with. I picked it up a few years ago because of the condition but usually only take it out to keep the fluids moving.

 

[RiFF RaFF]

It looks like everyone here is on the same page. I have a very clean, straight 1st gen in my garage that I don't know what to do with. I picked it up a few years ago because of the condition but usually only take it out to keep the fluids moving.

:worthless

So the point of your post is - keep it, and fix/swap the motor? Or look to sell her?

Either way - you can't go wrong.

:becky:

 

[KidVermicious]

:worthless

Word. Whitey's been holding out on us.

 

[Whitey13]

When it stops raining I can get some better shots.

I was born and raised in Massachusetts and desperately wanted a 1st gen. for years. Being from New England, however, meant that anything built before the 90’s was more than likely rusted to hell.
I moved to Texas about 4 years ago and saw this truck on Craigslist. I picked it up gutted the interior, put in new carpet and painted the plastic bits. I also bought a set of 5 31’s on wagon wheels that probably have a whopping 100 miles on them.

 

[KidVermicious]

What year? What motor? What do you plan on doing with it?

I will shortly be in possession of an '85 in excellent mechanical condition with a replaced front crossmember/core support, and I'm going to be looking for a very nice IFS truck to trade it for.

 

[Whitey13]

It's an 88 with the 22re, 5 speed. DLX. It's got about 275k on it, I believe. I honestly don't know what I plan on doing with it. I run up to the mountains in NM and CO, in the 4th gen, to go hiking twice a year and had visions of hitting the trails with it in western CO and Utah. I just got back from a 1500 mile run and I honestly can't imagine road tripping in the 88, so who knows.


And the 3rd gen for good measure

 

[ChildrenOfBodom]

Ohhh yeah clean body, busted motor

 

[mikebontoft]

What year? What motor? What do you plan on doing with it?

I will shortly be in possession of an '85 in excellent mechanical condition with a replaced front crossmember/core support, and I'm going to be looking for a very nice IFS truck to trade it for.

that's not the one I saw on ksl yesterday is it?

 

[KidVermicious]

It better not be on KSL, lol

 

[Whitey13]

Gave the truck a quick bath today. I'd say she's a solid 10 footer.

Some belly pics:


And a quick movie of the mill that's seen better days:

 

[USE911]

Clean body, bad motor seems to be cheaper. $600 I paid for this guy. Anything that runs is easily over a grand.