’82 Toyota 4X4 Pickup

RESTORED & SUPERCHARGED

The Finished Product

Overall the vehicle was a great hit and cannot be driven without getting compliments or stories from people of how a friend or family member used to have one. It took over 1500 man-hours to build this truck and bring it back to its glory. Once the vehicle was completed, we put over 300 miles on it before releasing it to the customer and had most of the bugs worked out. One of my favorite features of this truck build is the added front and rear Smittybilt bumpers with the addition of the custom roll bar. When adding any sort of bumper or roll bar accessory, KC Daylighters are a must! This truck is the best of both worlds with a custom/vintage look. We teamed up with a friend Mike from Vintage motorsports to show off this truck as you would have most likely been using it in the 80s, with a 1982 Honda 250r. For every one of our Toyota restorations, we try and do a joint video/photoshoot to give both vehicles glory. The vehicle has been shipped to its owners in Michigan, where it will live its life. It is intended to be driven to High School by the Postill boys as their first truck, as their father once did back in the 80s with his Toyota. Family tradition! If you want a truck built like this, send us an email!

VEHICLE OPTIONS

Stage 5 LCE Performance Engine Locking Rear Differential Color Matched Spray-In Bedliner
Camden Supercharger Kit 2″ OME Suspension Lift Custom Red Paint
Holley Sniper EFI Rear Disc Brake Conversion Reproduction Factory Decals
Custom DUI Distributor Disc Brake Conversion for Emergency Brake Tuffy Security Console
Power Steering Conversion 33″ Bfg All Terrain Tires Custom Seat Covers
5 Speed Manual Transmission 16″ US Chrome Wheels Sliding Rear Window
Solid Axle w/ Manual Hubs Smittybilt Front & Rear Bumpers AM FM Bluetooth Factory Converted Radio
4:11 Gears Roll Bar w/ 4 KC LED Daylighters Upgraded Speakers

Stage 5 LCE Performance Engine

Camden Supercharger Kit

Holley Sniper EFI

Custom DUI Distributor

Power Steering Conversion

5 Speed Manual Transmission

Solid Axle w/ Manual Hubs

4:11 Gears

Locking Rear Differential

2″ OME Suspension Lift

Rear Disc Brake Conversion

Disc Brake Conversion for Emergency Brake

33″ Bfg All Terrain Tires

16″ US Chrome Wheels

Smittybilt Front & Rear Bumpers

Roll Bar w/ 4 KC LED Daylighters

Color Matched Spray-In Bedliner

Custom Red Paint

Reproduction Factory Decals

Tuffy Security Console

Custom Seat Covers

Sliding Rear Window

AM FM Bluetooth Factory Converted Radio w/ Upgraded Speakers

Vintage Ads & Articles

After we completed this transformation, we sent it off right with a vintage-style 80’s aesthetic photo shoot published by Dirt Wheels Magazine to really show off the truck’s muscle and shine.

The Backstory

San Diego, CA

This Toyota pickup restoration started in the Spring of 2019 for the Postill family. The vehicle was purchased in San Diego, California, and was shipped directly to our shop for a full frame off rotisserie restoration. The truck ran great but drove rough and had not been serviced in a long time. It came in with over 260k miles on it and was in pretty good condition for its age but had some rust areas that needed to be addressed. Rust is a very common issue on these trucks as they didn’t have very good seam sealer or rust preventative products. These trucks were only a few grand brand new.

Assessment & Prep Work

Body Work & Rust Repair

Once the vehicle was stripped, the bodywork and rust repair started. 100s of hours were put into the body to bring it back to its factory condition due to the truck being used its whole life as a farm truck. The body had plenty of dents, and the bed was almost unrepairable. Once the bodywork was done, we primed the vehicle twice, and seam sealed it. The frame and drivetrain were completely rebuilt and serviced. We sprayed the entire chassis with Eastwood 2K ceramic black and installed all new reproduction stainless and gold CAD hardware. The underside of the body was chip guarded as it was from the factory and painted a different color than stock.

Paint & Decal Choices

David and his sons picked out red as their favorite color over the factory tan. As for the red, it was not a stock Toyota color. We personally didn’t like the red that the factory used in those years. It looked too plain, so we used a Sherwin Williams red they offered in their paint clips. Once the vehicle was sprayed and re-assembled, we got to install the factory reproduction graphics. That step is one of our most favorite parts of the build, and it just makes the truck look so 80s!

Steering & Axles

The axles were completely serviced and rebuilt with the addition of a locker in the rear differential for more traction if ever used offroad. We added rear disc brakes and upgraded disc emergency brake off the transfer case as used on early Land Cruisers. For the suspension, we added a 2″ OME Suspension lift kit with the addition of 16″ US wheels and BF Goodrich All-Terrain tires. We also upgraded the steering and added power steering to this truck, which was not originally on it but was offered in those years.

Engine & Drivetrain

The engine and drivetrain is completely one off and like no other Toyota before. The customers went with a custom built stage 5 engine from LCE Performance in Arizona with the upgraded Holley Sniper EFI setup with a Camden supercharger. We put the vehicle on a dyno for tuning and were pushing over 150hp to the rear wheels with 15lbs of boost. These trucks originally only came with about 90hp at the engine from the factory.

This part of the project was the most difficult and least straightforward. This engine/EFI setup combination was a bear to get tuned properly. The wiring harness was actually really good in the vehicle and was only repaired as needed and reloomed. So much unseen custom work went into this engine bay, such as cutting the hood to give access to the intake filter. A DUI custom distributor was built for the truck as well. One downfall to the supercharger setup is we couldn’t run the factory air conditioning.

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