Hey,
My Name is Jay and this is my Cardomain.

*Note, I am currently re-vamping my cardomain page. Pages will seem a little unorganazed but I hope to be done in a few weeks. I can't find the time!*


This domain is obviously dedicated to my truck. It's a 1991 Toyota pickup. It has a 3vze, 5sp, 4wd and is an SR5. My truck is named "Wingnut".

I have loads of fun with this truck, and I wanted to share it with everyone. Enjoy!




Page Contents:

Page 1: History, general info and future mods
Page 2: Early mods
Page 3: More recent modifications
Page 4: General pictures
Page 5: Off road fun
Page 6: Links
Page 7: My mountain bike (the other money pit)




Wignut is my first vehicle! I got it on Febuary 5th 2007. It was purchased for $1000 from my dad. It had a snapped timing belt and had been sitting for almost a year, many small problems, needed a face lift, but the frame and drivetrain was pretty damn good.

Here is a picture right after it was running again.





I had alot of stuff to fix, but I love this truck! The problems I was facing included:

- Rusted out exhaust
- Snapped e-brake
- Reverse and 5th gear did not work
- Bad wheel bearings
- Bad steering componants (idler, TRE, Wheel bearings)
- Front flares with no rear flares
- Many missing interior parts/fasners
- leaky radiator
- Worn shocks
- Worn leafs
- Worn tires
- It was WAY past service dates on many parts.
- Tailgate rattled around
- drivers side door lock did not work
- headlights sucked
- crappy speakers
- leaking intake
- crossthreaded number 6 cyl spark plug
- bad paint
- tweaked frame


So, I had the truck. After giving it a tune up with NGK plugs, rotor and cap and changed the oil with my oil of choice at the time, Penzoil 10w-30 dino.
Since the truck had been sitting it had to be smogged before I was able to insure it. Since my rusted out exhaust had no muffler I had to do something about that. So I got a 2 day permit and went and did my first mod!

Exhaust: I decided on replacing the worn out cat with a Magnaflow High-flow cat. The size, 2.25". This was followed by 2.25" piping into a Flowtech 'Redhot' Glasspack. It was routed similar to stock, out the stock exit. This would be changed later on.

I got the truck smogged literally 20 mins after picking up the truck from the muffler shop. It passed great!

The exhaust was nice. I felt a seat in the pants difference, and I liked the sound. It sure is loud!

Here are some pictures of the exhaust.

Another shot

Last one

So I got it running and legal. Sweet!
I worked very little so I obviously could not afford many mods that often.

So fastforward a few months of fun driving. I get in an accident. I end up hitting a concrete barrier. It was either slide into the car beside me or take it into the barrier, for insurance perpuses I chose the latter.

Total rundown of damage was not too bad, it included:

- Bent passenger side fender
- Bend bumper and lower valance
- Broken headlight bezel
- Side marker was ripped out and lost
- Core support was a little tweaked aswell

The frame was good, hood was fine, tracked fine. I removed the fender flares at this time, the passenger side one took some damage and looked pretty bad. I was looking for an excuse to remove the anyways... Who wants just two flares? I also removed the silly bug deflector, got $40 for it on craigslist.

Here are some pictures of the damage.

So I drove the truck as is for about a month or so and then I started gathering parts.
I sourced a new CAPA certified fender and a new lower valance from Corey at www.toyotafiberglass.com. I got a used bumper and complete grill from a local on www.bc4x4.com.
I also returned to the site and I found my side marker light. It had popped out with very little damage!

Here are some pictures of the parts:

As for the actual repair, it went pretty smoothly. It was my first real repair so I was a little nervious but I still enjoyed it. Here are some pictures of the repair.

bumper+valance removed together

Grille+ remaining side marker taken off.

Fender removed.

New fender put on. Had to bend the core support and inner fender back in a little. Its pretty damn close.

Grill put together with the used headlight bezels and my original center peice.

Grill installed + side markers

Bumper+valance installed.

FINISHED!!!

It took me about 4 hours start to finish, and that was going at a very slow pace. I had obviously left the parts unpainted, I would eventually paint them on a later date.