In August of 2025, I purchased a 1982 Toyota SR5 4×4. Yes, I bought what is now a 44 year old pickup truck. Every Gen X guy I know at some point wanted a Toyota pickup, whether it be the 3rd generation that I purchased, the 4th generation popularized by Marty McFly, or the 5th generation through the late 80s into the early 90s. If you were sketching pictures of pickup trucks, or playing with stompers, it was likely in the shape of a Toyota. If you were fortunate enough to drive one during your high school years, you hit a level of cool that is hard to attain.
To be clear, I’m certainly no luddite. I appreciate airbags, traction control, and all of the other luxuries of a daily driver. But that doesn’t mean that a little pickup riding on leaf springs with solid axles, a stick shift, and 96HP can’t be appreciated.
While I bought it very nicely restored and visually stunning, that does not mean you don’t inherent the fatigue that comes with buying a vehicle that is older than nearly 60% of the U.S. population. Seals break, gaskets crack, and things leak when and where they shouldn’t. And restorations don’t always catch everything done (or not done) on a truck over decades by the countless owners who came before me. But this is the charm of it all. These trucks are simple in ways that I can appreciate. I love technology, but the conveniences, efficiency, and safety of technology is a two-sided knife, where it also gives you complexity, and fragility.
I grew up with motors and everything that they were found in. I’m fairly mechanically inclined, and while all of it was definitely familiar, most of my hands-on experience with motors never extended beyond a Briggs and Stratton lawn mower engine. I’m basically a hack with a little bit of knowledge. This pickup was a good opportunity for me to get back to basics, and have a little hobby on the side. So I’ll be sharing what I learn, and any other tips that might help someone else living with an old Toyota.
My approach is going to be a bit different. Instead of digging into endless old forum posts only to find them irrelevant, or incorrect I’m going to let AI help me. I’ll be using Grok by xAI, but Gemini or ChatGPT would also work. For those of you unfamiliar with AI, or wondering how it could possibly be relevant for fixing a car, I can tell you already that it is an absolute breakthrough for tasks like this. More to come on that topic.
Here are a few pictures of the truck while I get a chance to add some proper photos.
– Pete