If you seek a mid-size Toyota pickup truck, the Tacoma is the nameplate offered in North America, and things have been that way since 1995. Before that, the Hilux, which continues to be sold in other parts of the world, was also offered in the U.S., albeit under the Toyota Pickup name. These now-old trucks have a lot of stories to tell. And you’d have a hard time finding one that’s more impressive than the tale of this 1989 Toyota Pickup gone drag truck with the help of a neat LS swap.
Ken Glosser, the enthusiast who turned the work truck into a drag strip animal, grew up with this Toyota. His fathers bought it about the time he married the enthusiast’s mother. And, once Ken was old enough to drive, he turned the thing into his high school truck, naturally modding the thing on a tight budget.
Many years have passed since then, but when the Pickup had reached about 320,000 miles (515,000 km), the aficionado decided it was time to turn the Toyota into his first serious build. And all the history he has with the vehicle means he aimed to keep the machine as close to its factory form as possible. Heck, if you’re in a rush, you might just mistake this for the kind of lightly modded truck it used to be in Ken’s high school years.
A minitruck that mostly looks stock, but is a 1,000 HP monster
Look beyond the all-factory sheet metal, though, an you’ll find that the only velocity-destined aftermarket panel, namely the hood, hides a pretty serious LS setup (not unlike this 1957 Chevy Bel Air Convertible) that now takes the vehicle about as far from its original blue collar destination as possible.
A 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe that had gotten rear-ended donated its 5.3-liter V8 and four-speed automatic to the Toyota project. With the motor gradually building muscle, the gearbox had to be replaced, and Ken threw in a built 4LE four-speed auto.
Nowadays, the truck has gone from the 112 hp of its factory 2.2-liter four-cylinder to a monstrous 900+ horsepower at the rear wheels, which makes for over 1,000 hp at the crank. That LS works with a generous turbo to achieve the said number. And this is where the brilliance of the motor becomes obvious: so many builders have chosen this small-block because it only needs a limited numbers of mods to deliver such muscle.
The truck doesn’t just look almost like it used to when Ken’s dad was behind the wheel. It also retains a fully sound-deadened and carpeted interior, albeit while packing a pair of Kirkey racing seats and a complete roll cage. Look under the aluminum bed cover, and you’ll find a tool box, along with spare gas—the thing sips E85 from a fuel cell when it’s at the drag strip.
Many original suspension components are still in
Surprisingly, therer are still plenty of stock suspension bits (e.g., it’s lowered on the original leaf springs and KYB shocks), even though this drag truck hooks like crazy on its 275-section Mickey Thompson drag radials (think: 1.3s range 60-foot times). However, with all the added hardware—and the driver aboard—the vehicles has gone from 2,500 to about 3,200 lbs (1,130 to 1,450 kg).
Now, as Ken states in the Larry Chen-brewed YouTube video below, his ’89 Toyota Picuk is now a 10s truck and the goal is to turn into a 9s machine. And speaking of plans, all this makes us want to buy one of these old Hiluxes and start building ourselves. Not that a newer Hilux with a 2JZ in it would be a less impressive quarter-mile devourer.
