I love these and I've made them several times:
Richard Hsiao’s pickled cukes 1971
But the 1/2 cup vegetable oil called for is ridiculous! I use 2 tbs, which is 1/8 cup, and they come out great. I use peanut or grapeseed oil for this. If you aren't using pickling cucumbers, just do it in chunks instead of spears as the recipe suggests for the original Sichuan salad, and maybe seed them.
And a tip I picked up from Harold McGee's "On Food and Cooking": snip off both ends of the cucumbers when pickling; they contain an enzyme the causes softening and you won't get crisp cucumbers.