jd20phill

iTrader: (7)

This is going to be somewhat long winded, cliffs at the bottom. For years i've been a supra fanatic, starting with an 87 non turbo (sold and bought my 4runner) and moving up to a 90 turbo. I recently went to college and the supra is sitting at home and the 4runner is my college car. As the supra sits, more and more things seem to be going wrong with it every time i start it up because noone is driving it presently (maybe start it up twice a month). THough i absolutely love the car and hate to think about selling it, I don't have a garage to keep it in for the next 4 or 5 years, so it will probably be sold in the near future for around 4 or 5 thousand dollars . Now onto my 94 4runner.
THe 94 4runner has 170000 miles on it with a recently replaced clutch and other misc. items. It only leaks a little oil from around the valve seals and needs the rear axle seals replaced. My future goal is to have a rig capable of tackling moderate trails as well as most mud holes, while maintaining its ability to travel 200 miles to and from school once a month without too many problems.
I am capable of doing all the work myself, so labor does not need to be calculated (pulled numerous engines, did the 4runner clutch myself, etc.). I figure i want to revamp the suspension, add a bumper and winch, fix the little oil leaks, and redo the exhaust, since it has rusted out in places. A 3.4 swap is out of the question at this time sadly. What do you guys think would be the best bang for my buck when it comes to dropping this money back into my truck?

Cliffs: What to buy for my 94 4runner 4x4 5 speed with 4 to 5 thousand dollars, while keeping it highway friendly.

DeathCougar

iTrader: (23)

buy some dice for the mirror, and give the rest to me.

jd20phill

iTrader: (7)

lol, some fuzzy dice would be nice...and quite baller

22R-to-5VZFE

Buy a rear E-locker set-up, any performance mods for cheap, intake, TB spacer, catback, headers are a waist of money. Uhh winch and custom front rear bumpers, 3" lift. 31" BFG K/o'sand your set!!

UKMyers

Hmmm... Have you done your timing belt and waterpump yet? I'd put that high on the "Keep the 3.0 running maintenance list". Ball joint spacers and land cruiser coils are a popular lift for clearing 33's and maintaining a little flex. IFS lifts are junk and waste of money IMO. After that I'd regear to 4.88 and put SELECTABLE i.e. ARB's front and rear since it's your DD. They are more money but way more user friendly for something that see's alot of street use. A dual locked IFS rig will blow your mind where it'll go with a good driver. After that get you some quality bumpers and you should be about out of money. Be sure and put some into the engine and drive train if your behind on any maintenance FIRST. I have two friends that just spent thousands building a rig that was a POS to start with into crawlers. Now they have a rig that will climb anything but won't make it from the trailer to trail head... see where I'm going with this?

yotasavg

hahaha.....honestly i'd replace everything on the front end and make it ultra nice. i'm a sophomore at chico state, and if i had that kind of money right now, i'd make my ifs like it was back in '94. and that's what i'm doing, little by little.....just my .02.

jd20phill

iTrader: (7)

yeah, i was actually planning on setting about 1500-3000 aside to replace the headgaskets, rebuild the heads, replace the timing belt, water pump radiator, etc. Come to think about it, i guess between the engine work, axle seals, and exhaust that will need to be done, ill only be left with about 2000 dollars. I just got a new set of 31 inch tires about a year ago, so i won't be getting tires any time soon. Oh, with the locker, i would most likely need to take it to a shop for that correct? It isn't just a simple swap like a clutch, headgastket, etc?

ozziesironmanoffroad

why not just totally rebuild the engine? along with those dice you should buy some big black fuzzy balls to hang from the rearview. (8)

FredTJ

Sell it or trade it and get a FZJ80......
That would suit your needs very very well.






Fred

Matt16

Front and rear ARB's. You will need a shop to set them up.

jd20phill

iTrader: (7)

well, the engine runs great and has even compression across the cylinders, just leaks a little oil and has some exhaust leaks (rusted out muffler). I figure if i change the head gaskets,water pump, and timing belt along with a few other misc things, i willl have an extremely reliable truck and that extra peice of mind of knowing that the work was done right. As far as rebuilding the bottom end though, since after college i plan on either going 3.4 or v8 swap along with an sas. I would like to get the suspension up to par (eliminating rear sag) as well as enabling it to become more capable on the trails, since i hate getting stuck (given, most of the time it is driver error).

jd20phill

iTrader: (7)

Cool, i figured a shop would have to do the arbs. Those will move to the top of my list. Is anyone else having problems with marlin crawlers website?

FredTJ

What sort of problems ?
The web site seems ok to me.




Fred

jd20phill

iTrader: (7)

everytime i go there, it says this webpage cannot be displayed...hmmm, maybe my internet is acting up again.

86tuning

I almost went that route myself.

Instead I'm still working on an 84 beater pickup truck. But I'm also not spending $5k on it

bigarms23

do a sas and with the left over money engine upgrades

Georgiadave

You are in college. Save your money, spend the time studying, not playing with worn out trucks.

yotasavg

that's what i'm doing.....only cause i don't have the money

mmmmm......sounds like what i wish i had. and i would have gotten one if it weren't for the full time 4wd.

jd20phill

iTrader: (7)

well, i have a full ride to the University of Arkansas, so i got the education bills covered (didn't flunk out my freshman semester as an ME!!!!wooohooo). I'm looking to do this this summer along with a summer job, not during the spring semester. I need a reliable rig to get from home and back and have a little fun in between. I spent the last hour or so calculating what all im going to spend my money on as far as maintanence. To revamp the top end, im figuring around 1300 dollars give or take a little bit. I need a new exhaust, but i don't want anything special, just a nonleaky one, any ideas what i could expect to pay for that? Next comes the suspension and brakes, whitch look to cost around 2000 dollars. Recovering the seats is another 600.This all adds up to about 3900 dollars spent getting the truck maintence done and leaves me around 1000 dollars to play with, unless some unforseen circumstasnces occur.

sc4runner4x4

Invest it in mutual funds.