312necro213

Ok I have been researching for about 3-4 months now and I have purchased my 4runner and a lot of the parts so I figured its finally time to start my build thread So heres a few pictures of the truck and I will be taking pictures of the axles I got tomorrow I hope, got a dana 60 front and rear for free so that was awesome and I picked up the 4runner for $400 with a blown head gasket so that was a steal. I'll list a few pictures of the truck and then add some more pictures of the axles and all the parts tomorrow.


Parts purchased so far:
Downey Headers
New gasket set for engine
New water pump
New Timing belt kit
400w Power inverter
Cadillac Air compressors for ARB's
Train Horn
CB (had this already)
Dual CB antennas (white to match the truck)
Fire extinguisher
8" subwoofer
400w Amp
100' spool of wire
2 digital distributor blocks
2 Aux Fuse boxes
Steel and more steel (various sizes and shapes)
Dana 60's

Still need:
Leaf springs
Shackles
Hangar
Front and rear bumper (may go custom)
Winch
Lockers
Roof Rack (will likely go custom)
Trail tools
Alternator (probably a high power one)

Mods done so far:
Removed the running boards first day and mud flaps
Replaced the water pump

What I have done so far:
A lot of research
Getting the heads resurfaced currently

312necro213

Changed from going with the 60's to an 85 toyota axle that I picked up for $50. Needs a little work but it will save me a lot of work with the fenders and etc. Because they were 14 inches wider then the stock axles I needed to either cut them which was a lot of money or get new fenders which would need to be the aftermarket fiberglass ones which was also a lot of money. And the custom work was more then I wanted to do currently since this is my first project. I will post more pictures of how the head gasket is going later today.

312necro213

Heres my current progress on the head gasket swap:


Tomorrow I will reinstall and torque the heads, waiting on headers to arrive at this point, I guess I'll bolt on the alternator and intake manifold although it may be easier to put the new headers on with the alternator off. But anyways as you can see the block is polished and the heads have been resurfaced (I'll take pictures of those tomorrow as well.) Picking the axle up tomorrow I hope Ill get some pictures of that posted as well.

Edit: by the way the cylinders are full of laquer thinner to break down the carbon buildup on them, there was lots of it after 250k miles

312necro213

Remounted the heads but I have a major problem, in the picture shown, where does this hole go? I dropped a socket down there while I was torqueing my heads (don't even ask it was VERY unlucky) and I am wondering where it goes too. I dropped a snake in there and it got a ton of oil on it and it seems to drop straight down so I am thinking it goes straight down to the oil pan. anyway heres the picture of what hole I am talking about:

312necro213

picked up my axle today for the axle swap, it has warn hubs on it already, so that was nice, the guy had complete receipts on the recent rebuild as well, got it for $250. The $50 axle I have as well but the guy was wrong its an 82 and its not gusseted and its not in nearly as good condition as the one I got today. Downside to the new axle was I had to drive 3 and a half hours one way to get it. Now when I get the cash WabFab will be getting 2 grand for a rear leaf conversion and the sas kit and some sliders, until then I'll keep myself busy with this damn socket and the rest of the head gasket job, if only I could convince Brian at wabfab to let me make payments By the way when I buy the wabfab kit I will be rebuilding that $50 axle if anyone wants a fresh rebuilt axle in the bay area for about $200.

312necro213

started repainting my grill tonight... originally started sanding the chrome finish but I realized it wouldn't have a porous surface for the paint to stick to so I went at it with a razor blade and peeled all the chrome off, then I got carried away and cut the center out and I will be replacing it with some black mesh, probably rain gutter filter stuff painted flat black. But I'll see what I can get my hands on, I am also sanding down the headlight housings and the turn signals. Next is the side mirrors... all chrome must die lol. heres some pictures of what I have done so far on the grill.






I am anticipating this to be done at the end of the week, I am doing little things when I get home from school (I have autoshop and this is where its all taking place) So I am bringing parts home to work on, basically whatever I can so it gets done faster.

Dare44

looks like ur doing alot of work that will pay off for u with a good nice looking reliable rig, cant wait to see ur sfa on there it will look sick, keep it up.

312necro213

Yea when I first started reading into building this 4runner (about 6 months ago) I read something somebody posted that really made sense he said something along the lines of "I have a couple of friends with about 10k into their trucks but they didn't put anything into the engine and they have problems making it to the trail head because they didn't start by making it reliable" So I want to make it run, and run well before I even consider anything extreme. But I already have my eye on a 3.4... >.> and I haven't even finished building the 3.0. I am teetering between buying the downey headers or not, if I buy them I know the 3.4 swap will be delayed a lot longer... If I don't I know I am going to end up doing a 3.4 swap instead of bobbing the rear like I want to. >.> choices choices, I think I am going to just invest in a welder and a plasma cutter (I have access to the shops welder and plasma cutter atm) so I can get everything done that I want to...

Dare44

If you are doing a sas and bobing and everything else i would say invest in a nice welder, i find myself over at my buddies on weekends and 10 at night welding things on with their nice miller 251. i really want to buy one but tires are more important for now. priority's always get in the way

312necro213

Well currently I have full access to 5 different welders and a plasma cutter. So for now I am fine, this is my senior project though so in 3 months I graduate... and then I can take summer school... which is 6 hours a day for 4 weeks which means I can get a lot of work done then, but after that I am on my own... so for now I am saving the money for the WabFab stuff. Ill prolly get a welder sometime this summer. I want one of those plasma cutter mig welder combos.

Dare44

nice, im a junior this year, i think my senior project will be a front bumper or a lift kit for mine, i plan on buying a welder sometime in the next year so should be fun thing to do. i am already missing my old truck so my 4runner needs to start being more capable to keep up to my friends this summer. stupid me and wanting comfert

312necro213

hahah Capability then comfort, at least you learned I think I have a rather large senior project going on... anyways I will post pictures tomorrow of the new axle and the heads installed.

312necro213

So today I looked at the oil pan... sighed and went to look at my manual... the manual just shows engine overhaul and when they do the overhaul they just pulled the engine... so I am wondering to I have to pull the engine to drop the oil pan? I would just cut off the ifs now but I have to make sure it drives before I get into the sas swap >.>

312necro213

So it looks like I need to loosen the motor mounts and lift the engine up as high as I can and then drop the oil pan and maneuver it around the crap down there, after that I can get to that damn socket... I got some rare earth magnets I am going to try and use to get it first though... Probably won't work... but if it does it will save me so much work :x

904_runner

Hey at your high school what was the requirements? Ours has to be so many hours of community service, or something career based. I chose the easy way out and am assistant coaching a little league team!

312necro213

Requirements are a portfolio on anything I choose. Just has an hour requirement and somebody to sign off. I can base it on anything I have learned in the 4 years of highschool. Since I have been taking auto I can base it on that. So this is my senior project... I have a full shop at my disposal which is nice... I will be getting one of the lifts in about a month, right around when I start the SAS swap. Just need to save the money like I said, unless wabfab accepts payments, but thats doubtful.

904_runner

Darn, you guys got off lucky! We have to have a minimum of 15hrs, a portfolio, a 20min speech after, a mentor, blah, blah, blah

Originally i was going to make a bumper and some sliders from a welding class i took. but the welding teacher wouldn't approve to be my "mentor"

312necro213

We have 20 hrs, a mentor, a portfolio, and a 20-30 minute speach. The truck will speak for me when its done.

toytech76

drop the front diff and you will have the room to remove the oil pan. I dont know if you will have enough room to lift the eng if you still have the trans bolted up

904_runner

Ah, its about the same then! Just show them the truck, youll get an A!