srpski

So I've been a VW TDI fanatic for all my car life, but just recently decided a truck would be cool.... so I picked this one up.
1988 4runner, 3.0 V6, 4x4 manual... 280k miles, allegedly rebuilt engine 30k ago, but there's no real proof other than the fact that the guy was driving it when he rear ended someone. I'm fine with that though, cause I want an excuse to get a TDI engine in there eventually anyway.
Anyway, quite a bit of front end damage going on, but the previous owner gave me both fenders, a hood, radiator, a new front cross member support thing, plus a bunch of other parts. I had to buy a new core support and am not going to have AC initially, but besides that it shouldn't be too difficult to get this back going.

So yea... Here's some photos of the truck and me doing stuff.

Side view... it's pretty clean if you don't look too far forward.


Front view - Phone pics end about now.


Pulled the AC radiator thingy.. and dad pulled out the canon d40



Fiddling with the broken fan clutch.


Pulling the bent core support.



Grinding away the welds on front cross member bar thing... gonna have to weld the new one in.


More sparks!


Bent up bit of frame, the other side is straight, but this is gonna take some heating/bending.



Straighting out the fender well.




Hey! It's as straight as my 2x8 was.


My brother wanted to braze a crack in the inner fender well, so I let him.


Getting done with the left side.



The fender wells are now straight enough to bolt the 'new' straight fenders to, so that'll look fine from the outside.
I've got to obtain a oxy/acetalyn torch with a rosebud to straighten that front bit of frame out, but it shouldn't be too crazy hard to get this girl back on the road.

RMA

nice looking 4runner man , good luck with it ..

Nervo19

Wow! The last half of that 4Runner is beautiful. I hope you keep up the rebuild thread beacuse it's very interesting. I wouldn't know where to begin. You are lucky to have such a well equiped garage to work in.

srpski

Yep, I'm definitely gonna keep this updated. My grandpa was a mechanic/garage/gas station owner, so dad inherited a lot of tools and the knack... and he's passing it on to us.

I'm gonna be checking out a gas welding / cutting setup today off craigslist today. It's one of the few things we don't have. Don't know how we've gone so long without any real welding equipment.

I have a 2 stage vision for this truck right now.
1: Get it up and running/fenders/bumpers/hood on
a: Redo the interior. It's not bad, but it is 23 years old, so some stuff needs cleaning/painting/gluing.
b: Fix the tailgate/window getup
c: Enjoy it for a bit
2: Do a TDI swap <-- steps to come

92 TOY

hey there.

1st off, welcome to YOTATECH.

2nd....beautiful pics...great camera.

3rd....LOVE the 1st gen 4runners......glad you are saving this one.

good luck......make sure to post lots of pics.

Philbert

iTrader: (2)

Subscribed!

Great work (and photos)

srpski

Well I'm still an amateur at this... So here's all my steps.
Friday night's experiment/theory
Getting the frame red hot and bending it.







Well it made good photos, but I couldn't get enough force on the right areas to get it actually straight.
So we progress to Saturday morning... Cut it with the sawzall thingy and reweld the sides.

Now it bends!



New front crossbar frame the previous owner gave me.


Steel plates being tacked in on the sides of my cut. C-clamped at the bottom in the photo, to hold them in place.



Then I went to the park to play basketball with my friends. Apparently my dad couldn't resist and finished the welds while I was gone, which is cool.

srpski

Well I've been trying to figure out why it wouldn't idle for the past week or so... but here's where I'm at about now.

Core support in place.


New battery charging up..


Odd.. the radiator overflow hose seems to be too short to reach the bottle.


I've found 3 disconnected vacuum lines, as well as a misadjusted throttle position sensor. Now it finally idles properly. The alternator has a death click going on right now although it is generating a proper amount of voltage.
Power steering has a leaky line... and the AC radiator thing is completely destroyed, so I haven't even tried to hook it up yet.

I did order a grill off ebay, as well as an electric fan/controller combo from Amazon.
Those will be going in tomorrow evening.

northeaster79

Looking very good.Glad to see its getting fixed and not ending up in the scrap yard.
Its going to be a nice runner when your done,can't wait to see more.

S.Skinner

iTrader: (1)

welcome!!! Looking good! and im slightly jealous of it being power and you having all the tools at your disposal!!! lol

pholife

Great Job! I think i saw this 4runner for a while ago from our local OC craigslist. subscribed!

Again, great work!

srpski

Well I drove it to work today, minus the front bumper and using my GPS as a speedometer. We made it in one piece, so that's good.
Electric fan is in, headlights mounted, new grill on... corner lights are in the mail.
The hood is a bit out of alignment too high off fenders right now, but it clicks shut properly.
I'll get more pictures up later.

My idle problem is back sort of... it likes to hover at 450-500, but it isn't stalling there. There's no check engine light or anything. I've tried messing with the hot idle screw, but it doesn't have enough control over the RPM range.

I'm thinking I have to adjust it at the accelerator cable?

Zelephant

Great work so far, and fast! Now swap in a TDI! Really want to see that.

srpski

Definitely gonna put the TDI in... just gotta get it cleaned up on the inside and stuff first.

Give me a month or two at least.

twistedyota

iTrader: (1)

good luck cant wait to see it with ur plans

Kiroshu

I love the use of the word "thingy" in all the postings. Priceless. Btw Great work.

Oh and that "AC radiator thingy" is called a "condensor"

sushi20j

Welcome! Looking great so far! Keep it up.

srpski

Thanks for all your support.
I owe you some pictures by now, but my dad quit taking them. I'll make him pull out the camera tonight, while I'm working with the speedometer cable.


Would a non functioning speedometer cause the engine to miss as I'm accelerating upwards of 20 mph and over 2500 rpm?

Whenever it stumbles, the CEL comes on for a short time, then goes off again. It's not like a regular miss or anything and I can't get it to happen when I'm just revving the engine at a stop.
I flashed out the code and it was 42, which is supposed to be a variable speed sensor problem. I also can barely get to 55 MPH on the freeway, which is kinda scary.

Works great at lower speeds though, so I'm guessing the computer is just looking at my transmission in 4th gear at 2500 rpm going 0MPH and saying "SOMETHING IS VERY VERY WRONG!" meh... hopefully fiddling with the speedometer cable will fix stuff.


Also, I got a couple potential TDI swaps in the pipeline. A local guy will give me an AHU swap(chipped to 120 HP 220 ft/lbs of torque) for 3600. There's a guy in canada offering to ship me an ALH swap, but I'd have to get the ECU chipped myself. Thing is, the ALH can easily be taken to 140 hp 250 ft/lbs with a chip and injectors.... Also the canadian guy is asking 2200 shipped, but I'd kinda be going in unseen and all that.

I could always piece a kit together from people selling bits and pieces on TDI club too... So many options. >_<

Outsane

good work..
just a little confused on the Canon d40..

there is a Nikon D40

Black 4runners are the way to go.. so I hear

srpski

you caught me...
Does a Canon 40D sound better?

Here's some photos my dad just sent me. He got some scrapped metal! I'm thinking bumper.
Allegedly they're 6x2 and 60 inches long....


In the trunk