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This is not a traditional build up thread as I did not take a lot of pics that i wanted to on the whole process, but it does show a lot of the work I have done and the progression that has taken place with my 4runner since i got it.
I am not by any means a mechanic and it was not very long ago that all I was able to do was change oil lol. This just goes to show you what is possible with a lot of help and use of the internet.
What I started with....
Had a 3" body lift and some swampers on it. In pretty decent shape all in all.
I bought it cause I was wanting to start getting into off-roading and thought this would be a good place to start.
First thing I changed was those worn swampers, gave it a quick black plastidip paint job, some fender flairs, and added a Blazeland long arm kit onto it, keeping the IFS under it just to show that IFS can compete with a solid axle.
From there I found out that I needed more Mods, I mean, of course it needed more mods. So in came some engine bolt-ons and some bigger better 35" tires.
Added an LCE header, LCE Big Bore throttle body, LCE Air filter, LCE injectors, and LCE Cam. Was only slightly impressed with the power gains I got from it all. It helped, but i was still struggling up the hills on the highway. So I re-geared to 4.88 in the front and rear diffs. That did the trick.....for a while.
A few months later i decided it wasnt enough so out came the 300k+ mile engine. I considered the 3.4 swap but wanted to keep my 1st gen more original and decided to rebuild the engine myself. This was a monumental decision for me as i had never ever even taken a motor apart let alone rebuild one. The Cam change I had done was even a stretch for my abilities.
But it was gonna happen.....
I wanted to have a bit more power but nothing over the top so I decided to go with a mild build up on the bottom end. Off to the machine shop it went for a good clean up and to bore it out 30 over.
Ended up going with a quick valve job to the head with some oversized SS valves from engnbldr and his Street RV head kit as well as his rebuild kit for the engine.
My rods were a little bit worn and ill be honest i dropped one and screwed it up so I also decided to get some LCE Street H Beam Eagle rods as well.
After I got the engine installed it was time to address the brakes. So in went the rear disc kit from All Pro.
Those sure looked pretty.
It was at that point that i decided since i had to take the axles off that I might as well install a locker in the rear, so i decided Detroit seemed to know what they were doing on those and in it went.
Also decided it was time to lift the rear a little bit to make it set better with the front kit. So I went with the All Pro 5" rear kit. Worked out perfectly.
All in all I am very happy with the way it has turned out so far. The engine fired right up after the rebuild and is just not getting fully broke in. The power is WAY better than before and I can actually accelerate up hills on the highway now without downshifting to 3rd. The RPM's rev up way faster and a lot higher than before as well.
I did a lot of other things to it that i did not take pics for but here is a short overview of what all was done.
Blazeland long travel kit
All-Pro 5" rear lift kit
All-Pro transfer Case brake
All-Pro Rock Sliders
4.88 Diff gears
Engnbldr RV head kit
Engnbldr Engine rebuild
LCE H Beam Eagle rods
LCE Header
LCE Cam
LCE big bore throttle body
LCE air filter
LCE throttle body spacer
Detroit rear locker
35" Mickey Thompson MTZ
Custom Bumpers
Plastidip paint job
And the A/C works like a charm
Im just proud that i managed to rebuild the engine and not have it blow up on me, let me tell ya that first crank was about as much stress as i could handle.
09-21-2015, 10:38 PM
