hjkmotor

so iv had this truck since january 2009 but i figured i would start up my build thread.

well heres the story. i started my driving "career" as a bit of a ricer . my dad raced cars and i wanted to also. well i found out quickly that in ohio winters my '85 toyota mr2 was definitly not the best car for snow and i ride bikes so i figured it was best to get a truck, started with a 2wd ranger no better, started to look for a 4wd. searched CL and found a pictureless and very infoless add for '88 4runner. called the guy and got the story. he said i could go look at it anytime i want because well he wasn't gonna be there

so i decided to go look at it. it was in ghetto dayton in an alleyway, the truck was filled with junk and looked like it had recently been muddin. fenders rusted, blown engine, 4 different tires. well i was about to walk away and never see the truck again.

went home and did my research on these trucks. decided to go look at it again and found the frame was rust free. yess!!! thats a plus. also paid a little closer attention and found it had power everything, windows, locks, and mirrors.

i was lookin for a project and i still had another car to drive so i figured it was worth goin for. signed the title, handed over the $500 and it was mine...... after i pulled it out of this guys back yard. kinda weird the guy disappeared as soon as i gave him the money . (remember where it was at ^^^) didn't have a trailer so my dad pulled me in the 4runner with a tow strap with his truck all the way home. that was scary.

heres the truck when i brought it home
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pretty rough, and dirty
here is my biggest regret of this truck
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took the engine apart and found it was basically a lost cause.

hjkmotor

well the enigne that came in the truck had a spun bearing and looked like it had been run without oil

well i was considering some sorta swap but at the time really didn't know how to go about doing that. so i found a guy trying to swap a 22re into his 93 4runner and he had a great running 3vze. $200 and it was mine.

decided to rebuild the 93 anyway.

yeah my block is lime green lol

in the mean time i got a new top and wheels with tires. craigslist special .
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hjkmotor

heres the first trial run and the first time i ever got to drive the truck. what better way to break her in.
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sorry for the lack of pics but u can see by that pics that i did some body work and added some lights up front.

one thing i forgot to mention is this truck didn't come with an interior which i had to piece together. its pretty clean on the inside but had to work real hard for that lol also added a grant steering wheel.

next thing is paint.

decided to use roll on marine paint paint



got those tires a few days before as well.

finished paint

hjkmotor

at this point it was good to go and is my daily driver. sold the ranger and drove that f-150 in the back ground for a little while.

since then a few little things iv done.
got a fabtech grill guard and painted the bottom of my truck with bedliner



also added some custom homemade rock sliders


then painted my wheels this past weekend

hjkmotor

im currently going to college and out of a job so it is probably gonna stay this way for a while.

my next thing is a 4.3l vortec swap. that may be done by next summer im hoping. after that is a total chaos long travel kit and rear long travel with home made bed cage, 12" travel shocks and chevy 63s? i still gotta figure it out.

bxlt

Nice find for $500! Look good and keep up the good work

hjkmotor

so, im sourcing out my parts for my chevy 4.3l swap. one good thing about dayton is its a chevy town so there are 4.3ls all over CL for real cheap. i didn't realize before tho that there r several versions of the 4.3. so can someone tell me what version is the best?

there seems to be a lot of throttle body injection ones around here. r they good? thanks

yotaboy82

did u spray on your paint or roll it? i have a gallon of ford tractor blue for my truck and it almost exactly resembles that color

phildelfino

I had a 91 Chevy S 10 with the 4.3L. It was TBI and they are simpler. They can be had with the 700R4 automatic trans in them too. I had the 5 speed. Everything front and rear on these 4.3's is swappable from the V8's. Your options are limitless.

Check the S 10 forums or 4.3L forums. There was also 2 different plants manufacturing them and the parts do not swap out between them. One was Tonowanda and the other started with an "R".

Good luck. I may have to come back with a trailor and get me a couple of those if they are that plentiful.