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At first I thought my fuel door was not seated correctly but I have seen several others that sit similar to yours. I wonder if they just got moved over the years or maybe Toyota did not get them as flush as they should.
Usually the gray B Pillar pieces hold up better. Red and Blue is the worse for cracking out.
I've cleaned up worse carpets than that. Take it out totally and spray it with the hose on the driveway til it's soaking wet. Spread around some laundry detergent and then walk all over it for a good 10 minutes. Twist your foot and slide it back and forth the agitate the dirt and grime. Then hang it over a fence or from a tree limb and spray it with the hose for about 30 minutes until all the soap is gone. If you have a pressure washer it will make it all go way faster. Just keep it far away so it doesn't tear a hole right through it all. You can get that carpet looking nearly new and it'll smell like fresh laundry. The only thing that this doesn't fix is fading. I ended up spraying mine with Duplicolor Vinyl and Fabric dye to make it all one color again.
Your front seat frames are definitely from the correct generation, the next generation Trucks/4Runners had different handles for the tilt mechanism. The headrests are obviously wrong for the seats and for the truck. As for the seat cushions up front, the covers are not correct. Not sure if it's from a later year or perhaps got re-upholstered at some point.
If you need the pull tabs for the back seats, I might have a couple originals if your interested. You can have them for the cost of shipping.
There is no trim panel for underneath the radio. You just need to tuck up the wiring as best you can.
I take my seats and carpet to the car wash and just keep the distance from the sprayer so as not to tear the fabric. I do it on hot days and some times for a couple of days to dry. Gives the interior a fresh smell and makes a big difference on seat and carpet. The water can be hazmat. Some nasty stuff comes out of them.
These would work, however, I think that the passenger side pull got smashed off. It is at an angle. I think Im going to pill the seats apart and see if i can diagnose it and maybe straighten it out.
I didn't use peel n seal on the floor because I want to monitor for rust. The doors and sides are full of it. I'd use a removable carpet pad. The weather strip for the top is discontinued. Look through Amazon or McMaster-Carr for some thing similar.
No worries of heavy duty rust where i am. Just annoying surface rust. Mainly i want the peel n seal down there for sound deadening. I lined the entire cab of my little tacoma and it made a world of difference. I can only imagine the difference it will make with a 4runner.
I ended up replacing my gas door. It was like yours and I just couldn't get it to bend back and look good. I had the new one painted separately from the truck and it lines up great.
Might go this route. going to see if i can slightly bend it back first. worst case scenario, it gets more bent and i have to replace it. I'm just curious as to HOW these things get soooo bent. Mine isn't the first runner I've seen with this tweak.
Originally Posted by Terrys87
At first I thought my fuel door was not seated correctly but I have seen several others that sit similar to yours. I wonder if they just got moved over the years or maybe Toyota did not get them as flush as they should.
No clue, but considering the odd things done to this runner in its past, I wouldnt be surprised if the story involved copious amounts of beer and mariachai music.
Usually the gray B Pillar pieces hold up better. Red and Blue is the worse for cracking out.
Ive noticed that as well. Wonder if the material is different.
Originally Posted by arlindsay1992
I've cleaned up worse carpets than that. Take it out totally and spray it with the hose on the driveway til it's soaking wet. Spread around some laundry detergent and then walk all over it for a good 10 minutes. Twist your foot and slide it back and forth the agitate the dirt and grime. Then hang it over a fence or from a tree limb and spray it with the hose for about 30 minutes until all the soap is gone. If you have a pressure washer it will make it all go way faster. Just keep it far away so it doesn't tear a hole right through it all. You can get that carpet looking nearly new and it'll smell like fresh laundry. The only thing that this doesn't fix is fading. I ended up spraying mine with Duplicolor Vinyl and Fabric dye to make it all one color again.
Thants the plan, stan. Doomy doesnt believe me that the fabric dye will work. she wants to make the carpets dark, like a charcoal color. Ive tried to convince her that it would be easiest to do now while they are out, but no dice.
Your front seat frames are definitely from the correct generation, the next generation Trucks/4Runners had different handles for the tilt mechanism. The headrests are obviously wrong for the seats and for the truck. As for the seat cushions up front, the covers are not correct. Not sure if it's from a later year or perhaps got re-upholstered at some point.
Same seats i had in my '90 4runner. Almost the same color too. Moot point tho. Hahaha. I think i might chop off the foot and weld it further forward in the correct position. it really bugs me that the PO just drilled a line through the floor boards.
If you need the pull tabs for the back seats, I might have a couple originals if your interested. You can have them for the cost of shipping.
Ill hit you up on that offer when i have more funds. im in limp mode until taxes come in. So, Im being as cheap as possible. Hahahaha.
There is no trim panel for underneath the radio. You just need to tuck up the wiring as best you can.
Thats what I figured. Maybe ill make something out of scrap metal. i loved how the second and third gens had that filler piece with the pocket.
Originally Posted by Terrys87
I take my seats and carpet to the car wash and just keep the distance from the sprayer so as not to tear the fabric. I do it on hot days and some times for a couple of days to dry. Gives the interior a fresh smell and makes a big difference on seat and carpet. The water can be hazmat. Some nasty stuff comes out of them.
Thought about doing this, but then i remembered that I live 20 miles from the closest coin op car wash and Im broke. I also remembered that i have a pressure washer. ive been using it to hold a piece of ply wood as a painting table. So, thats the route ill be going. Now if I can just get a few sunny days to get to work. We've been getting rainy day here and then overcast, then rain, then sunny for half a day, then rainy again, etc.
Taxes came in so I ordered a few things. New head unit because the face plate old one in the truck has seemingly grown legs and wandered off. Some new front speakers because it'll be nice to have some sound to go along with the head unit. Also ordered some Dewalt hog ring pliers and extra hog rings for stripping and recovering the seats. And last but not least, I ordered the the exide edge battery. I've heard a lot of bad things about newer optimas, and since sears no longer sells batteries (had the diehard platinum in the tacoma and loved it) I did some research and saw that the exide edge is a very nice sealed battery. Hopefully it'll work fine for what we need it for.
finally got a hold of someone at LCE about the size of the bung in the radiator. Once they get back to me, I'll order the nipple and...well, I guess it's just final check time for bolts, hoses, and wires, then have a party to get her started.
in the mean time, I did some more pannel pulling. Got the seat belts out and both side panels pulled in the back seat area. Also pulled the trim off of the top to get it ready to pull off this weekend. I'm not sure if it's ever been removed. But, for sure the white stuff is either mold or old dust that has gotten wet. Any way you shake it, it needs to come apart and have all cracks or holes silicone shut. Inside the rear panels, the truck is actually pretty straight. And no rust. Only issue I saw was the passenger side seat belt area had mold sitting on top of the plastic surround. I think that there's supposed to be a rubber drain there like on the drivers side, but I'm not too sure. Either way, I need to fix it.
And onto the pics.
both of the seat belt anchors were finger tight. Sketchy.
Not sure what this is for, but the PO has replaced it in the past from a junk yard unit. This one looks like it came from an 86.
No rust looking in there.
Just a bunch of dust. And maybe some dents that have been left. Won't be able to tell for sure until I get the back stripped out.
Mold inside the passenger side seat belt well.
You can see all the mold built up on the top of the seat belt cover.
More old looking down.
Inside the quarters look pretty good. One thing to note, instead of following the factory wiring for the stereo, the PO decided to half ass it and just run the wires between the panel and seat. I will never understand why the guy did what he did.
More dust, but the panel is straight and rust free. Gonna be perfect for coating with peel n seal.
so, plans for this weekend, get the interior stripped completely and the top off, get the floor pan cleaned and get some dry ice to chip off the tar. Pressure wash the carpets. Then start laying peel n seal on the interior while doomy cleans all the belts and whatnot. Once peel n seal is done, then I can throw the interior back in. Sounds like a lot, but I think we can do it in a weekend. Then, weekend after next maybe crank the motor. We shall see.
I really need to slow down on my spending a bit. Ordered new turn signals and corner markers, radio mounted switch plate, all the parts for my exhaust to be done, odds and ends, the 1/4" NPT to 3/8" pipe fitting for the radiator, and the Borla muffler.
Now, moving onto the interior, I have the opportunity to pick up 100sqFt of peel n stick for a great price. Do you guys think thatll be enough? when i did the tacoma i used 1.5 6"x25' rolls, but that was a standard cab. i plan on covering everything i can reach with it.
As for removing the factory tar junk, ive read threads on guys using dry ice to freeze it and then chip it off. yall had any luck with doing that?
So, I just bought it. If I have leftovers I can just use it somewhere in the mazda.
tonight was a historic day of sorts. Finally got the top off of the 4runner! Dont have any idea of the last time that the top was off was before the PO repainted it. The cab to top seal was almost glued to the top and we had to break the paint from when the PO painted over it. Anyways, the top came off with some grunting and darting and after realizing that we still had 6 freaking bolts installed, we popped the seal. Doomy, while good for some things, hasn't put many ranks in her strength stat. It took us a little longer, but we got it out onto a set of furniture movers and parked outside the shop door. I'm gonna flip it and strip it this weekend when I do all the interior detailing.
things discovered are that, well, it's been repaired. Lol. Most of the drivers side rear quarter is body filler. Doesn't pass the magnet test and you can clearly see where it's been repaired from inside the bed. We can also see that the wiring for the rear has been futzed with. And i can tell that the cracks in the fiberglass top were in fact leaning water down around d the rear window.
this weekend we might back the truck into the sunlight for cleaning and then push it back in to pull chip out the tar.
pics as usual.
old honda battery was enough to click the relay but not enough to roll the window down. Had to grab the
First time the gate has been opened in quite a while.
Aaaaand, whomp whomp. That stipid rear bumper. Tailgate sits on it. Can't wait to get rid of this stupid thing.
Tailgate doesn't look too bad.
PO had some house carpet that he cut up and put in the bed area over the top of the stock carpet.
Not sure what's going on with this jankey setup.
Nasty. Wish it had the stock bottlejack. This scissor jack won't do squat.
One of the doors was busted and, like everything else, was epoxied. Like, a LOT of epoxy.
Gonna try to sand and repaint.
Shasta seems to like it.
Drivers side quarter. Can see the patch work already.
Rust sitting there where the top meets the body.
Passengers side was better, but you could tell that water had been sitting under the seal.
There's a magnet holding the paper to the body. From that point all the way to the tail lights, the magnet won't stick to the body. Loooooots of filler here.
Not sure what this is for, but the PO has replaced it in the past from a junk yard unit. This one looks like it came from an 86.
.
This is the Relay box that controls your rear window Up and Down functions. It is located behind the drivers seat in the compartment. Anytime you can find one of these in the boneyard it is a great score. I have seen some salvages that were not aware of what they are or for. It is common part to fail or rear window problems.
If the salvage knows what it is, it can be expensive. If they dont know, act dumb and say yours is missing it and you want to see what it does. I buy them each time I can when I find them which is not very often.
im gonna be making a pick n pull run soon to get some G144 diffs so, ill keep my eyes peeled, although first gens get picked over almost immediately here in the valley. Any parts you need off of second gens I can get. we have 7 in 1 yard right now. and theres 3 yards within 10 miles, so....hahaha. Seriously, if theres any hard to find second gen stuff to get, lemme know so i can snag it. I will also be looking for different windshield wipers while im there. hopefully something newer will match up with the right angles.
Project of the night was to rehab the glass in the runner. I got all the glass on the body done. The top was outside and since I have no lights outside the shop, I couldn't do it. I'll get to it sunday, hopefully. I have to get the top either back on the truck or just in the garage before wed. It's supposed to start pouring rain again for a few days.
Anyways, I love how it came out. Clean and clear. The passenger side of the truck was almost perfect save for a few hard water spots. Drivers side of windshield and drivers window were so covered in hard water that you couldn't see through them. The other day I tried to scrape through with a new razoe blade and windex. No dice. Went on to use some heavy duty solvent called spitfire. This stuff eats concrete. Didn't touch it. Gave me some pretty itchy and red hands though. Need to remember to wear gloves. Hahaha.
so, did my research and old school car guys and a lot of detailer use 0000 steel wool and lots of glass cleaner. Well, that's what I did. Other than feeling like my arms are going to fall off, I'm happy with the results. I'll let the pics speak for themselves.
(Apologies for the pics being blurry. My lense on the phone was oily and I was taking pics left handed. My bad)
Now just need to windex the inside of the glass and get the top all cleaned. I believe that since the drivers side was facing east, the morning sun just baked the hard water into the drivers side of the glass for the past 5 years.
New head unit came in. Not the newest of the fanciest, but it will work just fine.
Excited to get to use these. I've always been fascinated with upholstery and can't wait to dip my toes into it. Id like to, in the future, pull some seat skins off and use them as a pattern to make new ones. But I think that's still a LONG way off.
Some small items checked off the list today. Was able to get all of the carpets pulled and scrubbed with oxiclean and then pressure washed off. I don't think I've ever seen so much human slime in one place before. We also did the seat belts. Pulled them out completely and clamped them open. Did you know thsee seat belts are blue and not brown? Yea, me neither until today. We've got the front kick panels and the rear seat belts sitting in hot oxiclean water overnight. When I saw the bucket a few hours ago, it looked like someone just dumped a pint of guiness into a bucket. So grotty.
We were also able to get the entire floor pan covered in peel n seal. I've used just over a 3rd of the 100 sqft roll and I've still gotta do the rattley items like the quarter panels, door skins, and tailgate skin. Those shouldn't be too tough.
Hopefully we can put in the carpets tomorrow and get the interior buttoned up for now. Still gotta install the stereo and the kicker speakers in the dash and clean up the mess of wiring from the PO. Battery should be here wed, so until then, we're gonna be finishing inside and painting some things. Then start her up next weekend.
What I started the day with.
Seems like some mold has gotten into the padding.
Stripped.
Tailgate is in pretty good kit. Need to grease the gears, methinks.
Nice working on this thing in sunlight.
I don't understand how the PO did this. The is the bracket for the seat back. It's mangled. Both of the back seats have the head rests permanently jammed into them, and the passenger side pull is bent inwards toward the cushion.
Starting out. Front carpets did get pulled and cleaned too.
Doomy cleaning the belts. They were horrifying.
I'm thinking I might need the heat gun to get the carpet back into shape.
Looks better in the sunlight but not perfect.
This is where the 3' wide roll of peel n seal came in handy.
All done. Used the old house carpet from the rear section to keep from having out knees destroyed by the ridges.
I dig the way it looks. But I can't wait to get the carpet back in. It should smell so clean.
It's been a long weekend of work, but the interior is all back in and cleaned fresh save for the passenger seat, rear back rest, and passenger side panel. They will need to be cleaned with the carpet cleaner. Good news...the seat belts retract on their own now! And they don't smell like old taco bell! Yay!
Today I got both of the quarter panels covered in peel n stick. Most of the panels have 3 layers on them. Nice and heavy. Has a nice thud when you hit them now. Also got the hard panels in the rear repainted in a satin black. I know it doesn't match the blue, but the long term plan is to change the interior to charcoal and blacl anyways. Plys the panels were a brown color and they all have been cracked and repaired shoddy in the past. So I didn't feel too bad. I didn't get a chance to tear into and seal up the top yet, but I have a week, so I feel pretty comfortable le about it not being done yet.
there's a few pics in here from yesterday thrown in with all the ones from today.
using oxiclean and a scrub brush worked pretty well for the seat belts.
Just sprinkle it on and go to town.
Tons of nasty buildup on the base.
Doomy using her feet to hold it down while cleaning.
Yes, that water is brown that is running out of the front carpet.
Doomy cleaning the rear seats. You can see the difference.
Pile of parts left to clean.
This is what the rear panels looked like. That is supposed to be blue.
Peel n seal laid down inside the quarters.
Even got some behind the tool compartment.
Doomy getting the back seat seat back bolted in. Does that count as a palindrome?
Rear panels in. It's a bit of a difference.
Interior assembled as much as possible for now.
So nice that they are clean. Don't have to deal with the human slime and stench from the PO.
Threw the house carpet back in there partially for padding and partially to protect the other carpet from white dog fur.
Almost there.
6 switch single din panel from paranoid fabrication came in. It'll go right under the stereo. Should I paint it or leave it raw.
So did a few things while Space was at work... not a whole lot.
Somehow gave myself a blister doing the following at an unknown point. Also popped said blister on accident. Finished cleaning remaining passengers side seats and panels. As you can see, they were pretty disgusting. Look at the difference one pass made. 😷😖 Clean as I can get them. I think this seat may be original? It's different from all the others and is far more battered than the rest. Actually looks a little blue again. Passengers back rest. Not crazy clean... But at least it's not slimy anymore. Working smarter, not harder. Lol. Bringing them back into the shop since the sun is setting. Center rear seatbelt installed. All rear buckles installed. (I had to Google a diagram of this. I started secong guessing myself.) Forgot to take a photo before I started cleaning the plastic cap for the seatbelt. That black stuff was really thick all over it. Especially the top. Space thinks it was mold, but looking at it in the sunlight today it looked much closer to animal droppings that sort of melted onto the plastic. It was disgusting. As clean as it's getting. Installing front passenger seatbelt. Sans top bolt.
I broke it off using a dinky little screwdriver. Must've been ollllddd. I didn't even use much force. I did manage to get the rest of it back out of the hole with just my fingers by reaching behind and backing it out. Cut my fingers up pretty good but I couldn't find any pliers small enough to keep good maneuverability. Bottom secured. All done. At least until we get a replacement bolt for the one I broke. But until then we don't have to worry about losing the rest of the bolts or having the seatbelt get in the way while putting the rest of the interior back together.
I wanted to get the rest of the passengers side seats and panels installed before space got home tonight but breaking that stupid bolt off are up a lot of my time. I had to go back and get the kiddos from the in-laws since they were going to bed soon.
Sounds/looks like a whole lot of nothing for the amount of time I spent out there today but that's because I also did a few things not directly related to my truck. I also scrubbed the crap out of the kids wagon and another car we're going to sell that have both been sitting out in the country air for months. Lots of baked on dirt, grime, and bird crap.
This also largely contributed to taking up the time I could've used putting the seats back in.
But oh well. They needed to be done during the daylight. Seats - not so much.
Last edited by doomy; 03-14-2017 at 11:11 PM.
Reason: Phone accidentally posted a duplicate comment
As you saw abovw, doomy got the interior mostly put back together. Was a nice surprise to come home to. I got the rest of the seats in and then started to tackle the stereo and...of course, the PO hacked up the dash and slammed the old radio in because he didn't have the bracket that holds it in. Smdh. So I need to order a new bracket. Plus, the wiring is a nightmare. Not a single wire was the same length and the rear speakers weren't even hooked up. I just don't get it.
only other thing I got to was getting the top inside. That thing is a bear to handle on your own. Wouldn't want to install it myself. Good news there is that the seals are just fine. That little strip of runner that was hanging out is actually the gasket for the window. So I think I'll be able to wedge that up in place. I can see that the top has been leaking for sure, but I won't know where from until tonight when I tear into it.
Interior all in! Yay. Save for the bolt that Magill gorilla snapped earlier in the evening.
Looks good. As a side note, the rear head rests don't belong in this truck and are literally jammed in place. They are getting cut off with a Sawzall and I'm going to pound out the legs through the seat.
Nasty wiring job.
Hi lift looks right at home.
Nipple installed finally.
The muffler got here. Very nice construction on this thing. Hope it sounds as good as it looks.
Top in its temporary resting place.
This thing has so much epoxy in it! Wondering if I should just buy one in better condition and turn this into a half top or something else.
This crack that has bee "repaired" actually has mold growing in it.
Told you so.
Both corners have been slathered in jbweld.
Doesn't look good.
More epoxy where it connects to the cab.
In the light I can definately see the water damage.
Both sides.
I think the drivers side glass has been replaced. Theres black window sealant on the inside here. And all the plastic bolts are loose on this side.
battery should be in today. Get that installed and then see if I can't figure out how to adjust the tps. 4crawler has a writeup I'll be using.
Not a whole helluva lot accomplished tonight. Installed the 4crawler tps screws, opened the box for the kicker speakers for the dash, and got the new Exide Edge battery set in place. Then I went over to the top. I couldn't find any obvious signs of water leaks. So I just scrubbed everything down real good including the motor cover and the vinyl. I used some silicone on the crack that had mold in it. Not much else to do here. Just gotta wait for the weekend and we can get her cranked up. Hopefully.
new speakers. Kinda miss the old yellow and black kickers.
Out with the old crappy honda battery.
In with the new Exide Edge sealed battery.
4Crawler TPS screw kit.
Installed. But not adjusted. Shiny.
The inside of the motor cover was nasty.
Motor assembly. Looks to be in good kit. Just cleaned off all the dirt.
On order from toyota is a new battery hold down and J hook, new stereo brackets, and a new mast for the broken power antenna.
Not much done today. Actually kinda disappointed. Only got the topper taped off for paint and the intake tube, that was all scratched up, painted. Wooo...
pics.
crinkled diet coke bottle works perfect for holding the intake tube.
Top masked off inside. Need to trim some tape. Then mask the outer lip.
About 3 years ago I picked up a flag that i had planned to hang up in my garage after running it on my tacoma at Pismo. Well, those days came and went many years ago and the flag never got used, just sitting on my dining room table taking up space. so, as my beautifully rendered photoshop shows, this is the plan for its use now. Its cheap and will work until Doomy finds the material she wants to cover the headliner with for good. I think it will add a nice touch.
Only other thing to note for the day is that i will have a locked front 4.88 diff on my doorstep in a few weeks. Looking forward to that. neither of my other trucks have had lockers.
she's a little dirty, but she'll clean up nice. Then I can get it dirty again. Hahaha.
Last edited by space-junk; 03-17-2017 at 07:17 PM.
03-04-2017, 06:31 PM
