Soobarubin

This has been a long ongoing project, and I just now have decided I have done enough work on my truck to start a build thread on it, and I will update it as I go, so here it goes!


In June of 2009, I got tired of my little tired 86 4wd Subaru, so I looked and looked and found this little gem, kind of! But for $500, I couldn't pass it up!
I have/had a lot of plans for the Runner, ultimately for it to be a rig I can drive way out into the woods, and live out of it for extended periods of time!

-Here it is the first minute it sat in my driveway, with some 31" snow tires the guy took back, a small engine miss, and some minor body damage!


-And shortly after he gave me the old tires on it, I painted the sheet metal fenders black, debadge the front, and paint the grill black!


-My father and I traced down the engine miss to what we thought was an old stretched timing belt, and in the process of putting the front end all back together, we managed to send all the pistons up into the valves...
Then I decided at 226xxx miles on her, she needed a refreshed heart, one with a titanium valves, broad range cam, 9.3x1 KB racing pistons, and a few other cool things. And this is what the transplant looked like after 4 months of work!


-Got tired of the balding little 235's on it, so I bit the bullet and ordered 4 31" Kumho Road Venture SAT's, had them installed, and haven't looked back since!
(Don't mind the bad sag, that will be addressed here real soon!)


-After the tires not much happened for a while, got the front clipped at a friends house, whoever it was never confessed...


-I do a lot of hunting so it is off road quite a bit, and with open diffs, this is as far flexed I could get or cared to get in -10F!


-Got the interior, my "cockpit" set up pretty nicely, iPod mount, Garmin, sticky pad for my phone etc, CB (out of the picture) and some various other gadgets!


-And then spring break 2011 arrived, I had come into money suddenly (tax return) so I decided, while I'm on family vacation in Oregon, I'll order some suspension "parts!"
Here is a very good before comparison picture, pictured with my other daily driver, the Kona...


And now I plan on keeping you hangin for at least a day while I prepare my pictures for viewing etc, and I don't throw everything all out at once, this is an ongoing build thread dontchaknow!

Hope I didn't bore you too much!
Thanks for readin!

-Jaren

Philbert

iTrader: (2)

Subscribed!!

Soobarubin

So last week I decided I was very tired of having maybe 2 inches of up travel in my rear leafs...
I got in touch with "kratter" on eBay, very nice guy, and ordered 2, 14" tall 150psi coils! While doing some research, I didn't see many guys using the 150lb springs, but I decided since I have a box/drawer system dealio in the back of my 4Runner that weighs 60+- lbs and has about 50lbs of gear in it, I'll order some stiff coils!

-Here is the distance between bumpstops, this is on jackstands so it had maybe a millimeter more, probably not though.


Sorry I didn't get any before measurements, I just wanted to get this thing the heck done!
-Chose these stiff coils because I have this setup in the back, normally more than 2 people, and guns/camping gear/other nonsense, and am looking to haul a trailer this summer!


-I pulled the sawzall out, and did work! The first coil was a little more tricky, but by the second one, with the help of a pump jack, and a scissor jack, these popped mostly right in with a little BFH work!


-Once I got the right side coil in, the left went smoothly!

Hey look an overload spring! I thought those were a myth made up to make kids think these trucks had suspension in the rear? Who knows.
This is at full maximum droop I could get the leafs to go, they compressed nicely.

-I pulled it outta the garage, and this is the sight that greeted me!


I was pretty excited about it, course I had to take it off road, closest dirt road is about a third of a mile from me!

-So on Sunday, I decided to address the front suspension, it also had little to no travel. Pulled the stock shocks, put my new monroe's I ordered up next to them.


-Took maybe 30 minutes to replace both sides, pulled it outta the garage, and this is the final ride height after the weekend!


More updates here real soon!

-Jaren

BigBluePile

iTrader: (3)

Verry nice!

Philbert

iTrader: (2)

ZUK FTW!

Nice work!!

twistedyota

iTrader: (1)

good luck

Soobarubin

Thanks guys! It's still a work in progress, just a little body work to do, then some bumpers, and a cool Jerry can setup I'm workin through in my head!

I'll keep on updatin!

bm87runner

your getting alot done man, nice job
just curious did you put a bracket on the top of those coils?

Soobarubin

Thanks dude! This has been spaced out over about a year now though!
I didn't put a bracket, cut my top bumpstop at about 1" and bent it ever so slightly outwards with a hammer, and popped the coil right in! With these being 14" tall, I have no worries at all of them popping out of there!

Thanks
-Jaren

twistedyota

iTrader: (1)

hows it going?

Soobarubin

Sorry for the lack of updates, the most expensive mod I have been doing lately is at the fuel pump!

-Jaren

Soobarubin

Sorry for the lack of updates, landscapers only have a certain amount of time to make their money!

I was wondering if any 1st gen people have had this problem, I've tried to take pictures of it but it never works out, I'll try again tonight. Anyways, the door trim around the door frame like to pull off if it gets brushed, touched, anything! It bends outwards and never seats correctly after that! Not a total huge issue, just really bugs me!

-Jaren

Soobarubin

I need a new rear bumper, hardly have the time to fab my own up right now... So I've decided to buy one. I am leaning towards this TAG multi-carrier rear bumper, without the swing gate, just the receiver and tow points and side pieces to get rid of the plastic side pieces...

http://www.tacticalarmorgroup.com/TA...6/Default.aspx

Someone has to have experience with these, how strong are they, worth the money, look good overall?
I want a nice fabbed rear bumper out of plate metal, I've looked at the tube bumpers that some companies build, and they look cool and everything, just don't really hit home with me.

Anyone else know of a better bumper money, strength and quality wise? I'm not looking to spend over $500.
If all else fails, I'll go down to a local fab shop and see what they say!

-Jaren

Soobarubin

Haven't updated in a while, so I'll bring you up to speed! Hit 2 deer in the last month, so the front stock bumper is pretty much toast, but a while back I scored an ARB front for '84-85 pickup for $300 bucks, and I was thinking about selling it but I may just have my buddy who works at a fab shop mod the bumper to fit my '87.
I made some quick light tabs that fit over the fenders to hold a 55W tractor implement flood light, just for temporary lighting so I don't hit any more animals!
I also picked up a set of stock Toyota steel 15" rims, and had them powder coated gunmetal grey, haven't decided on tires yet but I'm thinking of going with 31"x10.5 Maxxis Bighorns...

-Jaren