84 4Runner advice
 

Hey all.

First time poster here just looking for some advice to see if I am missing anything.

I picked up a 1984 4Runner last year off craigs. The body was / is in pretty decent shape. It has had a few owners and has some rust. The interior carpeting has been completely removed and the guy I bought it off of had sprayed industrial rhinoliner throughout that actually is pretty cool.

This is pretty much just a trail rig that probably only gets 2000 miles per year on it driving around town and off road. I plan on building it up over the years for a Alaskan mud and hunting rig.

Upgrades when bought:
4" Cheap-O SkyJacker lift
Header
Electric fan

Repairs / upgrades so far since I have bought it:
Guy had a $2k invoice for complete 22r rebuild - but the thing ran very rich / poor when I bought it. Turns out the camshaft wasn't properly broke in and was worn badly and also wrecked the rocker arms. - Replaced with new arms and performance camshaft. I need to rebuild the carb, but it runs fantastic now with much better compression.

Brakes were pitiful - Put in IFS rear, front disc brake conversion w/ tacoma master cylinder.
New battery
New distributor
New coil
New front wheel bearings
New Kevlar clutch
New hoses / belts / fluids all the way around
Swapped out K&N weber air filter for stock filter / box
New 33/12.5/15 procomp muds
Extended diff breathers

Right now I have what appears to be a small front main seal leak or a small leak coming from the oil pump to deal with. I also have a tiny coolant leak that might be coming from the return off the heater core. Plan on flushing / swapping the heater core, cleaning all my air vents and replacing the fan (if required). And I probably need to swap out the fuel filter.

Outside of that, I will probably do the rear disc conversion and Tcase ebrake before I get into lockers, gearing, armor, more lift, etc.

My main concern is reliability at this point. I take the kids and wife with me and don't want to be stranded. Is there anything else you guys can think of that would be a pro-active replacement item at this point? After discovering my camshaft was all worn down, I am a little nervous about the rest of the rebuild that was done, though my local toyota specialist shop has looked at it and says that the problems with the poorly broken in cam should be isolated and I don't have much else to worry about.

:think: It is mechanical even the best maintained vehicles break.

It can be something as simple as a failed brake line

Clutch hydraulic failure .

It can happen with a brand new vehicle.

Being your in the 49th state it can get real interesting not like a trip to the mall.

When you venture out just plan on being stranded Don`t go alone if possible.

Let someone know where your going and when you plan to be back.

I am sure you know these things as well.

In this day with our hectic schedules one ventures out when one can.

Thanks Wyoming.

I would never go way out into the back country up here without some kind of plan, and have a fair amount of experience with that sort of thing.

The kiddo's are so small now, I don't even go out of cell service, just in case. But speaking of brake lines, clutch hydraulic failures, I am keen to know if anyone has experience with these things going out? I am looking to replace small items like this before they go out and leave me 10 miles from the pavement in bear / mosquito country.

Obviously, this truck is 31 years old and things can (and do) break at any time even when new, but in my experience, a well maintained vehicle will do so much less often.

Penny of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

I am guessing you live in Alaska, how is the rust on fluid lines in your state? I dont know the conditions there. Since your 84 is carbed, I would swap out the Aisian carb for a Webber and if the motor is solid, I think you would be safe in the motor department. Check your fuel filters, in the tank and by the tank.

Start with small trips and start shaking out the bugs and fixing them as they come. Usually by the time I get 500 miles on one I feel safe to take them on long distance drives.

:think: Pretty much it is very seldom major things that fail at least in my case.

It is the strange things like the roll pin just shears off allowing the distributor gear to spin but not the distributor.

One night just pure chance the alternator /water pump belt broke Even though I keep after that stuff

Pouring down rain of course.

Another time a piece of metal come up hit the radiator. This is why I don`t care for Aluminum Radiators.

Now all these adventures were when the closest one got to a cell phone was Beam me Up Scottie !!! on Television.

The rust is aweful up here. However, my truck was registered in Colorado for most of its life and Oregon for a few years up until 2011, so they haven't been subjected to all the water, salt up here.

That said, 31 years it probably wouldn't hurt to run new fuel and brake lines.

It actually came with a weber 32/36, that needs a new jet and rebuild, but I am on the fence about swapping out with the stock one. People seem to swear by both.

I rebuilt/messed with my stock aisin for almost a year straight, it never left me stranded but always had issues with the cold start system or the choke...which is small stuff but a rebuild of the weber and I'm sure you'll be happy... and like has been mentioned just take it on small trips then get under it for a good long while...pull on your drive shafts, check your pinions and look for leaks until you feel you've worked all the bugs out...

So far I have been impressed by the stock carb. It has run just fine for me and should do even better with a rebuild.

I have to say the Weber sounds equally appealing.

Noticed a small drip out of my rear diff seal today. Appears to be very minor (much less so than my front main seal / coolant leak). Should be able to hold out until I put in 4.88 gears and a locker.

location of starter motor relay
 

I'm having difficulty locating the starter motor relay for a 1984 toyota 4runner. Does anyone have a schematic diagram of engine bay fuse block and/or kick panel fuse block? Or more directly, where exactly is the starter relay located? Thank you.