Hey guys... I'm new to the Yota world. I am coming out of the Isuzu world where I worked on a bone stock little red rodeo and turned it into this.


Half of the rodeo build is on
http://forum.planetisuzoo.com/viewto...044dbc8e6b60f9

Now that my Rodeo is in tip top shape, I have extra money. I'm a seventeen year old kid from Forks, Washington (Twilight central). I have a full time job, half way through college, in the Fire Dept, fixing up the local animal shelter, and alot more... so I like to stay productive and busy. So, after doing some community service stuff a few days ago, I noticed a 4runner in an old farm garage and asked how much. The lady said 1300 bucks and I took it.

It has 165,000 mile and is V6 3.0L
I'm not sure if it is Deluxe or SR5... how do I figure it out?

















She runs and drives GREAT! What do you guys think? Did I get a good deal? She definitely has potential. I'm not going to make it a trail rig, since i already have one. I'm just going to make it a mall crawler, a pavement princess.

 

How would I go about lifting it? I can think of three options- the three I was faced with my rodeo.

1. 3 inch body lift (Not a fan)
2. 2.5 inch suspension lift [Shackles & Cranked Torsion Bar] (makes a stiff ride)
3. 4 inch suspension lift [Differential drop] (LOVE it, but 700 bucks more money than other 2 options)

What do you guys think? Does the Torsion/shackle lift even work with Yotas?

 

check this out option one

http://www.wabfab.org/products/IFSlifts/IFS.htm

Should get you 33's no problem Oh ya and regear to 4.88's/5.29's

 

U sure u don't want/need another trail rig? Check the. Classifieds section of the forum. If your just looking for a small lift I'm sure there always someone wanting to upgrade getting rid of one. Welcome to Yotatech!

 

Ooooh... ball joint spacers. That's a good idea. What do you guys think about stacking the lifts together-
Shackle/Torsion bars + Ball joint spacers/Add-a-Leaf

Will the stress of the torsion bars harm the ball joints after I've finished the lift? That's 5'' of lift.


-I'm going to put a sick 4x4 look on this rig, but it is sadly going to be a poser. It's kind of like a restoration with upgrades! It's going to look like a purdy-trail rig

 

I have a few questions about it cuz I just purchased it and can't find the badges or technical notes under the hood, in the door jam, in the owners manual, nowhere.

1. How do I go about figuring if this rig is a SR5 or a Deluxe?
2. What is the gearing ration?

^----V6 3.0 '89 runner

 

welcome to YT...looks like you have your work cut out for you.
WIth that 3.0 V-6 i hope you did some research on the joys of ownership of that head gasket wonder

think some real armor too...steps don't work so good

 

Welcome to YotaTech.

Looks like you got a good deal, $1,300 is not bad at all.

Like Robb said, do your research on that engine before you dedicate too much money towards it.
I would seriously sit down and look at the rig as a whole - what needs to be done most?

I'm the type who puts money into mechanical/preventative maintenance stuff first.
There's no sense in dropping a couple grand into something that is going to blow up a year from now - might as well make it last so you know the mods are going to be good for years to come.

I just recently bought an '85 Runner that I'm currently in the process of doing that very with with.

It looks like you have the SR5 from what I can tell.

I would go ahead and do a complete tune-up on it (oil, plugs, fuel filter, air filter, clean the TB and TPS, clean the MAF, etc...).
There is a bunch of information in the tech section on here of where to get started and easy things you can do to help that 3VZ run better.

Get some more pics of the interior and engine bay and let us see what we're working with.

Fink

 

Check my build post that I just posted today. I just did a ball joint lift with 2" springs in the rear on my 1989 4Runner SR5 V6. 33x10.5x15 tires.

As for combining lifts, the front is where you run into the problems. If you want to go much higher than 2 1/2" in the front you will need to do a bracket type lift (4") or a solid axle swap (SAS). In the rear, you can put in the 2" springs and then do a shackle extension to get an inch or so.

It looks like a good deal. With those rims, I would think it was a DLX, didn't SR5's all come with aluminum wheels?

The 3.0 has a bad reputation, deservedly in some ways. Head gaskets can be an issue. I'm not sure about the early model 3.0's in the first gens. I read something the other day where Toyota had nailed the head gasket problem down to a production run from late '90 until 94 or so. For what that is worth. They are a bit of a pain to work on, as they are like an onion, you have to keep peeling the layers to get to the parts. But, for the first gen rigs, the extra power and torque you get over the stock 22RE is nice to have.


Good luck,

Mike

 

Imma "guess" its a DLX because its does not have a sunroof or power anything except for the rear window which they all go down electronically. Any interior pics?