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little back story.. I've been driving the hell out of my 5th gen and after buying it new off the lot in New Hampshire, then driving it across the country (yes i stopped in moab silly) and hitting the SD traffic for a year i already have 45k miles on it. yikes. in pops the idea to look for a cheap voter with a 4 banger for good mileage. i had a 1st gen in college so i started looking there since i already had a little knowledge. i came across an 87 towards the border, test drove it (ran great) and decided to buy it mostly because I'm still blown away at the lack of rust on west coast trucks. after a few weeks of putting around and not doing anything to the truck aside from tweaking the adjustment screw for the idle, i got bored and decided to start restoring her.
the week we brought it home
first things first i did a proper valve adjustment on the top end and stopped that pesky 22re chatter. its been a few weeks so i don't have any pics of the work but i just used the old chiltons manual and it was a breeze. i then decided to get rid of the rear spring sag by sticking an add-a-leaf in the mix,
this threw the arse end up just a hair high so about 3 turns on the front torsion bars and all was right with ride height. running 245's at the moment but looking to go to 265s soon.
i added some KYB gas adjust shocks on the front and rear for a factory ride and rebuilt the front and rear brakes with new hardware. i used the factory front calipers but put new seals and boots on them with a coat of paint. then tore down the hubs, got some oem orings and seals, promptly lost one of the roller balls and had to order new kits from marlin crawler..
with the some minor mechanical pests out of the way i started hitting the interior. i removed all of the seats, carpet, and rear panels. i used charcoal colored vinyl paint on all the plastics and they came out pretty good in my opinion. when i got the radio out, which wasnt working, i almost cried at the hack job of a wire bundle i found. someone back in thr early 90s tried to wire in the head unit without an adaptor so most of my harness has been cut or spliced somewhere. i had to run new speaker wire for all 4 speakers, which i replaced. i was able to salvage the old cassette deck though. i pressure washed and re dyed the cargo area carpet, added some mass backing and put it back in. i ordered a new carpet kit for the passenger area from OCautocarpets and added some mass backing for sound. before i put the rear panels back in i stuck some sound dampener in the wheel wells.
as of now, its in the drive way where im attempting to paint it. i may be over my head on this part of the project.
Your 4R's in good condition.
I see the broken parts in the headline in some photos.
The seats're in very good shape.
I'd like to paint mine also, give some courage, upload photos of the process!
Your 4R's in good condition.
I see the broken parts in the headline in some photos.
The seats're in very good shape.
I'd like to paint mine also, give some courage, upload photos of the process!
Happy new year!
i wish i hadnt deleted most of the pics i took of the process already. mind you ive been doing this for about 2 months already. i do have some good photos and video clips on my instagram keyappstate for anyone whos on there. and the seats were in good shape on the outside but both the bottoms were blown out, so i decided to swap them for some second gen seats i got on the cheap. ill be removing the seat trim to color match it soon.
i like the door panels. manual locks and windows, but has the lower pocket. nice.
i stopped at moab, too. but returned to nh.
if it were up to me id still be in NH. I hate it in california personally. freakin hippies. i was surprised the door panels were in as good shape as they are. the passenger side is missing the lock bezel so if anyone has one I NEED IT. that little lock jiggling around is driving me crazy. im going to be takin the doors apart soon to grease the regulators. windows are getting mighty hard to roll up and down when its cold outside.
if it were up to me id still be in NH. I hate it in california personally. freakin hippies. i was surprised the door panels were in as good shape as they are. the passenger side is missing the lock bezel so if anyone has one I NEED IT. that little lock jiggling around is driving me crazy. im going to be takin the doors apart soon to grease the regulators. windows are getting mighty hard to roll up and down when its cold outside.
my windows had the same issue. partly solved it by pulling the gasket out and applying adhesive to the back, so that the gasket doesn't slide down with the window. i also pulled the panels to lubricate things, but making the window run gasket stay in place worked best.
i like it in nh. i lived in ID for a short time in the early 90s. didn't dislike it, but it wasn't new england. made my third appearance in CA during our national park/monument/forest etc trip in 2016. i don't see how people deal with the traffic congestion on a daily basis. not for me at all.
i found that the glove box was missing the old gearbox operations decal. i tracked down the p/n and called toyota. according to my local dealer there are only 2 left. i picked one up and took it along with my propeller shaft greasing card and took them both to a reputable print shop in town. i have a batch of 50 being made of each item. they will be exact replicas. if anyone is interested in acquiring one ill be posting a thread about them once they arrive this week. these pictures are the copies of my original grease card from the sun visor and the copy of the new oem decal from toyota, this is exactly how the will look. looks like ill be able to sell them for 5 bucks, if anyones interested.
got some work forward on painting today. i removed all the chrome trim from the drivers side. ill need to track down new plastic clips to put the lower door trim back on, they all broke. the fender trim came off without any breaks. when i got the grill out i started to notice some strange things. the square holes to the lower inside of the headlamps didnt touch the grill clips, also the lamp was a little crooked and i hadnt noticed that the rally striped werent on the driver fender. i think it was in a front end collision at some point and had body work done. anyone know what those square holes should look like (ie do they protrude out towards the grill?) some of you are going to criticize leaving the outline of the rally stripes under the primer. i did that so that i would have a template for the new ones. another question, do the oem rally stripes go under or on top of the clear coat? ive also decided to ditch the chrome windshielf trim and opt for the black rubber gasket, to prevent any future rust. i have all pieces except the passenger outer piece, if some one is interested.
getting the grill out these square holes dont look right.. the grill clips werent in these spots front fender sanding trim pieces off more sanding primer on
Nice restoration job! Welcome to San Diego.
Re: Front calipers... Did you have any rust inside the cylinder? Did you need to hone and use bigger diameter seals?
Wanna check my valve clearance and lubricate my locking hubs soon, too.
Last edited by RAD4Runner; 01-01-2018 at 10:46 PM.
Nice restoration job! Welcome to San Diego.
Re: Front calipers... Did you have any rust inside the cylinder? Did you need to hone and use bigger diameter seals?
Wanna check my valve clearance and lubricate my locking hubs soon, too.
surprisingly no, they were pretty clean. the seals were shot and they were dirty as hell but i was able to clean them up nicely with some brass brushes and brake cleaner. i used an oem rebuild kit but beware, i tore my calipers all the way down (in half) only to find that most rebuild kits do not come with the oring that goes between the two caliper halves. i had to reuse the old one, unfortunately. i cleaned up the pistons with some emory cloth and the bore as well. a little brake grease on the new ones and they slid right in. i used the trick called out in the chilton book and stuck compressed air into the fluid port with some small pieces of wood inside and blew out the pistons one by one.
Great work. You can get new pedal pads like the late Tacomas off of ebay if you want to replace the worn pads. I bought them and they we Toyota pads. Good ;luck with it.
It's looking good.
Do you plan to re install the aluminium trims?
What is the Duplicolor color reference you used to paint the plastic panels?
I do intend to reinstall the fender trim and the door guards as soon as i can find the clips that hold the door guards on ha. And the duplicolor vinyl paint color is charcoal vinyl and fabric paint. I bought it at pepboys but have seen ir at most parts stores.
Great work. You can get new pedal pads like the late Tacomas off of ebay if you want to replace the worn pads. I bought them and they we Toyota pads. Good ;luck with it.
Thanks for the tip i was thinking about new ones, i also saw the markin crawler and toytec both sell oem replacements for cheap.
made some decent progress today. the original trailer hitch was a useless 1 inch that was welded to the oem bumper brackes. got it all off in preps for painting, got the rear emblems off, AND got my final product from the print shop. in the pics the oem decal and card are on the bottom, my replicas are on top. i have them for sale for 5 bucks on my etsy shop if anyones interested https://www.etsy.com/shop/Yoters
Please, can you tell me about the compressor you're going to use to paint your 4R? It's a question to ask in a car paint forum, I know, but I'd like to know what you use. Thanks.
Please, can you tell me about the compressor you're going to use to paint your 4R? It's a question to ask in a car paint forum, I know, but I'd like to know what you use. Thanks.
i have a husky pro 60 gallon compressor. its a bit overkill for what i do but it was a great deal on craigslist a while back.
12-30-2017, 08:05 PM
