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So many of you followed my 1st gen 4Runner build. And I stayed fairly strict with oem and genuine parts for that resto-mod. I decided to pick up a pretty shatty truck from a local smack dealer. I’ve dubbed it Gator Turd. This experiment is to see how cheap I can “fix” it up and see what I can sell it for. All prices will be listed in this thread. I’ll be very transparent. I bought the truck for 1600 bucks. It starts and drives. Clean title. I can tell it’s been in a wreck, passenger rad support is crunched. I brought her home and so far I have removed a few tons of mud, one dead possum, the front bumper, trailer hitch, various wiring, reinstalled one door, and hammered out the fubar inner fender. I also started removing the 3” body lift, swapping it for a 1” 4crawler set of pucks I had in my garage. Here it is… in all it’s glory.
Another restoration by you? Mint condition in a few months.
im not going that far. really just want to straighten out the few issues it has and make it a complete truck. guy has it held together with zip ties and gorilla glue at the moment.
Pretty sweet truck for a total pile can't wait to see it fixed up by someone who cares! My 4Runner has a couple zipties in place of fender bolts. I wonder why they didn't just use those from the factory?
Fit some Keypanels door cards on her (on the house of course) , after I put the doors on. Interior.. Cleaned up and I had some POR15 left over from another job. Proper sized wheels abs tires put on and body lift removed Janky body lift that came off New headlight bucket on pass side, Lamps installed, old grill from my ship thrown on, 2wd fenders pulled. So far I’m into this for no money, I did an even swap on the tires and wheels for the ones that were on it and all parts I had on hand. Will go to pick yard tomorrow in search of seats that fit.
chinese eBay fenders slapped on. They actually ended up fitting pretty damn good for only costing 150 bucks shipped (for the pair). I expected to have to fight them for a while, but they just bolted right up.
They LOOK, from the photo, like they're pretty good. Hard to say from that picture, though. Too far away to see many details, like how the weld of the pipe into the muffler, or out of the muffler, and so on.
A consideration, though, is how does the cat look, and the O2 sensor, too. Those affect the ECU's control of the mixture, so pretty important. Every year or two, I beat the heck out of the cat, and it really seems to make a difference. Not enough to damage it, just enough to stir up the bedding a little. A new O2 sensor might be a good idea, but the sensor can be checked. See the FSM for the procedure.
They LOOK, from the photo, like they're pretty good. Hard to say from that picture, though. Too far away to see many details, like how the weld of the pipe into the muffler, or out of the muffler, and so on.
A consideration, though, is how does the cat look, and the O2 sensor, too. Those affect the ECU's control of the mixture, so pretty important. Every year or two, I beat the heck out of the cat, and it really seems to make a difference. Not enough to damage it, just enough to stir up the bedding a little. A new O2 sensor might be a good idea, but the sensor can be checked. See the FSM for the procedure.
Sure bright and shiny, though
Pat☺
everything past the manifold is new. only thing bolted in currently is the y pipe, i was going to reuse the old cat but the PO welded the flanges so chunked it in the scrap pile. i dont see how the cat would effect anything seeing as how it is downstream of the only O2 sensor, but yes the sensor is important. new denso sensor going in. as to brand, its all whatever the "oe replacement" brand was on rockauto, i think it was called BRE. i used their y pipe and their muffler/pipe and it all fits well. contours correctly and has good hangers on it. thats all that matters to me for this truck.
Don't just discard the old cat. Even damaged/unusable, there are places that will pay pretty well to get their hands on a cat. Remember, the active ingredient is platinum, and that aint cheap. Check for catalytic converter recyclers on google, or whatever. You'll get a ton of responses.
yeah, sorry for dropping the ball on this one. i received a job offer that required me and my family to move to arkansas, which was a huge plus for me because i hated living in louisiana. i had to bail on GT earlier than planned, but i still feel like i did well. i slapped the interior back in after i gutted the AC parts for my 4runner, and sold the truck to a guy that came all the way from texas for about 6k. this price was asking price, and he did not haggle or try to negotiate. i think i may have invested roughly 500 dollars into that truck in the end, but i cant really put a dollar amount on my personal time and knowledge that got the truck back into a good running condition, and to be fair i had alot of little parts in my shop that the truck needed as well. so i came about ahead by around 4k i guess. he drove to louisiana with a friend and he drove GT out of my driveway, i never heard back from him so ill assume he made it to texas.
Jul 3, 2021 | 05:38 PM
can't wait to see it fixed up by someone who cares! My 4Runner has a couple zipties in place of fender bolts. I wonder why they didn't just use those from the factory?
