bryan89

Well, its official.
As of today,after a trip to my insurance agent and the DMV, my 88 4runner daily driver project is officially on the road.
How did I fair, might you ask?
Well, let me break it down for you. I originally budgeted 5000 dollars for the project. the scope of the project included an older, yet reliable, daily driver project that would allow me to tow a small boat, cart my 85 pound lab around, and shuttle a few passengers better than the silver 2006 honda civic si I was currently driving. (nicknamed the sardine can). Additionally, I wanted decent gas mileage, and of course something more stylish/ nostalgic than the honda. lets face it. a civic is not a chick magnet. So naturally, i chose a fist generation 4runner. it would allow me to achieve all of these things and still get decent mileage (a projected 20mpg when tuned up).

I kept track of the entire project from the time i received the title and delivery of the truck (bought it from a yotatech member and had it shipped from CO to charleston, SC).

Keep in mind, i started with an all original, rust free body.
The only major flaw (what i would call major) is that it was in need of a transmission rebuild/ replace.
WARNING: IF you dont want to know what it costs to own operate a $runner dont look at the following paragraphs!!!



All in all, i spent $5297.23 on the project part. less than 6% over budget. thats not too bad i thought. Considering I rebuilt the transmission, and included the cost of the 20 ton press i had to buy to do it. As well as the fact that I included the property tax, sales tax, registration fee, and insurance in my total.


there is a section at the bottom for things that i purchased in excess of what was required for the project. they include speakers, cosmetic interior pieces, a used soft top, etc. before everyone goes saying i blew my budget, i just want to say i did not include those things because they were not required for getting it on the road, but agreeably make driving the truck a lot nicer. If you count that stuff, my total was just over 6400 bucks. but i couldnt justify adding a soft top to the project. it was just something i knew i wanted to get later and could not pass up the deal at the time.

Let me know what you guys think. how did i do? do your projects compare?
ps. i plan on keeping the excel file updated as i own the truck. i think it will be interesting to see how much it costs over its life.

i would upload the file, but the forum wont accept excel files. boooooo

flashkl

dude you should turn that excel file into a gif and upload it I wanna see

bryan89

allrighty....
ill try and see what happens.

you can see the bulk of the cost was the 2500 purchase price and the grand i spent shipping it here. besides the tranny, not much else was wrong with it. just general maintanance i guess. its a testament to toyota reliability

NicCantDecide

I'd like to see the spreadsheet as well because I just bought an 86 as a daily driver.

I've got a few small leaks and some basic maintenance to do, but otherwise she runs great.

Seeing what you had to fix up would be a good reference for me.

EDIT: haha just missed your post I guess. Good stuff!

bryan89

yeah mine had ZERO fluids leaking from it. motor sounds to be in great shape. previous owner had done most of the tune up stuff as far as plugs, wires. etc. so it was pretty good there other than an idle adjustment from the high altitude swap from colorado to below sea level in charleston.

if you have any questions about what the parts were for, or what i did or why let me know. i would love to answer them.


the only things left that i would like to do in the near future is fix the fuel sending unit, so the gauge on the dash works and have the rocker panel area line-x'd (or equivalent)

bryan89

some of the dumb stuff i had to fix that you might run into with a 22 year old vehicle was:

the po (not the one i bought it from, b4 that) cut giant holes in the doors to put speakers in the doors. did a really bad job and butchered the door panels. not only did it suck, but it removed the ability to remove the doors quickly. (without the speakers my truck had no electronics in the doors. manual locks and windows baby! so doors would come off with ease. just remove two pins in hinges) anyways, i fixed that by making a block of plate to cover the hole. additionally, the vapor barriers in all the doors had been ripped to shreads. (typical dumb mechanic mistake) i guess most people dont know what they are for and just tear them up. just in case you dont know, doors are designed to let water from rain inside them. the vapor barrier stops water from splashing on the back of the cardboard door panel and ruining them. so they are quite necessary. i made new ones and adhered them with the factory butyl rubber strip. (really sticky stuff)

also, this truck had an alarm system and power locks added to it at one time, then removed before i got it. so there were remnants of chopped harnesses, bunt connectors, and electrical taped connections everywhere! i hate that crap. if you cant take the time to solder something correctly, you dont know what you are doing and shouldnt be doing it anyway...IMO. so i redid all of that horrible wiring correctly and/or removed it.

it was stuff like that. basically most of my time and money was spent re-fixing stuff that previous owners over the last 22 years had "fixed"

NicCantDecide

Yeah, my truck's been roughed up a bit, the dash has seen quite a bit of damage, but I'll get around to replacing that at some point.

Mechanically the engine runs great and the tranny shifts fine, I just get a couple drips from the back of the transmission a day and a drip from one of the radiator hoses every once in awhile. I'm planning on cleaning the entire undercarriage and seeing where the leaks are coming from, seems like the output flange on the back of the transfer case.

As far as comfort, I need to get a new window regulator for the driver's side, wire up my head unit for audio, and replace some o-rings in the A/C system.

I ripped out the back carpet and the interior trim on the tail gate because it had water damage. I noticed you replaced yours with aluminum plate, do you have any pictures?

I'm getting a degree in Embedded Systems so I know how to solder properly haha I hate bad wiring jobs.

Thanks!

peow130

Pics of the truck?

bryan89

yeah, my dash was pretty rough, but i replaced it too.

i dont have pics of the truck, except for the ones of when i got it. i am going to try and take some this weekend though.

in the mean time i will see if i can find/upload some of the old pictures.

it has the sweet 80s graphics on the rockers. (which i plan to linex over) top is faded a little, but i plan to linex it as well. not too bad for all original 22 year old paint i thought.

rattlewagon

Haha. You love seeing this stuff. Its cool so see it displayed so nicely. Mine would look like a pile of receipts in a muddy mess on the passenger floor. haha.

yeehaw1

Very nice, I think I may have to start an excel file for my pickup, that was a good idea!

Pics of the truck and interior please!

waynesworld

that's a good idea i wish i was that organized. good lukn 4runner.

flashkl

Yeah I got an excel file like that going for my truck but not quite as detailed. I also have data from every tank of gas Ive ever bought for the truck, I've spent over 5100 bucks in gas since I got her two and a half years ago

klbeans

I had a similar file for my truck but then decided to delete the costs column. As I'm currently going through a restore, I'd feel too guilty looking at all the money spent on a truck I use primarily as a recreational vehicle. As they say, ignorance is bliss.

I do keep a spreadsheet with costs for our daily commuters though.

greatskiiiier

dude, you could have done it soooo much cheaper. heck i bought my 86 for 2200 and it needed NOTHING. of course i couldnt leave it that way and im currently in at 2600 (soon to go to 3600 if it doesnt sell)

Nervo19

Nice red one! You are awfully organized. I do have a file for my new/old project '89 but it's a manilla folder with receipts. I noticed you bought the Internal Rust Spray from Eastwood. Have you used it yet? I've just acquired some. It has those long hoses to get into the frame. I'm wondering if once you start using it you must discharge the whole can or can you store it like regular spray paint? I've run into that problem with spray foam. I usually waste half a can when I use Great Stuff. The hose on that clogs and the can becomes no good. (On house not 4Runner!) I was thinking of running brake cleaner through the hose before storage.

Junkers88

If I had been smarter I'd have done the same thing you did with regards to tracking cost. I can't even imagine what I've got into my rig...... lets guess shall we?

1500$ buy in
200$ lift
200$ header/exhaust
400$ seats
400$ roof rack
500$ tires
25$ intake
150$ clutch
500$ lockers and gears front and rear
700$ rock armour
200$ full synthetic fluids
500$ misc stuff like interior parts

Whats that? Like 5300$?? Lets call it closer to 6000$..... damn that is way beyond my initial budget of a DD/weekend camper.....

I will say that the tires, armour and locker (the rear) were bought for another rig (and abused while on that rig) so I don't know if that counts. Still an easy way to spend money.

bryan89

Yeah, i havent gotten around to spraying the frame yet. just about for the same reason too lol. i want to make sure i have enough time to do the whole thing because i too dont think that little nozzle dealy will be worth a crap after the first use. i'll let you know how it goes.

on a side note, i got the top off the truck for the first time today!! the reason i wanted to take it off was to inspect the seal at the cab. i think i have a tiny leak there. well turns out the the seal is in pretty bad shape. only beacuse who ever put the top on last did not do it properly and the seal got smushed. it stayed that way for so long its pretty much worthless now. also, the top was only held on by like 5 of the 18 (i think) bolts. so that was pretty slack. but i found out toyota does not make this seal anymore (discontinued). so i am sol. i emailed steele rubber to see if they had somehting on the shelf that would work but probably wont hear anything till after the holiday.
anyways, here is a pic.... you can see i have all the cargo panels torn out too. i cleaned all the dirt and dust out from in there. good as new!!

So, i guess i am the only anal guy on here that kept track of everything in a spreadsheet? lol. no one can tell me how much they spent...besides a good guess?

yeehaw1

Oh, if I sat down and dug everything out, I could probbally tell ya, I scribbled down the price of all the parts it took to fix my truck after my accident, and I know what I've installed, so I could run to advance and get those prices, buuuuut, I'm too lazy to do all that this close to thanksgiving.

NicCantDecide

I'm just starting up my spreadsheet right now.

Glad I saw you doing this before I got more than 2 weeks into owning my current 4Runner haha.