strykersd

I need a non-wing window driver door without any dents. Let me know what you have.

idsmokeu2

I have a 4 runner I'm parting out. It's an 86 with everything still intact. Although locally some stuff is already spoken for.

spideynut

Wish my budget stayed under 3K for my RTE. I think Im around at 8K and still not done!

strykersd

So I finally went to smog and register my 4runner, but while getting it smogged it stunk up the whole shop! I've smelled something on start up, but never realized how bad it was. With how bad it smelled, the results were no surprise.


I had a free retest and with how bad it was, I knew the catalytic converter was bad so I figured I'd change that out. Plus in my experiences, if you install a new catalytic converter and drive straight to a smog shop, you'll pass 95% of the time. While removing my old cat and welding in a new one, I noticed this.

My cat was empty! I'm not sure if the previous owner hollowed it out or it just burned out, but that explained why it failed so badly. With the new cat, it passed with flying colors! Although it passed smog, it still has a few bugs I have to work out. First off it's hard to start, having to crank over probably half a dozen times before it fires up. The other thing is that it'll sometimes stall out while in gear at a stop light. I'll work that out while driving it over the next few days.


Every time I pulled onto or off of my driveway while turning, my 35" MTRs rubbed against my fenders like crazy. In reverse, it would actually rip chunks off my tires! So I did a little trimming and pounding of the pinch weld. I taped up and marked my fenders, so that I wouldn't damage the paint then marked it where I wanted to make my cuts.


The finished project!



I've been holding off on buying parts for the 4runner the last few weeks just in case it wouldn't pass smog, but now I can finally start dropping some money into it!

The catalytic converter set me back $160, bringing my total project cost = $2881

strykersd

Oh and one more thing! Today was the first time I took the 4runner on the highway to test out my current setup.

My old 4runner ran a LC Engineering, W56 manual transmission, 4:88 gears and 35" tires. This setup held 5th gear well on highways and even slight grades. For steeper grades drop down to 4th and that would normally do the trick. For steeper grades when I was fully loaded with camping/wheeling gear I'd sometimes have to drop down to 3rd gear.

This new setup consists of a stock 22RTE engine (low 7.5:1 compression), automatic transmission, 4:88 gears and 35" tires. To be completely honest, this new setup is a dog on the highway! I can't hold fourth gear on slight grades. I find myself having to turn overdrive off on slight highway grades. Fourth gear is like sixth gear on new manual transmission vehicles, just for flat highways. The only difference is the guy with a six speed has five other gears to go to! I'm afraid to see how it does when loaded with camping/wheeling gear and people in it. My suspicions were correct in that 5:29 gears would have better suited my setup, but I got such a good deal on these 4:88s that I couldn't turn them down. I'm just hoping I won't have to drop down to 2nd gear for steep highway grades! I'll also be interested to see what gas mileage I get with my current setup. My old setup averaged 17-19MPG.

Although it's a dog now, I'm planning on doing a few modifications that might help. I'm hoping to bump the compression up with a 22re engine head, up the boost a few PSI with a manual boost controller and do some slight tuning of my AFM on a dyno. Worst case scenario I'll just swap my chain driven transfer case out with a gear driven case, or just do the whole manual transmission/gear drive case swap. We'll see!

Greg_Canada

Wing window doors will work, you just need to watch mirror placement and unscrew the wing window!

Also, is your lift just the OME + t-bars, and you are fittings 35's? (no bodylift?) Maybe i can fit 35's on mine too then...

paynemw

nice build.

Outsane

Damn forgot to let you know that I don't have a driverside door.. just a passenger..

but I can comfirm that winged door will work.. my passenger side door was winged..

but then it does have a gap.... but I blame that on the roll

irab88

iTrader: (4)

lowrangeoffroad.com

$40.50



http://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/index...tor-guard.html

distortedvoice

We have the same motorcycle. With the same exhaust.

https://i.imgur.com/erGix.jpg

strykersd

Yeah my problem was that the side view mirrors were always in the wrong place. My setup is just OME rear leaf springs and BJ spacers up from. I took it on a short shake down run today and it rubbed on all fours. I plan on extending my rear bump stops and probably doing more trimming up front. I ran the same setup on my last 4runner and it didn't rub up front, but maybe these MTRs were bigger than my BFGs/Swampers.

Thanks!

No worries, while driving back from San Francisco a few days ago I stopped by a junkyard in San Jose and picked one up. I paid more than I would of liked, but that's life.

Thanks! Looks like Low Range and Sky manufacturing both make them for $40, I'll order one soon!

Nice bike! Sadly I just sold my bike. I bought it for $3500 a year and a half ago, added 7,000 miles and sold it for $4600! I sold it because I'm still young and want to try build many different types of vehicles. Next up on my list is a RWD car and a large displacement engine!

BoostedRNR

That auto tranny sucks the life out of the turbo motor! I was getting 13-14 miles to the gallon with mine and felt like I needed a two mile gap to jump into traffic. I swapped a manual in and night and day difference! I average 19-20 mpg's and feels like double the power!

sevenphoenix

+1 for going to wing windows. After extensive dorking around with my SR5 power window door switches and a couple crawling trips where they stopped working in the UP position on a blazing hot day I said it was time to rip them off the truck. I snagged a couple really good condition, winged, non-power window doors off of an '87 pickup at yotajims junkyard for $100. Some sanding and a few coats of bedliner (i'm not a stickler about color matching since my topper is also bedlinered and its an off-road only truck) and on the truck they went! I have to admit one of the best mods I made last year since the non SR5 doors are a noticably lighter, easier on the door hingers, and the wings are awesome cooling while on the highway!

Also, i agree with BoostedRNR...the auto is a pig for gas mileage but I do rather enjoy it while wheelin' since i'm a newb and its not my DD

Greg_Canada

Agree 100%, wings are the bomb. Don't need A/C unless you are sitting in traffic with them.

strykersd

Why not the best of both worlds? Wing windows and AC? I like my AC because it allows me to wheel year around here in Southern California!

I just filled my truck up the other day and am calculating the MPG, I'm afraid of what I'll find...

strykersd

I took the 4runner out the other day for the first time since I went off roading and discovered that every time I went above 40MPH my front tires made a horrible screeching sound. I limped it hope, hopped out and found it like this.

Both of my front tires were turned inward. I oddly didn't find anything broken, so I just went in and had it aligned. Since I plan on keeping this 4runner for a while, I payed the extra for a lifetime alignment for it. It's $170 at Firestone, but the way I beat on the IFS it'll be worth it!

I also just dropped my Honda Civic off at my buddy's paint shop to get repainted so the 4runner has assumed daily driver duties. While daily driving my street bike and car for the last year and a half, even when I beat on them I still managed to get at least 30MPG. For the first tank of gas in the 4runner I beat on it and I paid the price! 10MPG corrected mileage, ouch! The second tank I babied it and managed a respectable 16MPG corrected mileage! That I can deal with!

Just yesterday I loaded up the 4runner with three friends and my dog for a hike in our local mountains to a waterfall. The 4runner didn't have a problem with the long 6% grades until I noticed the temperature gauge was climbing. I let it almost get to the red, then pulled over, let it idle and cool down back down to normal operating temperatures and continued on. Then today I had sometime so I decided to inspect the cooling system on the 4runner. The first thing I checked was the thermostat and this is what I found...

This thing is just full of surprises! Turns out one of the previous owners of the 4runner drilled another seven holes to supplement the one hole that comes on the thermostat. By the look of it, it seems like the 4runner was overheating and this was their solution to the problem. Plus whoever installed it put in a 195 degree thermostat instead of the stock 180 degree unit.

I'm thinking it's either the head gasket or a cracked head, but there's no way to find out until I can pull it apart and I can't do that until I get my car back. As long as it's not a cracked block I'll be ok. I'm not really stressing about it because I was planning on building up this engine anyways, but now I'll be building it sooner than I though. For now I threw the drilled out thermostat back in and will drive it for a few days until I get my car back from paint. Until then I'll just start collecting the parts for this engine build, which are as follows
-22re head
-ARP head studs
-a 180 degree thermostat with a fail safe
-new head gasket, I need to do some research and figure out which one to get

I'm going with the 22re head over the 22rte head in hopes of giving me a bit more low end torque and to help my ridiculously long spool time!

strykersd

I might have gone a little overboard on ordering parts...


A few of those boxes contain a Lotek A-pillar gauge pod and Autometer gauges!

Although I like the Lotek gauge pod, it still had some room for improvement. The angle I have my gauges turned at are the only angle that works with the gauge pod. The Autometer mounting hardware hit the inside of the gauge pod. Not a big deal, but it would have been nice to align them how I wanted. The other issue was that it's slightly off the factory grey color. Not a big deal, but I snapped a picture to give you an idea. The factory pillar in the back, the Lotek pillar in front.


I ordered GS gauges since their green lighting matches my dash lighting. I ordered one vacuum/boost gauge and one transmission temperature gauge. I loved everything about the gauges except their polished metal rings. So I did what I do with all the autometer gauges I buy for my vehicles, painted them!

Here are the gauges I started with


The supplies needed


The gauges masked up


And finally the way I mounted the gauges for paint


Here's the final product of the gauge pod and gauges!


I hooked up the vacuum/boost gauge, but still need to hook up the transmission temperature gauge and lighting to both!


The gauges and gauge pod set me back $202, bring my build to a total of $3083

strykersd

Next up in that stack of boxes is a stereo for the 4runner!

My factory radio would stop scanning so I had to pick up a new radio. I've always been a loyal Alpine customer, but I wanted to keep all the interior lighting in my 4runner green to match the factory interior lighting. I refuse to buy another Sony Xplod head unit because I feel that the beep they make when you turn your car off makes your car sound cheap. And many of my friends have had issues with Kenwood decks, so that just left me with Pioneer. I wasn't looking to spend a ton of money on a new stereo, but I had a few requirements to meet
-green backlighting
-a auxilary and USB port with a cover so that I wouldn't have to worry about dust getting into it while offroading

So I went over to Crutchfield.com and found Pioneer's DEH-3400UB. I haven't purchased a car stereo in four years and I didn't know what I was missing out on! With stereos in my other cars I could hook my iPod/Iphone up through their data ports, but then I would have to control it through the head unit. This new stereo allows me to choose whether I want to control it by hand or through the head unit! It also lets me choose from 27 different colors to best match my interior lighting, maybe half a dozen types of green! And finally it although I have yet to experience it since I don't have a radio antenna, I'm told that the head unit will tell you the name of the song playing on the radio.

For anyone looking to buy a car stereo, I highly suggest ordering it from Crutchfield.com . Firstly they have very competitive pricing, then they also including all the mounting hardware, wiring, a storage pocket to fill the double din pocket in the 4ruuner and model specific direction to install a stereo or speakers in your car for free! I didn't even have to pay California sales tax!

Here's a picture of the stereo all wired up and ready to be dropped in the 4runner. My last 4runner's wiring was a mess, so I'm trying to keep the wiring cleaner on this one!


Here's a daytime picture of the stereo installed! This picture also shows the new lens I added to my heater/AC controls that I picked up at the junkyard the other day



The stereo cost me $100, bring my total cost up to $3183. I still have a few surprises left in those boxes!

spideynut

Second the motion for Crutchfield I ordered a 12 in banpass sub for my runner. Came with all the install wiring etc. and free shipping to Hawaii! WTF? how can they make money doing that? Oh well works for me. Brad

dsal_86Yota

Can never go overboard on parts lol