Loving those first-gen pick-ups. I see a lot of them that seem stock but looking like they have higher ground clearance than first-gen 4Runners. Do they really when stock?

 

Looking good Justin
good to hear everything has been working as it should. With the exception of my 10 week long clutch job my '81 has been doing DD for the last 6 -8 months too.

Your pics reminded me of the steering stablizer I need to mount (been on the shelve 2-3 years )

Does the bike fit well in the bed of the truck?

 

It sure does. Tailgate up too! I use my "oil change ramps" to lift the front end up to lower the tail gate. The darn truck is just too high push the bike up the ramp.. LOL

 

I had the same problem when I was riding Trials, but eventually I got proficient enough to ride it up into the bed, using an aluminum ramp. My truck has a long bed, which has enough room to STOP!! LOL

Great job on a great looking truck BTW

 

Just curious, what was the "fiasco" w/ the 63's and why don't you like them?

 

Buddyyyyyy! Lol. ... Wow, in spite of stuff I'm dealing with, I was excited to see you posted up! Have mentioned u as a inspiration to my eventual motor swap...

DANG I love this rig!

Nice work, great update. Informative as always

 

Your truck is really nice. Love it.

 

Man that is one sweet looking truck, looks like a little bruiser, lol. Im in El Paso, if you ever come over to go wheeling send me a PM maybe we could get together.

 

Gotta post on this so I can find it.

Hope you get back on forum soon.
Very nicely done.

So how does your truck do going up the pass? (I'm guessing you were working out at wsmr).

 

Awesome truck! Any updates?

 

I'm getting the itch to play with the truck again, so you guys should see some more updates coming soon! Thank you however!

I was/am working out at WSMR. The truck isn't a rocket over the pass, but it'll do 70-75 if the headwind isn't 40mph strong!

Thank you as well! I do have a little bit of update. I've got a new rear bumper fabricated. I've got some smaller tweaks coming that are more or less just refining things further on the truck. I know I've said it 100 times already but I'm just happy how civilized this thing is and dependable it is. I'm heading to LA (12 hour drive tomorrow night) for a little Thanksgiving fun at Disney with some friends. I don't know too many people who road trip in a 1st Gen LOL!

But the planned updates are to:

• Finish the brake system with the IFS brake treatment up front, rear brake proportioning valve and finally install the rear SS brake line.
• Finish the reciever based spare tire carrier.
• New tires (kinda giving some thought to going with 35's) otherwise another set of 33" MT/R Kevlars.
• Custom under bed jerry can rack w/ air tank (likely 2.5gal) and a OBA setup.
• Rock lights.
• New transmission mount (it's just OLD). Debating on a 4xInnovations mount or a OEM.
• New Bump stop setup and finally install my U-bolt flip kit.

Cruising down the I-25:


My new rear bumper:




This shows the spare tire carrier. This design wasn't what I was looking for, So I'm re-making it to be a little more vertical so the drivers side rear tail light isn't as obscured.

 

Cool to see an update! I like the rear bumper and spare tire holder. Good luck with the drive to LA.

 

That shadow pic is cool

 

How long you out here buddy? I'm back Sat. Night... Be safe and Happy Thanksgiving! The rig is looking sick! Nice work on everything!

Are you saying you're three RZ is a lot better on the hills or just noticeably?

 

It's going to be a quick turn around trip. I'm going to be in your neck of the woods Wed-Thurs, then I have to turn and burn back to New Mexico to spend the remainder of the holiday week with family who'll be in town. I'd have liked to meet up with you if you were in town!

The the 3RZ is worlds better on hills (and every where else really).



Thats a elevation profile of the pass. It's about a 6.5% grade at relatively high elevation and I drop to 4th and I have no problems going 70-75 over it unless there's a STRONG headwind (I wasn't joking about 30-40mph in the previous post!). My 22R would be floored in 3rd gear and struggle to maintain 50-55mph even in perfect conditions.

 

That's exactly what I'm talking about as far as information! Appreciate that quite a bit... My only worry, is well, I guess it's obvious that it would be over the extra thousand pounds that the 4runner humps around....lol. I know it's still more power that I have now, plain and simple. Its just always been a battle over the choice of tons more power and flying over the Cajon Pass and 5th with the air conditioning on... Or a decent nudge more of power. Obviously there is a lot more to it than that in that the 1UZ swalk is one hell of a lot more work... I wish gas was cheap and C.A.R.B. was abolished... Then I could just throw in old school v8 call it Susie! Lol... Just kidding.

That's promising, and I know the guy who has a friend with one running a supercharger... He said the things a rocket!

Ever heard of anyone putting in a WRX motor?

 

The extra 'heft' of a 4Runner is going to affect the 3RZ no doubt, even with the proper gearing. It's a great motor, and I have no regrets about putting one in mine! As great as it is and as much as I love it, it is not the end-all-be-all. It has limitations. It is in fact a 4 cylinder.. A rather large one but a 4 cylinder none the less. It has a pretty low specific output relative to it's displacement for the great torque it has at low RPM. It isn't a gas sipping Prius either. Sure it's not bad getting about 19mpg with a mildly lifted/geared truck with the aerodynamics of a brick. The best way to put it is that it's a 22RE that's evolved. It's a quite a bit more spirited in the upper RPM's thanks to it's extremely potent cylinder head and DOHC layout, but it retains a lot of what the 22RE is in spirit. That's the best way to think about the 3RZ.

What makes the 3RZ a great fit for these trucks is that it's got the power to keep the trucks up with modern speed limits without being too powerful that you need to dump even more money in the drivetrain to keep the reliability there. The 3RZ really strikes a fine balance between giving the truck some "poop" yet not being too much to break driveline parts. Part of my swap involved me leaving the original 4cyl differential housings with the Yukon lunch-box style locker. Dropzone commented on this earlier in the build thread.. But he was curious how these "weak" housings would hold up. They've done just fine! Now I don't wheel as hard as some, but I've dumped the clutch and lit up the 33x12.50 MT/R's a few times on pavement, and they've seen their fair share of 2nd gear chirps which would arguably generate more shock load than most wheeling conditions ever would produce. That says something..

Dumping a 1UZ or anything beyond a 5VZ is just asking for trouble in my opinion. Unless you've got DEEP pockets or a OCD obsession to dump money you don't have into the truck, the "supporting" modifications to keep things reliable is going to add up quick. I'd just have a hard time dumping that much money into a old truck, when I could practically buy a new Tacoma for what it would end up costing to make the drivetrain reliable in a '80's Toyota that had a V8 swapped into it.

As far as the WRX engine... I spent some time with a WRX. Owned a 2003 for a little while. Was very disappointed in it and ended up trading it in for a 2003 Mitsubishi EVO 8. A much better car (especially engine!). Problem with the WRX engine (and even the EVO's 4G63) are they just don't make the low RPM torque you'd want for wheeling. They'd be very fun when wrung out, but you'd have to drive it like a sports car to get the power you crave out of them, and the Toyota chassis isn't akin to be driven like a sports car as you're well aware. Beyond the EJ series motor and it's boxer design not being able to fit between the frame rails, it would just be a poorly matched engine for the use of a 4x4 truck. Precisely why the 22RE is damn good in 4x4's and why they're not "fun" to drive. The 3RZ has a spirited enough top end of the power band to make it worthwhile, yet retains enough of the "truck engineness" to make it suitable for a 4x4 truck.

Interesting question!

 

So I'm finally getting back into turning some wrenches on the truck! Took me about a year and a half or so of just driving it to get back into the swing of wanting to tweak on this thing thing!

Got the front springs pulled apart, wiped the grit/grime/rust off them, and thought they might just function a bit better with some lube so I used some motorcycle chain grease I have for my dirt bike. This stuff does well staying put so it seemed like a good candidate. Got the springs back together and man what a difference! The front end is a little more lively, I'd say I picked up an extra inch or so of flex since the springs have much less internal friction to overcome. I'm quite pleased with the chore I took on!

Replaced the transmission mount that was long over due! Dropped the transfer case and clearances the transmission tunnel a bit since the W56 has always liked to "tap" the tunnel when torqued up. I should have went another 1/16" or so as it still lightly taps when really torquing things up. Not hardly annoying enough to warrant pulling the T-Case again however! What a difference in drivability though. Holy Cow! Big improvement. When I installed it, I "preloaded" it somewhat so it's probably slightly stiffer than stock and I can feel the vibration when the idle drops really low (remember I don't have any balance shafts in my 3RZ). But beyond that the improvements in drivability and shifting FAR outweigh the additional vibration at idle.

This afternoon I got busy putting the stock 3RZ A/C Compressor in the truck to function as an OBA setup. Pretty smooth/simple installation for the compressor portion. A little clearance work was needed on the motor mount and compressor. Not much, and nothing my die grinder didn't make quick work of.

Got started with the A/C Compressor bracket.


The required clearance work on the compressor and motor mount.




And installed!




Now that the "heart" of the system is in place I've got a small shopping list of things to get this thing pumping out some air. The system will run off a master switch in the dash, and feed power to a hobbs switch that will turn the compressor on if the tank is below 90psi and shut things down once it reaches 120psi. I'll be using a 5 gallon aluminum DOT approved tank mounted under the bed for running tools and other goodies.

I've also decided to plumb in a heat exchanger and do a hot water shower setup as well.. Stay tuned!

 

Freaking love it when you do a write up! More! Hahaha

Great to hear from you again after a while.

 

Nice build up man. Lots of good ideas for mine. I think I'll start a build thread so ..