4runnerRandy's 1985 4Runner Build-Up Thread
 

So here it is, my 1985 toyota 4runner. I traded a 1994 bronco that was totally built (8 inch long arm lift, 35" mtrs, Exhaust, intake, chip, 351 cid motor, custom paint, remote start, tinted windows) for this 4runner, the p.o. also gave me $5k. At the time, summer 2003, it did not run. The timing chain wore through the cover and mixed the coolant and oil. This was my third Toyota so I was used to doing timing chains. I had it runing within about a week. I got rid of the bronco so that my beautiful bride and I could have a down payment for our first house. The 4runner started out a nasty golden color so I had the $399 special done at Maico (What a mistake). A couple years later, I sold the 4runner to my brother in law to drive around as his first truck. Then after a few more years and a couple crashes he decided that he wanted something a little newer and nicer so he said it would cost to much to fix and that if I wanted it to come get it. The price was right ($free) so I drove out to Utah to visit the in laws and pick up the 4runner again. That was like 5 months ago. Since, I have been slowly working on fixing it up to make it a good DD and weekend crawler. Here are some pics from before I sold it to my brother in law.

like it! love the removable top too. hope that interior is as good now as whenyou gave it to him!

Nice 4runner, glad to see more Colorado people signing up. I can't believe you painted the gold, that is my favorite color. I'm honestly contemplating painting mine that color. Good luck with it this go round...

Yeah the interior needs some work, but nothing to bad. A couple seat repairs, some new carpet a radio and speakers and it will be ready for summer. Just no money currently. I love Colorado and cant imagine living anywhere else. So far I have put TG's high steer kit on, rebuilt the front axle, put a set of rear springs up front. Fixed a couple fuel leaks and got the fear window to work. I need to order some 4" springs and a new front hangar fron Scotty @ Addicted.

Untill I have the yota fixed up I will have to wheel my 07 Rubicon unlimited that is lifted runing 35's, front winch bumper and m8000. I have also installed a sport cage to help protect the little guys while were out wheelin.http://i768.photobucket.com/albums/x...une2009305.jpghttp://i768.photobucket.com/albums/x...une2009231.jpg

[IMG]http://i768.photobucket.com/albums/xx329/4runnerRandy/MayandJune2009305.jpg

Randy,
I love the brown on the seats. Never seen that design from the factory, but dig it.

I was told by the PO that he recovered them, which sucks because I am trying to make this 4runner as factory as possible. I want to do a decent lift and tires, sliders, winch, improve on steering and braking while keeping it as factory as possible. I will be calling you Scotty to get springs, shackles and a hangar probably in the next week or two.

Today I ordered my T.G. 4" front springs and front spring hanger. I love Addicted offroad, and thank you Scott. I also picked up an e-locker axle from a Tacoma. My plans are to have 5.29 gears and e-lockers front and rear. I hope that I will be able to find a good deal like I did today. I doubt it because I got it for extra cheap. I will post pics when I tear down the axle.

Randy, your parts just came in. So, come pick them up whenever.

Welded up the hanger and put the springs on. Man my 4runner is tall, I think it will settle down a bit after the winch and bumper. Anyway Im loving the wheel travel, I cycled it and there is a ton cant wait to wheel it.

Pics damnit!

welded in the front
 

Here are some pics of the front end all welded up. I know Im not a profesional welder and that is why I dressed the welds with the flappy wheel. Now I just need to do the front frive shaft and the shocks. But I think I will do the rear before wraping up the front. Any body have feed back on the T.G. rear kit. Since I went with the 4 inch springs in the front Im going to do the 5 inch in the rear.

So I ordered the stud and seal kit for the e-locker from SKY. I want to insall it this next week, I also order the switches and stuff for the wiring of the e-locker, I found realy cool indicator lights that say "Front Lock" and "Rear Lock" I thought that they would be perfect for the indicator lights for the e-lockers as I plan to do one in the front as well. I also plan to put the switches and the indicator light in the center console so that the interior looks as stock as possible. I also plan to put all the other switches for lights and such in the center console as well.

I have a good friend who was looking to buy a project truck for a D.D. and weekend wheeler. I convinced him to get a toyota 4runner, I found for him a 1984 4runner, He talked with the owner today and talked her down to $400. It currently doesent run but turns over, so I am going to help get it running and help with the fix up. I am very stoked to have a friend close by to talk yota with, also to have another friend to wheel with.

So I have been very busy lately on the 4runner, I have put the rear springs and u-bolt flip kit on as well as the axle truss. I made the interior pannel for the lockers and switches. I realy like the "front lock" and "rear lock" indicator lights. Here are some pics.
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As of late things have been crazy busy at work so I havent had much time for the Yota. I still need to get the E-locker installed and get the cross over dialed in. I think that I have driven it less than a 1/4 mile in the last two months. The bigest concern that I have is the knock in the motor and whiteish blue smoke that is barley noticeable out of the exhaust. I think that it is time for a rebuild, or an upgrade. I was thinking a 7mge or even the turbo 7mgte. I love the 3.4 but it can be a very difficult and costly swap, I think I can get a 7mge done for less than a grand. I hope. Either way I dont think I will be wheelin it this summer unless I come into some money. So I guess the grocery getter will have to work for this year at least its a JK. HAHAHA

Randy,
What rear springs did you use? They look exactly like mine and i cannot figure out what they are. I previously thought they were Chevy's but I was wrong.

The rear springs are 4 inch procomp springs. I need to use a 1 inch block to give it a little more height untill I can afford the trail-gear rear kit. I have no trail time on these springs so i dont know what to expect. How do yours work?

They work great. Have lots of flex. I agree on the lift part. I did do an add a leaf but havent gotten my front end back together to see how it flex's with the add a leaf. They were super soft on the road and did great on the trail. I'll let you know how they do with an add a leaf.

So things have been pretty tight lately as far as money is concerned, so I havent had the money to do alot to the 4runner. I found that the tick/knock was a toasted cam and rocker. 2 of the lobes on the cam were worn way down. So I have been looking for for some sort of a replacement head or motor. I found a 86 4runner that I bought today (and will be picking up next wed.)for a very reasonable price. The best part is that it has an automatic tranny that I will be swaping in place of my manuel. It also has alot of nice interior parts to swap into mine. I cant wait to get my 85' running good again.

I brought the 86 4runner home last friday night, and started to tear it down. I had the entire interior out in like 4 hours. Seriousley the only thing that resembles the original interior is the steering wheel. I have also been working on stripping out the engine area in preparation to removing it and the transmission. I know some will think I crazy but I cant wait to get the auto switched in. I will post up some photos on sat of the 86' all stripped down. After all the useable parts are removed it will go to the scrap yard. Then I will start the trany swap and repair as well as rebuilding the motor. I am very excited to build my yota.

I have been very busy stripping down the parts 4Runner and getting all the things I need for the '85. I gave all the interior pieces to my buddy who's building an '84 4Runner. All I have left to pull is the rear axel, front calipers, and wheels and tires then it's to the scrap yard. After that I can start putting the auto into the '85 and rebuilding the motor to put it in the '85 as well. Here are some pictures of the interior, totally stripped. With any luck, I'll have this thing running before the first of the year.

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Well things have been realy busy with Christmas and the new year starting so I havent done alot with the 4runners as of late untill today. Today I ordered up a front winch bumper from Addicted Offroad. It will be about two weeks before I will be able to get it on the truck in the mean time I plan on ordering sliders and the rear bumper also. After that its time to finish the axles by geting another E-locker and haveing the gears swaped out to 5.29s on both again by Scotty. I also plan on having the 22re rebuilt during that time also so that I can do some wheeling before summer. We are expecting our fourth child in early july and would like to have the 4runner mostly complete so we can do some wheelin before the wifey is to pregos to enjoy it.

Front and Rear bumpers as well as sliders are ordered. Thanks Scotty. Also wahoo this is my 100th post. I cant wait to my new stuff.

The sliders and Rear bumper came UPS. I did not realize how heavy they would be, the sliders weigh 60 lbs and the rear bumber weighs in at 58 lbs plus the side supports. I cant wait to get them installed. I hope to be able to pick up the front bumper from Addicted late next week, I just need to check with Scotty (this weather could have set him back, I know that it has for me).

I plan on running the smittybuilt xrc8comp. I found a very good price on Ebay $439.95 including shipping. So I called 4wheelParts and they said they would price match, I think I will go there for the winch. Hopefully my next post will have some photos of the progress.

Progress
 

I got the new wire harness most of the way installed this weekend. I also removed the 5spd. I started to get the auto installed and it got late Saturday and today I was recouping from this stupid cold, so i will finish monday night after work. Tomorrow I will have lots of pics to upload. Scotty up at Addicted has my bumper ready (has for a couple weeks, I have just been a slacker) for the front. I will also be installing a Smitty Bilt xrc8 comp with the front bumper. With any luck this 4runner will be ready to do some wheeling in the next couple of weeks.

Rebuild time
 

I have been trying to stab in the auto tranny but it was a total PITA so I decided to tear down the spare 22re. It spun a rod bearing on the #3 rod so I am doing a rebuild. I ordered Keith Black pistons and rings today from Summit Racing. I also ordered a new cam, seal kit and timing kit from engnbldr. I will drop the block, crank and head off at the machine shop sat morning. On monday I picked up the front bumper from Addicted Offroad. I have included some photos of the motor and tear down.:wrench:

Rebuild Underway
 

Dropped off the block at the machine shop. Went down to G&S Machine shop in Littleton Co and they quoted me $425 to bore the block, hot dip, regrind the crank and polish, hang the new pistons (Keith Black 92.75mm) on the current rods as well as resize the rod ends because the #3 rod spun a bearing aswell as supply bottom end bearings to proper specs for the new machine work. I will need to bolt it all together and check for proper tolerance's. I was going to use plasta gauge. What would be best? Is that a good price? I hope so cause I pulled the trigger.

Rebuild almost done
 

Today was a good day. I spent about 8 hours on reassembly of the rebuilt motor. Im a week and a half behind where I wanted to be. First Summit Racing sent me one piston that was .5mm over sized when the other 3 were .75mm over sized so I had to send all 4 back and wait for new ones. Then while I was compressing the rings on the piston I broke a freakin ring. So I had to get another ring. I have the motor all put together with the head on it, freshly painted oil pan. I am using a parts washer from Harbor freight to clean every bolt that goes back on this rig. I am so tired of the 25 year old grim and grit built up on everything. Anyway I realy hope that I dont screw things up. Not only am I rebuilding the motor Im swaping in an auto tranny as well as the wire harness and stuff to make it work. My entire 2 car garage is filled with toyota parts, every where I look I feel like Im seeing double cause I have 2 of almost every part. Here are the pics of my progress.

some more pics
 

Here are some more pics of the Yota.

Motor in bolted in
 

I dropped the motor into the rig today. Over the next week I will be working hard on geting it ready to drive. I also need to measure the front for my drive shaft so that Scotty up at Addicted is going to make for me. I really want to have both the diffs/E-lockers ready for the trail soon. I have been totaly jonesing to go out to Moab, I cant wait.

how come you are going with an auto? I am hoping to do just the opposite, but it would be nice to hear your side of things.

Don't know about Randy, but I have done this swap in quite a few trail rigs when I lived (and wheeled) in really hilly areas. I got tired of growing that third foot until I discovered hand throttles. I did get to where I could change a clutch in about an hour, though.

Yeah like BigRob said the clutch is a bummer in the mountains. But I also wanted my wife and boys to be able to drive the 4runner while camping and wheeling. I also have sentimental reasons, my first vehicle was an 1988 4runner that was stolen when I was 17. I worked summers for my Dads swimming pool construction company to earn the money for it. I bought it before I was 16, My father wouldent even let me drive it while hunting until I earned my eagle scout rank. Long story short it was and auto with the dlx trim and I wanted to build something to remind me of where my love for Toyota's started from.

It looks good! If you don't mind a question going back to your very first post, what do you hate about the Maaco paint job? Did you do any prep before you dropped it off with them? I'm thinking about a white respray of my ratty white 89.

To answer your question, I have learned that you get what you pay for. I didn't pay a lot so I should not have had high expectations. I did a lot of prep and removed the lights, grill, mirrors, antenna but they still managed to over spray a lot of stuff. I also did not pay for them to remove the top and spray the tops of the rear quarter pannels which was a big mistake because the paint peeled off between the quarter pannels and the top after the first wash. I brought it back and they said they weren't responsible because they could not get to that area to prep it properly. I understood that, but what I didn't understand is when they painted the drivers door seal and the little black triangle at the front of the window. I brought that to up them the same time as the paint coming off and the sales guy said he would fix it. I gave them the truck and waited, they only had it for like thirty minutes and the guy came to get me and said that it was ready. Well when we walked around to look at the seal it looked like someone had taken a razor to it and whittled away at it untill the paint was gone but alot of the seal was too. I was pissed so the sales guy went to get the manager, he said sorry but they could not do any more because I did not notice it when I picked up the 4runner the week before. After I said my piece he did offer to repaint the seal and do the passenger side as well, I declined and got a new seal at the pick and pull place.

My advice would be to pay the little extra to have them paint the door jambs and do the premium tape and paint job. Also remove as much as you can so they don't overspray it. I would still use them again but I would just do more prep and pay them for a more high end job. Even their high end paint job is way less than almost anywhere else.

I got the motor running today. It runs great, after breaking in the cam and adjusting the valves it is the smoothest running 22re that I have ever owned. Tomorrow I will hook up the rear drive shaft and take it for a drive. The game plan is to have it driveable so that I can drive down to my shop (about 7 miles from the house) next weekend to weld in the sliders, rear bumper supports, front frame brace and the ifs steering box support. It wont be long untill its out on the trail.

Lots of Progress
 

I had a crazy weekend working on the 4runner. For Fathers day My boys and wife got me a Smitty Built XRC10 comp. I also worked on the interior and got the center console straightened up. It turned out awesome. When I was at Jims Parts I could only find the center console piece in grey which was alright cause I will paint it. I also need to take it apart and weld in the patch pannel behind the shifter base so that it seals nicely. I also wired up the radio and speakers which work great. Next I will need to get the carpet kit so that the interior will be done, well..... Untill I do the cage. Oh I also came into a little cash to help pay off some credit cards which will help me get the other E-locker and regear the one that I already have. It wont be long untill its on the trail.

http://i768.photobucket.com/albums/x...may2011015.jpg
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Pics
 

Im trying to post up the pics so that they show up on the page without having to click on the link. I hope this works.


http://i768.photobucket.com/albums/x...may2011016.jpg

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Tranny Swap
 

I should have been more diligent about my build thread and showing all the stuff that I have done to swap in the auto tranny. I will take some more photos when I have the center console apart again to weld in the patch pannels. I will share a basic pats list that I used to complete the swap. I will also up date as I remember more and as it is completed.

Parts Needed:
-Auto Tranny and T-case
-interior wire harness and engine harness
-ECU and ect computer
-center console and shifter
-front and rear drive shafts from an auto
-radiator with built in tranny cooler
-brake pedal assembley
-tranny cross member(not 100% on this one, I recycled the old cross member when I sent the parts 4runner to the scrapper)

I am sure that I am forgeting some stuff and will edit as necessary.