CamTom12's 1985 4Runner Thread
 

Hey! I got a new-to-me '85 4Runner yesterday, bought it from dragr1. It is in EXCELLENT shape!

So, most of the stuff I'll be doing will be minor restoration stuff. On my old 4Runner I really wanted to put a MS EFI set-up together, so I might do that down the road here. Also maybe an OME and some other little things.

I'll put some pictures up tomorrow, but today I ordered the grey paint from this thread: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...on-how-167686/

Also got the oil changed and put about 50 miles on her!

CamTom12 I had to paint the rear panels in my Runner, same color, same fade.
I used a Valspar vinyl paint from Lowes. Turned out very well.

Fresh paint makes a huge difference.

an old tip from a detail shop is to use vinyl paint on the carpet to freshen it up too.

Erik, I looked through your thread the other day - nice truck!

I'm not 100% sure what I want to do with the carpet. Before I start messing with that I need to repair/replace the driver's seat though. It's been recovered or replaced with an off-match fabric at some point in the past, the frame is bent crooked, and the foam isn't doing it's job anymore anyway.

Here's a couple of pics! I didn't get any in detail, I'll make sure I do befores and afters for anything I repair.

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Well, I also found a set of TJ front springs so I'll be doing a ZUK mod soon.

After talking with ZUK and taking some measurements, I want about 3" of lift in the back end to achieve a level/slight nose high look. The T100 at the bottom of ZUK's page (http://gearinstalls.com/coilphilbert.htm) got about 3" after cutting the TJ springs down to about 6 and a half wraps. I'm going to cut mine to 6.5 also and measure after the install. It'll be easy to pull them and cut a little more if it sits too high, I think. I should be able to get to it next week!

Man that thing is clean! we need some more pics of the rest of it.

I have never personally done the ZUK mod yet but it seems fairly straight forward.

Thanks! Yeah, I lucked out - it's super clean!

We've been having a wintry mix just about all day. Next week I'll try to get some good pics of the truck. I'll for sure have good pics of any progress I make!

Sr5? Sweet rig!

Thanks!

I haven't updated this in a minute, been dealing with this pesky issue: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f115...owhere-277459/

Anywho, the other day I snagged a set of TJ front springs and the 4Runner was mysteriously running normally so I rode down to the craft shop to put them in.

Not too hard of a job, I cut the springs down to 6.5 coils from the small end and ended up still having to use a spring compressor as well as unbolting the shocks and using a bottlejack to push the axle down.

Here's a couple shots of the springs on the bumpstops and a couple of after shots.

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Waiting on a new coolant temp sensor in the mail, so I'm not sure how it rides yet until I get the issue in my other thread fixed. But I think it looks way better!!

Very nice, CamTom, I recently received a coolant temp sensor from RockAuto, my runner has not been idling up on a cold start. From what I've read that should fix my issue. Looking forward to your progress.
Our area currently under a state of emergency, around 10" of snow in some places. Sheww!

Erik,

From all the researching and testing I've been doing to troubleshoot this problem, if you're not idling up I'd look toward your Aux Air Valve. The thing on page 227 here :http://www.functionalfab.com/resourc...%204runner.pdf

The AAV could be stuck closed. That just happened to mine. I had to swap it out for a replacement one that I had. It was hard starting when cold, and would not idle up at all.

Nice looking little runner. The Zuk Mod does great and makes the ride so much better. It takes more time cleaning the panels then it does painting them. It has to be interior paint. I haven't used the brand in the link you provided but it is all the same. I clean my panels with a 50/50 solution of simple green and give them a good rinse. Interior paint works great when done right and gives a new look to the panels.

As far as your carpet, you would be surprised at just what pulling it out and taking it to a carwash can do for it. You will be shocked at all of the gunk in it as well. If you need to replace the carpet, I get mine from stockinteriors.com There are other places as well and for replacement carpet they do a good job of pressing all of the molds into place but there is a lot of trimming. Slow and steady on the trimming and it is easily done. Looking forward to your build.

Good news everyone! The CLT finally came in and I got it installed earlier. She's idling and running very well now.

EDIT: I almost forgot... I had to top off my brake reservoir today. The light was on for a few days but since I was working through those other issues I wasn't really driving it and am not sure when it started. I wonder if it had anything to do with the new position of the LSPV after the ZUK mod or if I have a leak... I'm keeping an eye on it for sure.

I would suspect a leak. I have done the Zuk mod twice and it never set the light off. Glad to see you got it running better, it is a step closer to where you want it.

Good news on the Idle situation.

I would agree with Terry and also look for a leak.

Installed my marlin short shifter today!

Here's a rough write-up:

Step one, remove the front console around the shifters. 4 screws and unscrewing the shift knobs, no biggie. Next, remove the rubber boots from over the shifters. 6 screws. Easy. Next there's 6 bolts around the shifter base. Here's mine after removal.

Attachment 141099

One of these is not like the others... Oddly enough, the hole was fine, just this bolt was ripped apart and had jacked up threads.

So then the base comes off (I left my shifter attached.

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And there's a gasket between the shifter base and the trans. I cleaned mine up with a shop towel and set it aside for reinstallation.

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Then I drained my trans fluid. It had the consistency of dirty dishwater. Here's a picture of the drain plug before and after cleaning.

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I couldn't get the fill plug out to check the level, so I matched the amount of oil I removed plus a little extra through the shifter hole. I used 85-140 and Lucas stabilizer.

Then the new shifter base and shifter mounted up nicely!

Attachment 141104

It's too bad I had to cover it up, it looks sharp!

Drove around a little. The throw is definitely shortened. My trans must have weak centering springs because (it did this with the old shifter as well) every once and again it gets stuck on the gate between 1-3 from 2nd gear. Not an issue. I used some Lucas grease on the poly bushings when I put it together so as I continue to shift I'll bet it finds a groove. I'm really happy about the new firm shift feel!

That's a sweet shifter!! How much shorter I a throw does it make ?

It cuts a good couple of inches off the throw. Best part is it firms up the feel quite a bit.

ALSO WARNING! Do not use Lucas additive and 85/140! It was like shifting in molasses. I grabbed some pennzoil synchromesh because it specifically said it was designed for yellow metals (like brass, etc.) and it feels way better. My centering springs might be weak, but the sludge I had in there was way too thick for them to fight through. Seems much better now, but I haven't driven it since the fluid swap. Just sat in the seat shifting gears and making engine noises :-D

Test drive complete. Much better!

Great info!!! Those front bolts can be a pain sometimes to get to.

Agreed Terry. For the front right one I had to use my 12mm gearwrench, holding it on the bolt with my right middle finger and pushing the wrench with my left thumb to tighten. All while wrapped around/through the steering wheel.

When it came time to swap fluid I looked at that bolt again and then just decided to take the shift lever out of the base and pour it through that hole, hahaha!

So my dome light is broken and without a bulb. It's been disconnected and lying in the rear floorboard since I bought the truck. My truck has been DARK at night.

It's got me relooking my whole lighting situation.

So now I'm looking for another dome light (potentially two so I can do a deck light mod in the cargo area) and a new lens for my current deck light since it's literally falling apart.

I'm going to throw some LED festoons in both of those and my door lights, and I'm also looking at wiring some lights in the front footwells and rear seat pockets to really brighten up the whole truck when I open the doors. I'll tie those in with the door lights to simplify the wiring. Overkill? Maybe, hahaha!

Anyone have a lead on an intact 1st gen dome light (or 2) and a deck light lens?

You got a really nice clean looking 4runner, how do you like the Zuk mod so far? I look forward to seeing how your interior LED lighting upgrade turns out, I'm like you and have zero lighting inside my 4 runner at night, I'm hoping to upgrade it this summer. I'm curious too if anyone reproduces the dome light lens covers, or if you just have just source some good used ones, I have a big hole melted in the middle of mine. I saw on one of Terry87's build threads where he swapped the rearview mirror off a second Gen pickup that has a dome light mounted in it. I have one I kept off my 85' parts truck, I just haven't gotten around to swapping it yet.

Keep up the good work, look forward to seeing some pics of your progress!

Ok, just ordered up 5 of these to replace the domes (I'm definitely putting a dome in the rear), cargo light and door lights: https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...toon/238/1129/

4 of these to go in the front and rear footwells:

and 4 of these to go into those housings I ordered: https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...toon/243/1162/

Thanks! I love the way she sits now after the ZUK mod, but really no difference in ride quality. My shocks are all pretty done and the front springs are beyond flattened.

It'll do until I budget for OME or something else though.

I plasti dipped my top today. It's down to almost bare fiberglass and I'm worried about it holding up until I get the chance to recover it the right way, so I washed it and applied just shy of two rattle-cans of plasti dip.

Looks better, but still not great. I might hit it with another can later.

The after pic isn't that great since the house shadow fell on the truck as I was finishing, so I'll put up a better one tomorrow.

I didn't get a close up before shot. I wish I'd thought of it. The almost bare fiberglass really sucked up the plasti dip.

Before:
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After:
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After close-up:
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Updated After pic:
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It looks way better this morning. I still might hit it with another can or two though.

Looking better!! Great job. If you want to improve the front lighting area, I install a standard cab domelight. If you cant find one, your mirror mount is a dummy light holder and you can move the contacts from a tore up light socket to it. Find a set of maplights out of a truck and you can install those as well for front lighting.

For the light in between the front and rear seats, some have gone to using a 2nd gen runner dome light. Supposed to be just a little cutting involved. I have one that I havent installed yet but they are better built then our first gens. I have it listed on my 88 Runner build thread on how I do the dome lights on the first page and first post.

Kind of a write up fail, I had full intentions of taking pictures during the process, then it started on-and-off raining so I was rushing to get done and forgot about the pics. Oh well.


So I wanted a little better sound in the 4Runner but didn't really see a need for a total aftermarket system so I figured I'd just drop a subwoofer turned way down in the back.

My friend gave me a box with two 10" subs a long time ago that I ran in my old truck (turned waaay down!), so I figured I'd do a cheap mod and just wire that up.

I put the box in the back of the 4Runner to test for and it was ridiculously too big. So that crushed that idea.

After some research I found the Clarion SRV-250, which is a small (6.75") 150W powered sub. It even has it's own low-pass filter so it's super easy to wire up. I originally was going to put it under the driver's seat but since my seats are so worn out I was pretty much sitting on the sub when I test fit it under there. So I ended up putting it under the passenger seat. Placement took a lot of shifting around and adjusting to get perfect, but when I mounted it down the seat still slid up and back fine.

Wiring was really easy: splice the sub's wires into the radios wires. I used the power antenna wire as a sub control, so it's off when the radio's off. It came with everything I needed to install it.

It sounds WAY better now. Not bad for a $150 stereo upgrade!

In the pics you can see the placement of the components and my tap-splices. Also, my stock radio isn't stock :-).

Well, I've been super busy at work so not on the computer very much lately but I got a bummer update to add.

I got hit by a deer last week and the insurance company's trying to total the 4Runner. Screw me for paying for comprehensive coverage, right?

Two dents that can be pulled out. They are estimating (overestimating in my opinion) the repair at ~$1700 and they estimated the truck's value at ~$1400. I'm very upset with their statistical analysis of the market value, so I've been going back and forth with them about that all day today. I pushed them to open their sample size to include some vehicles OTHER than just the two lowest priced ones they could so they're going to do that and then get back to me. I need them to value the truck (more appropriately in my opinion) something above ~$2200 to pass MD's 75% damage/total loss law.

Lame. I wish they'd just fix the dents and leave it at that. I'm not trying to deal with a salvage title.

/rant.

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Man, sorry to hear about the deer, and the whole insurance thing, that sucks, the body was in such good shape! I hope it works out for you and they fix it!

Also sorry to hear about the whole deer situation. Sad since it's not that much damage. Hopefully they will come back with a higher value for you.

why even bother with the insurance? just pay a body shop cash to pull those dents out, or run it as is. Adds character.

^^^What he said. How much will they give you toward fixing it? I know people down grade places like Maaco but they do body work pretty cheaply.

Where do you live? If you don't want to fix it, before you total it try putting it on Craigslist and here for about $2200 with a link to your build so far.
I don't think it would be hard to fix with a stud welder and a paint job. This could be a learning opportunity to fix it yourself.

Seeing such a nice old 4Runner face demise makes me sad/angry.

Everytime I have to deal with insurance it is a royal pain in the rear even if it isnt my fault. I feel your pain. Sorry about the deer situation. That is frustrating.

Alternate plan: Buy yourself plane ticket from Memphis to MD. Sell me your 4Runner and enjoy the flight home! Problem solved :D

Also, good luck with the fix :bigok:

You haven't been back so I take that as a bad sign. You should be able to throw together some comparable 4Runners from Bring A Trailer and eBay. The $10000 ones should show the insurance company that your 4Runner is worth more than $2200. Heck I paid $2400 for mine four years ago and I think it's worth at least $5k now. Let me know if you have trouble finding $$$$ comparables. I'd be happy to help.

Hey crew. I haven't made much progress on the 4Runner. I've been absolutely swamped at work for the last few weeks. Next week should be a little lighter though!

I'm still working with the insurance company to change the value. There's a clause in my policy about disputing assigned value so I'm invoking that. Waiting on them to see what the next step is.

I love this truck, but it's turning into a huge pain in the ass.

I asked them about dropping the claim, but they said they still had to report it as a total loss since I made a claim and got a quote. Essentially I'd still end up with a salvage title but with nothing else. I'm going to work to keep them from totaling it, but at least if they do I can use the money to fix it. And I wasn't planning on selling it in the future anyway, I guess its more the principle of the matter than anything else.

I made the claim to begin with because I pay for full-coverage. I might as well use it. Plus the paint cracked and was scratched in a few spots and I didn't want to deal with rust on an a rust-free truck. Needless to say I'm dropping to liability coverage only after this is all said and done. What a pain in the rear.

That's ridiculous. In addition to switching to liability, consider switching your insurance company. They should do more research and protect their customers much better than that.

Good luck, sir

http://brillianceinsight.files.wordp...-24-2014-1.jpg

My truck is now considered repairable.

The company my insurance company uses to do their fair market value appraisals isn't set-up to deal with older vehicles.

I got a 3rd party appraisal and invoked a clause in my policy about disputing fair market value and they raised the value significantly. I wish I'd have jumped straight to that clause. Companies aren't flexible in ways that they aren't designed to be. Once I invoked that clause out I had the whole matter finalized in 2 days. Clauses are your friend and are written for flexibility. The insurance company itself is the one that told me I should invoke it to begin with!

I'm going to schedule an appointment with the body shop tomorrow.