I actually thought this was going to be a copper cored radiator but they changed their design since the older ones I guess. It's a three row from Northwest so it should do the trick cooling the 302. Have you looked at the HD radiator that Davez Offroad sells? It's not aluminium but seems like a good option.

 

My rad is copper core. Super old. Has a Reno radiator tag on it. They have been out of buiseness for 15-20 years lol. Been repaired to many times. I'll look into davez rad.

 

Got the new motor mounts installed tonight. The guy who previously swapped the motor welded the passenger side mount instead of bolted it, so that was fun to take off. He also welded it about 3/4 of an inch lower than the drivers side mount. Now it has beefier motor mounts and actually sits level like it should.
Radiator is troubling me again, my alternator runs right into the inlet tube of the radiator on the passengers side top of the engine. I'm probably just going to have the local radiator shop relocate it to the right location for my setup instead of search out a different serpentine pulley system.
In other news I got a complete knuckle rebuild from Low Range, Marlin knuckle gusset kit and TG Hysteer kit on the way. Pretty excited to get it all put together.

 

Tried to start it up today, turns over but has no power to the fuel pump. Time to dive into chasing wires 👎 have to expect these kind of detours when working on swaps I suppose.

 

The Frankenrunner is alive!!!!!! Replaced the fuel pump tonight and it started right up, has a little ticking noise that the ol man and I are trying to diagnose but we could only run it shortly as my radiator won't be finished until the morning. So once we are able to let it warm up and thoroughly let the fluids run through it hopefully we'll have a better idea of what the noise is.....maybe it'll just go away right......😬. Next up full knuckle rebuild and hysteer, after I pick up an ifs box.

 

Sweet, getting closer!!! Bet your get anxious to drive that beast!

 

Well for the first time in 7 years the 4Runner moved under its own power. I'm excited to say that the ticking noise has gone away after letting it run for a while. Not very pleased with fit of the Northwest radiator, at least the mounting brackets, I had to slot them about an 1/8 in more on each side just to get the bolt holes to line up. Other than the fitment issues it does seem to cool the engine very well. Now on to other things like cleaning up some hack job wiring, new clutch, getting the tach and fuel gauges to work, rebuilding knuckles, building front and rear bumpers, sliders, trussing and cleaning up the wider read end I picked up......and the list goes on!

 

Thats sucks a out the radiator fitment issues, at least its keeping the engine cool! I still need to get my new radiator mounted, i hope mine does the job! What style of bumpers are you thinking of building, tube or plate style? Keep up the good work!

 

They will be plate style with tube work much like the bumpers on the Tacoma. I'm using the CBI bumpers as inspiration on how I want them to look.

 

I like the looks of those CBI bumpers, that will be cool if you come up with something similar!

 

I hope I can come up with something similar they look so damn good!

Drove it around today took it to work, hit the interstate. It pulls 75 no problem even with a slipping clutch so with that I ordered a Ram HDX clutch kit from Summit, based on the reviews it seems like the best bang for the buck. It'll be great to see how it feels when the clutch has full grip.

 

Great to hear its alive again !
Lil tip I was told by a long time reliable Yota builder , as long as you have a 84 or 85 front housing there is no need to truss the top. 84 & 85 housings are trussed on the lower side from the factory. He's seen more bent housings from people trussing the top making the center of the housing so rigid that housing has no flex and bends at the leaf spring perches out toward knuckle balls. I did what he he told me and saved my money in the bling upper truss and just gusseted the knuckle balls . He's never seen a bent housing anywhere near the center ( other than people warping the housing by welding on trusses incorrectly ) . It's always from the spring perches outward to knuckle ball where all the weight and stress is. Just a FYI.

 

Thanks and yeah I got the knuckle ball gussets not the upper axle tube gusset, guess I should have clarified. I will be trussing the rear though and giving it a little extra armor, but that's all when I get to that point, and I'm nowhere near that point just yet. Btw I'll be back in Reno soon, it'd be awesome to meet up, I'd like to check out your truck.

 

^ Right on man sounds like a plan. I too need to armor up my rear. Something simple like I did in front. I still have some scrap 3/8" left over from the front guard just gotta get around to it.
Keep up the good work.

 

Thats great info right there. I never knew that.

 

Got my new clutch installed, runs great now, I love being able to use as much throttle as I want without the clutch slipping haha. I'll get some more pics up soon, I'm working on stripping the roll on bedliner that's on it, what a pain! Might dive into the front axle gussets/knuckle rebuild tomorrow. Also picked up a bunch of scrap plate from my buddies welding shop so I guess that means it's time to start on some armor

 

Got to go up into the desert and test the 4wd. I see a locker in my future, anyways here's some poser pics.

 

 

How did everything perform ? Must feel good to get it off road after all this time.
That radiator sits really low . Protection in the future...

 

It performs like an open/open covered wagon haha the suspension could use some love. Other than that it's great just chugs along. Yeah the radiator is huge but once I do ruf's I'll be dropping the spring hangers down around 2 inches so that should protects it a bit, and I'll probably fab an additional little skid plate for it. I'm back to Reno this Thursday if you ever wanna meet up and go wheel or whatever.