Welp,
Bought the rig from a family friend last year when I was 17. I was really wanting a truck like this for years and finally I picked one up. Didn't now really where/ what to start one so I threw in a new cap, rotor, wires and plugs. Few weeks later I ordered a CAI off ebay. I feel like a K&N would have been wise but don't have the cash to get one of those. Haven't done too much since last summer but a 2nd job this year will get me the cash for exhaust, lift, bedliner, and hopefully new tires.



Here's a pic from the day I got to bring it home. Not too bad of shape for 285K. Got it from a family friend and it had a rebuilt engine about around 250K.

End of the '10 Summer I bought some 31x10.5 tires to throw on. I jacked my truck up and took the lug nuts off and could get the stupid tires off. It had been so long since they were taken off they were rusted to the hubs. Leaving for school soon and not taking my truck so figured I'd wait till the next summer to put them on.

Out wheelin with a friend I blew one of my tires courtesy of a spear shaped rock in my tire and thought I was screwed out in the sticks with a blown tire I never could pull off. Eventually cell service was found a father came to the rescue with a sledge and a jack. After a few pics my dad posted on facebook of his stupid son and his broke down truck and 20mins of beating on the rim the tire finally popped off.



Finally I made it home after that whole adventure and knocked the rest of my tires off to get my 31's on.

 

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Fixed the picture situation, thanks to photobucket.

Took the rig into a shop where a good friend got his lift installed and exhaust done to get my truck a new sound. I was excited for it to be done since the owner and I were on the same page of what I wanted for tone. Hoping to get a throaty and deep sound out of my truck, knowing I have the 3.0L it wouldn’t be too deep. They installed a FlowSound muffler with 2 1/4", and as they pulled it off I was pretty disappointed. Not nearly as loud or throaty as I hoped it would be



The muffler is just behind the axle in this pic, I’ll try to get a better picture up soon.

There is about 3ft of pipe after the muffler and I am debating whether to cut it off at the muffler or go back and have them install a Cherry Bomb glasspack in place of the straight section left of the spare tire. Hoping to get a throaty sound (the good obnoxious tone) that sounds good coming from the far side of the street and up close. Comments? Suggestions?

 

If it was 1988 and I could order a 4Runner that would be it, I like blue and the factory stripping. Nice find. Truck looks in great shape. Looking forward to your build.

 

That's the color I bought in 1988. My favorite color. But it had 22RE, manual. You should do a better job of keeping it clean, especially in Idaho. That chrome trim on your wheel wells looks great to me but it holds the mud and salt and will rust your truck out in no time. I would also undercoat it.

 

I dont know about SMOG requirements there but my truck is straight piped to a flowmaster.
Its loud. But doesnt kackle or anything. i think it sounds good.

 

Took the truck back to the muffler shop and they swapped in a 10" FlowSound Racing muffler and took out the 13" FlowSound they put in the first time around. The first time I started it up I could definitely hear a difference. Louder, deeper, throatier which was what I was hoping for. Can't wait until it breaks in!
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I dont know much about different exhaust, so not much help here for you. Just like checking up on your progress.

 

A few days ago I could hear a small squeak coming from under the truck only when i was in reverse and a rattle when coasting in 2nd and 3rd gear. So I drove around for a few more days and the squeak was getting louder and louder and just sounded awful, figured it was a U joint. Today I researched here on the site and found out it was a U joint going out and so I took it into a shop and I had joint that was almost totally broken off in the rear then a loose yoke in the front. Thankfully she's all fixed up now.

Found out some other problems I'll have to eventually pay for. The CV boot on the drivers side has a small hole and is leaking. A new Clutch cylinder is recommended, bushings in the transmission, boot on the linkage enters the transmission is swollen with oil and is not doing anything but hang.

Lots of stuff to do, not surprised, it's an old truck so I knew i would have problems like this.

 

Hello LilBlue88.. Just changed my boot on the tranny last nite, that covers the clutch lever. I was able to just rip the old one off and pushed the slave cylinder in a little and slide it on. Then I just worked the edge of the boot into the tranny. Glad to see you are making progress. There will be some work involved, but is pretty easy to do. Just keep at it, you will get it.

 

looking good

 

Well, sure has been a while since I have posted something here. I was either working or sleeping this summer then been off at school this fall so haven't done a thing to my truck since June. As of today I have ordered...

4Crawler BJ Spacers
4Crawler Diff & Sway Drop Kit
Skyjacker Shocks
Also called into the local pull 'n save and they had the 96-98 4runner coils I need for the ZUK Mod for pretty cheap

Getting purtty excited to get on it and see how she looks when I'm done. Next will be saving cash to get some 33 x 10.5 BFG AT's!

 

Nice looking truck - subscribed.

 

Well, finally got all the tarps off her from how she sat this fall while I was at school. Dad's 05 Mustang and 74 Bronco had dibs on the shop while I was gone. Nothing but a few leaves got in and I'm thankful for the lack of weather we've have up here or else it could have looked worse.



Got in into the shop and got the rear jacked up, tires off, and went away at the ZUK mod. Picked up some coils from the pull 'n save this week then went over to the local AutoZone tonight to rent the coil compressor. Got the shocks off since I'm replacing them anyway and had the coil compressed but the compressor bolt was too long for me to be able to get it in around the bump stops. So ditched that, had my hydraulic jack and put in on the leaf pack then pushed against the frame to open up more space and with some elbow grease and some help from the father we got it to squeeze in. Maybe not the safest way but we got them both settled in right in about 10min and walked off with all our fingers and teeth.


Tomorrow my BJs, diff and sway drop kit from 4crawler should be in, so hopefully I can look like this guy and get going on the front end. My Skyjacker Hydro's are gonna be about another week it's looking like and I'm going back to school Monday so guess I'll have to wait till MLK weekend when I'm back from school to finish it up.

 

So I got my parts from 4Crawler today and so I finished up the rear and got the tires on. Before the ZUK it measured 11" and ended up about 14.5"! It sits a lot higher than I thought it would. I hope it somewhat evens up after I get the front done, pulling the springs out and cutting them down doesn't sound too appealing but I guess we will see when I get there.

Here's how she sat after the ZUK right before I started on the front. Couldn't get a good pic when it's in the shop but you can tell it is way taller than before. I'll put up a few good ones once it's all done.
Went to the store today with the father and noticed they had Hi-Lift jacks for pretty cheap so we decided to pick up one of those. I'm sure it will come in handy for this project and other mishaps down the road.


Here's all the parts that came with my kit from 4Crawler. BJ's, Diff Drop, and Sway Drop and all the hardware. Wish I worked in a machine shop because a lot of these parts look super easy to fab up.


Things were going pretty well once I got started and the only pain was getting the ball joint to want to go back in under the spacer. Eventually took off the entire shock rather than dropping the top side to have more room to play and it gave me more room when I was cutting. I also dropped the sway bar and that gave me a lot more wiggle room and eventually got one side in.

I have a few things to do to finish up on that one side and the other is taken apart and ready to get the spacer in. I can't really totally finish up until I get the shocks though. I wish they would get here sooner, I'm very anxious to get it all done!

 

Been at school the past few months but while back home on spring break I managed to get a semi decent pic of it after the lift.


I have been debating on doing bedliner for sometime now and decided to actually go through with laying down Herculiner. Bought the kit from the local Napa store and spent about 4 days prepping the floor. Took a long time and put a lot of elbow grease into it but the more I researched it online they more I found investing a large amount of time in prepping was crucial. The rubber mats glued down were sure a PITA, I was hoping to paint over them but on the drivers side it was bubbled up and chipping off caused by the heat from the exhaust being right below it. Overall I was very please withe the results, all my prep work paid off and it looks might fine.
Before...

and after...

 

I'm about to do the ZUK mod myself, ended up going with the TJ front coils, after seeing your 4runner coils, and hearing that the front TJ's vary in weight (the ones I got were out of an '02 sahara v6, meaning they're probably over 150lbs) I'm starting to rethink my decision. Luckily they were only $20 for the both of them thanks to craigslist.

Also starting to tear my truck apart since alot of the interior panels are so shot/missing anyways. I want to do herculiner for the entire floor just like this. I painted the exterior of my truck with 2 coats of duplicolor spray on bedliner, and prep is definitely the most important part. I have a couple areas where its peeling horribly, but everywhere else is solid. Looks more flat black than anything, sure has faded though. After seeing the reviews on other sites and on here about herculiner, it looks like it holds up really well.

I'll be starting up a build thread pretty soon, but until then, subscribed!

 

xBEEFX

Just be sure to get the correct type of coil compressor when you do the ZUK mod. It will make it a lot easier and will save a lot of time and stress trying to get it to pop in yourself.

I definitely recommend the Herculiner, it went on very easy and I am very pleased with how it turned out. I was really nervous before I started thinking that it would dry too fast and have it be a sludgy mess but it is pretty smooth and easy going to lay down. Good Luck!

 

Ended up going with j$$p TJ front coils, I've yet to install them and I'm hoping I can get them in without a coil compressor, cut to 13" shouldn't be too much of an issue with squeezing the bottle jack in-between the leafs, worst case I'll go buy some coil compressors.

I'm also rethinking doing the herculiner on the entire floor, because I want to recarpet/insulate. But that's probably just me being lazy. Really need it in the cargo area though.

 

I would recommend doing the whole thing just for rust prevention and protection. My floor was pretty clean but I herculined it anyway and I put my carpet back in from the front seats forward to cover up all the messy wiring.