i finally got some more work done on the rear quarters behind the rear wheels. just primed, i was out of shiny paint.





i still need to piece in some more, but the general structure is there. i wanted to do these parts first to be able to figure out the wheel well shape. so much was gone its hard to know where to reference.

 

i finally got some time in the past few days. i managed to cut out the upper arch portions of the rear quarters further up and weld in a patch panel.

 

i am working on the last two holes in the floor/last 2 body mounts. the actual mount itself on both sides here in addition to the floor, were pretty bad.



so i am going to add a thick large washer and small washer welded into the cup that the body bolt will go through and tighten against. then a large thick washer the body bolt and its washer just pass through which will get tied into a plate. after thats all in there, i have some patch panels to fix the floor holes.

 

rust is gross. Nice job cleaning it up!

 

agreed
thanks man, much appreciated

it was so far gone, it has been hard figuring out what is supposed to be there in some instances. i am still very amateur at body work, but putting metal back where all those huge holes were is a win.

 

i got the patch panels welded in for the holes in the floor and the last two body mounts.
seam sealer and paint on top, seam sealer and undercoating on bottome coming up next.

 

i got the floor seam sealed and bed lined inside, and seam sealed, rust reform primed, and undercoated on the bottom. i painted my gas tank black and bedlined the bottom half. i undercoated the bottom of the gas tsnk access hatch and all four wheelwells.

 

i opted to get some 3 point harnesses since the roll bar is ready to accept them. bolts for all seat belts in usa are 7/16"-20. any oem ones i could find were either very expensive and/or in terrible shape. these aftermarket ones came with a nice cover over the mechanism, as it is exposed on the bottom of the roll bar.

i also finally made my seat back panels. the carpet used to cover the rear seat backs, and that is long gone. i used the same 1/8" abs sheet as the other panels, with some nutserts in the seat frame.

 

i finally picked up a new driver side fender...for free! and it was an old taiwan re-pop, much nicer than the newer chinese re-pop i have had on the passenger side for years. i found it on craigslist for $20, and after talking to the guy, he wouldn't take anything for it, great guy. i even sent him some pics.

 

i am meeting my dad at a car show out in pa run by a friend of his. i have been doing a bunch of little things to get ready, like oil and filter change, air in the tires, air filter, etc. i did some cleaning as well.

i also welded shut the smog tube on the air box and painted that up.




some extra brake line protection seemed like a good idea as well.




i also epoxied my hood back to the ribbing as best i could and welded in 2 braces.

 

next i fixed my throttle cable again. years ago when it first broke i modified the pedal and used push pull cable from mcmaster carr. i re-used the last piece of stock cable that had the thimble on it to attach to the butterfly pivot on the throttle body. well, that piece of cable was ready to give way again. this is what i came up, and it seems to work.



i cleaned up some wiring too.

 

and the best for last.
i always hated the clutch pedal feel bottoming out on the carpet or pushing against the clutch start switch bracket. my old taco and current taco both had a positive stop the clutch pedal pushed against (or at least that's how it feels), so i made one for the 4runner.

 

i have been driving the 4runner a lot. it has been to a bunch of car shows.


i have also been spending some time getting the mustang running, and even brought both to one show!abigail drove the 4runner for me.




i had some help:

 

and i finally started welding on my quarter panel patch panels today.





i still have to grind down the welds. i am no body guy, but im getting better...i guess...

 

i got the quarter panel patches welded, ground, and sprayed.