anyhow heres the pict of the hood i was gluing the bracing back to the skin couple days back. about 80% held tried fiberglass an it held for a day then popped lose 2 spots of 4 but overall the skin is glued back on


well i THOUGHT i had the fender right... teach me to think "hits head with large iron bar"

i had such a hard time getting the hood to fit with the fender gaps going from hitting at the headlight to over half an inch to a quarter inch at the cowl. but i finally got it pretty close 7 times i had the fender fully on an had to take it right back off bend squish the new fender whack the inner fender with the dead blow to 'adjust' its position an angle to the fender so the hood would clear things (also working on the dents an bends in the hood in this picture)

 

more of the hood work

guide coating seeing how much of a few dents id been able to massage out the pair at the mid point of the hood were a bend caused at the fender crush point the hood has a crack in the rib at that point near the fender which will have to be welded an the gusseted


a bit better than it was of course a lot of them are on the ribs which ...i glued back down...sigh... OH kris i need ya to weld some nails or washers on please!!


an a thin spot opened up so it gets welded to fiil with metal


tomorrow the ladies 90 needs the shop her starter is acting up

 

Setting body gaps can be a royal pain in the rear. Sometimes it goes quick and other times it can take a while. Not something I care to do. When possible I outline the hinge connections. Which inner fender you need?

 

oh no terry the inner im talking about is the metal one that i had to bend an push out to get the front end back in shape the side where the outer fender bolts too is what i was beating on to get the gaps nearly right its not 100% but certainly better than the state i got her in

if you have the passenger side splash shield you dont need for cheap (if torn it dont matter) that im flat missing

reminds me i need to get some of the xmas tree push in clips to put the drivers side back on

 

well i ended up doing the 90 runner today alone (kris sick an moody) so dug in what genius made it so hard to even SEE the starter on a v6?

holy hanna what a circus belly plate removed passenger wheel too the splash guards on the 90 were lost when lady hit a patch of black ice last winter an hit a hill ripping the tire apart bending the front end a bit (still needs to take it in an get the frame shop to pull it right)

OH what a story THAT night makes (ill type that out if anyones interested its fun to watch the sheriff an the wrecker coming for the runner sliding down the hill too after 5 calls to 911 to close the road before some one gets killed which at that point was 9 cars wrecked /spun out an one off the side of the road rolled over leaking gas the lady in kris interpid shaking..)

anyhow the 90 i dig in an lo an behold the start wire nearly an inch an a half is flat bare wire! the insulation is all peeled off

she'd been saying the issue with it not doing anything then they would push start her or move the truck an it would start an odd intermittent issue well the key wire to the starter grounding out would do that..

i got wire harness for the front diff an other things secured away from anything that might rub or hit them wrapped the wire up with 3 layers of electrical tape an put things back took the time to fix the bumper an fender then the valence best i could after that hill hit

shes been missing the corner marker we got a replacement but the fender was all bent its on now! need a bulb all mine were bad :-( anyhow repainted her bumper an valence black looks decent now shes oh but now the grill looks like animal droppings

i tell her im outa paint that was for my runner.. then she smiled an said it looks good though

i tell her give me the time an i can get the dents out of the hood (fan grenaded with a PO an no one fixed it) with kris buying those spray guns im pretty confident i can repaint the hood an make her look all nice again but i need the runner for a few days

pushed my 88 back into the shop an continued sanding the hood finding dents ahh finding the small DA sander it whacks through those 7 yes folks 7 layers of paint an primer like greased lightning

got a question what do ya'll tighten your lug nuts too? book says 64-80 something ftlbs i did hers to 75 ftlbs
im tired head hurts from the heat an hitting my head on the 90's tow hook (double ended not like my 88's)

 

Sounds like you got quite alot done on the 90. I was wanting to build up a bunch of air tools but I have an electric DA sander and think I will like electric over pneumatic just because a air hose is not as flexible and dont have to hear the air compressor run all of the time.

As far as lug nut torque, I just put them on with a 4 way and not too tight. I dont use an impact. Some one used an impact on the pickup I am working on and it took a 4 way and a cheater pipe to get them to break loose. Really surprised that it didnt break the stud.

It will be a day or two, but I will look for a passenger splash guard. Should have one.

 

ive been working with the electric hand sander but one of the layers of paint is thick an kinda gums up the paper the air DA with the same paper whips through it

i shoulda took a before an after picts yeah the valence is still all wavy an in some spots te severe damage its taken shows the lady of the house has hit a hill on one side an a dog on the other both have left their mark on the 90 told her next time its new valence metal is getting hard from all the hammering an my arm is all wilted from beating it on the anvil an a tire (like a shot bag to try an get some curve back in it)

thank you terry let me know how much for the part an shipping ok!

 

well Tallt sold me a pair of rear backer plates and i got my re-ring kit which has nearly everything to rebuild my motor save the freeze plugs which i pulled from the block though solid
1. they had rust (especially the rusted side of my engine)
2. they were steel i trust brass more an
3. block had to be boiled an to get the oil out of the coolant passages they had to come out for the best job possible

so this opens up new work options ive got the block primered sitting on the welding bench i can get the head boiled now (if i have enough $) as the valve stem seals are in the kit an the shop does valve lapping an reassembly as part of the boil an cleanup cost

im so relived to get the backer plates for the rears, brakes are one thing I DONT take lightly
lost brakes once in my old 79 chevy/gmc mutant it was NOT a fun ride nearly drove through my apartment if it hadnt been my tossing her into park (not the best thing to do to an automatic) slammed down on the parking brake at the same time she bounced off the parking curb an stopped ... id burst a rubber line an the warning light was burnt out i had NO idea i was about out of fluid as a result of the burst line

so thank you Tallt the skelrunner will be stopping because of your parts

 

oh i dug into my cluster as the backer for the speedo was all lifted an wrinkled i could hear some rattling inside yeeeah there was some breakage



also this breakage doesn't surprise me the cable for the speedo shoving an pushing on it 2part epoxy an other fixes will be done




used the flat end of a disposable scalpel i had to wiggle the circut board off the back of the cluster the flat also came in handy on the clear front which has a crack in the corner but will be behind the trim ill put some epoxy in the crack via the tip of a toothpick an that should fix it permanently

 

On your valance, a vice and hammer can do wonders for it. Brakes are kind of important, I dont have the confidence in my brakes just yet. Had the company trucks brakes go out with no warning at all and luckily i was headed to the parking lot.

You are getting after it with the speedometer assembly. Things are coming along nicely.

 

thank ya terry
well the 90 has a valence my 88 its MIA

 

I never had any luck finding one in a boneyard. I just resigned to having to get them off of ebay, which isnt too bad. Last time I bought 2 of them, thinking I would have a spare and then used it for a project. Next time I will order 2 more, just to save on shipping.

 

Hey D in the place to BE! hehe.. Congratz on getting the backer plates.

SORRY about the Guage Cluster Carnage.... That sux! BUT, as usual, I'm SURE you'll fix it.

 

Hey Dragon, ....

Forgot to mention... YESTERDAY, these dudes were in the bigger yard by me... Back on a 94 4Runner, they'd set up this apparatus where they'd stuck the axle of the V6 Runner into a piece of frame on a Big work truck... Then to took what looked like a Giant Rubber bump stop and were turning it and then hitting it with a decent size sledge hammer... NOT SUPER hard, just hard enough but not to dent. They had 3 guys on the axle portion, standing in the back of this work truck and putting weight down on the axle so it wouldn't slide out...and they had the axle wrapped in towel or something to help grip it inside the frame gap .... I can't tell you, to be honest, EXACTLY how they had it set up, but they were trying to separate the backing plate and whole shebang... And it HAD moved! lol. I guess for 50% off and leaving with that thing for 12$ that day was worth the trouble, right?

Wanna hear more about the 'V6 Drum Upgrade'.. if there is one... Maybe you said that already... I'll read back(Once more, I probably even answered... how sad is that? My BRAIN NOT WORK GOOD TOO MUCH NO MORE, DRAGON!) HAHAHA.

 

yeah im gona have to buy one off'a ebay too terry

chef i have seen some 'backyard' engineering but that takes the cake

oh ive been busy today (got kris out to do some welding an i did surgery on the runner post to come later im eating dinner

 

well kris had himself a great day yesterday he went out with a friend an went wheeling off in the boonies with some jeep group one guy had some carnage blowing a axle joint to bits

he came out an was happy to help weld on some pulling points to help smooth the hood dents an patch the rustout

this is after various pulls with a looped nail an a washer to get the worst dent out he's welding in a patch i free hand cut with an air nibbler to fix the hole an rust



an after patch welding an some grinding to take off the stitches


directly behind the patch (which you can just see in the rusted out spot) a washer was added to the sit spot for the hood bump which is nearly turned completely out (not seen here)

 

an this is after some DA sanding the color is from the welding done on the backside an not sanded off yet


an the backside repairs
2 cracks at the middle of the hood where it got folded, the washer an cut to open the folded point near the curve down of the hood which was weak an if you pushed on it flexed the end and the backside rust repair of the front lip no grinding had been done yet to clean it up


kris is happy with the practice he's always had a hard time with sheet metal an toyota metal is thin to begin with

 

and as promised the surgery to remove the aftermarket cruse control which the handle was dangling down on the floor also removed 5 lose wires which went to nothing the ends of 3 were attached to eye rings for grounds an found 3 more rings with no wires in them under the dash i cleaned them out

now i have no idea if this worked (i doubt it as it was half unplugged) but the control box was whacking an banging on the brake an clutch peddles the wires were tape wrapped to the speedo cable an the dash support

oh an the fresh paint of the center weld of the hood


and this is my drivers speaker kinda just jammed in there frame bent to fit...not my doing... PO or someone sigh... some days ..some days... ill do what i can to 'fix' this but i dont have the $ for speakers right now



oh an the white wire goes somewhere up around the climate controls it joins another wire at the kick panel which both then go all the way back to the rear of the truck (one is a ground) they pass near the roll bar an then disappear under the carpet in the cargo area its household stranded wire not for auto use! AGH people sone days

 

It seems that the factory cruise control is problematic. I removed mine when I had to change wiring harness and I think you have the harness set up for it. I dont think it is Plug and Play. I think an aftermarket cruise would be the better way to go. That is what I am going to look into when I get to that point.

A PO on the pick up used speaker wire for adding tail lights for trailers. Some of the things they do, make you wonder.

 

so you have to have the main harness specific for it? so not the option everyone can have i really doubt this aftermarket one works anymore it was installed (according to the papers) in 1990 an when i got it several things were disconnected

ive got kris stopping at the auto parts store for 6 #74 bulbs an the 1/4 turn sockets for mine. the cluster didnt come with any of the smaller warning lights or sockets the larger bulbs #196 seem to be glued into the sockets unlike the bulbs in my stock cluster
but with some miguires plastic window polish the lens is clear an looks awesome just need the bulbs to install the SR5 cluster