gTgarrett

This is my 93 4Runner SR5 V6. Everything is stock right now, and I plan on keeping most of it that way, because it is going to be used as a DD, mostly on the highway.





My dad purchased this 4runner for me this spring for $500 because it had a blown HG (surprise), still a pretty good deal I think.
I am going to use it as a DD, so it's not going to have any extreme offroad mods. I do some offroading, mostly to get down to the lake or river to fish, but in Texas all you really need is a locker and AT tires and you're set, so those might be in the future list of mods. This runner is going to be used primarily as highway transporation (hopefully throughout college) so I don't plan on 35s and a SAS haha.

gTgarrett

the first order of business on the 93 is the engine rebuild. The blown headgasket was no surprise, but apparently this engine had been overheated numerous times, so a full rebuild was required.

Here are some pics of the engine out of the runner:




here you can see where the HG failed on #6 (bottom right)


Not in terrible condition, but needed some work.
So we sent the heads, block, oil pan etc. to Arlington machine shop to get resurfaced and vatted, and the cams and crank to get worked on. Also ordered a premium 3VZ-E rebuild kit from Engine performance Warehouse Dallas.
Here is everything back from the shop:


cylinders bored out oversized

slacker

iTrader: (1)

lookin' good !!

gTgarrett

thanks i'll have some better pics up tomorrow hopefully

gTgarrett

Well the engine reassembly is on stand by because one of the piston rings is bent, and ordering a new one is gonna be a pita.

Did find a good deal on some stock wheels for $100, but the guy got the bright idea to paint two of them black, so I had to use acetone to get the paint off.
Here is a pic of one of the wheels cleaned up, and another with the sweet paintjob:


Hopefully I can get a piston ring and get this project moving

gTgarrett

posted a new pic at the top, and here's another one:




Also, I'm still having trouble finding the piston ring that I need by itself. Obviously I won't be able to get JUST the one ring for the oil control ring, but hopefully I can get a set for just one piston, rather than all 6 again (which would cost about $100)
[
Here is the bent ring. The brand is Nifflex, and the pistons are bored to .030. If anyone knows where I can find a ring set for one piston, please let me know!

marshm4ll0w

try talking to your machine shop. they might know. i have one of those 93 runners. mines got a bit of rust though. cut one side out though. rust is a killer. that ones not bad form the pics.

gTgarrett

Hey thanks for the info, I did talk to the machine shop and the only option is to buy a whole new set of rings. What rust are you talking about? I haven't seen much on this one except for a few spots inside the oil pan. Any help would be appreciated.

marshm4ll0w

i was tlaking about the bodu rust. i dont know if they rust to bad down there. here in bc they spread salt and sand and goodies on the road during winter. makes them rusty out nicely. iv noticed they seem to rust out on all door bottoms. so check there. my oldder 90 runner the bottoms are way worse. and the rear wheel wells rotted out on mine. whast the situation on yours? from your pics it looks good but there dark.

gTgarrett

Oh as far as body rust goes it has none that I've seen. Because of the lack of much cold weather/ icy roads down here there are only a few days out of the year when the roads get salted, so we're fortunate as far as that goes. Thanks for the info

gTgarrett

Built the entire "lower" part of the engine yesterday, crankshaft, pistons, oil pan, water pump, etc. Have a busted fuel injector and missing a few head bolt washers so the build's gonna be on hold for a few days. I'm hoping to have it running this coming weekend but I have a ton of stuff to do so who knows.
Here are a few pics of the block build:





pistons in


finished product

cooperk85

looks good bro

marshm4ll0w

looks good. iv never done a bottom end rebuild, i need too.

marshm4ll0w

oh and what did it cost roughly?

gTgarrett

so far with the block being bored out and decked, new pistons, water pump, oil pump, engine rebuild kit, valve job, fuel injector rebuild, and radiator fixed it has cost about $2000 give or take, and that's without any labor charges

camo31_10.50

HOLY CRAP!!!..

$2000 in parts and machine work alone...wtf

guess that means i aint gettin mine bored..LMAO

im just gonna clean mine up real good..maybe get it professionally cleaned (Vatted)..and do the rest myself (besides any machine work..lol).

i just think it's crazy how much some of you guys spend on a rebuild..

gTgarrett

Yea well if money isnt an issue I always try to do things right the first time, even if it costs more, rather than having to redo them again because of lack of quality

gTgarrett

Well after several weekends and several setbacks, the 3.0 is finally completely rebuilt and running great. It took my dad, my uncle, and me longer than we thought simply because of the lack of time we had to work on it. It was a good experience and I'm really glad that we were able to do it. I do caution others who are considering a complete rebuild, as it is relatively difficult, and takes a lot of time. My uncle was a professional mechanic and without his help we would have missed a lot of little details that would of caused problems down the road. However, if you're feeling ambitious and want a great running engine, I recommend it.

gTgarrett

Thanks, it was a lot of work but it was well worth it.

gTgarrett

The rebuilt 3.0 is running great, and although it's still in the break in process, it has a lot more power and torque than I expected.

I got my 31x10.5 Goodyear Wrangler Duratracs mounted on the stock wheels and I think they look great. They have a very aggressive look, don't scrub on tight turns, and don't make hardly any noise on the highway. I really like them so far.





Here are a few other pics: