Had a box of parts the PO of my 87 gave me when I bought it. Seemed alot of stuff the 88 needed was in the box.

The glove box door was pretty battle scarred. Had one of those in the box too. Easy swap.


New clock



I didnt like the original cluster so I had this sr5 one in the lucky box of parts.

 

Got the truck for 700. 104k miles. Needs timing chain setup and a rocker arm. Some rust work. Little tlc.




Also was missing the 2 covers for the jack and cargo stash. Had 2 perfect ones in the box o parts. Found a deck lamp in the box...went and looked...yup the 88's was broken.

 

Ok...ordered the Engnbldr kit today.
The one with the cover,chain set,water pump,oil pump,steel rail etc.

I have a few days off scheduled for this when the parts arrive. Ill be taking lots of pictures and doing a write up.

I plan on keeping the head on, doing the timing chain, buttoning that up....then pulling rocker assembly off...replacing the bad rocker....when the top is all buttoned up...we will drop the front diff and clean out the pan and such.

Ill take as many pictures as I can and spread the install over a few days...so that I can take my time to get decent photos for you all.

Feel free to chime in with any Ninja secret tips...
Yes I know the hidden bolt....

 

Picture from the ebay ad:

 

Sprayed a couple cans 'o degreaser and hosed her down a bit. Discovered some newer parts....radiator looks pretty new...clutch master and brake master....several hoses.
Other than being dirty...fairly well maintained.

Weird to have the chain go at 104k. I guess time is an enemy as well to plastic guides.

 

Always nice having something clean to work on. I'll be watching you do your timing chain, might even offer some bad advise. I did mine last winter, pulled the motor & did it all on the engine stand. You sure you don't want to replace that head gasket?

 

I dont think it needs one...but for peace o mind...ill do a compression test tomorrow.

I drove it home making a racket...never got hot.
No water in oil...oil in water... Im pretty sure Im good.

 

scribed. let me know if you need any hard to find or expensive parts i got da hook up. Or any other help for that matter i'm pretty good with these engines.

 

I need a decent oem rocker...gotz one laying around?

I refuse to pay 36 for a new one....robbery.

 

not in my shop but i know some one who does. Or should for that matter. Look up victorsoffroad.com and give victor a call. he's located just outside of arnold and is pretty much able to get anything toyota you could need. his phone number is listed on his site. If he for some reason can't get it let me know and i can make a trip to the dealer and see if i can get you a better price with my discount. To put it lightly the dealer i go to gives me a pretty good discount.

 

You can check the prices...I wont use victors....I got a nasty email from the lady he has handle used parts...check your dealer price on a new one...

Ill post up compression numbers in the morning...
I have to meet the original owner of the 88 tomorrow morning for breakfast....had to have him send off for another title...the guy i bought it from screwed the title all up so I tracked down the original owner...a 69 year old guy...he sold it at 84,000 miles last year and it had 20k put on then broke.

You are more than welcome to come over and help all you want...as a matter of fact...I insist you come do it all...while I watch from a comfortable chair.

 

I'll check my dealer hook up on thur. and get back to you. Sure i'll come over and just slap that in there but seriously if you get stuck or need another set of eyes to look at a problem give me a holler.

 

Just come to hang for a bit someday...I wanna see your yota. Stuff shipped already today...Ted is outstanding.
He was on it. Maybe Ill get lucky and it will show up for the weekend. I need to wrench on something.

So...you should buy my boat.

 

Saw the boat. I would if it was a 16 ft flat bottom john boat, all alluminum, with a jet out board. maybe 50 hp. I'm supposed to go riding with my buddies on the quads this sunday but if i get back in early and your wrenchin post up i might give you a call to stop by and "help" AKA drink beer and watch. Depends on how long i'm out on the quads. Speaking of the boat what happened to that cruiser in columbia that you went to look at?

 

Ok. Compression test done. Holding 160 lbs on average. No flucuation more than 10 psi.

Looks like Im good to continue.

Sweet.

 

Got the engnbldr stuff from ups today. Everything looks great.

So...I pulled out the boat...moved the runner in the garage and went to town.

Drained her oil and coolant. Removed shroud, fan, and radiator. Had valve cover off from a couple days ago...I dont suggest starting the runner with the valve cover off. Lets just say I was in for a rude suprise. What a dummy. So
after I got the oil off everything. Sprayed across the driveway and hit the boat!!

Got the headbolts out.....rocker assembly off...cam out...good used cam back in...good used rocker assembly back on and head torqued back down. Head didn't move a spec. Went rather smooth. Taking a break now. Rest of this is gravy now.

Ill get some pics of the engnbldr kit up after I rest a bit.

 

Nice looking 4 runner!
Post up some pics of the progress.

 

all right....ill go take some pics. The old cam is TOAST. all cam journals specced out though...

 

Box of goodies. Nice looking parts...timing cover seems to have surface cracks...but just cosmetic.
Not the worlds best casting...but hey if it works it works.



Rocker arm pad....once removed...the pad just fell out... hard to see...but it had three angles on it....like a valve face...lol



The rocker the pad fell off of.



The other bad rocker...its pad was loose...but didnt fall off.



Toasted cam. only 2 lobes were toast....the 2 from the bad rockers. Rest looked good.



Other lobe



top end buttoned back up



biggest fear....was the valve tips would be mushroomed...nope. I was very happy. This thing made some serious noise when running.

 

how cow, if that were me I woulda bought a whole new rocker assembly. I would not want that to happen again with any of the other rockers that were in there. Oh and I know it would be a PITA to do, but I would also be taking that oil pan out and cleaning it out, no telling how much crap is in the pan now.