Hey all,

I am Mr. Orange. I have recently purchased a 1988 4runner SR5 V6 5-speed. I bought it from a guy at Fort Bragg in NC and the truck has been in Texas it's whole life. He took it on the Humvee training course as part of the test drive.

(I was messing with the light cause it was pointing out into the woods.)

The drive back was interesting because it was the first time I've driven a manual for more than 30 minutes.


I also got to see the mountains of western Virginia where I spent a week hiking 70 miles.


Slept in it 2 nights, because I could only run during the day. The lights are all messed up.


I got to Augusta, ME before running into trouble. It wouldn't idle and a trooper stopped and told me to get it towed.


I get it home and start looking more in depth at the head light and the fender has a cracked front bolt hole. Take the fender off and...




This past weekend I started tearing down other trouble spots. And even got to take the spare motor out.



More to come. And the "Orange Pig" part is my brother's comment on how it drives.

 

I forgot to put my plan for this build.

Repair everything before the start of the summer.
Swap the 3" body lift for a 4" or 5" suspension lift. (Cause I want to keep the BFG 35s)
Install a softopper before the summer.

Drive it for the summer. I work at a summer camp and won't have time to work on it during the summer.

After this summer:
Get some rust protection for the frame and floor, because Maine.
Roof Basket over softopper.
Swap in a turbo diesel?
Long range tank.
Interior would be the last part of the build.

I'm open to suggestions for technical specs.
Im looking to drive this thing around the world, eventually.
Off-road/dirt-road road trips is the goal.

 

Nice base for a build. I kind of like the orange!

That's hardcore, sleeping in it on the trek back

 

Alright nice start! I'm subbed but my only question is, What's up with that shifter?!

 

Thanks. It would have been nice if the back didn't have an engine in it and if the window was rolled up.

 

I dunno. It happened when I went for 1st right after I bought it (naturally) and it wanted to go through the dash. Still shifts fine.

 

Update!

Pressure washed the frame to get rid of salt I got on it from the drive up.

Also washed most of the grease out of the back.



Other progress has been that I got a new battery and while connecting it I noticed the cable going to the starter motor was all frayed from rubbing against a bolt. Buy and attach a new one and nothing happens. No spark or anything.

I brought the tailgate to my apartment to see if I could fix the issue of the window not rolling up. I worked out that the spring attached to a pin wasn't allowing the mechanism to work right. I disconnected it and now should be able to roll the window up/down while the tailgate is unlocked. Gotta be careful to keep that glass now. I'll hook it up after I solve my lack of electrical power issue. I also read somewhere on here that the driver side rear bolt for the cap needs too be screwed in. It didn't come with all the bolts. Any enlightenment on the whole tailgate subject would be helpful.

 

ya the last time i slept in the back of mine there was me my gf the subs and the tool crate. cozy.

 

Sounds like you have a good plan worked out for the runner, a Turbo diesel swap would be cool! Yeah tha bolt for your top is on the driver side by the roll bar, there's a switch in there that if the bolt isn't in won't allow the rear window to function. Here's a link with helpful info for trouble shooting other problems with the rear window, hope it helps you out, keep up the good work!
http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...arWindow.shtml

 

Yes! That's where I read it. Thanks!

 

Check out the Rear widow relay that is behind the Drivers seat. That was the source of all my problems pertaining to the rear window. Also Terry had a great idea that he shared on his thread about adding another ground to the factory harness.

 

Dam! Thats a long way to drive a rig like that home. The price we pay for rust free vehicles.

Agree on the wtf with the shifter!

 

I struggle to be productive this weekend.

I started by putting the speedo cable back in.
I ordered purple LEDs to use in the instrument cluster.
I tried figuring out why the shifter spins. Unbolted the retainer/tower/assembly and tried to take the lever out but ended up scraping grease off the whole assembly.
I unbolted the cap/roof cause I only had 7 out of 16 bolts holding it on.
Checked the other body mounts for damage. Only the front seat mounts in the floor have spidered away from the bolt.

Then I started to slow down more. Some friends stopped by to have a look at the truck.

I was looking at how to fix the back seats. They don't have a release to lower them, so I've been using pliers instead. I ended up pulling one of the cables completely out.





I'm gonna search for a way to fix it. Or at least how to get a look at the latch.

But I do have a tip for people working in their garages: listen to podcasts.
There is a bunch of good podcasts out there aimed at car people of all levels.

NPR's Car Talk
The Hooniverse
Adam Corolla's Car Cast
Autoblog
Car Stuff by howstuffworks.com
Neutral
The 4x4 Podcast
and my personal favorite, The Smoking Tire.

My town doesn't have a parts store so I have to make my list and make a trip worth it. Fuses and assorted bolts are definitely on that list.

 

I like the orange on your runner. My 86 had the core support removed off it when I got it. I replaced it and just bolted mine back in with no intentions of ever welding it back to the way it should be. Works great, got the idea from a friend of mine. If AC isnt charged, you can pull the whole drive train out quick, fast, and in a hurry.

On my 86 and 88 runner links below, I have a list on both threads on the first page about fixing several issues on these trucks. One is on the back window with a ground wire. The relay has to work but it solves alot of issues.

Thanks for the info on the podcast!!!

 

Hey all,

Had an extended weekend away from work and actually made some progress.

Dad helped me get the whole thing to have power



and taught me how to remove a snapped bolt.



After that, my LED dash lights arrived in the mail so I installed the lights and reassembled the dash. But the lights don't work right. Only the light behind the left side of the tach lights up. Any tips would be helpful. We bent the connection pads up on the socket to make sure it made a connection, but still nothing.

Second lighting thing I got done was most of the exterior lamps now work. I now have working turn signals. The lights that don't work are: driver side reverse lamp and front corner lamps. Again, tips and tricks are welcome.

The last thing I did was open up the rear seats to get the latch assemblies out. I cleaned out a bunch of gunk and tried bending the the original metal to make a better attachment but one snapped at the base. Here is the temporary fix.



So one side has bent metal and doesn't work smoothly, the other side is attached directly to the mechanism and works better but not perfectly.

So I'll end this post with 2 things.

1. Where do you find replacement bolts and trim screws?
2. How do you know a body shop does good work?

 

How's the progress? 3 years is a long time....