I'm a somewhat newbie to the mini/rnr scene, but am a 30 year+ Land Cruiser fanatic so Toyotas aren't new to me.

I did have an 87 mini, Clampy, about 8 years ago that I picked up for $250 and loved, but had to trade for a tow rig the year I was in charge of our state associations raffle vehicle buid (the only Toyota ever done in the 35 year history and one of the best selling rigs ).

I decided that I needed something a bit more economical to drive and something to keep my Cruisers out of the winters rath. An anode to sacrifice to the mag chloride gods. I thought about a Subaru, since they're great in deeper snow that cars and still affordable but realized I really know nothing about them, so I deceided to try to find another Clampy type rig. Problem is most have been butchered and I wanted something I was going to start on from scratch, so I paid way too much for a 1st gen runner that didn't (run).

 

the only rust on puff was a little on the rear of the rear wheel well and a hole in the hardtop under the window. i'll try to weld a new bit of steel in the hardtop, not sure what i'll do about the fenderwell just yet. p.o. was a smoker and the drivers door panel shows it, but i like the blue doors so for now i'll live with it.

 

right rear seat back doesn't latch and knocks against the rollbar, plus they are useless so they came out today and won't go back in. then i set to work fixing.

p.o. had rebuilt the engine, but i'm guessing failed to torque a con rod nut and the bolt stretched and snapped, then the cap went 180 and got flattened against the block. i put a junkyard crank and rod with a new piston and rings in that cylinder and crossed my fingers. while it was out, i decided to clean off the trans and transfer. they were there, so why not.

 

my spare time is rare as you can see, here are only a few of my projects, but i did fix some wiring that was beginning to fail, like the alternator harness and some grounds, battery cables etc, and i put in an oil pressure guage and since this pic i've also added a voltmeter

 

i then proceded to drive it. unfortunately, my bandaid didn't keep the engine from blowing out lower end seals so it leaked profusely every time i drove it and any attempts to seal up the lower end resulted in all the oil coming out the tailpipe, hence the name. because of this, it was mainly relegated to trips to the scrap yard since, with the top off, i could put all kinds of scrap metal in the back easily.

I didn't have time to deal with it, but i wanted puff to be a reliable driver, so I gave up and sent it to a popular toyota shop and told them to deal with it. my weekends and vacation were spent wheeling my 80 series, while continuing to build it up. a small fortune later, i had a brand new 22re. so, now that it should last a long time, i decided i needed to start making it nicer. so out came the nasty carpeting and i'm in the process of wire wheeling all the jute and glue off the floor in preparation for a coating of rust bullet over some rust at the firewall where a brake or clutch master lost it's lunch and vinyl flooring.

 

i also ordered up a tuffy since it will spend a lot of time with no top and i believe in trying to keep honest folks honest and buffing the paint a little bit. after decades of sun bleaching the paint is buffing out nicely.

that's where puff stands now. i will be reading folks threads on their builds to get ideas, but i want to keep him fairly stock and low budget but still compete with all the nice rigs around. future will be a bumper and winch since i like to go out on my own sometimes, a platform floor across the back to bolt stuff like my fridge and a box for tools/recovery gear, and 31" tires. someday maybe a soft top too. we'll see.

 

Cool to meet you here.

Yeah, did that, too. Feels good to have a brand-new engine.


so, now that it should last a long time, i decided i needed to start making it nicer. so out came the nasty carpeting and i'm in the process of wire wheeling all the jute and glue off the floor in preparation for a coating of rust bullet over some rust at the firewall where a brake or clutch master lost it's lunch and vinyl flooring.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, the paint on earlier gens somehow buff out better than 2nd and 3rd Gen 4Runners. The latter ones have an outer layer that peels off. I have only buffed mine with TR3, and have not waxed her, yet, but this is how she looks 2 years after I buffed... And that's with no wax, yet...


Yes, 31-inch. I wished I had gotten those, but pretty happy with my 235's (29 inches diameters I think) now.

 

looks awesome. thanks for your help