When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Spent the majority of the weekend icing cakes, blowing up balloons, and cooking 20lbs of shrimp and crawfish low-boil style for a birthday party, but also managed to get everything else buttoned up on the snorkel and the fender back on in the in-between times when it wasn't raining cats and dogs. Still need to swap out the main relay on the battery box (upgrading from the original 85amp to a 150amp to reduce issues from the upgraded 120amp jaguar alternator) and get it all wired up and hooked up, but should be able to get to that this week some time, and may have some help this weekend.
Here are a few shots of the intake setup with the K&N Apollo / fabricated plate to mount the AFM/MAF to, slightly modified 90 & 60 degree Specter elbows (cheap chromed plastic at Pep Boys), and the 3" flex tube (higher end metal version that came with the Apollo setup) running back to the cowl. I've got a straight 4' length of 3" SS Exhaust tubing and a couple of bends that I'll weld the actual snorkel out of (mounted on the A-pillar), this is just setup with a short SS piece and the ebay Snorkel head for mock up and to be able to get it inspected so I can drive it down to the shop to piece together the rest - I added a photo at the end of how I'm hoping it'll be routed.
You can see why I needed to fabricate the SS back plate to the Apollo housing. That extra 2-3" of "swoop" wouldn't have fit.
90 degree bend on the upper with 3/8" cut off of both sides to shorten it up some, 60 degree bend on the lower also shortened
another grommet leaving the engine bay. I wish I would have moved it about an inch or two back so the radiator overflow and windshield wiper tank had a little more room, but such is life. 4" to 3" coupler worked great going from the Apollo to the flex tube.
Flex tube that came with the K&N kit was just long enough to go the distance and make the bends. I also liked that it was a little easier to squish and retain it's shape than some of the plastic versions I've seen. I seriously considered wrapping the entire thing in gorilla tape just for some added waterproofing, and may do so later, along with adding in a duck bill valve or check valve to allow rain water to drain out.
Had to get really sneaky with the clamp under the cowl and use a t-bar clamp because of the limited access
doesn't look terrible like this, but I already have the exhaust tubing to go ahead and finish it up into a normal snorkel. (hood isn't attached in this pic)
got the snorkel head for cheap off ebay, and found that the guys over at Yodateq make a stainless grille for that cheaper version. I'll probably paint the "TEQ" red later, and am toying with brushing the upright of the SS snorkel tube, applying a cheap ebay "4Runner" sticker / decal to mask off the logo area and spraying it with black bedliner to reveal a brushed stainless logo.
Still need to get the dual battery setup wired up correctly. I guess I could just drop a battery in and run it, but I've been going slow on purpose to double and triple check everything to make sure I don't screw anything up. It'll be driving around soon enough....I can't wait.
No real progress on the 4Runners this weekend because I was working, but did manage to get the turbo block and the spare $50 block torn down and packed up (maybe for rebuild later?). I'm guessing the mailman may be happy about that as the turbo block has been sitting on my porch you had to trip over it to get to the mailbox.
What an absolutely inspirational thread! My wife got so tired of me screaming "NOOOO!" at every setback. Honestly, I felt like I should sell my 85 truck just to avoid the possibility of any of the things you've suffered through. But each time, you stuck with it and mustered the strength of will and ingenuity to get it done. I'm currently dealing with a minor (compared to most of the things that happened in this thread!) issue getting mine to pass CA smog. But I see so many great things you've accomplished with your builds that it really motivates me to do more to mine. I'll be following this from now on.
What an absolutely inspirational thread! My wife got so tired of me screaming "NOOOO!" at every setback. Honestly, I felt like I should sell my 85 truck just to avoid the possibility of any of the things you've suffered through. But each time, you stuck with it and mustered the strength of will and ingenuity to get it done. I'm currently dealing with a minor (compared to most of the things that happened in this thread!) issue getting mine to pass CA smog. But I see so many great things you've accomplished with your builds that it really motivates me to do more to mine. I'll be following this from now on.
Don't Sell the '85! Supposedly the gold standard solid axle and EFI (if you've got it)....More valuable on resale than most of the other models, although I've seen quite a few SAS'd later model rigs these days. Sucks you still have to pass California smog on a 32 Year old vehicle. You'd think they would put in a 25 Year old "Antique" vehicle exemption like most other states. Heck, the shear fact that you've kept it on the road and not bought a brand new Prius every 3 years for the last 30 years should offset the carbon footprint of all those vehicles being manufactured..... Luckily I'm in Texas and registered it at my parents house the first year I had it (way out in the country without smog regulations) and then it turned 25 and I'm now exempt. Stick with it. 1/2 my problems were caused by me being so stubborn and bull headed, but 100% of those problems and then some have been solved by the same reason. Sometimes a crisp Ulysses S. Grant at the right kind of shop will help more to get you past smog than replacing the infamous 22RE with a briggs and stratton or having to put a muzzle on it.....just something to think about.
Luckily I'm moving in the next couple of weeks and will be getting.......wait for it.....A Garage! No more lying on my back in the sharpest gravel I've ever seen any scumlord put in a driveway. Big project is almost finished, so hopefully some more updates to come soon.
Helped my brother pick up another 1958 GMC this weekend, and was packing for the move most of the rest of the weekend.
However, I did get the 85amp relay swapped out to the 150 amp on the dual battery setup. Ran the rest of the wires, changed out the 100 amp mega fuses to 150, and terminated the ends and everything else I needed to do to actually get the dual battery setup working and installed. Oil and Coolant in, just need to fire her up and get the timing set. Hoping to do that this week.
If you get the chance(and it's not already done), do your garage floor up with epoxy. Home Depot has kits that include the citric acid cleaner, the epoxy mix, and the multicolor flakes for that extra "flair." It makes cleaning up after projects much easier. I did it in my last house after having lived there a couple of years and it was a pain to move everything off the floor to get full coverage. When I moved into my current place, I made sure to do it before anything got put into the garage and it was so much easier. It does take a couple of days to fully cure, though. Letting it cure, and cleaning the floor well has prevented any lifting of the coating and it's never stuck to any of the vehicle tires, even after being parked for months.
Wow....I haven't worked that hard that many days in a row in a long time, and actually surprised myself at how much I got done. Got all of the random Toyota parts packed up in Rough totes and moved to the office (you'd be surprised how much weight a plastic bin can hold and are an idiot if you load it so much you can't move / lift it). Rented the auto transport trailer from Uhaul and hand winched up the '86 and drove it (behind the T-100) about 45 miles (not advised - underpowered 5vz-fe for pulling a 4Runner down Interstate 35 - I'm still pulling upholstery fabric out of my bum after that ass puckering event). It got down to where it needed to be and I somehow managed to unload it by myself. Backed it under an overhang in case it rained because it still doesn't have the rear tailgate window installed, and it did rain, and leaked through one of the side widows (forgot that was just set in place and not bolted down.....DOH!) I was excited to start up the '89 for the first time and just drive it onto the trailer, but for some unknown reason when filling it up with antifreeze, a flood started pouring out of the back of the motor (Why would LCE send me a motor with one of the coolant plugs missing? - guessing they ran it on their stand utilizing this plug for coolant flow, and just forgot to put it back?). Had already loaded all my tools and spare bolts / blocks and moved them, so I hand winched that one up and drove it another 45 miles to the office / shop (backroads this time, not the interstate...slow and low). Wasn't as slick about unloading it as I was the '86, and almost got pinned between it and a wall it was about to crash into, but even after running backwards out of my shoes, I managed to barefoot brace against the wall enough to keep it from crushing me and hitting the wall. Several cigarettes were smoked at that point. Then, the super fun task of unloading the spare 4Runner top I have out of the back of the truck by myself and getting it up onto a loading dock. Those ladies in Africa that carry the jugs of water on their head? Yeah, it was kind of like that but with a 200Lb Fiberglass 4Runner top......I'm sure it looked pretty funny.
Most everything is moved, although I've still got a few things left to pack and some touch up paint. Top priorities after that.....Fix the in-place leaking rear side window in the '86 so it doesn't look ghetto / white trash with a tarp strapped over the top (it's in a fancy neighborhood now), and find a plug for the coolant hole to the '89 and get it running / broken in. Then mod / weld the volvo seat brackets to mount in stock locations, finish installing the dash in the '86 and finish the bumpers / nerf bars for it to finally be able to be sold. I need to free up some cash to get the '89 going strong and reliable as well as other projects.
Overall a pretty productive weekend although it wasn't all wrenching or Toyota focused.
I probably would have been ok with a sprain or even a broken bone, (pain is temporary, chicks dig scars, and glory lasts forever) but I wouldn't be able to stomach the 4Runner getting banged up before I even got it running.
almost finished moving, just a few things left before I'm totally done. Put the '86 4Runner up for sale locally even though it's not 100% put back together yet, the guy I bought the turbo from wants to sell me his whole truck (I know he's got $13K in the motor alone), so I'm trying to come up with the scratch to get it.....fingers crossed.
Finallllllllllllly! A weekend I can work on Toyotas! Don't have anything planned this weekend but Toyota stuff, so hopefully it's a productive one and I'll try to prioritize things and make a list of goals so a decent chunk of it at least gets done (that's the only way I'm not ADD on tasks usually). Hoping to get the dash back installed in the '86, get the seats in, get the rear window working and get that bad boy fired up driving around and ready to sell....rear bumper and rock sliders would also be nice for it....still have to wire up the Piaa lights and fix / mount a winch.
Whelp.....Didn't want to say too much about it until it was a done deal, but it's done. I drove up to Middle-of-no-where Oklahoma Friday night and camped out at the lake....woke up the next morning and picked up the entire truck from the guy that sold me the turbo originally (pulled the whole thing back down in a 6 hour drive doing 45mph in the T-100 and ended up having my alternator go out 5 miles from home....pulled the battery from the other truck and limped it in / fixed it the next day). He was building this truck for his 17 year old son and dropped an insane amount of cash into it. Was going to pull the motor and sell it to me for $3K, but decided (with influence from his wife who was threatening divorce) to just sell me the entire truck for $4K. He handed me a 3 ring binder with over $30K worth of receipts in it for all the work he'd done to it, and that includes over $13K in the motor alone. Not 100% sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but I'm very seriously considering pulling the motor, dropping in a bone stock cheapo and robbing some of the other cool / updated parts off it (like the smittybilt winch and Corbeau seats) spraying it with Upol Raptor and just turning around and selling it for what I paid for it or maybe a little more......we'll see.
Just the block stats I know of so far:
93mm Forged pro turbo pistons 8.0:1 compression ratio (really low for higher boost)
Stage 3 Head w/ pro turbo camshaft & Bronze Manganese guides / hardened ss seats
H-beam rods
MLS head Gasket
SDS Stage 3 Fuel injection kit (direct fire coil - eliminates MAF and Distributor) w/ several upgrades
Pro Turbo Kit - 0-30lbs boost (High boost)
Block Brace
Silicone hose kit + Stainless heater / etc. tubes
Pro Flow Exhaust
Dual Comp Clutch w/ High torque flywheel
All ARP Bolts / studs
Underdrive pulley kit
Intercooler w/ piping
Other mods to the truck:
Rock defense Front and rear bumper & rock sliders
Smittybilt XRC 9000 winch
Hella 50" Curved LED light bar
Corbeau Seats & brackets
CDP31501 Center Console
H4+LED headlight conversion
LED tail lights
Box mounted in bed
New shocks / springs
Rebuilt trans
Rebuilt front 3rd member
Fender Flares
15" Aluminum rims with 32x11.5x15" Mickey Thompson Baja Atz P3's (poorly painted)
Anyway, None of you jokers pay attention to posts without pictures, so here's some shots of the truck & Stuff:
Last edited by joelsmithdesigns; 07-31-2017 at 12:46 PM.
Tossed a battery into the black 4Runner last night to see if I could get the rear window to go up (and stop freaking out every time I saw a rain cloud in the sky). Got the window up, and thought.....maybe I should just crank on it and see if I can't get a tune out of this trombone. Ended up getting it started (didn't drive it around or run it for long), although I probably need to change out the fuel filter and dump about 5 gallons of gas in it with some B12 Chemtool to help clean out everything else. (Planned for this weekend)
Actually had Wes from LCE call me the other day (who apparently keeps up with the build thread) and offered to send down a coolant plug for that hole in the back of the block. I've got 3 blocks sitting at the office and will just rob one of those to go on the red '89.
Sadly, the focus is on getting the black one running as I'm trying to get it sold to fund the truck purchase and other things, so I may end up robbing the seats and dash out of the red one for the time being (have other seats and a dash + Inclinometer that needs to get covered in Neoprene for the red one) just to get it closer to being fully put together. It should be running soon though.
Last edited by joelsmithdesigns; 07-28-2017 at 05:54 AM.
06-05-2017, 08:21 AM
