WOW, what a great bit of work you've done, Ed! Read the whole thing while waiting for a call.... VERY impressed and, well, not sure why you say, "If I can do it, hehe", so often! hahaha.. I WISH "I could do it"/half the stuff you've done here.... and IN THE TIME YOU HAVE? Holy Smackdown! haha.

 

Thanks man, that means a lot! I've had quite a few other rigs that were nice, (a few toyotas, a couple blazers, and a CJ5) and I worked on and made improvements to, but this is probably my biggest undertaking, in fact I never even pulled an engine before this build, lol.
Before going with the 302 I had put a used 85' 22R in the runner (that was the first motor i ever pulled, lol) and swapped all the efi onto that motor, later to find out it was seized I've learned a lot from people on this forum, and from their build threads, hopefully my build will help somone else out, kinda " pay it forward" type a thing ya know, lol.

 

Oh yeah! Every time someone messages me to say "wow, that saved me all day!".... It feels GREAT! haha... But first, I have to answer, "Oh, that's great.... cuz it COST ME ALL DAY TO FIGURE IT OUT FOR YA! ......JK, HEHEHEHE" lol.

Take care, Ed... if you're ever rolling that thing out west, .... holler!

 

Looks good, even the grass looks better..lol

 

Will do, I got a good friend who lives in Clovis, just outside of Fresno that I haven't seen in about 12yrs, so one of these days I will be heading that way! Lol.

Thanks Bill! I can't take credit for the grass tho, lol, we've had more rain than normal this spring, lol.

 

I am still so torn on going long travel or axle swap.

Both cost about the same I think?


Good work on yours, looks awesome.

 

Thanks smokejumper! I'm glad to be getting it closer to being " more" driveable. As soon as I get the front shocks, shock hoops and driveline installed, I'll feel a little more comfortable putting some miles on it and testing it out. Sorry I can't really give you an honest opinion on the ifs long travel vs SAS. My 4 runner is the first ifs 4x4 I've ever built, and I already knew I would sas it when I bought it, so I have no idea how well a long travel ifs kit performs,nor what it cost! I do know that you can SAS it yourself using ruf springs and if you can build your own front spring hanger (instead of buying an ifs Eliminator style kit) you can save yourself a lot of money! Also the ride quality (on the street thus far) with my SAS is better than I expected. I thought the front would ride harsh, and be stiff, but it isn't, and I expect it to be better once I get my shocks. IM pretty confident (comparing it to other similiar builds) that the front will perform and flex well, (I will probably need to upgrade the rear with either chevy 63" springs, or some aftermarket lift springs). I think your runner would look bad@$$ with a straight axel tho! I guess in your situation youll just have to weight your options and decide which setup best suits your needs. Good luck on choosing which direction to go with your build!

 

I am leaning towards a swap partly because it would be an interesting project. It would have to wait until the other half gets her own vehicle I think. It was crap having no ride for a month while she was on jack stands.

I have already ruled out leaf springs though. If you say it's not as rough as you though perhaps coils would keep it even more road friendly?

Either way I go though it will be awhile. Rebuilding the transfer case, tranny would be first along with headers and exhaust. Might rebuild my engine too just to learn, plus I have a spare that is running kicking around in that parts rig. I think I'd swap the older engine in and rebuild the one in mine now then put it back if it ends up being a long project. Better the devil I know as the saying goes.

 

Coilsprings on a SAS would be cool, I don't think I've seen anyone do it, but if the jeeps can do it why not a yota! Lol. I know TG has a 3-link front kit that they sell, and I think you can run coilover shocks or airshocks. Their kit is probably comparable in price to their ifs eliminator kit in price, but doesnt include the shocks. The only thing is they recomend you go full hydrolic steering, but I've seen some guys make crossover steering work.

Where abouts is Yellowknife located in Canada? My parents just bought a cabin in Republic WA. Its aprox 30 miles from the Canadian border. Looking at a map the closest Canadian town that I saw was Midway, or maybe Grand Forks? Anyway I'm planning to go up there the end of next month to help them get some work done on it, and was just curious if that area was close to where you live.

 

Looks great! Glad to hear that you got it running and driving! Ill bet that you are thrilled lol.keep up the good work, I cant wait to see what you got coming next

 

Yeah I would not want to swap to leafs in the rear so would want coils up front. I think there are a few people that have done it. I'll have to wait untill I have proper fab skills.


Yellowknife is up near the arctic. I'm from BC though so when I move back I can pay a visit to Washington state. The fiance really wants to see as much of America as possible so I hook up for wheeling then beer is very possible.

 

Thanks man, yeah I should be getting my front bilistein shocks this week, so I will get the shock hoops welded in, then figure out my front driveline. After that I just plan to drive it, fix any issues that may come up get the bugs out. Then probably move on to building a rear bumper and sliders... I will probably build the front bumper last, since I already have the smitybuilt.

Yeah I'd like to see what you come up with for a SAS/coilspring swap that would be cool! Man I didn't realise Yellowknife was that far north, lol!

 

just read your whole build and im impressed, you think you were cheap with your SAS? try again! i cut the front of the frame off an 82 and used it as a spring hanger lol! and forget that drilling the frame stuff, just use rear leaf spring mounts, even more life! but seriously great job with this v8 swap, are you still useing the toyota trans and rear end? maybe i missed that part, if so hows it holding up to the power? makes me wanna go buy one and dump a mopar 360 in one, always loved that motor

 

Thanks man, yeah if I hadn't found someone to plasma out the holes for me, trust me, I thought of going your route with the leaf spring mounts! Yeah it has the G-52 5-speed ( I'd like to find a R151 for it someday) and stock ifs rearend with 4.10's in it, we'll see how it holds up, I haven't put that many miles on it yet. The PO of the 85' donor pickup that originally had the 302, trans, and tcase in it supossedly ran this setup for 15 yrs and its still holding up (he was only running a 31" tire though) I guess Ill eventually find out what the weak link is, lol.

 

Great build Ed, My buddy had a 5.0 in his jeep and it was bad ass.. Ive also seen toys on the trails a few times with the 5.0.. Good luck with the shock hoops and get in the woods.. lol

 

Thanks man, yeah Im really happy how it turned out, I think someday I might pick up another 5.0 out of a mustang with all the efi and harness, computer etc swap that in, (altho i sure like the simplicity of the carbed motor, 2 wires to hook up and your done, lol) but that would be a ways down the road as this motor runs real good. I just need to take your advice and get up and wheel it! Lol.

 

that is a cool build

 

Thanks man! I don't have any real updates, I'm still waiting on my front shocks, hopefully they'll come in today!

 

Hey Ed,

Ive been reading your build thread over the last few days. Very impressive. You managed to work around some interesting problems and come up with some unique solutions (rad mount, throwout bearing etc).

You've given me incentive to get some TLC done on my runner. Ive been planning a 351 fuelly swap for the last year or so (I'm a student with shop access only out of town on the weekends so am only getting wrentching time in, in summer months and the occasianal weekend only).

For now I'll be happy to fix some of the many neglected issues. This weekend list is a long one; replacing transfercase mount; still trying to diagnose a throttle issue (hoping swaping the AFM will solve) and all sorts of other little stuff.

Your threads and links have got me pumped up about wrentching again. The last few weekends diagnosing the throttle issue haven't been much fun at all. Poor runner had to sit home while I went camping because I didn't trust it's reliability. That hurt.

I really like the flasher mod. That ones on the list.

Travis

 

Hey Travis, I'm glad that you enjoyed my build thread and found it to be motivational and useful! Hearing that from someone kinda gets me motivated again! (I've kinda had a lot going on the last couple weeks) Anyway your build sounds like its going to be really bad@$$!!! You should start a build thread on yours, or throw a couple pics up on mine, I'd like to see it! Thanks again for the compliments, oh and I can't take credit for the flasher mod, I got that off pirate forum, lol.

A quick update, I got my bilisteins for the front today, just need to get my welder back from my buddy, and I can weld up the shock hoops and modify my front driveline, but it might be awhile, I've be been catching up on some home improvement projects, and my neglected yard, we are going to be putting our house up forsale, so got it make it look its best, lol. Also took the runner out for its first test drive out on the freeway, probably got up to around 70 MPH, handled real well, no vibrations, it tracks really straight, doesn't pull at all, i could even let go of the steering wheel while braking and it didn't pull one way or the other, so I must of done something right! Lol.