So let me just start this out by saying the following;

I had no intention of buying this 4Runner. I happened to be browsing Craigslist and the ad caught my eye and seemed to be one of those too-good-to-be-true deals, so I had to take a look.

The 4Runner is a 1997 Limited edition with sunroof and leather. It has a first gen TRD supercharger on it (V6). Yes it is automatic

Here's the best part, the 4Runner has 86,000 miles on it and I got it for $3500........

Now on to the pics!






The wheels are hideous, but luckily I have a set of 5 spoke TRD wheels from my Tacoma with tires that I will put on. The running boards are gonna go and I will not be driving it until my new radiator comes in (avoiding the dreaded milkshake!) There is less rust on this 4Runner than there is on my Tacoma! Plans are simple, just another toy, gonna keep things simple. Once my supercharger comes back from a rebuild for the Tacoma, I will have 2 supercharged 3.4's

 

Awesome!

 

Thanks man!

 

Wholly Crap! Talk about an awesome score

I see 200K trucks like that for $7-8k

 

haha I thought it was a good deal!

Around here it's the same way, $7-8K all day long for 4Runners with 200,000+ miles.

 

So the previous owner was a really big fan of stick-ons. What's the best way to remove the glue residue left behind?

 

Put on some better wheels, next step, removing the running boards.

 

I think you might mean stickers???
Turtle wax sells a product specifically for removing sticker residue and also works on tint residue. You just let it sit for about 3 min or so and it'll turn ibto a jelly like material. Then its good to jist wipe off.
Here's a picture of it.

 

Acetone works well also. I've only used it on windows so I don't know about what it would do to paint, but I can't imagine it would be good.

You're definitely right about 1 thing. Those wheels were hideous. Looks much better now. Is it a 4x4? Rear locker? Do you know of any current/past issues with the supercharger? I've heard that they are a little finickey on 96 and 97's.

 

Yeah like the fake carbon fiber interior peices that are held on by that 3m stuff. Gonna have to give that Turtle Wax stuff a try, looks promising, thanks!

I'm a bit hesitant to use acetone on the body, can't imagine it's good for the paint.

Yes they were ungodly ugly! Thank god they're off now!

It's a 4x4, no rear locker but that's ok. I have receipts from about 6 months ago where the PO sent out the supercharger to be looked over and they installed a new pulley because the old one was out of round. Other than that the engine seems to respond very well to boost. I brought my code reader when I went to go look at it and there are no past or present codes nor are there any pending codes in the computer.

 

Ordered my B&M 70264 external trans cooler today, avoiding the pink milkshake at all costs!

Also removed the running boards, looks a lot better!

 

Duder! Very clean!

 

Excellent

 

Thanks guys!

 

Good to know, that's where the Tacoma supercharger is currently....

As soon as I took them off I was amazed, it looked a million times better.

 

Got my B&M 70264 aux trans cooler today! Installed it and I will be plumbing the lines tomorrow as well as doing a trans drain and fill.



Here's how I originally had mounted it, but I decided I didn't like it that way. It looked bad and was noticeable.




I then used the special zip ties they had included which push through the fins of both the radiator and condensor to mount the trans cooler. Much easier and much cleaner, the install is very solid.

 

Went to the junkyard and found 2 3rd gen 4Runners, both were stripped pretty good (no engine, trans, diffs, most interior parts gone, etc) BUT I did find a roof rack! $12 and it was mine.




I will also be plumbing in my aux trans cooler tomorrow. I plan on putting in Toyota OEM ATF unless someone has a better suggestion.

 

Trans cooler is in and functional! Trans fluid I drained was clean and red with no signs of past mixture with coolant.

 

Has anybody bought those wheels yet?

 

That is great news man! I know that's a nightmare with the Toyota auto trans milkshake... So not having to contend with that is a good thing! Nice job on the install and find of that roof rack.