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I finally made some time to post up the progress of my new to me 1987 Toyota sr5! Here’s the backstory. I’m turning 18 in a couple of weeks and for my first car, I knew I wanted a truck. So I ended up buying a 1984 Toyota Pickup 4x4 Xtra cab over a year and a half ago. Drove it as a daily driver, and loved the truck. It really introduced me to my love of classic Toyota 4x4s. However, after reading around on the forums, I found out about the first generation 4runners and absolutely knew I had to get one. My truck was great and all, but there was no A/C, since it was an 84 it had a solid axle plus an old lift so it was very uncomfortable on the road, and had only two seats. I rarely carry people around, but like having the option. So after some extensive research, I knew I still wanted a 4cyl and 5speed and an sr5 model. So I narrowed my search to 87 4runner sr5s. After over at least 5 months of checking craigslist almost every day, I found the cleanest 4runner yet. I’m located in the north Bay Area and the 4runner was in Chico, so not too far away. It was an 87 sr5 completely loaded, 2nd owner, super clean, and only 168k original miles. I contacted the seller asap and set a date to meet with him. Only thing was that it would be a week later because I left for a trip the day after I talked to him. Then when I returned he told me the 4runner sold to a guy in Los Angeles. I was totally devastated because being in California I know how hard it is to find clean California first generation 4runners. So my summer continued on and in the end of July I went on statewidelist again and saw an 87 sr5 4runner for sale in LA. I looked closely at the pictures and it was the same 4runner I found earlier in June! I was so excited and contacted the guy asap. Once he got back to me, he said some guys were already ahead of me. And because of that my spirits somewhat dropped. Then less than a week later, out of the blue, he texted me and said if you have the money and can be here before the weekend the 4runner is yours. So I drove down to LA with my dad and his uncle bought the truck for $5500 then turned around and drove home in one day! Ever since I have been living the dream. Haha
Also did I mention that driving home I was set on cruise control at 70mph with the A/C on blowing ice cold! Not too shabby for a 27 year old truck, but then again it’s a Toyota.
Anyways on to pics cause everyone loves those..
Last edited by 84 yota dude; 01-13-2017 at 02:12 AM.
Nice looking pair of trucks! That's cool that you ended up getting the same 4runner that you had missed out on earlier! Look forward to seeing some more pics!
Thank you! Definitely love my runner, that's for sure.
I got a bunch of parts in the mail: seat covers, dash cover, and shifter parts. Planning to install the stuff Thursday. But in the meantime, I have noticed that my 22re has a ticking sound to it. It runs fine, has good power, and doesn't burn any oil but I think it either has an exhaust leak at the header or maybe needs a valve adjustment. Also it is NOT low on oil. Here is a vid of the sound https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WH-...ature=youtu.be
I'm due for an update, been too long. Have simply driven the truck because it's my DD and have done some small things, just really busy with school. A couple of weeks ago I finally put in my new shifter parts and shift boot. While I was at it, I repainted the handles and put a new rubber boot in which goes at the base of the handle because mine was old and cracked. I also took off the transfer case shift handle and repainted it. The only problem with the installation was I stripped one of the four transfer case shifter holes to hold on the shift assembly. Was pretty pissed about that and quickly threw some jb weld on the bolt and was able to tighten it down for the most part. It stripped in the first place because the tunnel was not big enough, almost like the whole transmission and transfer case wasn't centered in the tunnel. Thankfully it's fine and isn't leaking out of the top at all. Also, while I was at it I replaced the transmission fluid with synthetic redline mt-90. I then took out both front bucket seats and cleaned all the plastics then installed my ebay seat covers. They actually came out great and aren’t that that durable but at least there is something there, plus they look ok. I even used a hot nail technique to poke holes for the lumbar and side adjustments.
Some pics..
Also forgot to mention that I went to get the valves adjusted and learned that the previous owner didn’t change the owner too often so there was some uneven wear on the rear cam lobes I think it was. The valves were definitely loose and the truck quieted down after but once I drove 20 miles home, the ticking was back again.
Well its been nearly a year and a half since I posted anything on here
Lets see I graduated high school and finished my first year of college and honestly the 4runner is nearly the same haha.
Completed a zuk mod..too much rake. Going to remove the springs anyways when I install the new suspension.
Have done some small fixes like the driver side power mirror. Man those things are crazy hard to find! I originally thought they would be awesome but 80s technology is not quite like todays lol.
Should have written a tech page on these mirrors. Completely took it apart and got a custom piece of of mirror cut.
Also bought all new suspension..an ome kit, new upper lower ball joints, tie rod ends, idler arm, also going to do cv axles and probably brakes too cause why not.
Suspension parts just sitting in my room
Also bought some ifs manual hubs and rebuilt them.
before.. another before after! Well still gotta install them haha
Then this past spring break I found a 22re block, crank, and rods for $300. Picked it up. Kid a little older than me worked at this machine shop and bought it already bored 30 over. The shop just honed it, polished the crank, and checked the rods. I'm still going to bring everything to another machine shop to deck the block, check everything over, and balance the crank and rods. That'll be later this summer.
I think I realized that when I bought it from the guy who owned it for a month, that his mechanic told him the engine wasn't really strong and that's why he didn't want to take it on an expo drive to south america...
Also have this leak on the top of the radiator ever since I flushed the coolant system and switched to toyota red
Led door and interior lights
Last edited by 84 yota dude; 06-25-2016 at 09:54 PM.
Well more than 9 months later I'm back. I finished up the suspension install this summer doing the rear one day and the front another. The front started at 9am and finished at 2am hah and included new shocks, upper and lower ball joints, inner/outer tie rod ends, ome steering stabilizer, ome torsion bars, poly bushings upper and lower arms, aisin manual hub swap, I think that's it. ha When we took down the skid plate we also noticed an oil leak. Thought it was coming from the distributor o ring and then found it was coming from the front main seal. Ended up that the bolt was loose...So I tore everything apart and noticed there was a non japanese seal. The original owner had the timing chain/tensioner and guides replaced and the shop apparently didn't use the best parts.. Anyways I put in a new radiator, upper and lower hoses, new coolant u shaped pipe, water pump gasket toyota of course, and front main seal toyota too. Switched back to green coolant too. Also got new 32x11.5x15 bfg ko2s. My only dilemma is that the truck rides like a solid axle. I'm back in school now and am not planning to do any work till May, but I wanted to ask you guys what you would recommend for shocks? I have done some research and it seems that the new ome nitro chargers are not great dd shocks and are more suited for a built and armored rig. In fact I removed the ome torsion bars and reinstalled the stock ones but the ride is still way harsh. My new plan is sell my nitro charger shocks and get new ones I'm thinking bilsetins. What size? My next plan is to reinstall the ome torsion bars. Lastly I'm planning to remove a leaf from the rear ome spring pack to lower the rear and soften it up more. I think it should be dialed then.
If you don't want to read all that, what shocks would you recommend?? And what size with ome torsion bars and rear leafs?
Posted this in my thread about the ome suspension but thought I'd post it here too.
09-06-2014, 07:28 PM
