Ok I'm new here and have always driven chevy v8s. When I bought my yota project i knew it would be under geared and under powered but jeez! I was wondering if its really common to have literally zero balls in a first gen with 33's? the motor has been rebuilt by the po and has great compression (175-180 on all). The carb is rebuilt,has a hooker header, no vacuum leaks, good looking plugs, fresh ignition components etc. It runs smooooth idles great and doesnt bog or cutout under loads. I cant go over 50mph downhill with a tail wind...is this the norm? I want to start DDing this thing but if I cant go over 50 then its out of the question. the truck has 4.37s and 33x12.50 STTs. Anything i'm missing before I dive into a head/cam swap?

thanks again for any insight for a newb

 

considering 4:10s are normal for a 5speed with 29" factory tires, and 4:56's are recomended for 31's and 4:88's are rec'd for 33's I would say your still under geared, and yes this is almost normal for a motor that only puts out 120hp 100hp if your carbed. Got to assume it's a 22r(re) and not a 3.0 first gen 4runner. ie 1988.

although I have no problem with my rebuilt engine doing 70 on the highway with my 31's and factory 4:10s. Up hills doing 50MPH in even 4th gear is another story.

 

it will still be a pig with engine mods IMO...

regear to 4.88's for 33's, 5.29's if you plan on going 35's + I swapped out the stock 3.90's in my '81 for 5.29's and this thing acts like it has a pair

unless some has swapped much on your '79 (it was stock with a 4 speed, your 5 speed helps) you have a 20R 2.2...small...you could use a 22R with a 20R head...search on that...

but these things had less than 100 HP and about the same torque wise...

 

how are you measuring 70 mph?
with 33's the trucks speedometer won't give you the correct speed, it'll read low (I would't think it would read THAT low, but that may be part of your problem)
coming back to the 33's again, that's a lot of tire for a small 4 cylinder engine (i'm assuming you have the 20r or 22r) besides the fact that these trucks were slow even in stock form.
it ain't gonna push you back in the seat.

 

I think thats still kind of odd. When i had 4.10s with my 35s i could still go 70 on the flats and hold 50 on the passes. With my factory 22r with 96k miles

 

oh hell, disregard my previous post saying 1st gen 4runner and 120-100hp, didn't realize it was in the pre-84 section haha.

 

I know with 35s and the stock gears the speepo would read 55 mph when i was going 68 mph

 

get to Bed, it must be late in PA


as far as checking your actual MPH, i use a GPS, unless you are good with a stopwatch over known distance it is about the most accurate way IMO to determine real mileage and speed...

 

Laid off of work and still on 3rd shift sleeping schedule so its more like 11am to my brain. Even though it's 1am. haha.

Anyway, my spedo with 4:10s 5sp and 31's is about 10mph off, some of that I am sure maybe about 3mph is due to the fact that the coil spring in the speedo was somewhat tweaked during my gauge swap.

 

Sorry forgot to mention its an 81 22r in place of the original 20r. I guess the gear really is holding me back. are 5.29s and 33's too much? I have the money to do the gear swap ive just been waiting to make a decision between 4.88's and 5.29's.

 

with my 22re I do 70 with 4.10s and 37x14x15's on flat and I tracked it with keeping pace of my civic which I know the speedometer is dead on.

 

5.29s isnt to bad for 33s if you want to upgrade later to 35s. I know one of my
Friend ran 5.71s with 33s and can still go 60 with a 5 speed

 

get a big nasty cam. mine make al kinds of top end power (lol for an r series). i can do 60 uphills and still accellerate up those hills! i got stock 81 3.90's and 32"s