I bought this truck from my father since he got a fancy new Tacoma. I didn't need it since my DD is a 88 Mercury Grand Marquis. For special occasions I take my plush 2004 Nissan Titan LE. However, I bike ride and used the truck to take my bicycle to a start point. The truck has a shell so I open the shell and drop the tail gate and slide my road bike in. (I don't offroad anything BTW). Well several months ago the tail gate latch broke. So I bought a new one and stuck it in. Then I noticed that the latch on my sliding rear window was broken. So I fixed that. My pop stuck an aftermarket stereo in it when he owned it but it sounded tinny (bad). So I researched that and got new front speakers. While I was at it I realized that the stereo had hook ups for rear speakers so I installed those and wired it up too.

In short, now I'm possessed (obsessed). It all started with a broken tailgate latch. Now I'm doing all kinds of stuff.

Pictures and documentation to follow.

 

while shopping for parts for GFs 4runner I started to see how similar 4runner parts are to my father's old 94 truck was. I found a rear view mirror w/ map lights in it. Furthermore, while fixing the stereo in the truck I found a dash knockout plate with a harness attached to it. I knocked it out and didn't want to glue it back in place. So I figured out what the hole was. It was for a clock. Since it already had the harness I figured the map light would have the harness too. I was wrong. The map light bolts right in with cutting the headliner out some to fit the bigger perch of the new base of rear view mirror. Getting an electrical wire to go under the vinyl headliner over to the driver pillar was a bear. I used picture frame wire to thread the harness under the headliner and ended up going over the visor post hole since for some reason could not get above it.

 

After fixing the stereo found a spot on the dash just below the temperature controls was discolored. I thought it would just be a simple fix. But I wanted the colors to match all around. This is a work in progress.

Found that the Duracolor Charcoal was a very close match to the Toyota 94 and earlier grey. Painted black parts with SEM satin black and found it was too shiny. So I painted it with Krylon clear matte over spray. I've been far and wide with this painting business. A company called Creative Colors does the work for the local Toyota dealership but that was just too expensive. In the end unless you are changing colors I found just spraying the plastic/vinyl undercoating on restores the parts to a shine and removes a bit of any discoloration.

So I've gone nuts. My living room has parts in it and my cab is gutted.

 

Put in a 3inch body lift from 4crawler. I don't go 4 wheeling other than getting into a ski resort parking lot. So I'm just aiming for having a capable and different looking truck. I bought Sequoia Gun Metal rims and haven't decided if I should go beyond 33 tires. I read all over this forum that bigger is hard on an IFS and should go with SAS etc. The more I read on this forum the more projects I make for the truck. The truck hasn't moved for weeks.

I put in LEDs, whiteface gauges, HID headlamps, new grille, new side mirrors (Tyco brand is cheap BTW), digital OEM clock buffed up to look new again, bucket seats are at shop being reupholstered, waiting for pivot seat for transmission, waiting for inner rubber boot for transfer case, clear front turn signals, and clear front indicators. Am getting ready to install Dynamat soon. Carpet is hanging over fence drying off after a thorough bath.

So from the outside here is what it looks like. It is a work in progress.

 

Bottle jack goes in compartment behind drivers seat right? If so what goes in the passenger compartment?

 

I don't know. Not sure I have ever opened it before.

 

I bought a 93 4runner center console. I have never seen a definitive answer on whether or not it will bolt right into a truck. I'll check that and post. Besides the 4runner has that heater thing and switches. Am not sure if this is what I'm going to use for my truck. The lid doesn't fit an 87 4runner.

I'm envious of the SR5 interiors of some of these forum members. Door panels, arm rests, and center consoles are almost worth their weight in gold.

Pics to follow.

 

I checked the center console from a ~92 4runner to see if it would bolt in.

Duh. I need the heater/fan thing. The console bolts onto the heater/fan thingy.

Not too sure that I want to get a heater/fan thingy just to get a 4runner center console installed.

 

Welded a 3inch piece of steel in shifter for 3in lift.

Bought the shifter seat/bushing from Marlin Crawler and indeed the shifter is tighter. Called them and they gave me a cheaper USPS mailing rate.

 

Welded the bracket on so the bracket arm that attaches to the lower part of valence wouldn't have to clear bolt in the bracket. To no avail after all assembled the holes don't line up. About a 0.25 or 0.5 inches off. Oh well.

My brackets were bent and could find no pictures. There are rubber mounts that are on the brackets that sit on a pedestal on the front body. Mine were bent. It is pretty amazing that the bumper is held on with pretty flimsy brackets.

My pic of welded bracket is below.

 

Jrhende, post your pictures to photobucket.com then attach them to your posting

 

Thanks for the tip!

 

Any one have an idea what to do about front center cap?

 

Get some manual hubs to fill the space!! Great looking truck man!

 

Good idea. The hillbilly reference I believe is due to the 3in body lift. Hey it was cheap compared to a "real" lift. Thanks ratteleswagon.

 

Nice pictures

 

So that is how the others were doing it!

 

Yea it one time I learned the hard way.. Keep updating the build, thanks

 

Found on internet an option to clean up front wheels. Maybe could have modified the sequoia center cap but could end up destroying them.

 

Finally starting to put in sound dampening materiel. I have a bunch of foam that I'm shoving in between too. Good thing I'm in AZ.

Buddy says I should get a license plate that references the fact that the truck is just a garage queen.

I'm going to tackle door eventually. I don't like the vented windows. I have been studying this. Even though parts diagram indicate parts of 4runner interchange with truck, that isn't all true. The 89-95 front door is longer and has a slightly different shape than a 4runner.