JT's '88 4 Runner Build

[zucruisers]

any progress yet?

[jtaco1]

Yeah I got a whole five mintues in the garage and got the crawl box shifter installed, that's it, but it shifts Have 11 days off coming up, so it should be ready to go by the end of next week, hopefully.

[jtaco1]

Got a funny story I just heard from my dad about the day we had the wrench fest.

Apparently the local cop drove by the house a few times during the day and some of you guys were staring at him as he drove past. Well this local cop has a chip on his shoulder and is on a bit of a power trip to rid the township of unregistered vehicles. You are aloud to have 1, I know people that have quite a few more than that. It is Perry County afterall. Anyways, my dad is a township official and was standing around after a meeting with some other officials and this cop. The cop proceeded to tell the group about our little wrench fest and that he thought that we were stripping a stolen car and all this other illegal stuff He said he was going to come by sometime to impound the 4 runner and to run the VIN on it and play a joke on me. Well he didn't know that he was talking to my dad and when my dad and the others told him he realized what he had said to the wrong people

So apparently the local cop may have some issues with the truck, now I guess I have to see what happens, most likely nothing. I told my dad to have the cop drop by if he likes and I can provide any infomation he likes. I am not worried about the 4 Runner, more so the Tacoma since it is technically not road legal due to lift height and tires past fenders. You guys must look sinister and evil

[Straydog]

Hey it was early! I'm not all sunshine and happiness till much later in the day.

[jtaco1]

Well making some progress, all that is left is to put fluids in, finish the harness and a few vacum lines and make the final cut for the rear driveshaft and weld it up, hoping to finish by the weekend, we'll see. Anybody wanna come by and give me a hand on the harness and vacum lines

[jtaco1]

IT'S ALIVE wel got the harnes adn whatnot done on friday night and grabbed the battery out of the Tacoma and it started on the first turn of the key Down side is the PO killed the radiator adn now it leaks like a sieve, anyone have a decent one for a 88 4 Runner?

Decided to rip all the carpet adn sound deadening out and that is all done now, one bad surprise I found while doing this is that the drivers side front cab mount and floor are shot, the floor is nearly missing. Gonna weld some new metal in and we should be good to go.

[Wayneraintree]

uh, pics please? i wanna see what it looks like after all this since I missed seeing it in person!

[kb3gun]

It's winter. Just bypass the radiator...

[jtaco1]

Until I put the new radiator in, it aint moving, but I am clearanceing everything now. Pictures thus far to come.

[jtaco1]

Ok here are some more pictures.

Completed Engine compartment

Dual cases and shifters

Interior stripped and ready for bedliner coating, which will happen when it warms up


Going to be putting a new/used radiator in soon, hopefully Sean has one or I can track one down locally, and putting some new metal in the drivers side floor board and finish the firewall work to fit bigger tires, passenger side is complete. Gotta put new front brake pads on as well, no big deal.

Shortened the rear driveshaft by 6.5" and got that bolted up as well. Little more work and it will be movable.

[Straydog]

I cleaned the garage, found it. And a lot of other things I had forgotten
Have a tow bar here for a 4 runner, too.

[jtaco1]

I'll swing by tonight if that is cool after work and we can see what you have, i'm sure it is nothing short of what Gary S. has in his garage

[Straydog]

Ah, as if. I am a lowly piker in the pack rat kingdom compared to that man

[jtaco1]

Picked up a newer non-leaking radiator from Sean, thanks again man and got that in yesterday and pulled the ruck out of the garage for the first time

Tried out double low, but I think something may be up with the crawl box, in double low the two shifters came in contact with each other and it didn't feel like the crawl box was in low so I flipped the crawl box shifter around and it worked, but the throw is really wierd, high range is all the way down and low is up towards the dash, seems backwards to me, but I think it works. Gotta play with it some more to be sure.

Also don't have any brakes, I think that is because when I pulled the front tires off, there were no pads left, just the backing plates I'll be getting that done this week.

Some more body work, figure the shifters out, and make the front drive shaft and we are reay to go.

[Wayneraintree]

how ya going to get it around?

[jtaco1]

Well depending on if I can get it state inspected, which I think won't be too difficult and is on the next list of things to do, should just need brakes and a littel body work and it will be good to go, I may just drive it to Rausch, yes it will be a dog with 4.10's and 33's or 35's but I don't care too much, just stay in the right lane. One down side of this is I can't have as much fun with it since I have to drive it back.

I also got a tow bar for it from Sean, so that is probably going to be how it gets around, whether with the Tacoma or my Dads 4 Runner as tow rig, probably the 4 Runner since it is set up for towing and has the V6.

May look into picking up a tow dolly or a small trailer for it too, but that is long term.

How are you going to get yours around Jeff?

[Wayneraintree]

I just got a nice tow bar from a mudder for 75$, hoping my wife's '04 4Runner can get it back and forth from Rausch..... no trailer in sight for me right now but I wish I could afford it. I plan to take a test run with the tow bar once I bring it back from John's and tubework.

[Straydog]

Not that big of a dog. Mine is a little slow on hills on 35's and 4.10's. Hauls ass on 33's. Will do 70 on the flat with either.

[jtaco1]

Well I sold my old sliders that I would have had to modify to fit the truck and pickued up a new set that will fit and they should be here next week. I will install them after I get the 1" body lift on from a buddy up in Mass. I have been cutting the body away and re-plating to get the 35's to fit, the front is almost done and then onto the rear.

I am going to throw a set of V6 calipers on to replace the trashed ones and get a little better braking at the same time.

Do you guys think it would be better to get my BudBuilt crossmember with a 1" drivetrain lift with his original crossmember with bolt on skid or standard height with his new BudLight skid that has the skid incorporated but does not offer the drive train lift? It would be $20 more for the drivetrain lift and about 1/2" more ground clearance.

[zucruisers]

i'd suggest the drivetrain lift...im always a fan of more ground clearance under the drivetrain

[jtaco1]

Well the front is done being tubbed, I can now fit 35's on full compression with out any lift not that stock IFS has much travel, but I am going to remove the front bump stops to get a little more. I got the passenger side rear fender well opened up and almost done, just have a few little pieces of metal to weld in and it is done. Ended up takeing about 2.5" out of the fender and then sectioning the inner fender to reuse the existing metal. Acutually quite easy to do and looks pretty good. Didn't start on the drivers side rear yet because I ran out of cut off wheels, knew I should have gotten more than 6 :(

Will be getting a 1" body lift here within the next few weeks so that will help with clearance even more. Will be placing my order for rear shackles next paycheck and possibly my BudBuilt crossmember.

[Wayneraintree]

If you have time JT, can you post pics of your tubbing?

[jtaco1]

Yeah, I gotta get some pictures to put up, really all i did was pound the seam back and some sheet metal back then cut the rocker area back to the body mount and trimmed the body mount down to match. Then capped it off. Also had to replace some metal due to rust.

[jtaco1]

Well I got really lucky, I am picking up a 85 Toy front axle on Saturday and some rear springs for $125, so we may be doing a SAS here soon

[Wayneraintree]

Nice! Maybe I can make the party this time : )

[jtaco1]

Well my V6 calipers showed up today at work, so I am going to throw some new pads on them and put them on since the original ones are rotted to hell. I am still looking for a master cylinder to upgrade to, so that may be next as well. Gotta fix my Tacoma frame here pretty soon, so it may be a little while till I get some more work done on the Runner.

Anybody want to come down and give me a hand pulling my bed and gas tank out to re-weld my frame

[Lugboot]

When were you thinking of doing it? Weekend? After work?

[jtaco1]

Doing what the calipers or the frame fix? maybe do the frame fix this saturday afternoon.

[Lugboot]

frame fix . . . but i'm booked saturday afternoon.

wanted to repay with some help!

[jtaco1]

I can do it next Saturday too if that would work. I'll post up a work party for next saturday.