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- #81
I finally started what will be a long and slow process, body work. The 4Runner had been in several slow speed accidents prior to me buying it. One was from parking on an incline without it in gear or the emergency brake set. It rolled back with the DS door open. This bent the door backwards and put a mild crinkle of the body behind the door. The door check was badly damaged at the A-pillar. and the door hinges pulled away from the body. The DS fender was damaged in this accident. The core support is a little damaged as well as the hood and wiper valence. I don't know how that happened, but I think another slow speed front end accident. Another slow speed accident put a dent in the PS fender.
A new door was installed on the badly bent door hinges before I bought it. It required shims on the door side of the hinge to make the door work. Tony had found a clean hood, wiper valence and DS fender before I bought it from him. I found some good hinges over a year ago. I also cut out a clean radiator core support from a donor just in case. So I have almost everything to piece together a mostly clean body and I'm hoping to hammer/dolly/body filler will fix the rest.
The door leaked air like a sieve on my drive from Sacramento and I did a temporary fix of the hinges by beating them into place. This helped, but far from perfect. A lot of the air leak could be fixed by pulling the vent window shut, but still plenty elsewhere.
I did some measurements and I think the slightly bent core support will work. I'm thankful for that as it would be a big job to replace. Here is the slight crinkle in the core support.
To double check this I decided to replace the door hinges, align the door and test fit the clean fender and look at the body gaps. I've been avoiding this because I've heard it is a bear to realign the door after replacing hinges. What I learned is yes, it is a bear but only if doing it by yourself. As soon as the Mrs was available I was able to easily align the door. I used digital calipers to compare the body gaps on the PS door and came within a 0.5mm all the way around. I struggled for an hour by myself, but with the help of the Mrs it took about 20 minutes. I guess I needed my big boy britches for avoiding what in the end was a simple job with the bonus that the shims are gone. The wind noise is almost all gone. What is weird is all the wind noise from the vent window is gone. I guess the old hinges warped the door just enough to keep that vent window from sealing completely. I'm thinking that some new weatherstripping will solve any residual noise. I'm very happy about this.
On the door check, I think I am just going to make an L bracket to fix it and rosette weld it in place. I explored this area in junkyards and it is very complicated back there. I'd have to cut an access hole to go back to OEM. I hope this works. I'm open to better ideas.
I temporarily mounted my donor fender and the body gaps look OK. I need to play a little more and double check the radiator core support measurements. I am hopeful. I ran out of daylight to test fit the wiper valence and hood. I'll test fit those this weekend to confirm that core support doesn't need to be replaced. I'll tackle the DS body damage next. It maybe a simple as inflating a ball back there to fix most of the damage. You can barely see the dent in this picture.
Should be simple.
Then I'll need to repair the crease/dent in the PS fender. I've thought about just finding a clean one, but it may be fun to see what I can do with this one. This photo makes it look worse than it is.
I'm at a cross roads. I don't have access to an enclosed garage to really start painting. I can do the body work and do a quick primer/rattle can top coat out side. I'm trying to decide if I should paint my good panels to ~match now for instant gratification or will this bite me in the butt when I can paint it for real. For now I'm just test mounting my clean panels to check body lines and the like. At least that is going well. I could run with the clean panels, but then I'd be sporting a tri-color 4runner. I get courtesy stopped enough as it is, mismatched panels will up the ante. Either way it is good to start making some progress.
A new door was installed on the badly bent door hinges before I bought it. It required shims on the door side of the hinge to make the door work. Tony had found a clean hood, wiper valence and DS fender before I bought it from him. I found some good hinges over a year ago. I also cut out a clean radiator core support from a donor just in case. So I have almost everything to piece together a mostly clean body and I'm hoping to hammer/dolly/body filler will fix the rest.
The door leaked air like a sieve on my drive from Sacramento and I did a temporary fix of the hinges by beating them into place. This helped, but far from perfect. A lot of the air leak could be fixed by pulling the vent window shut, but still plenty elsewhere.
I did some measurements and I think the slightly bent core support will work. I'm thankful for that as it would be a big job to replace. Here is the slight crinkle in the core support.
To double check this I decided to replace the door hinges, align the door and test fit the clean fender and look at the body gaps. I've been avoiding this because I've heard it is a bear to realign the door after replacing hinges. What I learned is yes, it is a bear but only if doing it by yourself. As soon as the Mrs was available I was able to easily align the door. I used digital calipers to compare the body gaps on the PS door and came within a 0.5mm all the way around. I struggled for an hour by myself, but with the help of the Mrs it took about 20 minutes. I guess I needed my big boy britches for avoiding what in the end was a simple job with the bonus that the shims are gone. The wind noise is almost all gone. What is weird is all the wind noise from the vent window is gone. I guess the old hinges warped the door just enough to keep that vent window from sealing completely. I'm thinking that some new weatherstripping will solve any residual noise. I'm very happy about this.
On the door check, I think I am just going to make an L bracket to fix it and rosette weld it in place. I explored this area in junkyards and it is very complicated back there. I'd have to cut an access hole to go back to OEM. I hope this works. I'm open to better ideas.
I temporarily mounted my donor fender and the body gaps look OK. I need to play a little more and double check the radiator core support measurements. I am hopeful. I ran out of daylight to test fit the wiper valence and hood. I'll test fit those this weekend to confirm that core support doesn't need to be replaced. I'll tackle the DS body damage next. It maybe a simple as inflating a ball back there to fix most of the damage. You can barely see the dent in this picture.
Should be simple.
Then I'll need to repair the crease/dent in the PS fender. I've thought about just finding a clean one, but it may be fun to see what I can do with this one. This photo makes it look worse than it is.
I'm at a cross roads. I don't have access to an enclosed garage to really start painting. I can do the body work and do a quick primer/rattle can top coat out side. I'm trying to decide if I should paint my good panels to ~match now for instant gratification or will this bite me in the butt when I can paint it for real. For now I'm just test mounting my clean panels to check body lines and the like. At least that is going well. I could run with the clean panels, but then I'd be sporting a tri-color 4runner. I get courtesy stopped enough as it is, mismatched panels will up the ante. Either way it is good to start making some progress.
