SUMMIT CRUISERS Jr
SILVER Star
After recently buying an ‘88 4Runner on the cheap, I decided the Dodge looking grille and Jeep XJ head lights had to go. They’ve always been my biggest dislike about the 1st gen 4runners. On the flip side I have always loved the 79-81 pick ups with their grilles and round headlights.
With my 4runner being in less than pristine shape, and me not being quite a “keep it original” person, I decided it was time to change it up.
Here’s the grille I had. I’ve noticed there are some variations out there, but this one is my least favorite. You can see all the distortion in my front bumper. Pushed in and up in places and overall not uniform.
First off I began searching for an aftermarket grille. No way did I want a used one of questionable quality with aged plastic...and I sure as heck wasn’t going to pay $100-200 for one.
I found a ‘79 grille somewhere for about $40 but they refunded me and said it was out of stock. I kept looking off and on until I decided to search for ‘80 and ‘81 grilles. They are the same but figured maybe someplace has it listed under a different year.
Anyways, I lucked out and after applying a coupon code, I had a grille on the way from Auto parts warehouse for $36.
“Installing” the grille was fairly easy. The top two middle mounts (screw and clip) line up with the 4runner’s mounts. So I installed those. Then for the outside mounts I ran zip ties in the cleanest manner possible. There are also zip ties securing the outside bottom mounts. The grille is rock solid but I still don’t like the idea of zip ties so I’ll be changing this up some day in the future if I go about doing s full respray and decide to add metal where it’s needed.
I did have to cut the mount on the back of the grille off as it was interfering with the AC drier. I also cut the full panel behind the front bumper. If you have a pristine front bumper or aftermarket bumper this might not need to be done, but my front bumper is bent in every direction so I made two relief cuts and folded it down and out of the way.
Here is it contacting
With my 4runner being in less than pristine shape, and me not being quite a “keep it original” person, I decided it was time to change it up.
Here’s the grille I had. I’ve noticed there are some variations out there, but this one is my least favorite. You can see all the distortion in my front bumper. Pushed in and up in places and overall not uniform.
First off I began searching for an aftermarket grille. No way did I want a used one of questionable quality with aged plastic...and I sure as heck wasn’t going to pay $100-200 for one.
I found a ‘79 grille somewhere for about $40 but they refunded me and said it was out of stock. I kept looking off and on until I decided to search for ‘80 and ‘81 grilles. They are the same but figured maybe someplace has it listed under a different year.
Anyways, I lucked out and after applying a coupon code, I had a grille on the way from Auto parts warehouse for $36.
“Installing” the grille was fairly easy. The top two middle mounts (screw and clip) line up with the 4runner’s mounts. So I installed those. Then for the outside mounts I ran zip ties in the cleanest manner possible. There are also zip ties securing the outside bottom mounts. The grille is rock solid but I still don’t like the idea of zip ties so I’ll be changing this up some day in the future if I go about doing s full respray and decide to add metal where it’s needed.
I did have to cut the mount on the back of the grille off as it was interfering with the AC drier. I also cut the full panel behind the front bumper. If you have a pristine front bumper or aftermarket bumper this might not need to be done, but my front bumper is bent in every direction so I made two relief cuts and folded it down and out of the way.
Here is it contacting