Fury Road Runner

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G-Cat

G-Cat

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A buddy of mine, I'll call him Max, bought this 1987 4Runner from @Adventure Copan a couple of weeks ago.

Build thread is here: Our '87 4R SR5 Honduras Coffee/Missions Rig Build...

Max isn't a forum guy and never will be...so I'll keep folks who are interested up-to-date via this thread.

It will be a week or two before I can get you from Dallas to Georgia with pictures...but I will. Until then, here's a topless doorless picture to kick it off.
 
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The Runner is currently residing in my driveway alongside my 1986 truck. I manage to own the most undesirable 4x4 Toyota ever brought to the US: 1986, 22R, no PS, no AC, no CC, no clock, vinyl bench...

Anyway, this particular 86 was owned by a High School friend at the same time I owned an (otherwise) identical 1985. I bought this from him in 2000 and have owned it since. 140K miles...
 
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Jumping back in-time a bit, I've known Max for about 11 years. He showed-up at my office in Dallas in 2005 and we've been good friends and co-workers ever since.

This is his second 1st Gen...I goaded him into buying both of them. The first one (pictured) was a 1985 that he bought while staying in Coronado CA for a bit. It was $3500 and the water pump blew as he drove it out of the seller's neighborhood. Seller was (somewhat) stand-up and got it fixed at no cost to Max. I say somewhat, cause a couple of Texans knew nothing about SMOG and...well, it took a creative CA technician to get that thing titled. The hardtop was soon stolen and, as he left Coronado after a 7-month stay, he sold it for $3000.
 
G-Cat said:
View attachment 1334287 A buddy of mine, I'll call him Max, bought this 1987 4Runner from @Adventure Copan a couple of weeks ago.

Build thread is here: Our '87 4R SR5 Honduras Coffee/Missions Rig Build...

Max isn't a forum guy and never will be...so I'll keep folks who are interested up-to-date via this thread.

It will be a week or two before I can get you from Dallas to Georgia with pictures...but I will. Until then, here's a topless doorless picture to kick it off.
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Looks great! Glad he's enjoying it!!
 
"The hardtop was soon stolen". Gotta love Southern CA.
 
PhrogsPhorever said:
There are many of us that wish they still made trucks that way;)
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I'm not complaining, just pointing out that 1986 was the first year for IFS and, while 1985 was the first year for EFI, this truck is carbed. It is the lowest-optioned 4x4 truck Toyota ever imported to the US!
 
G-Cat said:
I'm not complaining, just pointing out that 1986 was the first year for IFS and, while 1985 was the first year for EFI, this truck is carbed. It is the lowest-optioned 4x4 truck Toyota ever imported to the US!
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Let's see, so no sliding rear window, no vent windows, no carpet, no tach, 4-speed?, manual hubs, etc? Nice! Would LOVE to have one of these. I'd have to SAS it but other than that leave it alone. Those no-option rigs have got to be really rare. I can't imagine a dealership not adding a bunch of stuff to up the price. I think it's a great find.
 
msahr said:
Let's see, so no sliding rear window, no vent windows, no carpet, no tach, 4-speed?, manual hubs, etc? Nice! Would LOVE to have one of these. I'd have to SAS it but other than that leave it alone. Those no-option rigs have got to be really rare. I can't imagine a dealership not adding a bunch of stuff to up the price. I think it's a great find.
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Maybe "mid-optioned" then. 5-speed. PO had sliding rear window added. I added an OEM clock and a P/S door mirror. No carpet. No cloth. No tach. No vent windows (I'd kill for a pair).
 
G-Cat said:
Maybe "mid-optioned" then. 5-speed. PO had sliding rear window added. I added an OEM clock and a P/S door mirror. No carpet. No cloth. No tach. No vent windows (I'd kill for a pair).
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You know there's a pair in the extra stuff with Pepe!!
 
^^^ Exactly!!
 
Actually no you can't. The doors are different. It's down inside, but they are different. I converted the other way, I don't like the wing windows.
 
KLF said:
Actually no you can't. The doors are different. It's down inside, but they are different. I converted the other way, I don't like the wing windows.
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I'm definitely no expert and you would no better than me hands down. However if your referring to the slides the windows actually glide in those are in the spare parts too.

Edit: I believe the seals are in there too.
 
No there's a brace inside the door that the frame of the vent window bolts to, it's spot welded to the inner door skin. Without this brace, there's nothing to bolt the bottom of the window track to for the front edge of the glass. Maybe there's a way you could fab something up, but when I was going the other way there was no way to get the brace out without making a mess of the door. Fortunately I had a spare set of pristine doors that were non - vent style, so I just swapped them out.

The window regulators are different, as are the door cards, too.
 
^^^So I need to get lucky and find a truck/4Runner part-out with the correct doors. I'll stick with what I have. With no AC, though, that vent window kicked out sure did provide a nice blast of air...except for the D/S of the Fury Road Runner...snorkel blocked airflow to that vent window.
 
Wish I kept those door I gave away for you! :(
 
Getting this thread back on-track, Max and I flew into Dallas Love Field on a Thursday night from Atlanta. Having both lived and worked in the DFW Metroplex, we had a lot of folks to visit in addition to the 87 4Runner to pick up for the 13-hour road trip on Saturday.

I've known Daniel (in passing from LSLC/TTR/IH8MUD) for a number of years. Having always loved his 4th gen 4Runner build and having followed this one, I introduced he and Max and they made their deal.

I'll be super-honest in this thread about the 4Runner, good and bad...but I need to preface by saying that I believe Daniel was very honest and straight-forward with his representation and some of the issues we discovered were only uncoverable via a 13-hour road trip.

So here is Max out at our lunch stop at Whataburger...we don't have these in Columbus GA...
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...and a burger on Texas Toast is tough to beat.
 
^^^ I hate the that anything came up at all!!! I appreciate your kind words and I'm super glad someone I have respect for got the 4R. I put countless hours into this one and in all honesty this Toyota has been one of my favorites. It will be missed! :(
 
The drive back included 400+ pounds of dude, rear plate bumper in the cargo area...along with boxes of parts purchased by Adventure Copan for his build, and nearly an entire other 1st gen 4Runner neatly bagged and sealed...including the front clip, a rear quarter panel and about every electronic and bolt-on bit and piece that the white 4Runner had to offer.

With all of the weight, including the bare steel sliders and plate bumper bolted to the rig...mixed with the lift, the 31" muds, the Toyota automatic tranny and the stock 4.30 gears, we quickly realized that drafting off of 18-wheelers and patience (cruising at 68) was the only way to go.

About 4.5 hours in, the AT Temp Light came on...uh oh. Research led me to a thread that included a post from Scotty of Addicted Off-road in Colorado. Scotty is a 4Runner guru and has built some of the nicest 1st and 3rd gens in existence. Anyway, he noted that temps above 250 are very bad and the AT Temp light doesn't come on until 300 degrees. He recommends a full tranny flush and the addition of a high quality tranny cooler.

We pulled off the highway ASAP and filled her up...about a 30-minute break. Tranny dip-stick looked fine and smelled fine too.

Back on the road. We were very careful to keep RPMs at or below 2800. That worked great...for 4.5 hours...AT Temp light back on.

Another 30 minute break...and back to it.

QUESTION: Why would the AT Temp pop on every 4.5 hours? Does it really take it that long to overheat? Could there be something wrong with the sensor?

We arrived back in Columbus GA 13.5 hours after we departed DFW...about 2 hours later than the typical trip.
 
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