ajy4490

Well, I have officially left Jeep-land and switched back to a Toyota with my new (to me) 1987 Toyota 4Runner SR5 (nickname: Lola). I bought the 4runner for a whopping $900 from Chicago in running and driving steet-legal condition. It has 214,300 miles on the clock, and it looks to be the stock engine. The timing chain must have been replaced at least once as there is no chain rattle or cover wear, so thats good. This vehicle is my new long term winter vehicle and offroad project, but first and foremost its my moving vehicle to grab all my stuff from update New York and bring it down to my new place in Bloomington, Indiana. I bought the car after a quick test drive and some part-swapping and immediately drove it 4 hours home on the highway where it purred like a little kitten the entire way (thereby making it worth the $900 price tag already). I have since given it a tune up with new plugs, wires, distributor cap, rotor, air filter and I'll be changing the oil this weekend, but again, it runs and drives! Here are a few pics as it sits today 07/28/10:








As you can see, Lola is rusty but trusty. The front fenders are totally shot and will need to be replaced (cali junkyards? ebay?). The rear fenders are rusty and have holes, but I think I can grind and bondo the crap out of them and make it presentable again. The body behindt he rear driver tailight is pushed in, and will need some crafty metalworking to look normal again. For now, I just sprayed all major rust spots down with some black primer to try to stop the rust a little bit until I can dedicate more time for a real repair job. The frame also seems to have its fair share of surface rust, but it looks to be solid, hooray! After the body panels are done I will probably go to town with some heavy-duty rust repair and repaint the frame, at least as much as I can without removing the body. Any advice here would be well welcomed! Here is a picture of the rear bed & frame:




The interior seems to be in decent shape for the year, but it did need some Armoral-ing to remove a lot of the dust and dirt over the years. While I'd never bother actually buying one of those SR5 inclinometers, I'm actually pretty happy that I have one! Its a cheap novelty factor, for sure. I'm also happy to actually have a tach on this truck






I currently have two funny questions for the 4Runner community. First, the dreaded rear window. I actually have one that sort-of works, but only slightly. The window switch does work and rolls the window up and down, but only about 2-3 inches. See the video below. It just seems like the motors either getting tired or doesn't have enough juice to roll the window up. I checked, the window itself is on the track, but it just doesn't seem to have what it takes. Any suggestions here as to how to make this roll up like new again??

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI7tIPPEMw4[/YOUTUBE]

Also, the 22re runs great when driving down the highway, but it does seem to sputter when its idling. As I noted, I did a full tune up, so its not that (although I did use cheap wires?). Below is a video where you can hear what i'm talking about. The idle is fine, it just sounds like it coughs every few seconds. Is this normal 22re behavior, or is something funny with it?

[YOUTUBE]47fi0ImpAPI[/YOUTUBE]

So, enough about my current work, and more to my more long term future plans. After the rust removal and simple repairs, I will be doing what I can to get some 33x12.5x15 tires under this for some trail fun! Again, this is a cheap-as-possible project, so the lift will be budget for the time being. In years to come, I may go for the a SAS, but thats a dream off in the distance for now. I'm thinking of dropping in 63 chevy springs in the rear (via http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20665) to get the sagging rear propped back up and ready for 33s. For the front, I'm going to start with just 1.5" ball spacers (http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/...ntSpacer.shtml) and hope I can tuck 33s under there with just that lift. I'm not interested in really cranking up the torsion bars as this will be wheeled good, but if I have to as a temporary cheap lift, it may be done. I'd like to go for a bracket lift, but its hard to justify spending more money on an IFS lift than I did for the whole vehicle in the first place. Do you guys think chevy springs (overload spring removed) with ball joint spacers be somewhat level and tuck 33x12.5s ok? I don't mind trimming/bending the fenders a bit, but I'd rather not if I don't have to. Opinions and suggestions welcome, and again, cheap is priority #1


I've decided that removing the top is a must, so I've been looking at the DIY bikini top detailed at http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...l#DIYBikiniTop I like the look and want to do it, but it seems the Steelhorse YJ mounting bracket isn't sold anymore. Any other brackets work??

This will be a long-term project, so don't expect anything revolutionary overnight. Eventually, this will be one kicka$$ 1st gen 4Runner! Thanks for any help in advance!

MaK92-4RnR

rear window i'd say its the regulator.

ajy4490

Well the window goes up and down a few inches, which made me think it wasn't the regulator. Maybe the gear teeth are chipped or its out of place?

ajy4490

Anybody have any good ideas as to what the idling noise is, or am I just being paranoid??

kenwoodrunner

i think you did very well buying a running vehicle (4hour road trip worthy) out of chicago for $900!

ajy4490

I'll get a compression tester at HF next time I'm up in Indy and check it out, thanks. I did tighten up the exhaust a bit (and removed the ghetto muffler hanger) and the exhaust chatter is much less but I can still hear an occasional sputter. I'm thinking its probably a sticky valve, and it luckily only happens below 1000rpm.


Yeah, it seems I can't find any $900 road-worthy vehicle anymore, let alone the exact 1st gen 4Runner I was searching so hard to find. Its a win already.

2+2=4Runner

It sounds like we are in the same boat...I bought an 88 4runner with the 6 cylinder motor about a year and a half ago. Mine has 214,000 on it now and i paid $250 for it! It runs great, i did the same things that you did after i bought it. New plugs, wires, filters, oil, gear oil and anything else that would be simple and cost effective for me. More recently i replaced the fuel filter and part of the fuel line, fuel pump and bracket. Now I have a leak on the brake line so i purchased new calipers for the front and will be replacing the entire rear drums as well. There is a small oil leak, havent looked too far into it yet. The pic you put up of the underside of the rear of the runner looks exactly like mine, no spare...a lot of rust from the rear axle back to the bumper...everything else on the frame looks good, needs some cleaning and paint. started replacing the fenders...rear quarter panels need a lot of work...most likely replacing. I think i need to do the same compression test that you are doing. Keep us updated on how it goes.

ajy4490

Well, I haven't done a compression test on it yet, but it successfully drove 2000 miles in 2 weeks without ANY problems at all!!! This makes my $900 already well spent, especially because I was able to get my institution to cover vehicle milage for the trip, totaling over $350 (a 3rd of the vehicle cost). I averaged 23mpg highway driving with the bed empty, and 18-20mpg with it fully loaded. Not bad for a 23 year old vehicle, if I do say so myself. After I got back, I went to my first Indiana University tailgating event, topless and doorless of course






Unlike my many Jeep projects in the past where I just lift whatever rust-bucket I find and beat on it, I'm going to attempt my first full restoration. This should tell you just how attached I've become to this 1st-gen 4runner. So, knowing the vehicle can run 2000 miles without any problems and got good gas milage meant the engine and power-train are good to go for now, I concentrated on the body. As you can see in the first pictures in this thread, the rust is pretty bad around the fenders. The front fenders are totally shot IMO, and I'll just look for rust-free fenders (if you have any for sale, PM me). As for the rear, I decided that I was gonna go crazy with my frist fiberglass/bondo restoration.

I started going to down with my trust angle grinder and cut away any/all rust, and found out it was worse than I thought! It turns out the rust around the gastank filler was bad, the rear fender walls had been badly bondo-ed before, and 3 holes opened up in the bed right around the fenders. Also, behind the rear plastic fender-protector, there was no metal even left at all! I used an assortment of wire-screen and fiberglass-maker and patched the holes. The reason I went this route instead of cutting and welding sheet metal is because I don't have a welder, I'm new to the area (Bloomington, IN) soI don't know anybody else who was one either.

Heres what I've done so far. Any bodywork tips are greatly appreciated, as I only sort-of know what I'm doing.

ajy4490

Well, this is about as far as I've gotten with this 4Runner! https://plus.google.com/photos/10267...74839015498161 Sadly, I need to sell it. It runs and drives like a dream, I'm so sad to give up this 1st Gen!