Been waiting a while to actually post an ongoing thread since most of the stuff has just been fixing all the little things that years of abuse and neglect have left her with. Its pretty boring and pales to some of the really cool projects others have. I picked up this '89 T4R V6/Auto SR5 last summer with intentions on restoring her to a nice little daily driver and a few mild excursions. Probably overpaid a little but I had the bug. So for $2k, I picked her up TT&L from a salvage lot. Sorry, no pics of her state but its the normal sagging butt, busted climate faceplate, no a/c, faded top you'd expect to see. So now, 8 months later, here's where we stand. I'm sure I missed a few things but I really wanted to put together a decent list so people that want to ask themselves how much work is it to get a 25+ year old car running well......here it is.

- Repainted top with bedliner
- new timing kit w/ waterpump
- new valve cover gaskets
- new pvc
- all new vacuum hoses
- new plugs (NGK), cap, rotor, and wires (Denso)
- replaced climate control face
- repaired broken climate control pulley
- added a radio and 2nd din blank face
- added clinometer
- added 2nd gen steering wheel
- replaced broken antenna
- resealed power steering pump
- flushed brake lines, coolant system
- replaced bad rear wheel cylinder
- replaced lower intake gasket
- removed EGR system
- upgraded big 3 power wires
- added aux fuse panel
- Zuk mod with 3rd gen coils....tossed original lift blocks that were there
- new u-bolts
- replaced radiator cap, upper radiator hose, thermostat and broken drain cock
- replaced leaky heater valve
- replaced both head lights
- rewired both power door switches to center dash
- removed all purple tint from the '80s ugh!
- replaced dome light with 2nd gen and 15 led plate
- replaced back carpet with grey indoor/outdoor carpet
- replaced outer tie rod ends, upper ball joints, idler arm
- replaced with longer front shocks
- greased and rebooted cv axles
- flushed transmission/transfercase with new 'red' fluid
- replaced shifter bushing and shifter trim plate
- fixed passenger seat slider
- converted front diff studs to bolts
- swapped in factory 4.88's front and real with new seals
- replaced pinion bearings on rear 4.88
- Spartan Locker in rear
- replaced a-arm bushings and added 4crawler ball joint spacers
- 4crawler diff drop
- replaced speedometer cable
- added remote start button to bypass bad ignition switch
- replaced side mirror glass and resprayed both mirrors with same bed liner spray
- KTT Bikini Top
- 1.25" wheel spacers
- tacoma steelies with 285/75/16 BFG's

After all that, I plan on these by end of summer:
- fix both door panels (in progress)
- replace front fender (in progress)
- bodywork, sand, and paint
- fix a/c
- fix horn
- replace rear shocks, chevy 63 swap

Future plans:
- build rear bumper
- build sliders
- add front receiver hitch
- pull attached transfer case and go with 4.7 gear case
- spartan in the front
- full length safari rack

Should be a nice just in time to give my daughter when she turns 16 in about 1.5 years and I can start over with another project.

So....if you've read this far....I got a ton of pics you can go through too!

enjoi

After a few months of clean-up:



First off-road adventure....can you tell I suck at the poser stance.



arm rebuilds -



Diff swap ... notice the ADD to non-ADD differences

Rear diff rebuild:





Super Cool Remoter Starter Button :



Inclinometer test.....otherwise know as the pucker factor



Interior Shot with the sexy second gen wheel:

And finally....tossing the bald 31's for some less bald 33's

Thats along list of tings you already fixed! Nicley done! Neat look too with the 2nd gen bumper on there.

Wow you have done a lot! Nice runner

Decided it was finally time to clearance out the front bumper a little. I like the gen2 bumper, but it was a little large on the sides so I whipped out the cutoff discs this weekend and lost a little weight.



Its a little hard to tell but I rolled the sides so it had a little more of a finished look. I wanted to start the roll a little further in front, but trying to get a smooth roll around the 90 degree bumper bend was difficult, so I ultimately settled for what it was here.



A little black paint and....





I think it looks a little better in person than it did it that shot, but once I replace the chrome grill with the black one, and get ride of the chrome windshield trim, I'll be pretty happy.

I like! How is that bumper mounted?

nice! keep it up, looks great

Looks good, doing similar setup on an 88. How do you like the zuk mod ?

Just has the gen2 bumper horns mounted to the fame. Since 86-95 are basically identical up front, its just plug and play. There's no connections on the side though. With the full bumper, you can see that it sagged a little, but with the trim, all the weight is front and top on the horns so no issue.

I liked the price and the lift of the mod but the ride is a little too stiff, especially with the top off. I went with the gen3 springs. I don't know if the shocks are just too stiff (rs5000's) causing the bad ride, or if the old leafs are collapsing the coils too much losing the softer low rate parts. I'm thinking of trying 1" longer shackles to see if it helps, if not new shocks. I'll eventually go 63's once I'm done spreading money around to the other parts of the truck. Personally, I think its a good option if you go with shorter, lighter springs to return to stock or just above stock height.

Starting the facelift..... going from badly neglected dark gray metallic to cement gray (or as close as I can get).

God..... I hope I know what I'm doing!

Armed with stud welder, grinder, flapper discs, and ton's of primer, I guess I'll see what I can do. Been practicing on an extra quarter panel but getting small dents pretty good now. Worst was the rear bottom corner was completely crushed in. Took some work and isn't real pretty right now but atleast its back to a reasonable shape.

Definately slow going here, but trying to take my time especially since the air doesn't work and its been 100+ for like a month now. I really have an appreciation for body work guys. I sand and paint, and sand and paint, and sand......and still can't get all the little ripples/dents out. What a PITA! But not much longer now.... here's a few shots of the progress.

Changing colors suck but I really didn't want to be one of those cars that everytime you open the door you see the old color. Its taking a little bit more time but I think worth it. Also adding some insulation in the doors and side panels to reduce a little of the noise while I'm there.

Refinished the side badges. Its the same grey and the body and just black lettering. We'll see what it looks like on the truck but I got a couple extras just in case.