Hi all, well a few years ago I bought a $1200 '87 4runner as a beater truck and then sold it as I decided i wanted something that was a bit more re-build-able (straighter body, less missing pieces, etc)...so a few months after that I found myself a $400 '85 (well late 85 with IFS). The catch was some missing parts and a bad engine.

few months later i found a complete engine for $500.

a year later i finally got sick of seeing the truck sitting by my shop and decided it was time to get it put together. So last week I took the plunge (never swapped an engine out before) and went at it. To my surprise it started! So now that i have a running $900 4runner (that's actually in decent shape) I figure it's time to get serious and fix it up.

Main issues is some rust (nothing too bad just needs to be knocked off and primed over), a new paint job (inside and out), tore up seats, needs shift boots (rubber and vinyl), missing bolts, clean up the engine swap (one was 22REC, the other who knows but the smog systems were very different so there's plenty of unconnected wires and plugged vacuum lines, new bumpers, rig up a roof rack so i can carry our 17' canoe and that's about it to start off with. Anyway It's gonna be a low budget build (within reason) and I have no idea where it'll end but if you're interested or you can lend some advice please subscribe. I'll be sure to update this thread with every change. I also have some plans to make some custom parts (I'm a machinist) so I'll be posting that up here as well. Thanks in advance for all the info and advice I know I'll be asking for in the next coming months (maybe years).

Here's the pics (after i removed the steps and installed the engine).

Me finishing up the engine install.


My boss....sitting around doing nothing as usual.


Son getting a better view