Hi everyone,

So I've finally gotten my 15 post count and I can start my build thread. Caveat here is that I've already got about 2 months work of weekend progress in my backlog, so I'll be able to post a lot of this up front as time permits. And I only get to work on this on weekends, outdoors. So if you live in the Northeast, that means you also know that means over 2 months I've been able to work on it 8 days, since it rains 50% of every weekend ...

My 4Runner is a 1985 DLX with a manual transmission, 150k, originally painted Red 391, but 85% repainted in White 033 (engine bay, upper firewall, upper b-pillars interior, interior tailgate not-withstanding). I had another 1985 DLX 10 years ago that was Red 391 from the factory, so I took it as a sign but I think I'm going to keep it white as I like the DLX's black trims with the white combination. It's a Utility 4Runner, so it has this rear bench with 2 rudimentary welded bolt things to keep it up. My previous 1985 was not a Utility 4Runner, so it had this pull latch below the bench seat. Never thought I'd say this, but I miss that. So if anyone has that assembly, I'll pay .

I've always been drawn to the DLX for weird OCD reasons (black door handles, black TINY mirrors, not the ones that bolt into the door, black bumpers, black windshield trim ... basically no chrome, no power windows, cruise, extra things to break).

I was looking for a solid foundation that ran and drove, meaning as perfect of a body I could find. After about 6 months, I found this one owned by a body shop owner who had taken his time to completely restore the body of the 4Runner. All new panels, no Bondo, and a nice fresh 033 paint job. The top was also repainted. No rust, dents, dings or scratches on the body. No rust on any interior panels or floors. The frame had been (mostly) de-rusted and POR-15'd. It did run and drive, but I was told it had an oil leak preventing me from driving it back home 5 hours. Upon arriving, it was clear that whomever removed the A/C (I hate that) forgot to put in the 3 bolts in the timing chain cover and attempted to fix it with RTV everywhere. Easy enough fix.

I originally bought this to swap in a 3.4 and make it an updated version of the 1985, but given the costs there and the uniqueness of the 1985, I decided to go a different route and work to restore it as OEM as possible within my mechanical means. 2 months later, I'm down a rabbit hole where I'm replacing every rusted bolt I can find (toyotapartsdeal.com loves me at this point). I'm also keeping records of every part I've ordered down to the washer. I'll make that spreadsheet public as maybe it can help someone else looking to have a list of all the nitty gritty parts it took me hours scouring partsouq.com to identify and order. Probably not ...

What I Knew Was Broken Upon Purchase:

• Oil Leak in Timing Cover
• Clutch Master Cylinder Leaked (got new Aisin one to replace it)
• Brakes were weak (bled LSPV when got home, was 1 pump now instead of 3)
• Rear window console switch didn't work (p/o wasn't aware of topper switch, zip-tie fixed that problem)
• Tailgate lock was from another tailgate (found answer on Yotatech and swapped in correct cylinder)
• Rear differential and surrounding parts very rusty (on the list to fix)
• Tires were older and dry rotted (replaced with 31.5x10.5 BFG AT's and black steel wheels until I find the holy grail of OEM 1985 wheels)
• No carpet (easy fix)
• Drivers side seat destroyed (planning on reupholstering all seats, hate vinyl)
• Few topper cover pieces broken or missing, which sucks because they are impossible to find in brown
• Center console shift surround broken, also impossible to find (I broke this as soon as I got home by putting my hand on it)
• Dash pad cracked ... shocker (found a non-cracked one by a miracle)
• Interior filthy (spent days cleaning, restoring, protecting it, looks great now)
• Engine compartment filthy (current project as I remove everything that's not the engine and replace or clean it, wiring, bolts, plastic clips included)
• Rusty brackets in engine bay (wire wheeled and painting all parts)
• Rear OEM taillights hazy, discolored (installed new OEM ones)

What I Didn't Know Was Broken Upon Purchase:

• Front brakes were completely shot, pads frozen to rusted rotor, caliper toast (my fault for not checking, ordered all new calipers, rotors, pads, brake lines, and AISIN hubs)
• Exhaust leak at catalytic converter to rear pipe (planned on replacing exhaust anyway so not a huge deal)
• Slight random miss at warm idle, still tracking this down (did OEM plugs, wires, cap, rotor, TPS adjusted, waiting on engine reassemble to test)
• Water leak on driver's side interior (angle grinder + seam sealer fixed this after multiple tries)
• Topper leaks, sometimes, right where it meets the vertical cab (no idea, have to take it off, weatherstripping looks dead but OEM part discontinued)
• Another oil leak, front main seal (currently fixing while disassembling engine bay for engine bay paint, wait till I post the picture of how someone attempted to fix it ... think RTV but in the completely wrong place)
• A/C pressure hose from firewall sawzalled off, rendering it useless, part is discontinued
• Power Steering Idler Bearing Frozen causing high pitched start up noise (have new one to put in)
• Radiator leaks, small but still there (ordered all new gazillion hoses (steel heater ones too), radiator, 2 stage thermostat for overshoot which sucks in the winter)

What Are My Non-OEM Plans?

• Front and rear seat heaters
• LCE Header (normal quiet rest of exhaust)
• Soundproofing and deadening entire vehicle (not for stereo, so that I can bear to drive it at highway speeds)
• ... that's it

I'm currently in the middle of restoring the engine bay/front brakes and hubs. I wasn't going to paint it, as I'm planning on swapping in a new 22REPerformance engine next Spring and doing it then. But not only was it still red, but it had these impermeable black splotches of, I think, undercoating, all over the paint randomly, coupled with an oil sludge from the oil leaks that got everywhere (think Family Guy quote here) and is impossible to remove. Unfortunately, this is turning into a very tedious process and I've probably spent 3 weekends on this already. Simply put, with the rest of the paint and body immaculate, I can't stand to look at it when I open the hood (you'll see below).

I'll try and post some backlog pictures aligning with what I've done so far and then once I'm current, you should see a post once per week to keep with my work cadence.

As I picked it up:














Added New Tires and Wheels (and obligatory woods run):




New Crack-Free Dash Pad and Cleaned up Interior:




I'll work on some other posts throughout this week as I still need to get some photos up from my phone.

If you want to follow me on Instagram, that's where I document most of my progress as it's a bit easier when I'm covered in grease:

@pinemind 17 (only place I don't have an online handle with pinemind ...)