I don't think I've formally introduced myself here. Name is Rob, and here's a whole bunch about me you probably don't know.
I'll start with the 4Runner, since you may or may not care about the rest. As she sits at this exact moment:
Tundra / Billies up front
891's / Billies out back
Barnes 1/4 in Rear Diff cover
Rigid SR-10 Spot/flood Combo
1st Gen Rollbar
01 Sport Grille
Really those are the only things worth mentioning at the moment. There's several other small things that I've done to make it more comfortable for duty, but nothing 1000 other people haven't done as well I suppose.
So, let's tell the story of how I got to where I am. I even have pictures.
I started out on this thing. Now, I'm old enough that we didn't have digi cams when I built this car, so a picture of a picture is going to have to do. I could scan it if I knew where the original was, but well, yeah....
1971 MGB
Did a mild restomod on it when I was 17. Stripped it bare, did all the body work, new paint, new top, all new interior and went through the entire drive train. That little bastard was far from quick, but you didn't have to slow down for much once you got going. Kept it until I moved out on my own and then moved to this....
92 GMC Sonoma
Had it lowered on spindles and blocks in the rear, roll pan, flush cover, had bucket seats and a center console out of a Blazer in it. 2 12's behind the seat and I think a 500 watt amp. It'd bounce your head off the back window when you turned it up. Ran around in this thing for about 2 years and then started to feel an itch for some power. Was driving by a dealership and spotted this...
2001 SVT Lightning
It was adequate, for a short while. I think I left it alone for about 6 months. During this time I started the job I'm still at, which afforded me a fair amount of play money. So, it went from bone stock to this in about a year:
Dropped 3 in the front, 5 in the rear, bucket seat conversion, whole lot of motor work (from 8 to 18 psi on the stock Heaton), valve body, adjustable shocks, yada yada blah blah blah. It was fast. It was also expensive. Long story short, I hit a point with it where I was going to have to start going internal on the motor to get much more out of it, and I just didn't want to drop the coin on it. I'd bought a house and priorities were starting to shift from spending all my free cash on cars to modding the house. I'm sure there's several people that can relate.
However, I still wanted to go kind of fast, and I was still only 25, so I sold the truck and made two moves in different directions. One is now my main hobby, and the other, well it didn't pan out the way I wanted.
The first thing I did was buy this:
08 Harley Nightster
I could bore you with the 3 page list of things done to it, but let's just say it was far from stock.
At the same time I started building this, and here's where things didn't work and how I got into Toyota's:
92 Accord LX (red one in the front)
I decided I was going to give AutoX a shot, so I took my DD and started working on it. H&R Full coilover's on all 4 corners, poly bushings everywhere, upgraded sway bars, full exhaust, blah blah blah. The red car in the back donated a H22 that was going to get sleeved and slapped with a GT35R.... Until one day in the winter of 2008 when a surprise ice storm hit. Remember the DD part? Yeah, hadn't swapped out to winter tires yet and ended up stuffing the car into a storm drain at about 20 MPH. Hard enough hit it folded everything on the left side under the car. So, I repaired it enough to pass as DD and started looking for a 4x4. Came across this on C/L.
85 4Runner
Picked it up not running for a 1000 bucks. New battery and some plugs and it was ready to go. Shortly after that the original motor jumped a tooth, so I found a rolled 88 and did a motor/5spd swap on it. Then motor number 2 let go. Motor number 3 was a ground up build and is still in the truck today.
Somewhere in the middle here I bought a 2005 Escape. I hated it. The only reason I mention it is I hated it so much I decided to sell it. About that time a family friend was selling his 3rd gen. It's now my 3rd gen. We sold the Escape for enough money to pay for it's self and my Wife's old car, so out the door it went and in came what you see now. I had both the 00 and the 85, and the wife said I could only build one. The 85 went down the road to a good friend of mine. Loves it.
So, now that you didn't read any of that, here's the plan for this 3rd Gen. It's going to be very mild. It serves one purpose, and that's to get me around when I can't ride this....
I'm done lifting it. Probably going to put on some 33's when these tires wear out. Planning on doing plate bumpers and sliders ONLY for protection from people hitting me in bad weather. We have people here that don't know how to drive in dry, let alone anything wet or slick. I MIGHT look at putting a blower on it down the road. Probably not though, as the spousal unit is already after me about spending money on both toys as it is, lol. Those things are down the road a little ways though.
In the immediate future, the rear pinion seal is leaking, so that's probably going to be my next update. Thanks for checking it out and hopefully I'll have something to post in here in the coming months.
Linear Mode
