Hello,
I have purchased several 1997 4runners. One was hit on passenger side front. The hood, fender, bumper, & radiator support need to be replaced. That vehicle came with a donor vehicle that was a roll over and has a good engine.

I want to take the engine and put that into another 1997 that I purchased that has a bad head or head gasket.

Upon brief examination of the fender damage, it appears that the inner fender is crumpled/squashed/dented in a couple of places.

I would appreciate input from any person that has replaced body panels, radiator support, or fixed damage/replaced inner fender, for lack of a better word.

The vehicle that needs a motor appears to be ready to drive if the motor was good. My plan of attack is to remove the front from the rollover to use for the body damaged vehicle and pull the motor for the other one.

I restored a 1969 C10 a while back and those are pretty straight forward. Everything bolts together. I have a welder. I would like to remove the front clip as complete as possible. I would love links to peoples threads that have fixed front end damage.

Thanks more detailed Pictures will be coming soon.
97 with front end body damage.
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97 Rollover

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Paid $900 for the Green one with those like new tires.

CAnt offer much help but nice job trying to save one!

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Welded in a salvaged piece.

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Replaced the Radiator support.

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Are you butt welding those pieces? That's brazen (sorry for the pun)

Cool project. Keep the progress pics coming!

No. This is not a restoration it is just a driver. I determined which way the water, mud, debris would fling off the tire rotation and lap welded both sides. I put some seam sealer over the welds and coated with an undercoating material that I like.

I never did anything like this before and just winged it. Want to get this out of my work area. I have a 69 fully loaded CST getting sandblasted in garage taking up all 3 of my bays. I was very lazy all winter. Now I need to get some chit done.

You're tackling this project with the determination and focus of a guy that gets it. Well played.

Thanks!

I had never done anything like this and couldn't really find any video's or how to's so I thought I would document it here with pictures so if someone wanted to tackle a project like this in the future they would at least see that it can be done like this. I am sure this is not the best way. If it were a show car there would not be any sign of repair. This is a utility vehicle that needs to be driven till dead.

The problem I've experienced with undercoating areas like this, especially those that have been welded, is that rubberized coatings hide cracks and broken welds.

If it were me, as soon as the vehicle was back together, fit well and road tests perfectly, I'd drill some of those lap welds and throw bolts or SS rivets in; then clean and paint. Just keep it from rusting and it will last till the engine drops out of it

I used a material called Cosmoline. This stuff has been around for years. Military has used it, and Equipment manufactures use it when shipping machines overseas. I am not that worried about how it holds up at this point and think it will be a good test to see how it does.

I am pretty confident that the repair will outlast the vehicle.

If I had a dollar for every C&R rifle I cleaned cosmoline off... ugh