I got a bit more done... it's been hard to get time to work on this thing! Anyways, at this pace I'll have the motor in tomorrow. My headers are on back order from LCE, but I should have them by the 20th.

Here is what I have so far:









I need to get some hardware and some plugs for the thermostat housing. This WAS a 22rte motor (except the block) so the thermostat housing has two un-needed spots for sensors. Hopefully I'll have this motor 100% ready to be dropped in by tonight, then take tomorrow to install it and finish everything up.

mmmmmmmm, beautiful!

It's been a while since this has been updated but I've finally finished everything!

Just a little bit of filling in the blanks... I got the motor installed and put on the LCE Headers, welded the old exhaust together. I had to use a 2.5"/2.25" reducer for the LCE header. I also fabricated a new mount for the AFM because I got rid of the box style air filter and assembly. I am now using a cone filter.

Here is the AFM bracket I built:


And the finished result:


I just finished the first 100 mile oil change and valve adjustment. All I have to say is WOW!! This is far from a race car but it has a LOT more power than my old RTE motor that I had in it previously. With the few performance mods that I put in it (bore .030, RV Head, 268 cam, LCE Header), I can definitely feel the power that this little 4 banger is putting out. My 4runner is on a 5 inch lift with 33's and stock gearing and I have no problem getting up to speed or maintaining speed going up hills. I haven't even ran it hard yet and it's definitely making me very happy!!

Next mod: SAS!!

I'm not worthy ..

WOW, sure looks like you have no idea what you are doing. j/k Obviously you win. Looks awesome.

So I built some rock sliders using 1 3/4 HREW square tubing. Total length is 66 inches so they are pretty much flush with each fender. They stick out about 4 inches from the body so they're flush with the edge of each fender.

Front view:


Rear:


Welds: (not the best but I'm no pro at welding... good penetration and definitely strong welds)




I also added some 35x12.5x15 Mickey Thompson Baja Claws on some 15x10 steelies:

your '87 T4R looks good; what are your plans for a front bumper?

also, in which part of the country are you located?

Plans for a front bumper... I haven't really came up with any solid ones yet. I want a tube bumper but haven't decided if I'm going to buy one from an online vendor or build one. I don't have a tube bender and that's the main thing stopping me from building one. I would like to build a air/hydro tube bender but the materials and supplies will cost me around $600, then another couple hundred in materials and supplies to build the bumper... Stuff adds up!!

I'm located at Clarksville, TN.

How much did the tubing run you?

I bought 2 sticks of 12ft 1.75" square 1/8" wall tubing, along with a 4 ft stretch of 4"x3/16" flat stock to use as pads against the frame and capping the end of the tubing. I used all but 3 feet or so of the tubing and used about half of the flat stock. Total between the tubing, cutting discs and paint I spent right around $100. The steel alond was about $70 or so.

I recently added an SR5 cluster... nothing special, but it's nice having a tach and an oil psi gauge instead of just an idiot light.

Nice job on the cluster swap. Having a tach is defiantly nice.

Thanks! I agree on the tach, that was my motivation to do the swap. Having the tach is also what led me to realise that my motor was bogging down at 4k rpm. I thought before that I was just hitting fuel cut due to redline.

Verry nice the blue engine block is pretty sweet;)
Did you add a double roller chain?

Thanks! I'm slowly making the engine bay a mix between blue and black. I think it looks good with the gray paint on the body panels.

I didn't see a need for a double row chain. Well, at least I couldn't justify the expense of it. If I was going to use a forced induction setup then I would use the double row chain.

Hows your sons truck coming? I love seeing your projects! Your 4runner is a part of what inspired me to get mine!!! That thing was amazing!