1999 5 speed, Nor Cal
 

Hey everyone. Been lurking for a while, kudos to all the fantastic information provided by the users of this forum. Its been very helpful so far.

I am not new to Toyotas, I have owned several. But haven't driven them much for the last decade or so. Got really into Ford Panther platform (Crown Victoria) for a while. I still have my 1985 4Runner rock crawler (DOA Racing 22RE, Marlin Crawler Duals, 35s, etc) however that truck has been sitting for 7 years due to the constraints of life. :cry2: Hoping to revive it in the near future.

I've always wanted a third gen manual 4runner with a 3.4. I got in a car accident earlier this year and totaled my Crown Vic and needed to find a new vehicle. It was nearly impossible in the middle of the pandemic to find any reasonable deals on Toyotas in general. Let alone a 3.4 5 speed 4runner. I also really needed a 4WD.

My persistence paid off however, and I found this 1999 3.4, 5 speed 4x4 4runner listed for a very good price. It was two hours away. But I was the first caller minutes after he posted it. I told him I'd give him a deposit to hold it so I could see it first, and drove up that day to look at it.

It needed a clutch master and slave cylinder, but drove pretty good otherwise. It was one of the cleanest I had test drove and he was the second owner. Ran good. I took it home the next day for $5k smogged. Felt like a steal. His phone was blowing up the whole time I was there the first time I saw it. Timing belt was done at 182,000. No E locker sadly. Truck had 218,000 miles on it when purchased. I am almost to 230k now.

I've done a lot to it so far:

OEM master cylinder (I originally swapped it with a Duralast master because it was saturday night when I got the thing home, less than a month later it failed)
Duralast slave cylinder (this has held up but i dont have much faith)
Napa premium rotors/pads
OEM Throttle position sensor
OEM coils (x3)
OEM wires
OEM spark plugs
OEM clock spring
Cleaned the idle air control valve & throttle body
Street max muffler (sounds like a magnaflow to me)
Changed the trans and tcase to Redline MT90
Slapped on some 17x9 Pacer black steel wheels
Bought some new 265/70/R17 Toyo Open Country AT3s.

Then I broke a lower ball joint. Luckily it was an ideal BJ break (slow speed, offroad) and no one was hurt. But I am currently in the process of redoing the steering and front and rear suspension. Bilstein 5100s, OME coils, SPC upper control arms, new bushings, etc

I will probably post a build thread soon. Happy to be in a 4runner again!! One of the best 4x4s ever made IMO. Love this rig. My dad actually has the same color 4runner, but its a 2000. He has had it since I was in high school so its kinda awesome we both have the same one. His is bone stock though.

Heres a pic of whats in the works.

Nice truck!

I just got a '96. I am currently swapping out the front and rear differentials, upgrading the suspension, and replacing the ball joints.

What OME coils are you going with?

Thank you! I chose OME 883 for the front, and 890 for the rear.

Looks like a fun build!

Sub'd! Keep us updated man, someday I hope to have an oldie like yours!!

Nice score! I'm in NorCal as well and recently picked up a 97 Limited that had already been fixed up a bit by the previous owner.

Thanks! I actually have an even older 4runner. A 1985. I built it in the early 2000s but its unfortunately been sitting for a few years. Hoping to get it going again some day soon.

Thank you. Right on, this is definitely Toyota country:smokin:

Looks at all those goodies!!! Enjoy the build.

Nice! I'd be interested to know how much you paid for it. Unless I missed it in the post? PM me if you see this and wouldn't mind!

Welcome! See you around the forum!

Now this is awesome! excited to see where this build goes

Looks great.