1985 4Runner I just picked up

D

Denver_runner

New member
So this may be the most depressing projects I have ever had. I have been hunting for a 1st gen for awhile. Found one in my price range that seemed legit.
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I picked it up at 7PM on 8/27/14 looking like that.

Drove 57 miles and this happened:
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View in daylight:
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Needless to say I am super bummed and out some money. I don't even have the title yet. I know it looks shot but it does have the solid front axle and manual locking hubs that I dont think are destroyed. It went from dieing with no warning to fully engulfed to put out by the fire department in about 8 minutes.

:cry:
 
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Oh no! That's awful. I actually considered looking at this truck at one point.

That really sucks. Money and safety aside, losing a nice looking truck to a random fire is really bad luck.
 
Wow, that's terrible man. So sorry about the loss.

I have seen pretty handy folks to complete body swaps...maybe that is an option? In any case, dang man, sorry. :faint:
 
Wow that really sucks man. Hope you made it out alright. My buddy's nissan did that once when we swapped the injectors out, went for a test drive and it caught fire. Found later that the injector bodies were leaking on 2 of them causing the fire. Luckily we had a fire extinguisher in the back. That reminds me I need to go buy one and put it in my truck -_-
 
Yeah I was thinking about the body swap. Slightly more than what I was planning on biting off.
It was on I-77S in North Carolina 30 miles north of charlotte(I live in the Denver of the east).

As for details. It had a small valve cover gasket leak. Me being the new owner, I had test drove it and didn't see a cause for alarm (outside of replacing the gasket, which is currently sitting in the garage waiting), I still stopped ever 20 miles or so to pop the hood and see if all fluids were ok make sure there wasn't anything that I hadn't seen during the test drive.
Got off the highway at exit 36 (for anyone in NC), saw nothing major and started back on my way.
Drove down the on ramp, got to about 35MPH, when what sounded like a radiator over heating (the pop and hiss noise) and smoke started coming out basically blinding me. Same time the engine died. The brakes quite working so I was using the transmission to slow me down and then the e brake when I had run out of breath from the cabin being full of smoke. I got out, pissed off to high hell, cussing like a sailor. The girl who drove me to pick it up whipped up behind me and said there were "orange balls" falling from the car when it started smoking. I ran back up to the 4runner and saw the flames start growing and called 911. And that is the story of my brief ownership of a running "road worthy" 1st gen runner.

And yeah nothing is finer than your first post being the ONLY post about this particular vehicle, however I am currently looking for another one so I'll be back.
 
When I saw the first picture I was about to say, "You (Lucky) Bastard!"...

Then... :(
Sorry about that, Man. I hope the body, drivetrain & suspension would still work for you because that solid axle on the 85 is sweet!.
Best of luck shopping, and happy long weekend to all.
 
Damn!! That was a beautiful truck. Glad you're alright. That's a rough turn of events bud. Better luck with your next one...
 
I'm Back

So after a long time hunting, and a determination to not let the first go round bring me down I found another 1st gen. It recently got the engine rebuilt, with some paperwork, and had the transmission gone through. Just got painted (decent but has some over spray..for me its fine) and had the seats reupholstered. I just have to put the insides back in including the dash, which after laying the parts out seems like a fun job.
 

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Damn bro just read through your entire post. Sorry about the first one, that's just CRUEL!! Happy to see you got a fine one on your hands this time!
 
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