1st gen 4runner body 3rd gen frame and drivetrain swap

[Anakin SkyRunner]

Hey guys, I have a fully stock 1989 Toyota 4runner with the 22RE and a manual transmission. I was wondering if anyone had attempted to put the 1st gen body onto a 3rd gen frame with the drivetrain. I remember reading about it somewhere, but I was wanting to go the next step and integrate some of the interior technology as well, maybe even a retrofitted dash swap. Any help will be greatly appreciated!

 

[KidVermicious]

Post pics.

 

[Anakin SkyRunner]

Well, I'm not quite ready to do the swap just yet, I'm mainly looking for pointers on how it should be done, but I will post pics of the candidate ASAP

 

[Quatre Coureur]

How close are the wheelbases? Are they the same? Body mounts? Frame width? Sounds like a cool idea, but sounds like it could be more trouble than its worth.

 

[turboSR5]

It has been done at least once before. I think a thread was started or linked on here somewhere.

 

[fourwd1]

You have a lot of work ahead of you.
The first thing to do would be get frame diagrams of both and compare measurements of width, length, engine/axle/trans mounts, etc.

 

[Night_Wolf84]

It's been done. I saw one for sale in a Denver, CO craigslist ad. It had a link to their website to show how they done it, but I lost it after my old computer crashed. hwell:

 

[helo-mech]

Call these guys. They did it a while back. Maybe they have a build thread you could use. If you have a good stock 1st gen I wouldn't use it though. I would find a stripped out POS.

1987/2000 4Runner | Irbis Offroad

 

[Driftinfc]

Is there any benefit? Seems like a cool project tho

 

[jsabowabo]

Is there any benefit? Seems like a cool project tho

Yes, significant benefits.

1. Choice of 3.4L 5VZ-FE or 2.7L 3RG-FE engines. When I was 18 I remember complaining about how slow my 22RE was in my 85. I thought my brother's 99 Tacoma with 3.4 / 5 Speed was a rocket. And it was, compared to the 22RE.

2. Coil sprung front and rear suspension. Way better ride vs torsion bars and leaf springs.

3. OBD2 engine management. Say hello to engine codes.

There's probably many others I haven't thought of, but those stick out to me.

If you want a manual trans, the 4Runners that came that way seem to be pretty rare.

 

[OzSurf]

You know this thread is 7 years old?

 

[jsabowabo]

You know this thread is 7 years old?

Yup, this forum doesn't get the traffic it used to (or so it seems). The topic is still interesting to me.

 

[don.cool75]

I like the idea . Ignore the owe it's not worth it nay sayers. I love fabricating. To take 2 different decade vehicals ande mate them together giving birth to and oddity of pure difference, is just bad ass. Nah sayers who have to get everyone to do what they need done complain cause of cost. If I need to learn how to do something to finish a dream then I learn it. It's all in fun. It also doesn't have to be some fn shoe princess . Frankanstine was ugly as hell but strong as hell. Last if you want others to help you along your journey find peeps and make friends with ones that can help.
Like My buddies and I.
Bryan - Mechanic
Jessb - Electrical
Denis - Parts
Me - Fab/Welder
This how we started out. After 6 years We all can pretty much do little bit of it all.
Dream on
Build on[emoji41]

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