2000 5 speed swap/restoration

[wv_lx450]

heres my little story about trying to buy this 4runner if anyone is interested....

to start off, i havent bought many vehicles from individuals so i havent really dealt with the level of stupid that i came across on FB and Craigslist. it is truly mind blowing lol. i had dealt with 5-6 other people trying to get a 4runner they had for sale and those didnt work out so i was getting pretty frustrated at the point i found this one.

i found this one pretty early one morning, about 2hrs after it had been posted, and messaged the guy about it. he sent me some pics of the frame and i told him i wanted it and could come get it right away. we worked out a time that evening and i drove down to get it about 2hrs from my house. i was waiting for him at the spot we were going to meet and he messaged me and told me he got called out to work and couldnt make it, 1st sign of problems lol.

i really wanted this one so we planned to meet 3 days later when he got back from work (out of town work supposedly). that day comes and he has another story about why he cant meet, so we make plans for the next day (saturday). so saturday comes and i wait all day trying to get ahold of him and had basically given up at this point. he messaged me saturday evening and said the battery was dead, so he jumped it and let it run in his driveway, left it for 45min or so and it overheated and blew the head gasket. i told him no big deal, i have a trailer, ill still come get it. i guess he thought that would scare me off and it didnt so he told me some story about his brother wanting to trade him a gun for it since it blew up. he said his bro was gonna put a LS in it and a whole bunch of bs. but he would let me know by monday if his brother didnt get it.

so i just gave up on it and started looking for another. on about monday, i was looking on the marketplace and saw the exact same 4runner for sale by someone else. i messaged this guy about it (it was in the same town i drove to before to get it) i worked out a deal with the 2nd guy and drove down to get it (for basically the same price as before). got it home and decided to message the first guy just to see if he still had it lol. he messaged me back that he forgot to tell me but he traded it to his brother. he said his brother had already pulled the motor and had the LS sittin in it and blah blah blah. i asked him some more questions about the swap and let him dig a big hole then i sent him a pic of it sitting in my driveway lol. never heard from him any more.

any way, the second guy had registered it the day i drove down to get it from the first guy. i guess he sold it before i drove down to get it, didnt tell me, and then decided to just mess with me for a full week, telling me he still had it for some reason. not sure why or what he was up to but at least it worked out in the end. so thats my long winded story about dealing with people on FB lol.

 

[Reinout]

[MENTION=117505]wv_lx450[/MENTION] that's possibly the most aggravating story about buying any car other than going to a dealer. I love that the original seller couldn't just man up to the fact that he sold it. What a dip-stick.

 

[wv_lx450]

i was completely blown away by it. he doesnt know me, i live hours away in another state, just tell me someone someone showed up with cash and u sold it. its really not that hard. i wouldnt have been as pissed if i hadnt wasted 4hrs of driving.

 

[RandyBobandy]

That's why I'm glad I found my 5 speed swap parts from another forum member, I drove 4 hours one way to get mine and if it was a craigslister I would have been extremely hesitant to do that, I've met nothing but weirdos on craigslist.

from my experience working for used car dealers nothing from facebook or craigslist would shock me, luckily I can still go to dealer auctions if I want to find a junker but 3rd gens are few and far between at those

 

[VernySanders]

ive been slowly swapping less worn interior parts into rust free truck but havent done much else.
i am looking for a 1A5 paint code hood and possibly driver fender that are in decent shape if anyone has one or knows where one is. ive had no luck locally so far. i know it wont match exactly but it probably wont be worse than whats on this already. someone painted the hood and fender and didnt do a very good job (quality or color match) and id really like to avoid painting and blending and all that. the rest of the paint on this truck is slightly faded but in decent shape.

looks like a woman loved to throw her purse on the hood for about 10 years of ownership LOL.

 

[poleclimber63]

finally found a super clean, rust free swap candidate. its a 99, has 300k on it, paint is pretty rough, but there is no rust at all. and to top it all off, its a 5 speed too! probably going to drive it for now while i tear the other one down and do all the preventative maintenance to the new drivetrain before i drop it in.

That looks great! If the engine and drivetrain are working without major issues, I'm sure you'll be able to sell the drivetrain. You lucked out, as 5 spds are generally hard to find, especially up North, where I am. Good luck and post pics when you get into it!

 

[wv_lx450]

looks like a woman loved to throw her purse on the hood for about 10 years of ownership LOL.

yeah, in the pics i got before i bought it, i thought it was just the typical faded paint/clear coat problems that lots of these have. after i got it, its obvious that the hood and fender have been painted and the rest of the trucks paint is original and in good shape. also, the vin tags on the hood and fender are missing so i assume theyve been replaced.

 

[wv_lx450]

That looks great! If the engine and drivetrain are working without major issues, I'm sure you'll be able to sell the drivetrain. You lucked out, as 5 spds are generally hard to find, especially up North, where I am. Good luck and post pics when you get into it!

i never thought i would end up with a second 5 speed so i hadnt really thought about the leftover drivetrain until recently. theres a good chance that it will end up in another 4runner sometime down the road. planning on keeping everything i can thats still good.

the non rusty one runs really good as of now so im not in a big hurry to swap drivetrains just yet.

 

[wv_lx450]

swapped out the steering wheel, all the seats, rear carpet, console lid, and hatch struts today. trying to make use of all the low mile parts out of the rusty truck. it was a single lady that owned it since new and i dont think anyone has sat in any of the seats other than the driver.

gonna do door panels, shift boot, and a few other little things next.

 

[wv_lx450]

slowly replacing worn out parts to get everything decent before the engine swap. replaced all the sway bar links (aftermarket) and put oem sway bar bushings in. they were completely blown out and falling apart. also put some bilstein 5100's on because it still had the factory toyota shocks on it. i dont know if they had ever been replaced but they were completely useless at 300k mi lol.

got koyo front and rear wheel bearings, new seals and the rear wheel bearing tool with adapters.

also ordered an aisin clutch kit, all toyota parts for the timing belt change, gaskets for valve covers, spark plug tubes, cam seals, intake, new plugs and wires, etc. going to replace everything i can on the low mile engine before i drop it in this truck.

 

[wv_lx450]

got the rest of the gaskets, belts, timing stuff, clutch etc. now I just need to find time to pull the motor/trans and start working on it lol.

 

[HiLife]

Awesome your breathing new life into your 5spd rig with newer parts!
I was once told that manual trans anything were basic, on the lower end of desirable. Automatics is what everyone is looking for and want.
Ha, to each their own I guess.

 

[wv_lx450]

Not many people want manual trans vehicles any more, sucks for people that do want them because not many are made now. I would have a manual in everything i own if they were available.

 

[poleclimber63]

Not many people want manual trans vehicles any more, sucks for people that do want them because not many are made now. I would have a manual in everything i own if they were available.

Out of the 7 vehicles in front of our home (3 kids w/ cars) 3 are manual. My daily driver is a 2002 Celica 5 Spd, and my son has 2 stds(one of his cars is up for sale). Neither of us would voluntarily go back to an auto... For an SUV and you want to go offroad, a Std would be far more flexible... to each his own..