2003 V8 Sport beach buggy: The not-a-build.

[brett_murphy]

This isn't my daily driver. It's purpose is to haul large items, take my entire family and all of our stuff on trips and to perform beach buggy duty.

When I saw it for sale, it had some maintenance due on it, but it was roughly half of the price as the other ones for sale in my area. The sellers were the second owners. It had 273k miles on it when I bought it, and they put about 260k of those miles on it. They had most of the work in that time done at the dealership, and the Toyota website showed pretty comprehensive records for their ownership. The interior was victimized by their small children, bu other than the spills and wear from the kids, they took pretty good care of it.

I brought it home and did the fluids, new belts, hoses and a timing belt.


So far, the only mod I've done after catching it up on maintenance is to have an Old Man Emu suspension installed on it to replace the original XREAS. I also started to put stickers on it, because who doesn't like stickers?

Here it is as it currently sits:

That day pointed out the next "must have" modification I have to do. It's a bit taller than the the Forester I have, so getting a 14' kayak off of the roof in a stiff wind resulted in a some paint scratches. I ordered some 3M Clear protective tape and I'm going to use a double layer of that on the likely wear areas around the vehicle when it arrives in a few days.

More details as they happen.

 

[thrillracing76]

Fun family hauler! Interested in where you wind up putting the 3m.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[brett_murphy]

Not much has happened, nor has it needed to.

We threw two kayaks on top, stuffed it full of gear and people and then drove the 4Runner from NC to Vermont and all through the mountains while I was visiting my family.

I still have that roll of 3M tape sitting there, waiting to get applied. Maybe I'll get a chance to do it tomorrow.

I still have to craft some splash guards for the wheel wells to keep water out of the engine.

 

[Starman52]

From those pictures it looks like you are at ramp 44 Cape Point ?

 

[brett_murphy]

On the beach at Fort Fisher, NC, actually.

I've been debating using Plasti-dip instead of the 3M tape. Once I figure it out, I'll post pictures, including my absolutely awful scratch repair.

 

[brett_murphy]

It's funny that I don't post much because this thing doesn't need anything done to it at all.

We loaded it up with four people, all of our stuff, put two kayaks on top and a small boat on the back and drove three hours to the beach. Nothing went wrong, other than MPGs dropping from 17.5 to 15 on the highway and the transmission wanting to enter a downshift/upshift cycle on slight grades.

I lost a headlight the second day at the beach, so I replaced both of them. It took more time to find the bulbs and pay for them than it did to swap them out.

I love this thing.

 

[JimInTN]

Can you load the kayaks by yourself?

I've been looking at the Malone downloader carriers. They have a little built in ramp to assist, but I wonder if I might should look at another style all together.

 

[alia176]

I too purchased an identical rig with around 280k miles. Like you, it needs nothing, just does its job beautifully and willingly.

 

[4runnerboi]

j hook rack

curious:

I been looking to get the same J hook kayak holders. I have a yak about your size and worried about wind. How does it hold up to cross winds when you are driving at 70 mph. Even thinking of getting two sets for a buddys yak on my 4runner...

 

[4runnerboi]

j hook rack

curious:

I been looking to get the same J hook kayak holders. I have a yak about your size and worried about wind. How does it hold up to cross winds when you are driving at 70 mph. Even thinking of getting two sets for a buddys yak on my 4runner...