HachiRolla
New member
Alright guys, it's story time! I'm right in the midst of the good stuff here so I thought I'd share what's going on!
Here are some basic details about where we are at now, I'll try to keep this updated as we progress!
Y/M/M: 1995 Toyota 4Runner SR5
Engine: 3VZ-E 3.0L V6
-Fresh timing belt, water pump, head gaskets, valve adjustment, tune-up
-Headers (eBay special, surprisingly high quality)
-Cold air intake (eBay special, truck was missing an intake and this was cheaper)
-LCE EGR Delete
Suspension/Drivetrain: Front IFS with stock 7.5” diff, Rear solid axle with stock 8” diff
-New Moog ball joints, steering linkages
-New National wheel bearings and seals
-Front 4Crawler ball joint spacers
-Rear OME 901 HD springs
-2” 4Crawler body lift (eBay special headers were touching the firewall, excuse for 35’s)
-ProComp Series 51 Rock Crawler wheels, 15”x10” 3.75” BS
-Cooper Discoverer STT Pro 35x12.50R15
Interior:
-OTRATTW Rocker switch to replace rear window switch
-Dual bluetooth radio (had to get some tunes going)
-Rear cargo area lights (best $10 I ever spent!)
Exterior:
-Roof and spoiler bedlined
-LED front turn signals
-LED fog lights
-Custom front bumper with recovery points
-Custom rear bumper with tire carrier and recovery points
-¾” Bow shackles (2 front and 2 rear)
Miscellaneous:
-Tool bag (Various pliers, tire repair tools, zip ties, hammer, etc.)
-Husky tool set (I have $30k worth in tools at work but couldn’t be bothered to spend more than $60 on a throwaway truck set)
-Schrade SCAXE9CP survival axe with folding saw, SCHSH1 telescoping folding shovel
-Recovery bag (strap, shackle protectors, ratchet straps)
September 26, 2017 I pulled this old rag home to Black Mountain, NC from Jonesborough, TN. $700 and a couple hours on the road drug home this 95 SR5 with blown head gaskets on a 3.0 and a 5 speed and 4WD.
Don't mind the potato quality picture!
First order of business was starting the parts ordering process. Timing set, head gasket set, intake, headers, 4Crawler BJ spacers, OME901 springs, LCE EGR delete, ProComp series 51 wheels in 15x10.
Then once all the parts started showing up, we tore into it!
And my friend rebuilding his $200 forester engine the same weekend.
Headers for the notorious head gasket issues, hopefully this will keep the heat away where it counts!
Made good progress the following weekend!
But not good enough.
Rough running after the top end rebuild which was totally my fault. I neglected to check or adjust the valves after having the heads cut and valves cut in. Pro tip, don't cut corners, it WILL bite you. It did run enough to move around at this point but not well enough to drive.
I did finally get around to measuring the valves and ordering the proper shims, in the mean time I installed the lift stuff that I had. That was a major boost to the motivation for me.
So I had the parts and finally made time to get everything together. Ran way smoother and made me much more confident in it.
Now, because I chose the eBay special headers (Superb quality for $130! No complaints at all) they were a little too close to the firewall than I cared for, touching brake lines and wires, I opted for a 4Crawler 2" body lift. Personally, I am not a fan of body lifts, but I didn't have a ton of options at this point. A couple hours with the lift and everything had a more appropriate clearance.
I knew I wasn't keeping the front bumper so away it went. Wow, it looked a lot bigger, I was really getting excited at this point. Prepping for the front bumper let me cut away some excess sheet metal and start believing!
What a stance it had now!
And finally! After some more tuning and tweaking she was on the road!!
,
Not much happened for a little while following that point aside from fixing little bugs and kinks.
Some noise started concerning me and knowing that the bottom end had water cycled through it from the blown head gaskets made me decide to throw rod bearings at it, not the best approach but after fighting with it for probably 6 months at this point I was tired of fooling with issues.
They weren't great, but also weren't awful.
Things were coming together at this point and still there wasn't much happening so I tried to find a little more motivation. Started a design for the front bumper.
The design sat around for a little while, I had the materials to do all of this but still suffered with the motivation factor. Fighting this thing for so long really put me in a funk.
I picked up some LED light strips at a big car show/swap meet and got around to installing them, needed some better lighting in the back. For the $10 I spent I was super pleased with them, they're wired into the original cargo light in the back and while that fixture no longer works the switch does control the lights either for the gate opening or constant on.
That is in complete darkness outside and you can see how well the rig is lit up!
Here are some basic details about where we are at now, I'll try to keep this updated as we progress!
Y/M/M: 1995 Toyota 4Runner SR5
Engine: 3VZ-E 3.0L V6
-Fresh timing belt, water pump, head gaskets, valve adjustment, tune-up
-Headers (eBay special, surprisingly high quality)
-Cold air intake (eBay special, truck was missing an intake and this was cheaper)
-LCE EGR Delete
Suspension/Drivetrain: Front IFS with stock 7.5” diff, Rear solid axle with stock 8” diff
-New Moog ball joints, steering linkages
-New National wheel bearings and seals
-Front 4Crawler ball joint spacers
-Rear OME 901 HD springs
-2” 4Crawler body lift (eBay special headers were touching the firewall, excuse for 35’s)
-ProComp Series 51 Rock Crawler wheels, 15”x10” 3.75” BS
-Cooper Discoverer STT Pro 35x12.50R15
Interior:
-OTRATTW Rocker switch to replace rear window switch
-Dual bluetooth radio (had to get some tunes going)
-Rear cargo area lights (best $10 I ever spent!)
Exterior:
-Roof and spoiler bedlined
-LED front turn signals
-LED fog lights
-Custom front bumper with recovery points
-Custom rear bumper with tire carrier and recovery points
-¾” Bow shackles (2 front and 2 rear)
Miscellaneous:
-Tool bag (Various pliers, tire repair tools, zip ties, hammer, etc.)
-Husky tool set (I have $30k worth in tools at work but couldn’t be bothered to spend more than $60 on a throwaway truck set)
-Schrade SCAXE9CP survival axe with folding saw, SCHSH1 telescoping folding shovel
-Recovery bag (strap, shackle protectors, ratchet straps)
September 26, 2017 I pulled this old rag home to Black Mountain, NC from Jonesborough, TN. $700 and a couple hours on the road drug home this 95 SR5 with blown head gaskets on a 3.0 and a 5 speed and 4WD.
Don't mind the potato quality picture!
First order of business was starting the parts ordering process. Timing set, head gasket set, intake, headers, 4Crawler BJ spacers, OME901 springs, LCE EGR delete, ProComp series 51 wheels in 15x10.
Then once all the parts started showing up, we tore into it!
And my friend rebuilding his $200 forester engine the same weekend.
Headers for the notorious head gasket issues, hopefully this will keep the heat away where it counts!
Made good progress the following weekend!
But not good enough.
Rough running after the top end rebuild which was totally my fault. I neglected to check or adjust the valves after having the heads cut and valves cut in. Pro tip, don't cut corners, it WILL bite you. It did run enough to move around at this point but not well enough to drive.
I did finally get around to measuring the valves and ordering the proper shims, in the mean time I installed the lift stuff that I had. That was a major boost to the motivation for me.
So I had the parts and finally made time to get everything together. Ran way smoother and made me much more confident in it.
Now, because I chose the eBay special headers (Superb quality for $130! No complaints at all) they were a little too close to the firewall than I cared for, touching brake lines and wires, I opted for a 4Crawler 2" body lift. Personally, I am not a fan of body lifts, but I didn't have a ton of options at this point. A couple hours with the lift and everything had a more appropriate clearance.
I knew I wasn't keeping the front bumper so away it went. Wow, it looked a lot bigger, I was really getting excited at this point. Prepping for the front bumper let me cut away some excess sheet metal and start believing!
What a stance it had now!
And finally! After some more tuning and tweaking she was on the road!!
,
Not much happened for a little while following that point aside from fixing little bugs and kinks.
Some noise started concerning me and knowing that the bottom end had water cycled through it from the blown head gaskets made me decide to throw rod bearings at it, not the best approach but after fighting with it for probably 6 months at this point I was tired of fooling with issues.
They weren't great, but also weren't awful.
Things were coming together at this point and still there wasn't much happening so I tried to find a little more motivation. Started a design for the front bumper.
The design sat around for a little while, I had the materials to do all of this but still suffered with the motivation factor. Fighting this thing for so long really put me in a funk.
I picked up some LED light strips at a big car show/swap meet and got around to installing them, needed some better lighting in the back. For the $10 I spent I was super pleased with them, they're wired into the original cargo light in the back and while that fixture no longer works the switch does control the lights either for the gate opening or constant on.
That is in complete darkness outside and you can see how well the rig is lit up!
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