hanjohnbono
New member
Hey fellow T4R members. I've been thinking of selling my 08 4th Gen SR5 4x4 160K with a full OME lift. I bought this car back in February, and I have a very strong love for this car, it's been through a lot with me, and I am very attached to it. Issue is that I realized that my crave for tinkering with cars is really strong, I would like to be able to have a 4x4 truck that I can not worry about taking a grinder to or drilling bolts into it for whatever overlanding thing I would like to do. I can't do that to my current 4th as it's too nice of a car to that. My game plan is if I sell my 4th gen, I would buy a classic T4R or a 3rd gen for less than $1500, there are around 4 in my area within this price range. What I want from this is a project car to be able to continue learning about cars and something that will consume my time, I have a lot of it. I would want to budget around 5K for this project build, and with the rest of the money from selling my 4Runner buy a cheap daily/highway sedan that get's good gas mileage as I visit home often which is around a 500 mile round trip. I'm wondering whether would it make more sense to just keep my current 4Runner, and wait to start a project car, or sell it and buy a cheap daily, and a classic 4runner that needs work.
Also wondering whether if 5K is a realistic budget for the things I would do if I bought a classic T4R or 3rd gen:
-Buy painting equipment and repaint, I really want to learn more about painting cars
-Put used 33s on it
-If it's a classic T4R, put the 5vzfe engine (I've read the same engine mounts can be used, not 100% sure though) I want to learn about swapping engines
-Possibly regearing the rear axle
-Using my Uncle's welder to learn more about welding and make custom camping gear
-Weld a steel bumper to it or buy a weld yourself bumper kit
-Add a used winch
-Rewiring certain electronics or adding new electronics to it
Probably more things, but I mainly want a 4x4 vehicle that I can modify the hell out of without second guessing hurting it's value, as it'll be a project car
Also wondering whether if 5K is a realistic budget for the things I would do if I bought a classic T4R or 3rd gen:
-Buy painting equipment and repaint, I really want to learn more about painting cars
-Put used 33s on it
-If it's a classic T4R, put the 5vzfe engine (I've read the same engine mounts can be used, not 100% sure though) I want to learn about swapping engines
-Possibly regearing the rear axle
-Using my Uncle's welder to learn more about welding and make custom camping gear
-Weld a steel bumper to it or buy a weld yourself bumper kit
-Add a used winch
-Rewiring certain electronics or adding new electronics to it
Probably more things, but I mainly want a 4x4 vehicle that I can modify the hell out of without second guessing hurting it's value, as it'll be a project car
