After posting my progress pictures across various threads for months, I decided that my build is finally at a stage where I should concentrate (at least some of the highlights) into a single thread. Not sure when i'll have time to fully structure the post with all the pictures I want, but i'll do my best as time allows over the next few weeks (as my car is hopefully into the completion stages).
Here it goes..
The start:
June 2020 I decided to settle the '15 buick and '10 lincoln that I had (both Copart rebuilds) and my wife and I decided an SUV was a logical choice. After seeing what people were wanting for the 4th gen 4runners I quickly turned to copart once again and found a 2003 V8 4wd limited 132k mile salvage car out of Florida.
Late June it was sitting in my driveway and getting torn into to see the extent of the damage. The damage ended up being a bit more serious than anticipated. The impact bent the front right body mount approximately 2 inches back and crumpled the apron pretty good. Instead of doing a driveway fix like I usually would, i ended up enlisting the help of my brother who does this for a living. In order to keep the replacement costs low, he pulled the apron straight and repaired into a useable condition (the replacement was over 600 bucks and nobody had one available at the time).
We also welded in a new radiator support and body mount onto the rail. Luckily I was able to find a 2005 car in a junkyard a couple of miles away that had the hood with the scoop, in the color I needed, along with the bumper, fender and passenger door. This allowed me to have factory parts with no need to paint.
While the front end was all apart, I decided to tackle the timing belt/water pump replacement and made pretty quick work of it.
Before the car was even complete, I already had a prinsu rack on order, trd wheels and 33" tires on the way. The roof rack was the first mod to go on ahead of everything else, followed quickly by the wheels/tires.
Soon after, I acquired all the recovery gear I could possibly want, along with a Smittybuilt RTT.
In August the car was pretty much road worthy and getting put to good use, and the first "performance mods" were the air filter, and larger sport rotors/calipers up front. At the same time I installed the Bilstein 5100 shocks/OME spring lift kit.
My next round of modification included doing an HID projector kit in the headlights, modifying the grill and trimming the bumpers for extra clearance.
After just 1 camping trip, I installed the Victory 4x4 blitz bumper and winch and then took it on the first ever off road Uwharrie trip which was a blast.
By September, my still VERY new wheels/tires were for sale and I had 35's going on the car. This made it necessary to do more trimming on the body, body mount, etc. but I got them to work pretty good along with the JBA UCA which got my alignment into great spec.
In October, I thought I was pretty much done with the car and was super happy with how it was looking and driving. Then I bought and sold the victory 4x4 ladder.. Then we went to Uwharrie again and i determined I was overdue for some sliders, so those were on order. And then I decided that I didn't want to spend 1400 to carry a tire on a swing out and designed up my own. That took me through the end of the year with the projects that I had going on.
One day, while once again browsing East Carolina Gear Supply... I added my stuff to the cart and just hit submit... fully regeared front and rear diffs with Arb lockers were on the way... terrible financial decision, but boy was I excited. Oh, and did I mention that I did the same with the RCV front CV axles..?
The car was "finished" with the swing out carrier, exterior molle panels that I also designed, and sitting just right on January 17th. Along with the expensive parts on the way I figured I was done. And then... I couldn't sleep one night so I was browsing Instagram. And low and behold I came across a post that baffled me.. I thought I was looking at a Tacoma, but it was an SUV, and the rear looked like a 4th gen... the Tacoma front end swap was discovered, and I just couldn't un-see it... I talked myself out of it since I already made some bad financial decisions... but then I priced it out, and long story short it looked reasonable if I could JUST SELL MY CURRENT PARTS. An even longer story even shorter, there is a local member that is literally buying every single piece that is coming off, including the rear swing out, my roof rack and entire front end.
Current status:
-Coastal Offroad front and rear bumpers are on the truck for delivery now.
-ECGS Front and rear diffs and RCV axles are going on tomorrow/saturday. the arb pump is already wired and installed.
-Tacoma parts, with the exception of the McNeil fiberglass fenders are here as of today, and headlights area already rewired to work with my plugs.
-my own design roof rack is being quoted for production as we speak
The plan:
-this weekend I plan on installing the RCV axles, front and rear diffs and running the locker connections.
-Over the next week I plan to do the slow 500 mile break in.
-The following weekend I want to start welding the front bumper
-As soon as the fenders ship (hopefully first week of March) everything is coming off the car and I will start with fitting the hood, then fenders, then headlights/grill.
-Once this is done and I paint everything and hopefully put it all together I will turn my attention to the rear bumper with my own swing out design.
-After this, I plan on not touching anything (with the exception of the FJ Transfer case once mine stops working) on the car for a long, long time (unless of course it is tire-change time and I upgrade to 37's from the 35's I'm on now....I am damn terrible.)
Anyhow, for those that made it through this heap of a long-winded, picture less (at this point at least) post, thank you for reading and I promise once the pictures start coming it will be much better !
Here it goes..
The start:
June 2020 I decided to settle the '15 buick and '10 lincoln that I had (both Copart rebuilds) and my wife and I decided an SUV was a logical choice. After seeing what people were wanting for the 4th gen 4runners I quickly turned to copart once again and found a 2003 V8 4wd limited 132k mile salvage car out of Florida.
Late June it was sitting in my driveway and getting torn into to see the extent of the damage. The damage ended up being a bit more serious than anticipated. The impact bent the front right body mount approximately 2 inches back and crumpled the apron pretty good. Instead of doing a driveway fix like I usually would, i ended up enlisting the help of my brother who does this for a living. In order to keep the replacement costs low, he pulled the apron straight and repaired into a useable condition (the replacement was over 600 bucks and nobody had one available at the time).
We also welded in a new radiator support and body mount onto the rail. Luckily I was able to find a 2005 car in a junkyard a couple of miles away that had the hood with the scoop, in the color I needed, along with the bumper, fender and passenger door. This allowed me to have factory parts with no need to paint.
While the front end was all apart, I decided to tackle the timing belt/water pump replacement and made pretty quick work of it.
Before the car was even complete, I already had a prinsu rack on order, trd wheels and 33" tires on the way. The roof rack was the first mod to go on ahead of everything else, followed quickly by the wheels/tires.
Soon after, I acquired all the recovery gear I could possibly want, along with a Smittybuilt RTT.
In August the car was pretty much road worthy and getting put to good use, and the first "performance mods" were the air filter, and larger sport rotors/calipers up front. At the same time I installed the Bilstein 5100 shocks/OME spring lift kit.
My next round of modification included doing an HID projector kit in the headlights, modifying the grill and trimming the bumpers for extra clearance.
After just 1 camping trip, I installed the Victory 4x4 blitz bumper and winch and then took it on the first ever off road Uwharrie trip which was a blast.
By September, my still VERY new wheels/tires were for sale and I had 35's going on the car. This made it necessary to do more trimming on the body, body mount, etc. but I got them to work pretty good along with the JBA UCA which got my alignment into great spec.
In October, I thought I was pretty much done with the car and was super happy with how it was looking and driving. Then I bought and sold the victory 4x4 ladder.. Then we went to Uwharrie again and i determined I was overdue for some sliders, so those were on order. And then I decided that I didn't want to spend 1400 to carry a tire on a swing out and designed up my own. That took me through the end of the year with the projects that I had going on.
One day, while once again browsing East Carolina Gear Supply... I added my stuff to the cart and just hit submit... fully regeared front and rear diffs with Arb lockers were on the way... terrible financial decision, but boy was I excited. Oh, and did I mention that I did the same with the RCV front CV axles..?
The car was "finished" with the swing out carrier, exterior molle panels that I also designed, and sitting just right on January 17th. Along with the expensive parts on the way I figured I was done. And then... I couldn't sleep one night so I was browsing Instagram. And low and behold I came across a post that baffled me.. I thought I was looking at a Tacoma, but it was an SUV, and the rear looked like a 4th gen... the Tacoma front end swap was discovered, and I just couldn't un-see it... I talked myself out of it since I already made some bad financial decisions... but then I priced it out, and long story short it looked reasonable if I could JUST SELL MY CURRENT PARTS. An even longer story even shorter, there is a local member that is literally buying every single piece that is coming off, including the rear swing out, my roof rack and entire front end.
Current status:
-Coastal Offroad front and rear bumpers are on the truck for delivery now.
-ECGS Front and rear diffs and RCV axles are going on tomorrow/saturday. the arb pump is already wired and installed.
-Tacoma parts, with the exception of the McNeil fiberglass fenders are here as of today, and headlights area already rewired to work with my plugs.
-my own design roof rack is being quoted for production as we speak
The plan:
-this weekend I plan on installing the RCV axles, front and rear diffs and running the locker connections.
-Over the next week I plan to do the slow 500 mile break in.
-The following weekend I want to start welding the front bumper
-As soon as the fenders ship (hopefully first week of March) everything is coming off the car and I will start with fitting the hood, then fenders, then headlights/grill.
-Once this is done and I paint everything and hopefully put it all together I will turn my attention to the rear bumper with my own swing out design.
-After this, I plan on not touching anything (with the exception of the FJ Transfer case once mine stops working) on the car for a long, long time (unless of course it is tire-change time and I upgrade to 37's from the 35's I'm on now....I am damn terrible.)
Anyhow, for those that made it through this heap of a long-winded, picture less (at this point at least) post, thank you for reading and I promise once the pictures start coming it will be much better !
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