COB's 1990 4Runner 2-Door

[ChildrenOfBodom]

Battery tender was not getting good connection. Turns out that the truck’s ground terminal was cracked, so it would not tighten well over the post. Cut it off and replaced it.

Cleaned up the rear mudguards.

Before, they both looked like this:

After:

Round 2 on the paint.

1. Meguiars 105 + red foam pad
2. Meguiars 105 + yellow foam pad
3. Meguiar’s Gold Class wax

Driver fender complete and waxed.

Compared with the hood, which was previously polished, but not waxed.

With hood and cowl completed with wax.

Left side of the truck done.

Halfway across the rear tailgate

Tailgate completed.

Roof halfway

And done… trying to stop the fading… yes the turbo truck has faded but she will get a paint job someday.

 

[ChildrenOfBodom]

Took off the wheels to get a good look at the brakes. Turns out she’s only got S12+8’s in the front. On the list - 93-95 V6 calipers, discs, pads, etc.

Rears are also small, 7/8” cylinders. Shoes seem to have some good miles left on them.

After a little brake clean.

Painted drum black.

Took these from one of my other rigs. These are FJ Trail Teams black 16” rims. Friend of mine recently got new tires, he gifted me his old set. Just had them mounted, Yokohama Geolandar M/T’s.

Installed clutch line in OEM position.

 

[ChildrenOfBodom]

Some new parts.

Hood prop clip.

Rear main seal for 3.0 #90311-A0027

FIPG, oil strainer gasket, and two screws for the passenger reclining handle

New motor mounts

Rear main seal removed.

Front diff dropped, oil pan out.

More progress coming later, including completed oil pan and rear main.

 

[Pyral]

Love the color. Please tell me you replaced that crusty brake master cylinder

 

[ChildrenOfBodom]

Not yet, but I have a new AISIN 1" master in the box plus all the 93+ V6 upgrade parts still to throw at it.

 

[ChildrenOfBodom]

Old motor mounts removed

New motor mount vs. old

Bare rear main

Rear main retainer

FIPG

FIPG on rear main retainer

Oil strainer gasket

Oil baffle w/ FIPG

Oil pan w/ FIPG

Oil pan installed

Rear main installed

Pilot bearing installed

3.4 5VZ-FE flywheel installed, new bolts, loctite, 65ftlb

5VZ-FE bell housing brackets for R150F
Driver

Passenger

AISIN CKT-040 clutch, new pressure plate bolts, 15ftlb

Nachi throwout bearing

Throwout installed, clutch fork greased

 

[ChildrenOfBodom]

Truck on stands

Transmission on jack, ready for install

Transmission installed with crossmember

New view of shifter hole inside

Shifters installed

 

[ChildrenOfBodom]

Offerup score - front mudguards

Mudguard installed, driver, w/ cap nut

Passenger

View, side

View, front

Side mirror swap, Old (top) and new (bottom)

Front view

Mirrors and flaps

 

[ChildrenOfBodom]

Door panel, passenger, armrest swap

Panel later

Replacement door handle

Finalized door panel

Passenger seat, recline handle before

New screw for recline handle

Recline handle, after

New side window latches, not yet installed

DEPO tail lamps

Rear view

 

[ChildrenOfBodom]

Filled with oil - 5W-30 full synthetic

Refused to start. Test of fuel pump through diagnostic connector came up with nothing. No fuel pressure, no noise from pump.


Tank pulled

Pump removal

Rusty pump

Removed pump, cleaned hanger

Used 5VZ pump, had in storage for years

New fuel pump harness from Walbro kit

New pump in hanger

Soldering wires

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[ChildrenOfBodom]

Moog 285 Greaseable U-Joints

Used driveshaft from 93 Pickup regular cab short bed, perfect length but with the wrong flanges

Installing new joints

Slip yoke with joint removed, correct flange

Shaft complete with 1990 flanges from original auto shaft

Joint 1

Joint 2

Shaft installed

Front diff installed

New AISIN slave cylinder

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IT’S ALIVE!

 

[ChildrenOfBodom]

Quick wash

New 555 ball joints

Coated in POR 15 (some other parts for other projects shown as well)

New 555 outer tie rods, pitman arm, coated in POR 15

New power steering pump, coated in POR 15

New 555 outer tie rod ends, coated in POR 15

New 555 idler arm, coated in POR 15

Nice to have it semi-driving, still work left to be done before it’s completely ready to be a driver

 

[ChildrenOfBodom]

Supra outside, painting the house

Hard parked, night time

Day time

 

[ChildrenOfBodom]

Pressure wash suspension, engine bay, prepping for new ball joints and tie rod ends

Repaired side window latch. New aftermarket xtra-cab latch did not fit. I swapped the new plastic handle onto the original 2-door latch metal. It’s not an exact match, but at least now it works.

Daytime shots

 

[ChildrenOfBodom]

Dashboard reinstalled

VSS harness, made from a VSS plug and sections of colored wire from an old 4Runner body harness

12V+ Pin 1 (black yellow)
Ground Pin 2 (pink blue)
Signal Pin 3 (gray blue)


Plugged into VSS

Run along old speedometer cable route

Pinned into OEM 1990 combination meter plugs
12V+ sourced from GAUGE fuse, connector A, pin #8
Speed sensor ground, connector B, pin #10
Speed meter signal (SIG-VAL), connector A, pin #1

Functional speedometer, TRIP, and ODO

 

[ChildrenOfBodom]

Transfer case switch. Did not have other end to the plug, instead I removed the pins and swapped to another plug housing from a turn signal lamp.

Original female plug housing:

Replacement female plug housing sourced from turn signal:

Connected to opposing male plug housing with extra wire:

Transfer case switch connects to 3 total wires, located in automatic transmission blue 6-pin plug.

The following two wires must be connected to one transfer case switch wire (doesn’t matter which).
Pin #2, pink w/ blue stripe, automatic disconnecting differential detection switch
Pin #4, green w/ white stripe, transfer case detection switch

(Before soldering)

Second wire of transfer case switch connects to ground, which is the remaining white w/ black stripe wire cut previously from the blue plug.

Engaging 4HI from the transfer case shift lever will now result in automatic disconnecting differential system engaging the front differential to driveshaft, as well as 4WD light illuminating on combination meter/gauge cluster.

 

[ChildrenOfBodom]

Reverse light switch connects to 2 total wires, located in automatic transmission large white plug (P1 connector). Doesn’t matter which side of the switch you connect them. It’ll work either way. Connect one of the following to each side of the reverse light switch:
Pin # 4 (black w/ orange stripe)
Pin # 8 (red w/ white stripe)

Connected:

I left the auto plugs hanging and zip tied the wires together to clean things up:

Reverse lights working with shifter in reverse position:

Further dash reassembly

 

[ChildrenOfBodom]

Front driveshaft installed

Time to refresh steering and front suspension joints





Upper ball joint removed

Idler arm removed

Tie rods removed

Old units

New upper ball joint installed

New 555 idler installed

New tie rods installed

Lower ball joint comparison

New lower installed

Full shot

New shock stem bushings, energy suspension polyurethane

Pitman arm comparison

New pitman installed

 

[ChildrenOfBodom]

New full body shots

 

[ChildrenOfBodom]

Steering stop caps

Off to the Toyota dealer to get a new center link and alignment for free to due recall

Went back the next day and picked it up

Wheels aligned, steering wheel nice and straight

Got home and realized the front bumper valance had a big dent in it. Talked to the dealer and they’re going to review their cameras and see what happened. I had pics showing the truck at drop off so there’s no doubt that the dent wasn’t there before.