Cruzado's 1989 4runner build

[CruzadoBlanco]

so back in june i decided to buy a first gen runner. Ive wanted one since i was a little kid. My first vehicle was a 2005 jeep wrangler unlimited, while it was fun, it was a piece of crap. so i sold that and bought my 2004 V8 limited. i immediately fell in love with everything toyota 4x4, how ever i wanted another solid axle truck, so i decided to jump in.

The day i picked it up from a friend in paris, TX

Got it home and washed all the dirt and crap off it that has accumulated since it was parked in 09

and also pulled all the trash and crap out of the inside, including the carpet and the ghetto ass patch in the passenger side floor board that involved what looked like a HVAC panel and self tapping screws. im forgot to get pictures of it but i really wish i did but i do have one of the actual hole in the floor.

and then the cancer hole in the driver side rear fender behind the stupid plastic cover

cut a patch panel out of my 87 2wd pickup parts truck and its about 90% in, just need to finish up the rocker panel and grind my welds, but i think theyre OK for my first time actually welding and not just tacking things together, plus its sheetmetal.

Then a couple of weekends ago i went and pulled the front axle out of my 85 parts runner

this weekend i plan to finish rebuilding my rear axle and hanging my 63" chevys in the rear

 

[Inv4drZm]

Update? A buddy of mine is selling a first gen I've been tempted to buy. Want to pay off my truck first but his price is too good for me to easily forget about it. I'll probably save up for a nicer one though.

 

[joeynational]

Nice dude! Bring her back to life!!

 

[airdreams1]

I obviously do not know the condition of the 85 4 Runner. But if the frame was good I think I would have done a body swap. Think that would be much easier and nicer than trying to do a SAS on the 1989. I don't know if the motor mounts would need changed or anything like that because I don't know if your 89 is a V6 or 4 cylinder. I would do that with mine if I could find one they had a good clean titled chassis.
( I do have the 3.0 V6 so I would have to change motor mounts I'm sure. And probably the transmission mount to?.)

 

[CruzadoBlanco]

so long time coming update. the rear axle is in and tacked in place on the chevys and lowrange swap kit. Picked it up more than i thought it would. still need to get some pictures of the rear though.

Finished the front axle. put G2 27spline chromoly birfs on the stock inner shafts till i can afford a full set of 30 spline RCVs or longs. Full rebuild with the lowrange kit. added the full size trail gear diff guard on it and trailgear highsteer kit.

built my RUF packs for the front. used my 89 rear packs and another 89 runners packs that was rolled with only 80k miles on it so those became the base of them. i then cut the mine down starting with 5" shorter than the 3rd leaf and took ~2" off each end for the remaining 2 leafs. got the frame tubes in and the lowrange hanger in and the springs hung a couple months ago.

hung the axle and corrected a frame tube that was slightly off. then disassembled the driver side pack to test the flex since the entire drive train is out of it, random shit inserted into the engine bay for weight.

Gonna have to rotate the box verticle and maybe forward to clear the steering links fully. but it shouldnt be too bad. Still need to clearance the brake calipers and put them on and plumb the brakes and then press a new bearing onto the rear driverside axle shaft. then i can set it down on all 4s. About to order my engnbuilder kit to freshen up the motor and put it back in with the trans and my finished twin sticked doubler setup and do driveshafts. need to grab some more photos this week hopefully.

 

[CruzadoBlanco]

I obviously do not know the condition of the 85 4 Runner. But if the frame was good I think I would have done a body swap. Think that would be much easier and nicer than trying to do a SAS on the 1989. I don't know if the motor mounts would need changed or anything like that because I don't know if your 89 is a V6 or 4 cylinder. I would do that with mine if I could find one they had a good clean titled chassis.
( I do have the 3.0 V6 so I would have to change motor mounts I'm sure. And probably the transmission mount to?.)

oh no trust me if the 85 frame was in any kind of condition to be used i would have. it was pretty much rusted in half. the motor mounts were the same since my 89 is a dlx with pretty much zero options on it, as in im gonna use the hell out of the vent windows/ have no doors or top on 75% of the year here in texas since it doesnt have ac.

 

[JonathanCrites]

Nice

Talking to a guy about a '85 right now - I am trying to convince the wife that it is time to jump in and get one.

 

[CruzadoBlanco]

Talking to a guy about a '85 right now - I am trying to convince the wife that it is time to jump in and get one.

its never a bad time to buy a first gen. Just be sure to check the front floorboards, rear cargo area around the roll bar, the rear quarters, tailgate, and the frame for rust.

the 85 i picked up for parts was almost rusted in half, had almost no front driver or passenger floor. and the rear cargo area was flakey rust with holes in a few spots. and as you probably saw my 89 had no passenger floor and it also has rust in the quarters, the driver side is gonna be a ***** to fix.

If you plan to wheel an 85 in any decently technical form then your gonna also have to convert it to crossover steering with an ifs box. so there is that too.

if you do pick it up any part you might need you can probably get from Joey over at the 4runner house by me in garland. he ships mostly everything and has listings on ebay and craigslist.

 

[JonathanCrites]

Awesome info, thanks man. I registered to ask a bunch of questions on what to look for in a first time buying experience and I don't have enough replies/comments to start a new post lol.

Mechanically, is there any priority on what to look at? The timing chain was rebuilt a few years ago, I have read that is a common failure.

 

[CruzadoBlanco]

Awesome info, thanks man. I registered to ask a bunch of questions on what to look for in a first time buying experience and I don't have enough replies/comments to start a new post lol.

Mechanically, is there any priority on what to look at? The timing chain was rebuilt a few years ago, I have read that is a common failure.

Mechanically I would make sure the timing set is in good condition, also check over the egr system and the miles of vacuum lines on it. Look at the coolant lines and make sure the heater core bypass valve works. Look at the fuel/brake lines, parking brake cable, and Speedo cable under the truck. Make sure it can run through all the gears and watch/feel for any lugging or abnormal performance. Make sure the tcase works properly, it is gear driven so it'll be louder than a chain driven case, its also not synchro'd so you have to be at a complete stop to shift it.

Make sure the gauges in the cluster work properly. The oil pressure and either temp or fuel level like to go bad. Be prepared to do a front end rebuild. Lowrange offroad sells the best, most complete kit for like 280, the oem oil seals and knuckle ball seals like to go bad and make a nasty oil, grease, water slurry.

Also look at the ignition system including the coil, distributor, and the ICM (controls the spark and sits on top of the coil)

Overall in this long winded add answer is most mechanical stuff will be pretty self evident. Id be more worried about rust in the body in the quarters, floor boards and rockers. Also if you can lift the top off tje body and look for rust there.

 

[Beast101]

This thing is looking good. What's it sitting like now?

 

[CruzadoBlanco]

This thing is looking good. What's it sitting like now?

the suspension is done and its back on all 4s again. just finished dicking with the god awful ebrake and just need to put one more caliper on and bleed the brakes. planning to roll it out of the garage this week so i can clean it and the garage.

i also pulled the fuel tank to discover that someone left about 5 or so gallons of ethanol fuel in it. so the entire tank is full of rust and sludge and most likely to just be replaced than try to fix that mess, and the sender is ruined and the pump bracket might be salvageable. have to see if Joey at the 4runner house has the parts.

 

[CruzadoBlanco]

some pictures of the shock mounting and some crappy pictures i took yesterday getting it ready to roll out side.

Scabbed the frame and enclosed the motor mounts with some 1/8th inch plate then welded the ford shock towers ontop of that.

figuring the rear shock mount situation. i didnt want to do the /\ layout since its what everyone does and i actually want my shocks to do what shocks do and dampen/ control the suspension. so im thinking about laying them back and angle them in some what, like the newer JK wrangler, and doing a cross member above them and use some TJ wrangler lower mounts as my uppers.

 

[CruzadoBlanco]

So i finally got it rolled out of the garage. surprised it fit through the door with so much extra room, especially since its front high with no motor or trans in it right now.

The brakes need work, apparently the almost 30 year old hardline i have on the front driver side caliper is bad and needs to be replaced and the passenger caliper has a seized piston in it. Also still waiting to get the rest of my shocks to come in and my rear wheel spacers since my OEM 4th gen limited wheels have like 5 inches of backspacing and +6 offset. probably gonna order the engine bits some time this week or next.

 

[CruzadoBlanco]

i got the front hanger fully welded in this weekend and the rear shock mounts done. i decided to go with the stock upper mounts for now since i want to get this thing done for summer wheeling. ill change it later as i finalize a design. but for now my shocks arent limiting travel so its fine. also got my leaky brake line fixed by buying replacement lines from procomp since trialgears warranty process sucks balls.

rear droop with my current single shock in the rear.

its got front droop for days. almost fully uses the 14 inch es9000 shocks i have for it. maybe only 1 inch of unused shaft travel in it.

also finally got the rear driveshaft back so one step closer to being done. now i just gotta find the money to have a front longtravel shaft to be built.

 

[CruzadoBlanco]

its been a while. gotten a few things done. just got caught up in the dash to the end of this last semester.

got the engine done and bolted together. its red because thats all i had in terms of high temp paint.

the shiny new trail gear 1400 psi PS pump looks odd with all my nasty looking front accessories.
Also got the engine bay all nice and cleaned up with some paint. used some ACE rust stop ford industrial gray. Looks decent to me

i also finalized and installed my new steering box mount on the frame and got the rear shocks worked out and installed. pulled the tank and discovered a horrifying mix of rust and old ethanol gas.

picked a new tank assembly up at work from an 88 we parted, just gonna throw my new fuel pump in it and call it good.

and last but not least i started a new job at paradise on earth for early yota guys.

 

[onemanarmy]

looks awesome with the tires still somewhat tucked under the fenders.

and the front page of '4runnerhouse' needs to upgrade from photobucket

 

[CruzadoBlanco]

pulled some goodies off one of my parts truck this week. full v6 brakes and booster and an either early 3rd gen or late 2nd gen master cylinder that was just laying around the shop.
hope this pig will stop with the 35s and eventual 37s

 

[SomeDay]

This is looking very good!

 

[greatape]

Coming along nicely!