My advice: Leave the 4Runner nearly stock for the reliability. Then buy an older sports car that you've always wanted.
The 4Runner while it is a fine body-on-frame SUV, is never going to be a good sports car.
Ugh. You know, I'd really, really like to, especially since $9k puts me pretty close to a high mileage GTO, but at this point in my life I just can't go that route. It would be my third car (I've already got a 2002 WRX that would be stupid, financially speaking, to part with since it just had some serious engine work) and with my wifes Jetta that would make 4 cars between two people. It's just too many, and garage space is precious in AK.
My expectations are realistic - I don't want the runner to be SPORTY, which to me implies that it handles well in the corners. I just want it to be fun and powerful on the road, where it spends 90% of it's time... And of course, I'd like to drastically increase the mud flingability.
I think I've almost got what I need to start moving on the rebuild, or at least plan out the budget, but I still feel pretty clueless about the whole electronics portion of the work. It sounds like Toyta ECUs can't really be tuned, hence the piggyback units, but I'm seeing a whole lot of options out there, especially from URD...
There are ECU piggybacks from URD that allow adjustments to the forward O2 sensor, the mass airflow sensor, the injector timing, and the ignition timing.
It sounds like a nightmare to get everything dialed in perfectly, but how much work does the user have to put in and how much do the computer systems figure out by themselves? How much does it really cost to have a supercharger setup tuned professionally? Is there an advantage to using an AEM system over a URD system?
Additionally, I've been reading up on engine failures for 5VZs, and it sounds like it typically comes down to the connecting rods on most boosted applications...
For a daily driver that's driven fairly hard, would it be a good idea to drop the extra $1000 during the rebuild for forged rods?