Johnny 5 (Rescued Runner)

[athlon450]

Johnny 5 (Rescued Runner) Build

This will be a quick synopsis of my progress to date with some pics. I lost most of my build pics when my hdd crashed.

I purchased a 98 4Runner(Johhny 5) 2wd v6 Limited from a friend that was going to send it to the scrap yard. It was sitting behind his shop under the pine trees(messed up the paint and clearcoat some) from what appeared to be a blown head gasket. I bought is from him as a parts vehicle for $1k and proceeded to tear the motor down to find it actually had an intake leak that had burned a hole in the top of #2 piston. I completely rebuilt the motor from the ground up and have since put close to 10k miles it over the last year and still running strong. It had been rolled over in ditch on the drivers side and caved in the the fender doors and back sligthly and ripped off the mirror. I have removed most of the major dents and straighten the body to for the most part. This is a budget and donated parts rebuild. I passed my 94 DLX 4x4 down to my son.

This is ressembled when I first got it


Current Mods:
Rebuilt 5vz
Tundra fronts and FJ Cruiser Rears (Donated thanks to Chisel and SMEE)
Pioneer headunit Kenwood amp and Kicker Comp 12

 

[athlon450]

Some pics from the engine rebuild and mods I made.

Tearing the engine down


1st sign of trouble


Knew I was screwed


Heads back from machine shop(I had to snd these smooth and do the valve job)


Teaching my son to assemble pistons rods and rings


My learning to install rod bearings


Installing pistons while my son guides them in place and tightens rod caps

 

[athlon450]

Engine back together and running


Crappy recovered pics

Headunit installed


Amp and cap installed


Rumble box in and playing

 

[athlon450]

Front coils, Front and rear Bilstein shocks installed(rear sag) Donated by Chisel
Passenger side


Drivers side


FJ Cruiser rears installed and in its present state. Donated by SMEE




I gained about 2" in the front and 2.5" in the rear.

You can see some of the body work(finish when I am ready to have it painted) left to do in the last 3 pics and the grill I repainted and the center caps refinished.

I would like to take the time now to thank everyone for their donations of parts and all the advice recieved so far.
:thanks:

 

[athlon450]

Future Mods:
Build and install my sliders
2wd to 4wd conversion(have the complete front IFS, need to find transfer case)
rear elocker swap
ISR mod
and anything else I can do to it

 

[PitbullRescuer]

I've been waiting for this thread. Good work my man. And thanks again for all the help & advice.

 

[athlon450]

No problem, when you have ?'s give me a call. I will update with more pics(if I can recover them from HDD) and updates as they are finished.

 

[athlon450]

Oh, dismiss the Auburn tag on my wifes vehicle. :jaw drop: She has been brainwashed by her family for years. :redbrick:

Here is my old ride that my son drives now.

 

[Hepar]

Nice. Way to teach your son too. My grandfather was a total gearhead. He had a '29 Model T pickup and when he would get bored, he would strip it down to the frame and rebuild it. Thing ran like a champ. Unfortunately he passed before I was 14, so I wasn't able to learn much from him.

 

[athlon450]

He is always involved any project I do. Thanks!

 

[trailhead98]

Nice build and progress! Where abouts are you in Alabama? Good to know there are a few out there...

 

[Loyal Toyota]

Nice work! Way to bring one back from the dead!

 

[athlon450]

Nice build and progress! Where abouts are you in Alabama? Good to know there are a few out there...

Eufaula

 

[athlon450]

Update:
I changed out my single electrode plugs for the NGK Nickel's
and installed a new Dynomax Muffler.

Removed breather tube to access the plugs on passenger side:


Driver's side:


Look pretty clean inside cylinder #2 (cylinder that was blown before the rebuild last year)


Plugs look just as they should almost a perfect burn in all cylinders: