Whiplash Willy
New member
I have been a car guy for most of my life, until a couple years ago when I bought a 93 toyota pickup 4x4 std cab. After driving that around for awhile, I fell in love with the feel of frame on body construction, and the feeling of knowing you could take your vehicle anywhere you wanted! Instead of seeing windy roads and thinking about how fun it would be to tear them up, I started seeing off road areas, and think about go out there and conquer them.
After driving the pickup as a DD for a few years, I started to realize how inconvenient it is to use as a DD. No AC, cruise, or any other power options. I couldn’t even take it to the grocery store with my wife, as there would be no room for groceries! I loved the feel, and I loved to drive it, but something had to change. A few months ago, I saw a used 99 4runner with 180k mi at a used car dealer a couple blocks from my job. After test driving it during my lunch break, I realized I had to have one! I was amazed how smooth it ran and how nice it felt even with that many miles. After being used to the 22re, a 5VZ-FE feels like a V8!
After doing a lot research, I decided I would start looking for 2000-2002 4runner with less then 150k mi. The weekend before last, I found a add on craigslist for a 2001 black 4runner SR5 with 98k miles at a dealership in Tacoma. The wife, and I went up that Sunday, checked it out, and picked it up!
It had almost everything I was looking for, except a sunroof, and Grey Interior. Not having a sunroof was almost a deal breaker, but everything else was so good, I ended up settling. I am not a big fan of the brown interior, but it seems like 99% of all 3rd gens have it, so I pretty much gave up on the grey interior.
It has the limited fender flares, with the chrome bumpers, which is which is exactly what I was looking for. I was also pleasantly surprised it has a factory alarm with both keyless FOBs. They also had all of the original paperwork and manuals, which is pretty cool. It is really clean in & out except for a couple things.
The biggest problem I have with the 4runner is that it has been in the Tacoma area all of its life. Being that close to the ocean, there is salt air in the area. While at the dealership, I did a pretty thorough underbody inspection, and found some parts of the frame that that have a little bit of surface rust. The trailer hitch is has some pretty bad spots of rust, so I am planning on removing it, sanding it down, and completely refinishing it. The rust on the frame, however, will be a little harder for me to work on. I was planning on sanding off as much rust as I can get to, then using something like POR-15 on it, so it doesn’t come back. I would appreciate any tips, suggestions, recommendations on curing my frame rust problem. Also, do you guys think POR-15 would be the best product to use for this?
Overall, I love my new 4runner. It feels just as good, if not better, then my old pickup, and is so much more comfortable, and convenient then the truck ever was!
After driving the pickup as a DD for a few years, I started to realize how inconvenient it is to use as a DD. No AC, cruise, or any other power options. I couldn’t even take it to the grocery store with my wife, as there would be no room for groceries! I loved the feel, and I loved to drive it, but something had to change. A few months ago, I saw a used 99 4runner with 180k mi at a used car dealer a couple blocks from my job. After test driving it during my lunch break, I realized I had to have one! I was amazed how smooth it ran and how nice it felt even with that many miles. After being used to the 22re, a 5VZ-FE feels like a V8!
After doing a lot research, I decided I would start looking for 2000-2002 4runner with less then 150k mi. The weekend before last, I found a add on craigslist for a 2001 black 4runner SR5 with 98k miles at a dealership in Tacoma. The wife, and I went up that Sunday, checked it out, and picked it up!
It had almost everything I was looking for, except a sunroof, and Grey Interior. Not having a sunroof was almost a deal breaker, but everything else was so good, I ended up settling. I am not a big fan of the brown interior, but it seems like 99% of all 3rd gens have it, so I pretty much gave up on the grey interior.
It has the limited fender flares, with the chrome bumpers, which is which is exactly what I was looking for. I was also pleasantly surprised it has a factory alarm with both keyless FOBs. They also had all of the original paperwork and manuals, which is pretty cool. It is really clean in & out except for a couple things.
The biggest problem I have with the 4runner is that it has been in the Tacoma area all of its life. Being that close to the ocean, there is salt air in the area. While at the dealership, I did a pretty thorough underbody inspection, and found some parts of the frame that that have a little bit of surface rust. The trailer hitch is has some pretty bad spots of rust, so I am planning on removing it, sanding it down, and completely refinishing it. The rust on the frame, however, will be a little harder for me to work on. I was planning on sanding off as much rust as I can get to, then using something like POR-15 on it, so it doesn’t come back. I would appreciate any tips, suggestions, recommendations on curing my frame rust problem. Also, do you guys think POR-15 would be the best product to use for this?
Overall, I love my new 4runner. It feels just as good, if not better, then my old pickup, and is so much more comfortable, and convenient then the truck ever was!
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