My "new" '93 4Runner

[ruskymx]

I recently picked this up to use as a daily driver and a toy to build. It's 22RE 5spd with 162K. I got it for $1600 which I guess was OK, for the body condition. Frame is in great shape but as you can see the normal rust spots are plentiful & bondo'd. It turns out that it was serviced at the dealership I work at and I was able to get a good bit of the service history for it. Headgasket was done around 80k. valve cover starting to leak a little on DS of engine & front of engine a little wet. I had a master tech look at it and he said it's the head gasket probably starting to leak. No burning oil or coolant yet so I will get those done first just to be safe. I was thinking about changing all diff and xfer case fluids because the most recent record I could find was 100k ago.

Here are my plans for it in no particular order,

-Lift 3"-4"
-33-35" Tires
-4.88 gears
-fenderflares (trying to get some off craigslist for $50 per pair)
-safari snorkel kit
-thinking about painting the entire body in Herculiner or some other type of roll on/ spray on bedliner stuff (saw someone's gen1 here like that, kinda like it!)
-some type of roof rack, but didn't figure what type yet
-head gasket & valve cover gasket
-since I'm going to be wheelin' with it, I was thinking about replacing all ball joints , tie rod ends, etc. Anyone have any experience with these Seems kinda cheap for everything it comes with, or if I go that way should I just get two kits right away...lol
-brush guard
-any of your suggestions here!

Some of the stuff will be new, obviously, but other items I'm looking for are used like brush guards, flares, maybe wheels, roof rack (new/used) so the order will vary depending when I come across things that I want & have the extra $$$ to buy it.

Look forward to any suggestions, hints, tips, tricks

 

[MikesToy]

Welcome aboard! Looks like you have 2 diff sets of rims.

 

[ruskymx]

Yeah, I actually forgot wheels on my list. These are the ones I was looking at originally, but not sure yet. Still debating about 15 or 16 w/ most likely 33 x 12.50

 

[03vrod]

All those rivets make them harder to clean.

 

[s2kpuddydad]

Looks like you have a better start than I had with mine:lol:

Good luck

 

[94Beast4Runner]

I would say find the lift you plan on going with cause some use new control arms and ball joints. Would save you from buying the kit and not needing some of the stuff down the road. And get the lift in before you buy rims and tyres.

Body wise my truck is the same good frame and floors but bad cosmeticly quarters, rockers and fenders are in nasty, been repaired poorly before. Let me know how the fender flare search goes i have been sort of looking for a set. Would like a set of cut out styles cause then i can make the new metal work i do fit the flares.

 

[90toytruck.]

welcome looks like you found a great buy post pics of the mods you do to it

 

[sephryan]

RuskyMX,

Looks like a good buy you got there. One recommendation regarding the rims. I had those same style on mine for years and yes, they can be a bit hard to clean around the rivets. Also, after awhile my buddies told me that style looked a bit "80's". Not that there is anything wrong with that. I'm a product of the 80s myself! That is not the reason I changed rims though.

I wanted bigger meats and decided I wanted to get some 15X10 rims for 11.50 or 12.50 wide tires. Here is a suggestion and is what I did when I was shopping around for rims.

First I took a side picture of my 4runner with my digital camera. Then, with my computer and a basic photo editor (you can actually do this in Microsoft Word), I overlaid various pics of rims off the internet so see what would look best on my ride.

By doing this I was surprised as to what looked good and what didn't. Many times I thought "Hey, this rim will look Awesome!". Then after I did the overlay, I realized it either looked bad or didn't really fit the style of my truck so much.

Anyway, that is just a suggestion for shopping for rims. If your going to spend the cash make sure its what you want.

Good luck and show us more pics when you can..

Sephryan

 

[ruskymx]

It's been a VERY LONG time since I updated this thread....as you can see...lol I did get some stuff done in the year and a half since I updated it though. I have replaced both front fenders, swapped the driver's door from my parts 4Runner, new OEM ball joints, Beck/Arnley tie rods, SDORI BJ spacers, AISIN manual hubs, Pro Comp ES 3000 shocks all around, Duralst Idler (still has original bushings, didn't get the brass yet from 4Crawler) and some other stuff which I'll cover as the pics are added.

Here's a pic after the fenders and before lift.

Here's some in progres pics of the front end freshening and lift.

Manual Hubs cleaned, painted and rebuilt.

Here's how it sat with the front done, but not the rear.

I made some custom interior door panels with 20ga sheet aluminum.

Painted the interior pieces black.

Removed all the carpet. I'm going to use black Durabak on the inside.

Rear shocks, LC Coils, and panhard drop bracket installed

Rear lift done!

Some more interior pics

Driver's door panel done.

Here are the wheels that I'm deciding between:

Soft 8's & Street Locks

The torsions need to be cranked a little because they aren't at stock height yet and it's a little raked. I still need to get it aligned because it it WAY off! Luckily, the tires that are on it are just temporary until I get 33x12.5 KM2's. I need to start getting some of the body work done. I found a donor for rear 1/4 panels that are in much better shape than what mine are. The previously mentioned donor vehicle is also going to supply my 4.88's! (Yee Haw!) The 22RE is such a dog with the 4.10's and 31's.

Once I get the body work done, it will be time to make it all one color. I have decided to use Durabak on the entire exterior in Military Olive Drab. The rest of the accessories that I will add, (Addicted Offroad bumper, All Pro Sliders, Bushwackers) will all be black. I am also going to black out all the chrome as well.

What do you guys think? I know it's a slow build, but money doesn't grow on trees!

Ruskymx

 

[ruskymx]

I had too many images in the first post so I had to do this in a reply.

Before and After pics

As far as the interior stuff goes, I need to get a black shift boot and figure out something for my dash. I'm thinking of painting it like the rest of the plastic. I need to have my windshield reinstalled because the previous owner did a DIY disaster and it leaks air and rain something terrible.

Ruskymx

 

[mattb]

Quite the improvement. Looks like it's coming along really well. Those door panels look cool, but the fingerprints would drive me insane.

 

[T-Dubya]

I like the door panels and the two tone dash. Nice Job.

 

[4runner_kid]

Loving it, i would go with the Soft 8's!

 

[ruskymx]

Quite the improvement. Looks like it's coming along really well. Those door panels look cool, but the fingerprints would drive me insane.

Yeah, they kinda drive me nuts too. I'll probably keep some windex and microfiber cloth in the truck at all times.

I like the door panels and the two tone dash. Nice Job.

I like to two tone as well, but I don't think I'm keeping it blue. I'd like to find a good gray dash pad, but most likely I will end up painting to dash pad and see how that works.

Loving it, i would go with the Soft 8's!

I found a set of American Racing "D" windows locally so I bought them. I'm getting them cleaned up and painted soon. Just need to get the rubber for them and I'll be good........until the next mod :thumb3:

Ruskymx

 

[ruskymx]

I bought some 33x12.5 KM2's on Friday and had them mounted and balanced.

I also took a drive to Baltimore today and picked up some stuff I found on Craigslist.

Street RV Head - New, never installed

EB 268 cam

The rest of the stuff. New timing cover, timing chain kit w/ steel guides, top end gasket set, head bolts, exhaust studs, valve adjuster screws/bolts

I'm pretty sure I'm going to get some matched injectors from LCE or 22RE Performance and have them put in while everything is apart. I'm also thinking about getting a wideband O2 sensor and AFR gauge so I can tune it a little via AFM.

Ruskymx

 

[m1ke777]

what size tires and wheels you running, they look sweet!

 

[ruskymx]

what size tires and wheels you running, they look sweet!

Thanks! They are 15x8 American Racing wheels. They used to have the blue and red ring around the bead, but I sanded them down and painted them with some Rustoleum flat black (bought used and had some surface rust). I think the backspacing is 3.75". The tires are 33x12.5 x15 KM2's. BTW, I still have the 4.10's in there and with the 22RE & 5spd, I have to down shift to 3rd on some hills. 4.88's going in on Saturday. My pinon seals should be in Wednesday and I hope my diff drop from 4Crawler comes in by Thursday/Friday

I think they look sweet too! I'm glad I went with 12.5's instead of 10.5's. I think the combination of the tires and the less backspacing make the stance look great! I believe my previous wheels had 4.75" backspacing.

Ruskymx

 

[4Runner8]

sweet!! subscribed. this thing is definitely gettin some much needed love. i love the door panels!


keep it up!

 

[ruskymx]

Thanks! I need to finish the rear door panels. I finished the fronts and then just stopped and went on to other projects. I am currently waiting for my exhaust to come in and also working on some of the rust in the quarters.

After sanding, I sprayed some Rustoleum Rust Converter Paint to see how it would hold up for a few days. I'll check it out Sunday to see how well the stuff worked.

I plan on cutting where the line is.

My new high flow cat : & Flowmaster 40

Table full of goodies!

Military Olive Drab Durabak for the entire outside.

Black Durabak for the Inside Floor & I'm thinking about using it on the rockers and fender wells.

Ruskymx

 

[ruskymx]

I'm doing some more work to the rear quarters today. Man is it HOT!

Did some more cutting to find out.......

That I had to do some MORE cutting

I left some metal in there and used a flapper disc and got off as much rust as I could. The metal that was left was decent plus I needed some metal in there to attach my patch panels to so I cut out the worst of it and painted it with some Rustoleum Rust Reformer. It seemed to do well for the few days on my initial cuts so hopefully it will hold for a few years. I know it's not going to be permanent. I also attached a piece of the aluminum bar that I had (LSPV bracket used same thing) so I can rivet the aluminum sheet to it on the bottom.

Here's my aluminum sheet quarter wheel well. I plan on using the same aluminum for the rear corner as well and have the joint behind the fender flares that I'm gong to put on to hide it as best as I could. The rivets should all be under the flare as well. :Insert fingers crossed smiley:

I went back at it after a break and I did my lower rear quarter that's behind the bumper. It's no where near perfect, but it works for me.

I pulled the fender flares off the 92 PU I bought and cleaned/sanded/painted them and they fit perfectly on the front of the 4Runner.

I initially thought I may be able to make the rear fender flares from the PU work on the rear of the 4Runner and the more I looked at it, the more I realized it's not going to be possible. Wishful thinking...

Hopefully my exhaust from Dave's Offroad gets here this week so I can install it along with my Flowmaster 40 and "cat".

Ruskymx