Myles' Build Thread 2000 Limited, modded

resurectedvikin

New member
Small write up on the 4runner I bought in June for my wife, just finished it up!

Short story:

I was looking around on the used sections for a 4runner for my wife, then i found this 2000 limited, factory e-locker, original paint (never worked on), I know this because i work in a bodyshop, I took our mil thickness gauge, and you can tell because there are no paint cutoffs on the edges of any panels. And no rust! Beauty i thought, here was the catch, it was wrecked, collision in the front right corner, good thing i manage the body shop! So i took my two weeks holidays, and spent it working on this vehicle, and getting everything ready for paint, and mods, suspension. That took me right to the end of my two weeks! I am very happy with the outcome, and hope that the trail grappler are ok in winter for her! She is coming out of a rav4 with no abs, so the abs will help the going sideways part at least. So it will be her daily driver, and my trail rig. Super pumped about that. I did all the work myself, all the parts install, painting, prepping, fixing, frame gauge. I'm 22, but i got some experience around cars ;), have a built up a couple! As you can see by the pictures, the only way to do it properly is to take everything out, if ever you bring your car in for a paint job, and they are going to mask off all your handles, and glass, walk away. ....that paint job wont last you more than 2 years before the edges start peeling. I dont care how good you prep it.




Parts that were installed Starting from front to back to suspension and wheels, then interior.

-Outdoor Logic front bumper (great fit, great customer support, would recommend**!)
-XRC8 Smitty Winch, remote mounted the solenoid in the bumper by access hole
-Hella 500's with white covers to match
-Ebay intake, aem replica (factory air box was broken in collision), fit great, i'd recommend it for 50 bucks
-Did the timing belt and water pump while it was apart
-New Sport hood, and hood scoop fixings (3 parts to make the scoop happen other than the hood)
-Toytec ultimate lift, easy install, took no longer than an afternoon by myself! Recommended**
-Xd Wheels (17x9, with 4.5" backspace) - bought from SD wheel corp (i recommend them for customer service!)
-Nitto Trail Grapplers, 295/70R17
-Eclipse Navigation system with bluetooth add-on.
-Swapped leather covers in the front for better condition ones
-Changed out rear speakers, sony, they were blown
-Shampoo the whole inside and conditioned the seats
-Painted the whole outside to a pearl white with three top coats of pearl, first pearl coat is white pearl, second pearl is blue pearl, third is a mix of the two, makes for a very diamond like look. at night it has blue edges where ever the light hits, and the rest looks white. in the day it shines a very creamy white, except where the sun hits it, it looks blue. very hard to explain, pics do not do justice.


After seeing all the pictures, take a guess at the mileage on this thing....you wont beleive it!



This is how i found it:


0f1dad8e.jpg~original



This is how i got it home:


170586b1.jpg~original



After the repairs, getting ready for paint:


SL384138.jpg~original




SL384139.jpg~original


Hanging all the many parts in the booth:


SL384140.jpg~original



SL384144.jpg~original



The mess of one man after a few days of prepping:


SL384142.jpg~original


SL384145.jpg~original



Painted, and assembled except front bumper:

SL384153.jpg~original

SL384150.jpg~original


Shows the tire and how it can still flex:

SL384157.jpg~original



Will have to just remove the mudgaurds when going into the rocks:

SL384156.jpg~original



SL384158.jpg~original


The interior as it sits, shampoo'd, the leather was very worn and i had to replace the covers, navigation deck is awesome and fun to use!:

SL384159.jpg~original


SL384162.jpg~original




Pictures of the front bumper on and together, and up on a manitoba cliff:

4runner2.jpg~original


4runner-1.jpg~original


4runner3.jpg~original



sitting pretty:

30c82a30.jpg~original
 
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P.S. That tire and wheel combination is the tightest fitting combo i have seen, i only had about 1/4" between the tire, and the upper control arm, no spacers used. I was very impressed, no rubbing anywhere on full turn.
 
Wow! You have some skills, my friend.

There has got to be a way to get good photos of this paint. I want to see it! Great job though, everything turned out very nice!
 
LOOKS GREAT! MINE IS UP AND COMING AS WELL! JUST POSTED A BUILD THREAD YESTERDAY! ALSO CHECK AND SEE HOW I DID MY MUDGUARDS. :thumb3:
 
I can build you a bumper, cage, buggy, But to me the art is in Paint.. Awesome work, to bad you are so far away! Very nice work
 
haha! Paint is definately not something you just pickup, its one of those either you have it or you don't things. Much Like mechanical! Or welding, its all art to the maker! Next thing to tackle is a steering rack, mine is fairly sloppy on the highway. this vehicle does have 318,000 kms!
 
Some serious benefits to working in a body shop! Nice work. Love that you painted out the cladding too. Think it looks much better in all white.
 
haha! Paint is definately not something you just pickup, its one of those either you have it or you don't things. Much Like mechanical! Or welding, its all art to the maker! Next thing to tackle is a steering rack, mine is fairly sloppy on the highway. this vehicle does have 318,000 kms!

You might not need a whole rack, try these out, and if they don't fix the problem, they will swap over to a new rack anyway. Much cheaper and easier than swapping the whole rack.

4Runner Steering Rack Bushing Kit - Wheeler's Off-Road, Inc
 
thanks! Yeah i was looking at the bushings, i'll inspect my rack over lunch hour and see what is going on down there!





Wow you've surely resurrected this one from it's previous state. Very well put together rig you have there.


I have somewhat of an addiction to this, bought a 1991 mr2 writeoff, we fixed it here at the shop, and a few years later i ended up making 400 rear wheel horsepower out of it: can be found here:
Photoshoot | Liquid Pixel | Automotive Photography | Event Coverage

also ended up buying a 1992 4runner, was parked in a guys backyard, didn't run, had no bumper, but it had a body lift! i saw potential, so i bought that for 400 bucks, fixed it (fuel pump, injector o-rings, one injector), welded the diff, winch on the front and made it through some pretty treachorous rock terrain! then sold it and got this runner.
 
Really awesome come back for this runner. I wish I had a warehouse like that to work on my truck, all I have is a gravel driveway :(

The change before / after is amazing though and I especially like the black wheels.
 
Great work man... that is definitely something I want to do really bad with my truck. It would be awesome to have the space/time to just strip the whole thing and start over! :guitar3:
 
thanks all for the kind words! I just checked out my steering rack, and the rack itself does move within the bushings quite a bit, wether or not this would cause highway wandering over 60mph or not i'll have to find out.
 
thanks all for the kind words! I just checked out my steering rack, and the rack itself does move within the bushings quite a bit, wether or not this would cause highway wandering over 60mph or not i'll have to find out.

You should also make sure you replace the lower balljoints with new OEM parts, common failure point on 3rd gens, then get an alignment if you haven't already.
 

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