Sold Range Rover Classic and bought a gen 1

[mscuil]

Hi everyone. I recently sold my 1987 Range Rover after it left me stranded three times in a few months due to a trans failure, then rod bearing failure, finally a distributor failure. The truck was fun and I did love the styling, but I was tired of working on it after work nearly every day. I understand the 4Runner will also need love, but the parts cost less and there seems to be more support. I also had an International Scout previously, so looking forward to removing the top. Here are both in the driveway.

The 4Runner came from California a few years ago so is mostly clean, but has some light rust underneath and at the rear wheel. I plan on treating the underside as time allows. I have already started ordering parts to replace broken trim in the interior. A few things that will need to happen sooner than later are replacing the whiny ps pump. The po included a replacement so i have it, just need to open up the hood some afternoon. I also am NOT a fan of the 3" body lift that it came with. The truck as 33x12.5" Micky Thompson muds installed, so unfortunately i believe some lift is required, I just don't care for the look of seeing the frame under the body. Any suggestions for a decent riding lift to fit the 33's? I suppose i could simply remove the body lift and install new energy bushings, and move to a smaller tire, maybe 31".




The truck came with some paint runs so i wet sanded them yesterday and will polish today, pending weather.

Before sanding:


After wet sanding:



The truck came with homemade bumpers that make quite the noise as the latching side has no bushings:




I measured and ordered urethane step bushings which will hopefully stop the squeeking in the meantime until i can lose the body lift and get replacement bumpers.



The underside needs some love as well:



I spent time under the truck yesterday with a wire attachment on a drill to remove the loose stuff, and have corroseal on the way to spray the underside.

I took care of a few other small things yesterday like adding the missing clutch pedal pad, dome light cover, and removed some stickers from the glove box. I have a replacement shifter bezel to install to replace the broken piece inside. I also have a switch panel for beneath the radio so i can relocate the bumper light switch and have space for future enhancements.

Finally, a tan soft top from Softtopper is on the way and should arrive this week. Looking forward to getting that installed.

-Marc

 

[Redthies]

Congrats on the new rig! You will love the Softopper. I just installed a gray one on my red ‘89 4Runner. I like the tan color better, but have a gray interior so went gray. At first I was unsure, but it’s grown on me. Yours is the tan interior?

I have OME suspension in mine and like the ride. 31s look too small in my opinion...

 

[mscuil]

Congrats on the new rig! You will love the Softopper. I just installed a gray one on my red ‘89 4Runner. I like the tan color better, but have a gray interior so went gray. At first I was unsure, but it’s grown on me. Yours is the tan interior?

I have OME suspension in mine and like the ride. 31s look too small in my opinion...

Thanks for the reply. I do like the 33's so maybe will look into OME. I believe that is what the Rover had installed originally. My interior is actually gray, but i LOVE the tan top so I will deal with a mismatch. SO far I love the truck. It is faster, more efficient, less expensive for trim and other random parts, and has yet to leave me stranded :lmao:

I spent some time under the truck yesterday treating the underside of the truck with Corroseal. So far it looks much better. I wasn't going for a restoration or show quality, just knocking off the loose scale and coating.



I also pulled and replaced the broken shifter trim. I am told the truck was originally an automatic (and black), so this may hvae been original auto trim. Unsure. I also moved the big red switch which controls the bumper lights. I have a paranoid fabrication switch panel to install beneath the head unit.

 

[Tauhar]

Who did such a terrible job on the paint runs :O?

 

[mscuil]

Who did such a terrible job on the paint runs :O?

PO I believe. I will keep wet sanding and polishing to hopefully hide the majority of them but i keep finding more. The truck will get stripes so I am not too worried about the paint.

 

[Redthies]

One of my customers is trying to trade some work on his Airstream for his ‘04 Disco. It has OME, new 33” Generals, an ARB front bumper and some other goodies. It’s a beautiful rig with no sunroofs to leak but needs an engine. Typical Rover... He has $22,000 in it and would trade it for probably $6,000 in work, but I’m not going down that particular rabbit hole. You just can’t beat Toyota reliability!

Link to my tan vs gray Softopper thread on mud:
Emergency help needed! | IH8MUD Forum

 

[mscuil]

One of my customers is trying to trade some work on his Airstream for his ‘04 Disco. It has OME, new 33” Generals, an ARB front bumper and some other goodies. It’s a beautiful rig with no sunroofs to leak but needs an engine. Typical Rover... He has $22,000 in it and would trade it for probably $6,000 in work, but I’m not going down that particular rabbit hole. You just can’t beat Toyota reliability!

Link to my tan vs gray Softopper thread on mud:
Emergency help needed! | IH8MUD Forum

Appreciate the link but imo tan looks great with red, and I don't care if the interior doesn't match. Lots of very strong opinions in that forum regarding matching the interior to the top. Also you can wear a brown belt with black shoes, no rules in fashion...

Can't wait!

 

[Dropzone]

The 4Runner came from California a few years ago so is mostly clean, but has some light rust underneath ...

Came from California and light rust? must have been the part of CA underwater.
Sorry but that is a lot of rust IMO.
Good luck with it. Glad you are bring it back to life. These things can be addicting

 

[mscuil]

Came from California and light rust? must have been the part of CA underwater.
Sorry but that is a lot of rust IMO.
Good luck with it. Glad you are bring it back to life. These things can be addicting

Ha maybe I should have worded that differently... light rust for a Toyota that has been in Michigan for a few years...
:cheers:

Switches are out for delivery today and the top is in the metro area, so hoping will be delivered today as well.

 

[Redthies]

I wasn’t trying to talk you out of tan. I think it looks awesome on red. You’ll love the quality of the Softopper. Did you go tinted or clear windows? My install was easy. Single beer job.

 

[mscuil]

I wasn’t trying to talk you out of tan. I think it looks awesome on red. You’ll love the quality of the Softopper. Did you go tinted or clear windows? My install was easy. Single beer job.

Your wife thinks it looks terrible! My gf did prefer the black but something about that tan spoke to me and a few others around here. Good to hear about the install. I watched a video of someone installing a used top they picked up from their friend and said the aluminum portion that attaches to the cab was a pita to bend around the roof to the side. Was hoping for a quick job so I can run a soft top sooner than later.

Side note, the truck was originally back (and automatic) I am told, so had some mismatched trim in interior. Also has a folding platform/storage system in the back so the rear seats will likely be laid flat the majority of the time, hopefully hiding the mismatch.

 

[Redthies]

My wife liked the tan better as well, but we agreed that gray interior / gray top made more sense. As long as YOU like what you chose it’s a win!

Bending the front piece was not hard, but if you bought a us3d one that wasn’t originally bent well could certainly add to the difficulty. With new, you should have an easy time with it. I was going to install mine on a road trip this Memorial Day weekend, but wisely got it done before we left. Having a big table to work on was a help.

 

[bdjcl]

4runner looks really sharp!

 

[mscuil]

I made quite a bit of progress over the weekend. The SoftTopper arrived, so I let it sit in the sun to help ease installation for a while.



I then worked on taking the top off for the first time. It was pretty easy and light compared to my International Scout.

 

[mscuil]

I then turned my attention back to the interior. The truck came with broken trim which I already replaced, but the peripheral lighting was wired to a switch attached the the panel which I replaced. I had ordered a switch panel from Paranoid fabrications as well as a new head unit for bluetooth.

Before:


During:



Currently:



I then replaced the whining power steering pump. The po included a replacement pump. The job was not bad at all and the truck is much quieter now.



The front light bar had never worked, so I spent time troubleshooting and with power and ground, the light worked fine, so I cleaned up some connections and rewired portions:



Success:


Finally I tried a few different options for the top:

 

[Melrose 4r]

HA! Dogs love first gens! I take my neighbor's dog for rides in mine.

 

[cb1111]

The nice thing about these old Toyotas is that the electrics are fairly simple and pretty robust - different from the Land Rover/Range Rover with Lucas electrics.

How do you know your Range rover is on fire? All of the gauges start working.

Why do the English drink warm beer? They all have Lucas refrigerators.

When I was in the UK, I had a Range Rover for a few months. First the left tail light fell off going over a smallish bump (the car had just passed MOT - the inspection - a week earlier) and then all the gauges started to work. Luckily I hadn't had it long enough to load it up with junk.

I was a glutton for punishment - replaced it with a new XJS-V12HE. A year later, that one blew a water hose on the autobahn in Germany going 240kmh (about 150mph).

 

[Cali 4runner]

Truck couldn't have been black, because of the red interior paint on the floor

I would recommend only the rear OME leaf springs if you carry a lot of weight in the back. They are crazy stiff and uncomfortable for street driving. Also their front torsion bars are ridiculously stiff on a stock truck. I see you have a front tube bumper but that wouldn't make much of a difference.

 

[mscuil]

Truck couldn't have been black, because of the red interior paint on the floor

I would recommend only the rear OME leaf springs if you carry a lot of weight in the back. They are crazy stiff and uncomfortable for street driving. Also their front torsion bars are ridiculously stiff on a stock truck. I see you have a front tube bumper but that wouldn't make much of a difference.

I believe the PO had stripped the interior and painted the truck fully. I know it was an automatic and they changed to manual so they had done a decent amount of work under the carpet moving some switches and wiring around. The weatherstripping between roof and cab had red paint covering it as well, and black beneathe. Could be wrong, but I know the truck had been in a wreck and rebuilt previously so just took their word for it.

The tube bumpers seem specific to the body lift, so I figured I would either modify them so they could stay after removing or reducing the body lift from 3" to 1" or simply replace period. The rear tire carrier doesn't seem to be rated to the size of the spare, as it moves a decent amount over bumps (the spare).

I also noticed over the weekend that the truck is simply not good on the highway. I have the pedal floored to keep it at 70 (using GPS speedo) and many downshifts to keep it over 65 on hills. I imagine most of that is due to the massive 33x12.5's. Unsure of the gearing, assuming stock. Has anyone downsized to a 31 from a 33? Would moving from a 12.5 to 10.5 make much of a difference if the tire was much lighter? I typically need to drive at least 2-3 hours on the interstate to get anywhere worth wheeling and camping, so getting better fuel economy and drive-ability on the interstate would be very nice.

 

[mscuil]

I stand corrected. Just decoded the vin and it was a red truck. PO must have been misinformed.