Some serious body work

[pdunc63]

I'm trying to make some lemonaide out of one serious lemon. The 86 4Runner I bought had some crazy body work done mainly to the rear driver and passenger sides. I picked up an 87 body and was wondering if anyone has every swapped the 'bed' on a 1st gen 4runner? There's no title on the 87 or I'd swap the engine.

 

[04 sc V8]

Are you refering to the entire body tub? Or just the quarter panels? I have changed rear quarter panels by drilling out all the factory spotwelds and plug welding the new one back in place. It came out real nice, but was very time consuming.

 

[pdunc63]

I saw the spot welds in the door frames but was afraid I'd have to take the floor out as well like a truck bed. You've given me some hope. So, what advice can you give before I tackle this job?

 

[04 sc V8]

You will need a real good spotweld drill out tool. I used one that is called "spotburr 1000" and it worked great. It uses replacible 1/8" drill bits for a pilot and a carbide burr to cut the weld flat on the panel behind. This makes installing the good panel a lot easier. I also used "cleko pins" to hold the replacement panel in place while welding it back on. I went so far as to strip the inside of the new panel to bare metal and etch prime it and coat all areas welded with 3M weld through coating.

 

[slacker]

have you seen these ?

tougher then the stock steel , and super easy to install
http://www.toyotafiberglass.com/4runner.htm
http://www.toyotafiberglass.com/1_4_install.htm




.

 

[04 sc V8]

Nice pieces! These weren't availible when I was doing the quarters on my truck. If I do another 1st gen thats rusty, I'll look into them. Are they expensive? How do you secure them? With panel glue and rivets, or dzeus fasteners?

 

[slacker]

they've been avaliable for about 5 years now .. but they are very popular , and there is usually a waiting list ..

check on the "install LINK" Above ... they fit like a glove .