Project "Snapping Turtle": 1KZ-TE into a 2nd Gen 4Runner

[4Rescue]

So, I pulled the trigger and today I spent the day going up to Kent WA to get my 1994 2nd Gen SR5 Ltd. 4Runner (soon to be a "Hilux Surf" :sombrero: ) and a 60K mile 1KZ-TE engine/Trans/Wiring harness/gauge cluster and all kinds of other parts. At 231k the 4Runner's a little tired, BUT, she's got totally straight sheet metal, never been wrecked, leather interior (not sure how I feel about this yet), sunroof, power everything... Basically it's a very nice truck to start with and it's gonna be a "blank slate" to work with. Seeing as the 1st Gen was dubbed "the Super Turtle" when I brought it home, I find it fitting that this truck, with the vastly more powerful 1KZ-TE should be called "The Snapping Turtle" LOL.

After long deliberation and a lot of reading, I think that I'm going to go with the automatic just because it yields the best mileage (OD really helps) and frankly... I have all the parts to do the swap and as it sits I'm to dam excited to not have it on the rod asap . IF I find that I simply can't live with it, I will swap it at that point. PITA??? Maybe, BUT I'm hopeful that it'll be to my liking with the Auto. I watched at "drive impression" vid of an RHD JDM Surf with the 1KZ/Auto combo and it's got plenty of pep and the auto seems to be very well suited to the motor as it's got good strong up-shifts and keeps the motor RIGHT in the power band VERY well. Fols seem to feel the tranny also gives some amount of braking/control similar but not exactly like a manual or a petrol motor so, that'll be nice. Also, my wife can drive it and frankly I've been a bit woried several ties that if I were to be unable to drive us home, she'd be in trouble getting the truck out to the highway.

Plans:

-Auxiliary fuel tank using an LC70 tank switching control. I've got one being sent by a mate in QLD right now with the inclineometer. Although I'm not sure where it'll fit in the truck seeing as these 2nd gen dashes don't give you anywhere to put things up on top of them... Already wondering where the GPS and the V1 will go now...Hmmmm

-Carpet Delete. It'll have a full rubber floor, and while it's a 4dr, it's still gonna be set-up for the wife and I to sleep in the back of it and will likely have the seats folded and the drivers side lower cushion removed so it'll technically be a 3-seater when the need arises.

- Rear Leaf-Swap using longer OME Dakar springs: This might seem strange, BUT plan on hauling heavy loads, towing etc with the truck and for ease of maintenance and flat out "get you home reliability"... I'm going with leaves.

- either 255/85's or a 35" tire (depending on how the gearing works out. I'll be running my 33x10.50's off my 1st gen to see how 33's do and if the gearing's not spot on, I'll go taller. Still gotta figure out if this runner has the 4.30 gears). Trying to find a skinny 35" tire that's suitable for road driving -read: not an LTB/TSL tire - is proving to be a huge PITA so if anyone has any suggestions then please, fire away. Not sure about rims (I do love the AR 5-spokes on my 1st Gen and thought about painting them anthrecite or black), but likely I'll go to 16's if the 33's work so that I can run the 255/85's

- BJ-spacer/OME T-bar front suspension. Eventually it'll go to an SFA, but for the time being I'm trying to get it on the road

- Safari Snorkel/conical dust trap head... It's gonna feel like I'm back in OZ in this truck :sombrero:

- Full Length roof rack/basket

- Either an ARB-Bull-bar w/fender bars tied into the sliders (again "Aussie Style" and frankly I'm already paranoid of the AWFUL drivers in my 1st gen, let alone a near irreplaceable truck like this will be) and a swing-out rear bumper, or a Full Marlin Crawler armor-set-up. I'm torn here. I KNOW how well ARB's work (they've saved my life several times in OZ), BUT I also know that Marlin's armor works just as well and in reality is lighter on the truck/better for the handling as an end result. We shall see.

Not sure what else, BUT I'll be detailing the build here.

Some pictures as it sits today: Just got it home/off the trailer and while I'm dying to get cleaning it... I've slept about 4 hours in the last 6 days so (106 y/o grandmother, Stroke, full time care... yeah, it's like having an infant)... I'm taking the night off

 

[shmabs]

I will be following...closely.

 

[DeskToGlory]

Excited to see how this build goes!!

 

[BigDaddyBass]

Why is the front end so high? Are the rear tires flat?

 

[ebg18t]

Awesome motor.

 

[4Rescue]

Why is the front end so high? Are the rear tires flat?

Well on top of the shot rear-suspension, there's the Auto tranny and all the "parts" in the back and nothing but the Engine in the front of the truck. The tires are a bit low too, I pumped them up and it helps a bit, but not that much.

The frame and body of this truck are in great shape. The Suspension is going to be completely re-done and really it's a blank slate. I did find out after searching option available on these truck that this thing is LOADED. Power everything blah blah blah. I'm NOT so hot on that actually. I love the seats (fully adjustable good support) and I like SOME features, but I don;t tend to truck electric windows and certain other things plus I'm worried abut how the chain-driven top-shift T-Case is gonna hold up to bigger tires and the torquey motor... I'm basically going to get it on the road asap (still gonna take awhile) and then see how it works out. I've budgeted for it to be built EXACTLY how I had planed originally so that means if the Auto/Chain-drive T-Case aren't to my liking... they'll get yanked. I'll basically be getting the motor in and the suspension/tires on and then be building while it's on the road.

Today was "wash the thing" day... Tomorrow everything come out of the truck (interior panels, tranny wiring harness etc that's stored in the back of the truck). Well, the stuff that's already "out" f it. I'm going to strip out the carpet too as it'll be getting a nice undercoat of bed-liner and then a HD rubber floor-kit.

My beloved 1st Gen looks on at "the new addition"... I wonder if she knows what's in store



Other items I'm currently ordering up:
- ARB Alloy Roof-rack/basket
- ARB Snorkel
- ARB Locker (R123 rear) and compressor
- 7.5" Supra LSD I plan to put up front
- OME T-Bars and Shocks/SS
- Some neat "Hilux Surf" and "Turbo Diesel" emblems :sombrero:

Stuff I'm still looking for/deciding on:
- Waterproof/HD seat-covers
- Armor/bumpers
- OME rear sus. (either going with longer OME Leaves out back or OME coils and some sort of upgraded control arms/sway-bar disco's)

Just looking at the engine and the "Diesel Turbo" sticker on the cover is giving me goose bumps...

 

[mortonm]

Looks good. We had a 1992 red second gen with the swing away and a manual transmission while we were growing up. Also had manual hubs 31x 10.5s. What a nice truck.

We also had an '88 and a '96. I think the '92 was my favorite of the bunch.

 

[4Rescue]

Ok... now ToyotaDiesel.com is suddenly totally on the fritz... THAT is gonna suck as I pretty much spend every free bit of time I have scouring their forums for little bits of info and little "AHA" moments. Not good at ALL.

 

[4Rescue]

Looks good. We had a 1992 red second gen with the swing away and a manual transmission while we were growing up. Also had manual hubs 31x 10.5s. What a nice truck.

We also had an '88 and a '96. I think the '92 was my favorite of the bunch.

Yeah I'm DEFINITELY LIKING certain things about the 2nd Gen for sure... It's a REALLY nice truck, but there is a part of e that is gonna miss the "Aussie Farm truck" thing I have in my 1st gen... Ever since I moved back to the NW from Queensland I've missed it (a LOT), and as silly as it may be, getting in my old truck has always been a little nostalgic of the days I'd wake up at 5am to fire up the water pumps for the cattle on the station and check the fence lines in our HJ75 Ute. The angles of the hood even kind of remind me of the LC. Still, in the long run this is gonna be a really great truck when it's built, and being that the 2nd Gen's were still the same chassis (minus the SFA) as the "ROW" trucks, it's a great platform for a swap like this. All they REALLY need in stock US-version form is more power/better efficiency.

In reality, the 2nd Gen is gonna be a LOT more comfortable for the long hauls we do (and in general) and I'm already falling in love with 4-doors all over again, plus it'll be equally as capable as the 1st Gen. The dash lay-out is quite a bit better except for the lack of a "tray" in the dash like LC's and the 1st Gen's have. I gotta say, it's REALLY fun to have a truck that is a "blank slate" that I'm not just piecing together as I use it as my DD. The 2nd Gen will be mechanically "finished" (well sort of as I'm not completely sold on the Auto/ADD 4wd/V6 T-case combo yet but we will see) when it goes on the road which is not how I built my 1st Gen at all. I've learned a LOT building this truck and I kinda took for granted all the smart overland ideas that were handed to me, "pre-installed" on my truck in Australia...it's just a "way f life" over there and everyone just kits things out with stuff like Bull-bars, snorkles, roof-racks, drawer systems/tables/awnings and what not that's quite "exotic" here in the states. Man I miss Australia. By the same token, I've also missed the clatter and the range/power of a Turbo Diesel and I'd all but given up n having one when I was so kindly pointed to this truck/motor.

I will miss my 1st Gen when it goes bye bye & If I can figure out a way to keep it and build the 2nd Gen, it'll get an SAS and turn into the trail toy it's just dying to be.

 

[jeverich]

I'll try and follow this the best I can; glad that the truck ended up working out for you!

Might be passing through you're area later in the year... Just did a week out in Hell's Canyon. Beautiful!

Good luck,

Jake

 

[4Rescue]

Cheers mate, def. drop a line if you're gonna be through. Hells Canyon is pretty amazing aye? I've rafted it several times from the dam down and it's an amazing if not somewhat bewildering place. There are little "Rip" current eddie lines that suck boats under in what seems like flat water. It's pretty amazing to think of how much deeper it actually is when you're on the water.

Thanks for the heads up on the truck/motor too, guy turned out to be really good to deal with and it was a painless procedure (for me, I'm sure he'd have liked me to pick it up sooner) that is going to net an awesome truck.

On that note, I'm just beyond excited to get it on the road. I've found a perfect "example" truck (although I'll have a bit more lift and bigger tires) that has all the things , except for a rear bumper, that'll put on this one.

I'm REAL tempted to do a desert tan on the exterior, but I kind of like the green too and I'm not sure how I'd feel about Tan ext./Tan int. but we'll see how I feel after I get it running.

Cheers

Dave

 

[4Rescue]

I'm going back and forth between a rear leaf-swap and keeping the coil'd rear end ever few hours of mulling it over. If I go with a leaf-swap I think I'll use the 50-something inch Tacoma leafs to improve on the ride my 1st Gen with it's stubby little springs. I'm honestly leaning towards leafs again now though as the simplicity of the overall system is just hard to ignore and I'm NOT convinced I wouldn't need to run air-bags with the coils when fully loaded. I KNOW that OME's Dakar springs WORK and work WELL, flex pretty well, and I'm not scared of the ride on them (plus it REALLY simplifies the rear-sus and makes "bush repairs" that much easier)... But, I'm sure that by tomorrow I'll have swung back the other way.

SO, I'll be putting the OME T-bars on the truck and I've gotten all the parts out of the back so I can do a full interior clean out (I gotta say, the nice, fully adjustable "sport" seats in this thing are SO much nicer then my 1st gen it's not even funny) and I'll be yanking the carpet, stitching up the seats and hopefully start making headway on the interior for now.

Question: What are some good seat covers (waterproof mandatory, I'd like something that's a nice HD "cordura" type fabric) besides Wet-Okole that I should be looking into???

Cheers

Dave

 

[4Rescue]

Hows this for a classic bit of Expo kit



It's a "Congo Radiator bag" and the best part... It was on the old Model A that my 106 y/o grandmother first rode in down to the States from C.Canada way back in I don't know when (probably around 1926 she guessed)!!! Her house is FULL of stuff like this, cabinet pieces from the Oregon trail, a chest from the Mayflower, my great grandfathers old Doctors bag with all kinds of crazy "remedies" in little bottles with the labels still on them... you know, typical things you find in the house of an "antique nut" after more then 10 decades of living/collecting.

Nothing done on the truck today... sadly. BUT, it'll be rolling into the garage/shop this weekend for the interior work to start.

Cheers

Dave

 

[Clay]

On that note, I'm just beyond excited to get it on the road. I've found a perfect "example" truck (although I'll have a bit more lift and bigger tires) that has all the things , except for a rear bumper, that'll put on this one.
View attachment 174116

Whoever owns that rig is a happy fellow, and since I see an ExPo sticker on it I'm guessing he's around here somewhere. That picture was actually one of the reasons I bought a second gen to build up, it looks really nice and very capable.

Good luck on the build, I'll be subscribing to this thread.

 

[4Rescue]

Well folks... Sorry for the delay, but after having a massive tree come down in my yeard (150ft of White Oak) and the other half teetering over our house (and the truck) combined with a 107 y/o grandmother (not a typo) who only recently had to go into assisted living... I've been really slow getting started. BUT... The truck is going into Landcruisers NW here in Portland to have the Engine mounts welded up and the Armor (bumpers/sliders/fender bars/rear bumper/mini-cage) all cooked up. They are GREAT guys and anyone in Portland with a love of Toyotas should get to know them... I simply can't say enough good stuff about them.

So I WILL be building this truck (for anyone who thought I maybe dumped the project), but the last 2 months have been not only crazy, but I've been collecting all the little bits and pieces here and there that I need. Luckily the guys at LCNW, after looking at what we were getting into, decided that we would just build the wiring harness in the truck and not send the harness off to Tweaked Performance (nothing wrong with Tweaked, just preferred to have it done where I could decide on certain things and routing the wiring. This truck is going to be completely waterproofed (or as close as possible) as it's built for maximum capability and protection (I pity the foo who runs into the truck when it's done cause it won't HAVE any "crumple zones", it's gonna be a VERY solid truck)

What I've gotten so far:
-OME Suspension (converted to rear-leaves)
-ARB Alu roof-rack
-Full Bud built belly-pan skids
-Rigid Ind. LED Light Bar and work-lights (SO sweet)

Still have to find:
-Fuel Water Seperator (Think I'm going to run a CATerpillar part like the Aussie guys do)
-Coolant filter set-up
-good EGT gauge/sensor
-4cyl Gear driven T-case
-4cyl shifter/console (truck was V-6/auto/auto hubs so it has the different shifter console with the 4wd shifter on the drivers side)
-Aisin Manual hubs

Otherwise, everything's ready to go, and I'll hopefully have the motor mounted into the truck here in the next week or two. Big thanks to Matt and Tony at LCNW and the guys up at ARB's Seattle center for all the help.

At this point I'm aiting for a phone call from the shop saying "bring her on down" and then the REAL fun will begin aye.

Whoever owns that rig is a happy fellow, and since I see an ExPo sticker on it I'm guessing he's around here somewhere. That picture was actually one of the reasons I bought a second gen to build up, it looks really nice and very capable.

Good luck on the build, I'll be subscribing to this thread.

Cheers mate... I saw that EXPO sticker too and I wondered if I could find the truck here but I haven't seen it anywhere (I think it was sold at some point so I don;t know if these pics were from the shop that did the job or the new owner). Either way, yeah, it's a beauty and I'm building mine to be similar only slightly taller/bigger tires and with more armor (like the Aussie style fender bars which I can already see are gonna come in handy with some of our local moron drivers hahahaha). Either way, that truck looks SO nice and it really got the creative blood flowing aye.

Cheers and No Worries

Dave