Brett_Murphy
New member
My first foray into building an SUV for beach buggy was a qualified success. The Xterra I picked up for $350 became a functional vehicle, but, well, I just didn't like it. I sold that, made a few bucks on it and started looking for a GMT800 Tahoe. Unfortunately, these are very popular around here, so the ones that were not ragged out and used up were out of my budget. I was about to give up hope when I noticed a 2003 4Runner pop up in my search. The seller had mentioned "Tahoe" in the ad, or I never would have seen it. I had discounted the 4Runners out of hand because they command prices greater than the Tahoes, usually, but this one was listed for about half of what 4Runners that are worth buying usually go for. There are plenty of shady car lots around here that buy wrecked cars and rebuild them, but this was a private party sale that claimed to own it since 2004. I decided to check it out.
The sellers had been using it for a family hauler with small children, so the interior was (and remains) dirty. It had 274k miles on it, which probably scares lots of people away, but the 2UZ-FE is known to go for 300k easily. There were cosmetic blemishes, such as rock chips and a cracked roof rail cover. There is no appreciable rust, all drive modes work, the tires are decent, the Toyota website showed that the dealer did most of the maintenance and the prior owners seemed to take it in for everything, including squeaks. However, the timing belt was overdue and the suspension was original and completely shot. Well, that explained the low price, I guess. I'm fairly handy, so I decided to roll the dice and I took it home for $5000.
The first thing I did when I got it home was park it. The belt had not been changed in 150k miles, so I was viewing every mile driven as a risk.
This is the only V8 in my fleet right now, so was pleasantly surprised at how much room was in the engine bay. Tartan shop rags for the win.
The timing belt was easy, but when I was done and putting everything back together, I stabbed the A/C Condenser with a screwdriver and had to replace that, too. I was also surprised at how tiny the transmission cooler was. I have plans for that, but that is a later project.
The timing belt, fluids, hoses and accessory belts were all changed, so with that got it into driving condition, in my opinion. It was time to put some miles on it.
The sellers had been using it for a family hauler with small children, so the interior was (and remains) dirty. It had 274k miles on it, which probably scares lots of people away, but the 2UZ-FE is known to go for 300k easily. There were cosmetic blemishes, such as rock chips and a cracked roof rail cover. There is no appreciable rust, all drive modes work, the tires are decent, the Toyota website showed that the dealer did most of the maintenance and the prior owners seemed to take it in for everything, including squeaks. However, the timing belt was overdue and the suspension was original and completely shot. Well, that explained the low price, I guess. I'm fairly handy, so I decided to roll the dice and I took it home for $5000.
The first thing I did when I got it home was park it. The belt had not been changed in 150k miles, so I was viewing every mile driven as a risk.
This is the only V8 in my fleet right now, so was pleasantly surprised at how much room was in the engine bay. Tartan shop rags for the win.
The timing belt was easy, but when I was done and putting everything back together, I stabbed the A/C Condenser with a screwdriver and had to replace that, too. I was also surprised at how tiny the transmission cooler was. I have plans for that, but that is a later project.
The timing belt, fluids, hoses and accessory belts were all changed, so with that got it into driving condition, in my opinion. It was time to put some miles on it.
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