First Foray into 4Runners - My 1st Gen Build

[Smileyshaun]

food for thought. Time and money spent on a motor swap could be time and money spent on getting outside.
A good general rule for a motor swap is to sit down and figure out how long it will take and how much parts will cost and then triple the time and at least double the money .

another thing to think about is with a custom swap if something breaks or needs replacing it can be a lot harder to track down parts in the middle of nowhere .
A 22re may not be a power house but it's reliable, simple, inexpensive and can be fixed with duct tape and bailing wire .

 

[DaveInDenver]

It's got to be your hobby for sure @Smileyshaun. I don't think engine swaps are always good or bad, but you have to weigh pros and cons. For my money the 3RZ swap in for a 22R-E is high value. Lots of people have done it so it's not breaking new ground and you get a lot of bang for your buck. It's an appropriate engine for the truck so it fits with accessories. I love the idea of a small block or 1UZ in a mini truck but when you think about stuffing maybe a second battery, A/C and an air compressor under the hood I begin to think not having it stuffed to the gills with engine makes sense, too.

 

[battleaxe]

If I came across like I was trying to discourage you from the swap, definitely wasn't my intention at all!

Kudos for sticking to your guns, I hope that the swap goes well when/if you decide to do it. There was a time where I was obsessed with this swap, so I totally understand your desire to pursue it.

 

[chunko]

Fresh 5100s have it riding much better. I am super pleased.

Just came on to say I'm surprised the 5100's ride better than those King 1.0's lol.

 

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

Just came on to say I'm surprised the 5100's ride better than those King 1.0's lol.

Yeah it’s such an improvement I can’t even really describe. The rear still rides like a leaf sprung truck so if I go with an different set up up front, I’ll definitely be keeping something in mind for the rear.

After fixing my passenger seat slide, I went out yesterday evening and ripped around on some gravel roads out in the middle of nowhere and had a blast. Maybe it was my slight lack of regard for rock chips etc, or the stickers, but the 4runner was very nimble and fun. Really the only place it falls short is cruising in 5th gear. It’ll do 75 relatively easy, but I have to pay attention on hills.

I was hoping to get my round head light retaining rings in yesterday but they didn’t come in and I’m out of town til late Sunday so I doubt I’ll get a chance to put them on before my next week of classes. I definitely need to fix the horn. I didn’t realize it didn’t work, but some careless workers in a big van about sideswiped me and ran me off the road. I just pushed the clutch in and revved at them and they got the warning. The hazards and interior lights also don’t work which is annoying so I’ll be tracing all that down in the next week hopefully.

I also put on my north shore and it works like a champ. A little close to the top and I’ll definitely have to adjust it when hauling 29ers or longer travel bikes but oh well. Kind of funny how big it looks on the back of the runner compared to the cruiser.




The most blinged out seat cable fix?

 

[TheCascadeKid]

Your 4Runner is really looking great! Paint job and body work looks like the perfect balance of getting it cleaned up without going overboard.

I know you said you aren't interested in a v6, but the 3.4 with a supercharger would get my vote when balancing down time, power, and MPG. 265 crank HP while pulling 18-20 MPG sounds pretty good to me. That said, I also understand taking on a swap for the challenge and fun of the project. Enjoy!

 

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

Spent an hour installing the 7” rounds with the help of the Dorman 42408 retaining rings.

Old headlights at 12’


New Hellas at 12’



3 out of 4. That’s a passing grade.

 

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

Class was cancelled today so I set to work on a couple small tasks. I cleaned out the blower fan so I can use the heat when it’s cold. Once I put it all back together I failed to realize I was on recirculate. Once I moved it to outside air, it let in all sorts of crap so I took it apart and cleaned it a second time. This time reaching up into the outside air feed to clear out any last remaining leaves and branches.




Since it was sunny and 70* outside, I decided to pull the top off and test out the soft top. Turns out the tag says it is a sunbrella and it is sick.

 

[bkg]

That looks like a can-back to me. Had a few; loved em. Still have a set of roof rack bars sitting in the garage.

 

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

That looks like a can-back to me. Had a few; loved em. Still have a set of roof rack bars sitting in the garage.

Wow I had no idea. The PO had no clue either, but I saw today that the tag said Sunbrella. Are the cross bars specific to canback or are there some more generic ones out there? I would assume I would have to poke holes through the topper to be able to use them?

Which after some googling appears the fabric that they use so for $50, that was a heck of a buy. I’d like to have a new canvas top made with windows in the side which might be fairly easy using this one as a template.

Here’s the skeleton underneath. Guess I’ll keep researching and comparing. I’ve also got a slight itch to put some Lietner Designs gear pods on at least the driver’s side back there for some secure storage.

 

[jalbrecht55]

Since you had that much crud in your blower fan you might check and see if you have a lot of needles/leaves under the metal cowl piece in front of the windshield. It's pretty easy to remove and then vacuum, then water flush the remaining junk out the drains on the sides (covered by the fenders, you might need to loosen up the bottom of the plastic wheel tub liners to get all of it out).

 

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

Since you had that much crud in your blower fan you might check and see if you have a lot of needles/leaves under the metal cowl piece in front of the windshield. It's pretty easy to remove and then vacuum, then water flush the remaining junk out the drains on the sides (covered by the fenders, you might need to loosen up the bottom of the plastic wheel tub liners to get all of it out).

Thanks for the heads up. I’ll definitely look into that and get it done.

 

[bkg]

Wow I had no idea. The PO had no clue either, but I saw today that the tag said Sunbrella. Are the cross bars specific to canback or are there some more generic ones out there? I would assume I would have to poke holes through the topper to be able to use them?

Which after some googling appears the fabric that they use so for $50, that was a heck of a buy. I’d like to have a new canvas top made with windows in the side which might be fairly easy using this one as a template.

Here’s the skeleton underneath. Guess I’ll keep researching and comparing. I’ve also got a slight itch to put some Lietner Designs gear pods on at least the driver’s side back there for some secure storage.

Just looked at a bunch of old 4Runner pics. I'm now 99.99996453% positive that's a can-back. VERY nice unit. I've owned two with side windows, one without. Sheesh - I've been through almost as many vehicles as @Clutch! I don't believe there is anything similar to the can-back frame, so I doubt it's generic.

The roof rack bars bolt to an "L" bracket that bolts through the canvas to the brackets highlighted below. When I sold my 89, I kept the roof bars... but forgot to remove the brackets. Let me know if you might have interest - things have been sitting in the garage since... 08, I think.

 

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

4Runner has been running like a champ. I took it out east of my house 60 miles one way yesterday afternoon to bike at a place I haven’t ridden in awhile. The ride ended up getting cut short due to a mechanical my brother had, but on the way home I suggested driving out to the Wichita Mountains after getting his bike sorted out. We arrived in a campsite late that night and rode the following morning. Only weird thing I noticed driving late last night was that my battery and brake warning light started dimly lighting up when in higher rpms only to stop doing it after shutting the truck off and restarting it at a stop. I am betting the ground on the battery wiggled loose a little and wasn't allowing proper transfer.


Just before leaving I “installed” a cheap Bluetooth speaker. $50 of amazon and better than the 1 speaker in the 4runner, but this is just temporary.



Needed some cup holders so I ziptied on the drink tray I’ve been using. I’ve got a new fix for cupholders coming soon. I’ve been designing some stuff in solidworks and will hopefully be able to get some stuff done after Thanksgiving.


The northshore hurt fuel mileage quite a bit. Averaged out to slightly over 14mpg for 160 miles.


Set up camp in the back. The canback was pretty awesome and kind of reminded me of my roof top tent, but without the hassle of setting it up. Unfortunately, after trying to sleep I realized I was too tall to be able to sleep with the tailgate up so I had to drop that. I’ve got ideas floating around in my head on how to close that area off though.


Luckily the tailgate still went down with the northshore on.


The top was rather difficult to get snapped into place and I wasn’t able to get all of them. I am not a fan of how the canback snaps the rear window into place on the tailgate so I’d like to figure out something different for that

 

[bkg]

I’ve seen a few first gens with 1st gen tacoma center consoles. Tone of the gray is pretty close, and provides cup holders...