My 86' T4R-V8 Swap & SAS Build

rustED

rustED

Adventurer
Hello, I'm fairly new to this site. I recently discovered it while doing some research for my expedition trailer build and was instantly hooked. I already have a build thread for my 4runner on another toyota forum, but I'm hoping by starting a thread here I can get some more input on upgrades for equipment and some better ideas on storing my gear for off road adventures. It will take me a little while to get this thread up to it's current status, but I'll try to get pics and info up to date as quick as I can. I'm open to any and all input, advise, criticism, or questions, so feel free to chime in, cheers...Ed.

Here's a few pics of my 4runner when I first bought it. It's a 86' deluxe, 22re, 5speed. It was pretty much stock, it had 2" lift blocks in the rear, torsion bars were cranked up to match, it was sitting on 31x10.50 AT's. It ended up having a blown head gasket, cracked radiator, and 3rd gear didn't work in the trans. It had 2nd gen seats swapped in, and 209,000 on the odometer. The upside is the frame and body were nearly rust free. I picked it up off CL for $1100. That was 3 yrs ago. (Sorry about the blurry pics, that's all I had).



 
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rustED

rustED

Adventurer
So after buying the 4runner and finding out the motor had a blown headgasket, it sat for about six months. I was saving up to buy a another 22re to put it in, when I ran into another deal on CL. It was an 85' toyota long bed 4x4 pickup. It had a Ford 302 already swapped in with a NWOR bellhousing adapter to a toyota 5spd. My wheels were turning...I had already planned to do a SAS on my 4runner, so a few phone calls and a couple days later I had the 85'....I picked it up for $1700, it ran like a champ on the 5 hr drive home. So the new plan was to swap the 302, trans, and front straight axel out of the 85' over to my 4runner. Since I spent most of my budget on buying the 85' I would have to try to offset my costs by parting out the rest of the truck and reinvest that money into the 4runner.



[URL=http://s1058.photobucket.com/user/rustED71/media/4Runner/13309680661334_zps38c705fe.jpg.html]
I planned to keep the Smittybuilt front bumper and the Warn 5000lb winch for now, until I can either build my own custom front bumper, and get a bigger winch. Also if you look closely you can see the radiator is mounted on the outside of the grill, the PO had to notch part of the hood to make it fit, I planned to keep it as stock looking as possible. Here's a pic of the 302, its dirty & needs cleaned up, but runs strong. The PO didn't have any real knowledge of the engines history or mileage, but it definately has alot of power compared to the stock 22re!
 
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rustED

rustED

Adventurer
I didn't waste any time pulling the old 22re, trans and t-case out of the 4runner. I also started cutting off all of the ifs brackets and started cleaning up the frame. This is a chore if all you have is a grinder, a plasma, or oxy/ace torch would make it alot easier!

 
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rustED

rustED

Adventurer
Started disassembly of the front axel. The trunnion bearing were shot, so definately had to get a rebuild kit. I used some plate steel and welded the steering stops up. I also added a 1/4" plate to the driverside spring perch to level it out.


I sold a spare tranny, t-case and clutch assembly and got enough money to buy high-steer. I also traded some parts and got some front shackles.


To save some money, I built my own front springhanger, I also made a set of custom RUF (Rear Springs Upfront) springs for the front using 2 sets of toyota rear springs, one set were stock, one set 2" lift.

 
rustED

rustED

Adventurer
I bought some frame tubes and frame jigs from TG. I had a hard time trying to use a hole saw to cut the holes in the frame to put the frame tubes in. I ended up trading a guy (who just happened to be a professional welder by trade) the doors off my 85' to come over and plasma cut the holes out for me. He also welded in the frame tubes and the front spring hanger. I also traded him my 85' front fenders for a spare front axel rebuild kit he had.
 
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rustED

rustED

Adventurer
I got the axel housing stripped down to bare metal, primered and painted. I was on a tight budget, so it was the essentials I was going for, no room in the budget at this time for different armor. Also I would have liked to have done a U bolt flip kit, but again no $$$, so I reused the stock u bolts and plates for now. With the parts painted, I started reassembling the front axel.




I also rebuilt and painted the Aisin hubs, and bought some shock hoops, and a steering box mounting kit.



My plan for the front axel was to use the IFS wheel hubs to widen the front axel. Some of you might not know, but the straight axel trucks wms to wms is 3" narrower than the IFS trucks. I didn't want to run wheel spacers to make the front axel width match the rear axel, so I used the ifs wheel hubs. I then upgraded to toyota LC slotted rotors, drilled the correct bolt pattern in them to allow them to bolt up to the ifs wheel hubs. To make up for the new width required the ifs calipers to be mounted on the opposite side of the mounting brackets on the knuckle. There was some grinding, and the bolt holes on the calipers and knuckles had to be drilled out bigger, but it was worth it in the end. I can go into more detail if anyone is interested.

 
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rustED

rustED

Adventurer
Here's a couple pics after the axel was finished and tires are mounted. It's sitting pretty high, but will settle once the motor, bumper, and winch are installed.


Tires are 33x12.50x 15 Maxxis Bighorns. I didn't have money to regear the axels at the time, if I would have known just how big of a power difference the 302 would be, I wouldn't have even worried about regearing and would have gone with 35's from the get go!
 
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bkg

bkg

Explorer
Watching this closely!

Brace that spring hanger back to at least under steering box to minimize frame cracks.
If you painted (can't tell from pics) mating surface of the steering arms/knuckles, disassemble and remove that paint. It will prevent the ability to torque /retain torque as paint compresses.
 
rustED

rustED

Adventurer
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