SOAZ
Tim and Kelsey get lost..
Well, I haven't done a build thread in a long time. This will be more of a break it and then repair it and slowly, but surely restore it... thread.
Prior 4runner build thread is here: http://forum.expeditionportal.com/t...d-At-Molasses-pace?highlight=4runner+molasses
A little background on the FJ40 we're calling Tonto. Well, it's Tonto Rockford for long. Kelsey and I couldn't decide which name fit best.
http://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/162597-Taking-a-chance-on-an-old-truck
Or, if ya like, the wife is a better writer than me so she got her story put on Petrolicious: https://petrolicious.com/articles/this-reader-took-a-chance-on-an-old-fj40
Here is a short summary of that thread, but basically:
" A buddy of mine is a Toyota Master Mechanic and has owned his own shop for nearly 30 years. He’s the guy who reads service manuals on new cars and sends corrections to Toyota. He is absolutely meticulous, so when he called and told me there was a cheap, CHEAP FJ40 going up for sale I listened. He said the truck would need a LOT of work, but that he’d rebuilt the engine and drive-train to the tune of nearly $15,000 back in the early 1990's. Now it’s been sitting for years and the owner only wants a fraction of that long ago repair bill to sell it.
This certainly seemed like a good deal, but I wasn’t so sure. How bad was it, how many tens of thousands of dirt miles had it covered since the 90's!? The owner used the truck exclusively to get him from Tucson the 100 or so dirt miles to his ranch complete with a dirt airstrip and hangar.
Now he lived back east and so I was going to be looking at, buying and removing a truck from someone’s property without them there and without ever having so much as met them. It all seemed a bit scary, but something drew me to it. Maybe it was just my buddy. Anyone who get’s flown all over the country to work on others vehicles has a certain mojo when it comes to the vehicles they’ve laid hands on."
Here's how we found him:
At least he spent his life in Arizona. Considering he was once a soft top the mismatched red hardtop was actually nice to have. Maybe that's why we only found 4 mice in it instead of more? Ha!
Before we even drove home we changed every fluid in him as well as the air, fuel and oil filters.
We got right down to trying to "baseline" ol Tonto a bit. I wanted to get the truck to somewhere where I could trust it to go on adventures. Then all of a sudden a pushrod snapped. Oops!
We pulled the head and had it redone by a local shop. All set there we put it back together and still heard a knocking. Dammit!
Prior 4runner build thread is here: http://forum.expeditionportal.com/t...d-At-Molasses-pace?highlight=4runner+molasses
A little background on the FJ40 we're calling Tonto. Well, it's Tonto Rockford for long. Kelsey and I couldn't decide which name fit best.
http://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/162597-Taking-a-chance-on-an-old-truck
Or, if ya like, the wife is a better writer than me so she got her story put on Petrolicious: https://petrolicious.com/articles/this-reader-took-a-chance-on-an-old-fj40
Here is a short summary of that thread, but basically:
" A buddy of mine is a Toyota Master Mechanic and has owned his own shop for nearly 30 years. He’s the guy who reads service manuals on new cars and sends corrections to Toyota. He is absolutely meticulous, so when he called and told me there was a cheap, CHEAP FJ40 going up for sale I listened. He said the truck would need a LOT of work, but that he’d rebuilt the engine and drive-train to the tune of nearly $15,000 back in the early 1990's. Now it’s been sitting for years and the owner only wants a fraction of that long ago repair bill to sell it.
This certainly seemed like a good deal, but I wasn’t so sure. How bad was it, how many tens of thousands of dirt miles had it covered since the 90's!? The owner used the truck exclusively to get him from Tucson the 100 or so dirt miles to his ranch complete with a dirt airstrip and hangar.
Now he lived back east and so I was going to be looking at, buying and removing a truck from someone’s property without them there and without ever having so much as met them. It all seemed a bit scary, but something drew me to it. Maybe it was just my buddy. Anyone who get’s flown all over the country to work on others vehicles has a certain mojo when it comes to the vehicles they’ve laid hands on."
Here's how we found him:
At least he spent his life in Arizona. Considering he was once a soft top the mismatched red hardtop was actually nice to have. Maybe that's why we only found 4 mice in it instead of more? Ha!
Before we even drove home we changed every fluid in him as well as the air, fuel and oil filters.
We got right down to trying to "baseline" ol Tonto a bit. I wanted to get the truck to somewhere where I could trust it to go on adventures. Then all of a sudden a pushrod snapped. Oops!
We pulled the head and had it redone by a local shop. All set there we put it back together and still heard a knocking. Dammit!
