TW's active 4runner builders BS thread

Oh man, how many miles were on it when the head blew?
I just picked up two 2nd gen T4Rs, both have the 3.0L. Neither run, though.

 

@ramonortiz55 did you ever solve the issue of your mount rubbing with your lift gate? I need to do something, it keeps rubbing and rusting where it rubs. So for now I am using duct tape as a buffer.

 

i had to bend it.. juuussstt right

 

I will try some more. I have tried bending while on the 4Runner and it is bent as much as it can go. I am going to take it off before I mount everything and repaint. Hopefully get some layers on it and I will try to bend it some more. If not I guess the Duct-tape will stay on there lol

 

261k but I know the owner before my mom either replaced or rebuilt the engine. Which it was or why is unknown though so it could've been another blown head gasket or it could've been something else. I'm not sure. IMHO it wouldn't have blown if I hadn't tried to drive it to Phoenix during the day in August. That was a bad idea

What is preventing them from running?

 

i had to bed mine while it was off the 4runner..

 

That mount looks awesome. Where did you get it @ramonortiz55?

 

Ok I will hopefully be able to work on that tomorrow, if not Saturday.

 

Flat Irons Fab is making them now. They don't have a website but they do have a facebook page.

 

Dang, you'd think that with a new or freshened up engine, you'd get more out of it before the head blew. Unless it wasn't done right.
The guy that had them before me wheeled the hell out of them and did zero maintenance. With both of them, they ran like crap when he got them. Misfiring and belching black smoke all over the place. He never did a thing to fix them. The first one (automatic 94) got put in the yard because the harmonic balancer broke (I have no idea how) and he also stripped a spark plug hole when he finally decided to do something with the truck. Then he tried to helicoil it, and screwed that up. He had that one for maybe three months. Then he bought the 91 stick shift, and destroyed the clutch, ran the piss out of it mudding, and never even looked at the oil. Drove it around for the past two months with the throwout bearing making it scream. I asked him if he ever looked at the oil one day, and pulled the dip stick. Nothing on it. Dropped the plug from the pan, and less than a half quart of the foulest, blackest oil ever came out. After that, he let it sit. Supposedly ran when I bought them both (for $600) but did not want to start when I came to pick it up.
So they are both pretty much toast, gonna frankenstein them together into one good truck and part out what's left of the second one. Can't beat it for $600, especially when I can do all the work myself- including planing the heads, if needed. Backyard mechanics FTMFW!

 

I vote you use the 91 for the body (if condition is good. Havent seen either) personally when it comes to second gens I like the 90-91 look over the 92+

 

Unfortunately, the body and frame on the 91 have a lot more cancer than the 94. I wanted to use it, because I wanted a manual, but I have to go with the less-cancered of the two, and I don't want to destroy the interior trying to make the auto a manual, either. It'll cost me less to just keep the auto, too, because the manual trans is toast. The 91's rust is so bad underneath that the bump stop perch in the passenger rear rusted completely out, so now the bump stop is just sitting inside the coil.
I might swap the front clips on them, though- I really like the 91's look much better.
There are pics of both trucks in my build thread, if you wanna take a look.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/double-trouble-the-fenwicks-t4r-build-b-s.406570/

 

The good thing is you have two runners to work with

 

Alright I took a look (mostly for pics admittedly. too lazy to read all the text lol) and the condition of those hurt me a little inside. They make mine look like amazing That's really sad that they were so mistreated. I don't have any experience with the Auto but I have heard its shit compared to the Manual (this coming from someone who owned the auto). Hopefully you restore it nicely though and do it justice!

I might be interested in a few things off the 91 though like the tail gate and spare tire rack. I've been thinking about converting mine to have that stuff.

 

Yup! Should save me a good bit!

It'll definitely be done well, I'm in no rush to get it done. This is sort of my niche, too, buying "junk" trucks and bullet-proofing them. Like my Tacoma. I paid $250 for that truck. Rebuilt it and put a lot of work into it, had it on the road for over three years and it's never failed me. Zero issues!
The plastidip is definitely coming off that truck- not sure why someone would plastidip an entire truck, especially when they don't do it right. I guess they didn't tape anything off when they did it, because it's all over the tail lights and everything. If the paint underneath is bad, (it was originally the same green as the other one) I might roll with it, or I'll rattle can it like I did my Tacoma, which looks great. But this time it'll either be desert tan or camo.
I'll definitely let you know when I do the part-out! I'll make a list of everything that's already been taken off to make it easier for the parts pickers. That's probably a while down the road, because this will be a slow build, but I'll definitely be posting the parts list up here.

 

Alright awesome. I also really need a fan shroud for mine. Its going to be coming to AZ when its fixed (at night this time lol) and it'll need as much help staying cool as possible

 

Chances are there will be one of those left as well. I have no idea how to ship this sort of stuff out there, (cos I'm sure you can't come to VA, lol) but we'll figure that out when the time comes.

 

Oh whoops. Never mind on the tailgate assembly. With how often my notifications go off for TW I got myself confused and thought this was the Orange County meet up thread. I feel dumb now lol

 

Lol