'87 Toyota 4Runner unTurbo....goes wheelin! some of this has been mentioned a couple times here, but I have new motivation to show it off (see below...), so here goes a real-live thread bought it about 2.5 years ago. since the day it arrived, it has never been beyond the alley. didn't exactly get a steal on it, but I don't think I got ripped off on it either, and yota's with an auto trans are pretty rare (turbo being even more rare, but I don't care about that :lol: ). pretty soon after I got it: background.... I bought it from a guy in Grand Rapids who salvages cars. in ~'97 he purchased this truck at insurance auction. it had been stolen, and the 2 guys that stole it drove it through a store front to rob the place. the impact blew the radiator (as well as destroying bumper/headlights/grill/hood/fenders), so they left it and took off on foot. The insurance company totalled it out. So he bought it, fixed it, put tube bumpers, step bars, an add-a-leaf, wider wheels with low backspacing, and 31x12.5 tires on it, and sold it to his sister-in-law. She lived in Colorado for much of that time, so it hasn't been exposed to salt for more than 10 years. about 1.5 years before I bought it, they put a few grand into a brand-new head, turbo, and radiator. and about a year later, her boyfriend "changed" the oil.....and it quickly developed rod knock. we don't know much, other than the fact that 300 miles later, she noticed the noise and the fact that oil pressure gauge read nothing. she had it towed to the dealer, and they charged her for oil, and a drain plug (and labor)...... he bought it back and sold her a newer 4runner, and he planned to put a chevy 4.3 V6 into it, but never got around to it, so he put it up for sale. that winter, I dropped the oil pan, and found these in the bottom: all 4 thrust washer halves, one pretty thoroughly deformed and painted the valve cover and air pipe replaced them, and the main bearings (rod bearings measured well within spec, mains were borderline). started it up, and it was no better. I put it in gear and put the brakes on to see if the noise went away under load.......and noticed that as soon as the turbo started to spool, it started burning oil like crazy. great, seals in the turbo are shot! so I started looking for a new motor. last winter (a bit over a year ago), I noticed a rusty 4runner that had been run into a pole and been sitting for a month or so. offered the guy $200, we settled on $250: too rusty to be worth fixing, but a good engine donor. didn't actually get around to parting it out until last August (notice the wheels and tires on this one. they now live on "a" Subaru Brat) but I did paint the ugly ass wheels on the white one: last november, I finally had the remains of the parts truck hauled away: last wednesday was the last time it ran on the original motor. on thursday I started tearing it apart. I used the N/A block, head, and lower intake manifold. and the injectors, upper manifold, valve cover, sensors, solenoids, MAF, and wiring from the turbo setup. yesterday, it ran again on the new motor. while I let it run to make sure I got all the air out of the cooling system I saw the ramps just sitting there...... CT-20 turbo: unfortunately, the header I bought is for an older truck. I knew the flange was the same, and that an 02 bung would be needed......what I didn't anticipate, was that one of the primaries on the header needs the space occupied by one of the torsion bars for the front suspension (wouldn't be there on an older solid-axle truck). so, stock N/A header is back in it. hopefully the weather won't suck too bad tomorrow, and I can get the brakes bled before work (not delivering....). Still have to put the front diff in, and disconnect the sway bar.
Shweet Chux!! My buddy did the same thing for is turbo or use to be turbo 4-runner. He also converted his to a manual trans at the same time.
left mine an auto.....at least for now. I prefer it for rock crawling. although I've heard the auto is the weak link.....so I saved all the 5MT parts from the parts truck should it fail. brakes bled. tranny line tightened a bit (really hard to access, so barely snug, but seems to have stopped the leak). front diff installed (mostly, couldn't get one of the mounting bolts to line up.....will do some prying and pounding tomorrow) steering stabilizer re-attached. when I had it off the ground to put the diff in, I noticed the right-front brake was dragging. I'll see if it loosens up after driving it a bit.....if not, I still have the calipers from the parts truck. it'll be street driven starting tomorrow. and will probably debut offroad at the open house up at the park in Gilbert on May 16th
yea, I didn't either until I bought this one. they're insanely rare. and only in '87 (replaced with the V6 in '88). put about 40 miles on it today. definitely the slowest vehicle I own :laugh: But it'll do just fine for wheeling! I had contemplated swapping the tstat housings because my 22RTE one had a second sensor in it. but when I took one of the bolts out of the RE housing, I realized the PO must have stripped out the hole and used self-tappers....YIKES. I opted not to touch the second one, and put the first back in. well....while merging today, I wound it out to about 5k rpms, and that gasket let loose. I guess I'll be spending some time with a drill and tap tomorrow. at least it's pretty easy to access. but I spent most of the time driving it today with all the windows open (even the back) and the sunroof out. totally worth it!!!!
took it wheelin today. spent almost 8 hours on the trails (not counting the hour for lunch...). just awesome. I never got to wheel all day in the subarus, it was usually 4 hours, and then 4 hours to limp it home after whatever I broke (usually about an hour drive at the speed limit). some pictures from the day, not really any action shots, it was cold and I was driving most of the time....but a few poser shots: aftermath: more here: http://s26.photobucket.com/albums/c108/Numbchux/wheeling/open house 09/
