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Been a while! What a year its been so far.. Was able to get my Blaze kit installed, swapped out to BFG KM3 35x12.5r15s and finished the wrap... well almost Gotta do the topper one of these days but it needs to be sanded some more first, for now its just primered, doesnt look too bad.
Blazeland kit freshly installed First trip out of the driveway
Ended up putting some 2" wheel spacers on the back to even the track width out a bit. Havent gotten a chance to take it out on any trips yet because of lockdowns and all, but soon hopefully. Hope you guys are doing well!
I have an 88 Rrunner 3VZE like you restored. AC Discharge hose just started leaking. But as of 04/09/21 I cannot locate a new hose anywhere; Toyota part # 88711-89133 is "Discontinued." I see you had a hydraulic hose shop refit the existing hoses. Did that work out over time? I contacted a hydraulic hose shop and he said he could do it with hoses and ferrules he had on hand. Any suggestions? Thanks. Btw, I bought my 4Runner new in Aug 1988 and have almost 360K miles on it. Its been my main driver since '88.
I sent my AC hoses to https://coldhose.com/pages/ac-hose-repair to be repaired. It's been close to 1 year and still seems to be fine, I guess long term, we'll see. I think to repair both my soft lines plus the shipping was somewhere around $100. One hose I believe they remade completely with all new metal ends and fittings, the other hose had a special bend to the metal end and they reused just that metal end.
Gomay08, amazing your still dailying the 88 from new. Wish I could have gotten to see these 1st gen 4runners new on the lot. The hoses are still holding up great, I also did this same thing on my pickup. They have been on there for 5 years or so with out any trouble either, I would not hesitate to have someone make you the hoses assuming they have been around awhile or have some decent reviews.
If you cant find a good place nearby, the site coryc85 mentioned might be worth checking out too.
Thanks for the replies! Will give local hydraulic hose shop a shot. I can't believe the 1988 AC discharge hose 88711-89133 has been "Discontinued" worldwide and can't be found anywhere online. 1st time I've encountered this for the '88 4Runner. I even checked ebay Australia and UK, Asian parts suppliers Amyama, Megazip, and Alibaba. Amazing. This made in Japan truck has been a reliable driver for over 32 years now. Lived in TN and CA for 1st 12 years and it had no rust until I moved home to Louisville, KY in 2000 where they liberally cover the roads with brine and road salt every winter. Even with that, rust has been mostly limited to the fender wells. I work as a geologist in the oil fields of W KY and SW IN and this truck has gotten me in and out some very muddy drilling sites in the middle of soybean and corn fields; sites so muddy that bigger/heavier 4-wheel drive trucks (Fords, Chevys, etc) had to get pulled out by a dozer.
Im amazed that paint job is so clean but I guess thats what happens when you take care of things!
I know there were dealer installed AC systems, maybe there was a couple different set ups and you have the less common type? Anyways, keep us updated, I got a hose I need to replace so Im hoping I can order new.
how have i never seen your build thread before? looks great! you really have an eye for detail and making things look factory. i definitely appreciate that.
btw, im in sacramento. we should get together for some 4wheeling.
Local hydraulic hose shop did a great job for me; replaced hose and ferrules while I waited for $13! I added new o-rings and re- installed then took it back to my regular repair shop to test. Still has a leak somewhere. Put on a vac it goes down in less than 1 hour. Mechanic has checked for dye leak and used the electronic halogen sniffer. No luck yet. He previously pulled the evaporator coil and exp valve in the cab and checked for leaks; then reinstalled w/ new o-rings (evap coil, exp valve, and compressor only 2.5 years old). Soapy water on the shrader low and high valves show no bubbles. Any suggestions? Maybe ultrasonic leak detector next.
Update on my 88 4runner (3VZE) AC probs - Repair shop failed to find my AC leak using dye, UV light, and halogen sniffer. $587 for several charges and dye tests - and still no AC. I found youtube vids showing mechanics using ultrasonic tester to find leak noise; however my shop knew nothing of that "strange" method. Decided to do repair myself and replace parts, test for vac, and recharge w/ coolant. Bought Pittsburgh vac pump from Harbor Freight and I'm waiting for Pittsburgh AC manifold Gauge set to be back in stock (current China supply problems). I ordered new Denso evap core, condenser, and compressor from RockAuto.com. I had system converted from R12 to R134a in May 2018 by a another local repair shop. R12 system had leak somewhere. Shop tried adding some R12 but still leaked. BTW - You can't beat R12 for ice cold cold AC; I sorely miss it. R134a is a very weak alternative - Thanks EPA. So, Shop replaced compressor and evap core and flushed condenser before converting. Ran fine until Nov 2020. Lost pressure almost overnight. I don't know what oil the 2018 shop used - Ester or PAG46. I read that conversion to R134a from R12 can degrade rubber hoses. ? As of now I suspect the original condenser, original suction hose (already had disharge hose refitted), or compressor 2018 shop installed (cheap reman? - haven't pulled it yet) are the leak source. Also ordered metal lines to condenser and drier/accumulator from toyotapartsdeal.com. However they sent the incorrect parts. Don't rely on the parts they list online for your make and model. Turns out they are clueless middlemen in El Monte, CA who ship out parts from multiple vendors around the country. Avoid these clowns!! I'm still waiting on a refund a month after they received the parts. And they ding you for 20% restocking fee as well as a shipping label to return wrong parts they shipped. The new Denso compressor comes filled with Mineral Oil (for R12). Will have to drain that and replace with PAG46 for R134a. Did you use PAG46? How many ounces? How much R134a? Internet search indicates it should be about 70-80% of the R12 used; which was about 2 Ibs I think. Any suggestions? My best guess is ~22 ounces. Thanks.
@space-junk thanks man, how is your turbo coming along? I would love to of found a turbo truck.. I tried to read through your build but its so long I had to skim some of it! Made it to the end of the thread but that stopped in 2017 from what I could see, hopefully you got everything sorted!
@gomay08 Both of my trucks has been converted to r134a before I owned them, and both are now swapped to 5vzs which come from the factory with R134a. I am no AC expert, determining the amount of oil to use is hard for me, it depends on what components you have replaced and how much is left is the system (how to know that? I don't know lol). When I had my 4Runner recharged after my engine swap and replacing the hoses and dryer, I let the shop figure out how much oil to add after giving them that basic information. If I were to guess I don't think its hyper critical to get it exactly right, but even still that is hard to know how close you even are. 22 oz seems like a lot to me based off what I remember but don't quote me. As for the rubber hose issue, I have not seen any with either of my trucks, and I know my pickup has had R134a in it for at least 20 years and the hoses are still ok.
As for the 4Runner, its been a year since I posted any real progress, quite a few things to update here!
I finally decided to break down and get a new carpet kit, purchased an ACC kit and installed it myself. That was not as easy as you might think. Luckily I still had my old carpet to help locate holes from, but it is still quite tedious. You have to trim it to size and cut all the holes in it for any mounting locations and things like the center console and shifter. Trimming the footwells was probably the worst, really worried about cutting it too short.
Since I am using this thing for longer trips and adventures I decided to upgrade the tech a bit in the truck. I took a page from some of those overlander guys and put together a mounting system on the dash for a tablet and phone. I used mostly the 67 designs hardware and then 3d printed an adapter, case and mounting feet for the tablet and rail that go onto the dash. It works great and is much more solid than you would expect. This is the next best thing to go into our dash pad pocket if you werent lucky enough to get an inclinometer. I couldnt deal with the ebay prices for those things, and went this direction instead.
New steering wheel too, definitely recommend one if yours is totally trashed. Mine was horrible after I cleaned it up, ill go through the trouble to learn how to put new leather on it one day.. but not yet.
I also ended up swapping in a Tacoma E-Locker axle under the back of the 4Runner. I decided to do this for several reasons.. first, my left rear axle shaft was bent, second my rear 3rd member needs a rebuild, third the extra 2.75" inch width from the Tacoma made it easier to run with out wheel spacers, fourth the old drums and pads were shot and finally who doesnt want an E Locker???? The swap was challenging in its own ways, I had to remake basically all the bracketry for the emergency brake and brake lines since everything is reversed from left to right on the Tacomas compared to these trucks. Also you need to shorten a Tacoma ebrake cable, its awkward at best but doable. Basically the only thing that lines up with out any work are the spring perches, guess I should feel lucky about that one at least The wiring was pretty painless, I just went with one of those standard E Locker switches you can get from any of the toyota shops online, no e locker computer.
I also used this opportunity to put a TrueTrack in the front diff, what a chore that was to set up. The biggest issue I had with installing the new carrier was that its like 100 thousands more narrow than the stock carrier from my 88 and I needed to stack a few shims together to get the bearing preload correct. I had ordered new side bearings and a shim kit with the Truetrack but those shims were not nearly enough. Took me several weeks of calls back to ECGS to get them to send me an assortment of shims that I could mix and match to stack together and get the correct setup. Glad that is over with.
I am still running 4.10 gears, its perfect on the highway with the 35's with a 3.4. Its too fast on the trail though, so my next project is upgrading to an RF1A transfercase and some 4.7 gears. Found the transfercase in a sacramento wrecking yard out of an 85 EFI pickup, so glad it was top shift like I hoped. Still in progress on this one, hopefully it should be an easy swap once I am done going through the case and semi rebuilding it.
Also I just recently passed my first normal smog on this truck, almost 2 years since I did the swap. How time flies.. Numbers on the smog came out pretty good, better than last time at the ref, I guess the motor is aging well? lol
Wandering around up near Mormon Emigrant Trail, was a nice day with the truck, nothing hard just a solo trip.
And a final poser shot I took driving around looking at the fire damage near my area from last summer.
The truck is really coming together, its nice to drive and feels pretty comfortable. I ended up installing some wet okole seat covers and that was kind of the final piece to the interior puzzle that helped freshen it up. Looking forward to a lot of new adventures with it in the coming years. My first child (a son) is due here any day and Its going to be great to get to share my passion for Toyotas with him and make some memories together. Really looking forward to that.
Wow, mbomberz1, that's an amazing buildup. Nice looking 4Runner indeed.
Do you have any idea how long it's been sing I saw the Black-n-Gold license plates? I remember every having them when I was a kid, but then they went to the Blue-n-Gold shortly before I started driving myself. My dad's Model A, 32 Coup Special, and his 57 Chevy stepside pickup (which is what I drove until I joined the Corps, and went through 2 clutches myself ), both kept their Black-n-golds, but every other vehicle they got were the blue-n-gold.
Of course, I lived in Arizona most of my life. From the time I was 19 until I was almost 50, so I got used to their colors. But I still remember the Black-n-Golds all over the roads when I was growing up.
[QUOTE=mbomberz1;52464350]@space-junk thanks man, how is your turbo coming along? I would love to of found a turbo truck.. I tried to read through your build but its so long I had to skim some of it! Made it to the end of the thread but that stopped in 2017 from what I could see, hopefully you got everything sorted!/QUOTE]
Hahaha. Yea, i know its taken ages, but we are back into it. i think the story picked back up on page 30 if youre using standard view. All i can say, from my experience with a turbo 4runner, is that i hate the automatic for street driving, but love it on the trails. hahahaha. also, i should have gone 5.29s.
05-25-2020, 07:24 PM
Gotta do the topper one of these days but it needs to be sanded some more first, for now its just primered, doesnt look too bad.
looks great, looking forward to hearing about the hose
The wiring was pretty painless, I just went with one of those standard E Locker switches you can get from any of the toyota shops online, no e locker computer.
), both kept their Black-n-golds, but every other vehicle they got were the blue-n-gold. 
