I've made some posts here before about this old rig before and I've got a lot to update here. Quick recap of the history of this thing

It's a 1990 4runner, 5 speed 4x4 3.0 with well over 300k when I got it and these terrible little car tires. I bought it off a buddy for 1200$


I promptly shot a rod out the side of the block and dropped a craigslist motor in

I finally got it running and slapped on some 33" KM2s, then got a Chassis Unlimitted winch bumper and a smittybilt winch, love the bumper, haven't had to use the winch yet.

Had some great times at this point, here it is next to my buddy's enormous Bronco which has sadly been sold

Did the quick release door mod, tons and tons of fun, I hardly ever put them on anymore

Unfortunately neglect, long work hours, and having to work on many other projects lead to me not fixing the broken oil pressure gauge at which point the rear main developed a sever leak which I did not notice, and the engine started making some of the most horrific noises I've ever heard an engine make. at this point it had been running again for around a year but I was pretty dejected and listed it for sale while I looked at engines and pondered what to do.

Well, it turns out most people, even yall yota fanatics, aren't in the market for a beat to hell million mile second gen 4runner with a knocking motor, go figure, and I kept looking at the truck and how mean it looked, and I just couldn't scrap it. I think the listing is still on here somewhere though lol. I just couldn't let it go if it wasn't gonna be revived, so I figured I'd do it. Again. This time I decided to go for a full rebuild. Originally I was just gonna lash the valves and clean it up but I knew if it blew again I was gonna regret not going through the whole thing, so with much trepidation and only a few years of tire shop/backyard mechanical experience I tore the whole thing down. I'm VERY glad I did.

Due to my crazy work schedule, most of the work of pulling and tearing down the engine had to be done after sundown.


Aaaaand just like that we have a bare block and a lot of parts




Like a lot of parts



I had this great scheme to sand down the heads with a flat board and sandpaper, yes it does work, but I had em checked at the machine shop and one has cracked, so I ordered up some DNJ cylinder heads

Luckily the block was in good shape and just needed a going-over, decked, hot-tanked, and rebored it's lookin pretty good!





While the block was out at the machine shop I figured I oughta be productive and work on upgrading the 30 year old suspension. I scored some landcruiser coils on ebay and skyjacker shocks to adjust for the length. Doubled up factory brake lines to allow for flex and a 4crawler panhard drop


My buddy decided to do his best Kim Kardashian when I went for some photos


Terrible snapchat quality here but you can see the epic amount of rake from having cruise coils in the back and bone stock OEM front



old rods and pistons



New rings on new pistons after the machine shop pinned em onto the old rods



I've got to say, speccing, installing, and torqueing main bearings has got to be the most nerve-wracking thing I've done mechanically, but it spun smooth as silk when I was done
Busted a couple knuckles installing pistons, the whole process is kind janky, but the whole rotating assembly spins smooth and I am relieved.



Oil pump all cleaned up, starting to go back together



Painted the oil pan, started installing accessories

It's amazing what a wire wheel can do LCE EGR delete, trying to clean up and simplify the engine bay


I wanted to get rid of the stupid crossover pipe that cooked my exhaust valves so I has a friend weld up a dump for the passenger side, the truck was already straight piped (NOT by me) so noise isn't really a concern




Engine ready to go home, I was pretty damn nervous at this point.


So, the process of reinstalling this engine was about as complicated as rebuilding it. When we had done this before the truck was on225/75/15 tires, not 33x12.50s, and it didn't have a foot of winch and bumper sticking out the front, so the hoist couldn't get between the tires, and the boom got stuck against the bumper
Luckily for me I had my uncle helping me (all this has been happening in his backyard/shed, dude is an absolute legend). And luckily for us his mama didn't raise no bitch and neither did his sister, so after rolling his tractor over and hooking up the bucket, it only took two ratchet straps, two floor jacks, and the engine hoist to get the thing in and seated up to the transmission. I really wish I had pictures of the whole setup because it was pretty advanced, but I generally don't stop to take photos when things need to get done and we were trying to beat the sun going down. This was all AFTER we had gotten it in once and the trans input shaft wouldn't seat because my buddy had put the clutch alignment tool in cockeyed. I should've checked it though, so my bad. Anyway I got the new motor shoehorned in and hooked up all the nerve endings.
It was at this point i installed an aftermarket oil pressure gauge and went to start the thing. Well, it din't go beautifully. The oil pressure gauge had some pretty erratic readings and the engine would run, but it was super rough and only wanted to stay on if you held the throttle. After going through all my usual troubleshooting steps (checking timing, TPS, fuel injectors, idle air screw, and countless other things), I was kinda defeated at this point and towed it up to the shop I worked at to see if the techs I worked with had any insight.Everyone took a shot, including one dude insisting over and over it had to be a vacuum leak, even though spraying brake clean and throttle cleaner all over it did nothing, and once again I felt hopeless. But then one night as I was once more trying in vain to get the bastard to stay running, my assistant manager of all people walked over and went through everything i had done to the motor. Now the dude isn't a mechanic by trade but he has built 450 wheel horsepower Subaru motors and is a great logic-based diagnostics guy, so he's sitting there listening to the engine, and dude for some reason has the notion to unplug the AFM. No I have always seen that engine will not run, or will not stay running if the AFM or MAF isn't hooked up or is faulty, but I'll be damned if that engine didn't stay running for the next five minutes. It was still a little rough, and was louder than before, but I was just psyched that this thing actually ran after about a year of being in mothballs. I drove it around a bit and it definitely ran different than before, and after checking both AFMs I have laying around there was no change in the motor or how it ran and would stall as soon as I plugged one in. I actually made a post about this recently on the normal forum. It turned out that when i did the EGR delete that I removed a bolt for one of the mounting brackets of the system and didn't put it back thinking the threads bottomed out in the cast walls of the intake manifold. Turns out the hole goes straight into the main intake chamber. Total rookie move but I plugged the hole and hooked up the AFM and now it runs like new, turns out the guy who said it was a vacuum leak was right.

First fill up in over a year

Next I set about figuring out why my oil pressure gauge was acting up, at this point it would now only read 20-30 PSI and would flicker all over the place. I tried clearing the line, tightening the fittings, bleeding the line so there was no air in it to no success until at one point I unhooked the line and looked at the gauge. And it stared back at me. Reading 20 pounds. With no line hooked up. I threw it at a wall and walked next door to Advance Auto Parts, bought a new nicer one, hooked it up, thing was perfect. around 80 PSI on startup then after warming up 15-20 at idle and revving up to 60-80 near redline. This was the biggest relief of the whole thing. The engine I built could now be declared healthy and functional.

After a quick dirt trip I figured out my 4x4 wasn't engaging, seemed to be an issue with the ADD system so all that promptly got ripped out and a zip tie secured to fork, all mechanical 4x4 and a cleaner engine bay.


All my girls together at last. Time to get rid of this rake. My girlfriend got me some ball joint spacers for christmas cause she's the best, got some new CVs, stabilizer links, and Bilstein 5100s to match


got the boys back together to fix up the front end

I'll have some more to add tomorrow, but the front is lifted up and it's almost level.

 

So before I figured out the vacuum issue,my gf and I had planned to camping down in Ocala National Forest. I wasn't confident enough to drive the 4runner all the way out there (Its a little over an hour and pretty remote, it's also where I blew up the first engine). So I borrowed the family tow dolly, hitched up the Tundra, and we dragged that sucker all the way down.The trip went well, a bit of fish-tailing on the dolly I believe from lack of tongue weight, I'll do some testing before I tow it again, but no major issues. It was incredibly cold at night, yeah it is Florida, but the humidity at night is bone-chilling, but the weather was beautiful the next day and the 4runner saw dirt for the first time in over a year. This is when I figured out the 4x4 wasn't engaging, which I have since remedied, but she still did pretty well despite popping an occasional fuse. My gf is a pretty good photographer so hopefully these shots make up for all my garbage cell phone pics








unfortunately most of the long exposures didn't turn out, that said, the night sky was amazing that night

 

I've had this Spartan locker sitting around for about a year, finally took the plunge and jammed it in this weekend, super simple installation and while i was considering having a shop do it I decided if I could build an engine i can probably do this. Toyota's side-adjust backlash setup is super convenient.


It's been raining like a mf here so the doors went back on

And I took it on it's first full-length trip. about 160 miles, we drove it from Jacksonville to Ocala National forest and rolled around for the day, it performed great! Wheels a hell of a lot better than my tundra for sure




flexing out in a wash. I had a moment of panic when i saw something dripping profusely under it but it was just condensation, I've just net seen that much condensation before. It has no AC anymore, would fuel lines be cold enough to build condensation?

 

Back to the woods again, stretching legs




Bonus shot of the Tundra because even in camper configuration it rips pretty good. I love the 2Uz in that thing, tower of power and it just never falters.

 

Went out to Osceola State Forest the other day and sunk the thing pretty good. Engine shut down had to tow it home. This is why we don't wheel alone!

Fortunately all it did was kill the starter. Once I flushed the cylinders out and slapped my other AFM on it she fired right up. Unfortunately it was in the water long enough to log the drivetrain and oil, so all the gear and engine oil got drained. They're all on their 3rd change now and looking pretty good, still gonna do at least two more



I started by stripping all the nasty carpet and liner as well as the seats. I was planning on doing this soon but now it was a necessity. The drivers seat had literally broken through the foam and was resting on the floor when I got it so time for an upgrade. We went ahead and just bedlined the floor pans.



not wanting a repeat of the engine shutdown, and also not looking to spend money on a snorkel or hack a hole in the totally *pristine* body, I rerouted the intake using... a bunch of junk I had laying around. There's about 19 hose clamps in it and parts from 4 cars and 3 auto parts stores and to top it all off, an air filter from a lawn mower that my uncle no longer owns. The thing runs gangbusters now. and it would have to be submerged up to the windows to suck water again.

Now the factory air box location is ripe for installation of a big ole thicc deep cycle battery

 

Corbeau trailcat seats installed, I got a screaming deal on em. Corbeau's website lists damaged/blemished seats for sale at discount prices, check em out. Perfect for a hooptie like mine. Right now they're attached to R50 Nissan Pathfinder brackets haphazardly bolted to the floor. I'm gonna have a buddy weld the brackets to the floor so it's safe, and I can remove the seats from the brackets still.





So the interior is no longer trashed and the engine runs gangbusters. I figured I'd start doing some more quality of life upgrades. You see, for the past 4 years or so the power steering has never worked, but because it wasn't a daily and there were a million other things to do so I never fixed it. The good thing was it never leaked or made noise so I left it be. Well I was browsing the junkyard for windshield(that was a fruitless effort) I found a brand-new looking power steering pump in a wrecked 4runner. Delighted I grabbed it and paid 30$, figured if it wasn't the pump then I'd at least have a new pump. The new pump was missing the pulley and they keyway, I figure I'll just use the one off the old pump. Well I remove the old pump, put the pulley in a vise, and whacked it with the impact, popped right off. Now, consider before we continue, why would a power steering pump make no noise, not leak, but not work, even when spinning on a belt? Well it would be because the keyway was missing. I think at some point the pump went bad, so the PO just removed the keyway so the belt would sill be tensioned (it drives the fan too.) Actually a decent plan if you're strapped for cash. Anyway I cut a clevis pin down to about the size of a keyway and slapped it back together. Upon install it pissed violently out of the pressure fitting, so I got some new crush washers and it stopped. Then It pissed violently out of the vacuum plug on the bottom. Not out of the two vacuum lines, no, straight out of the threads. I swapped it out for the one on my other pump. Violent leak. I installed a Ford drain plug to plug the whole thing. Violent leak. I removed the pump, filled the port with JB weld, put thread sealant on the plug, put JB weld all around the head, and ran it down with an impact on max setting. Leak fixed.

 

Got a free set of FJ wheels and a free set of used "35s". These 315/70/17 Pro Comp tires are claimed by the website to be "34.5", yeah ok, truck guys with these will tell you all day they're 35s. Put a tap measure on em, they're almost exactly a 33. Still looks good sitting higher, not sure about the shiny wheels though.
Also, after a long trip out in the Tundra to a few state forests, I decided the 4runner would need bigass tires and more beef, the mud is just too nasty and I hate having to constantly get out, walk the hole, and often turn around. Shockingly, I jumped on car-part, and there was an 85 4runner in a junkyard 65 miles from home, for only 250$, I snatched it up quick and took it home. The gearset is only a 4.10 but i picked up a 4.56 third at the junkyard. They had a 4.88 at the junkyard too, I might grab it if no one else does, always good to have options and they are quite rare. Ordered up an all-pro swap kit, one of the lead techs at my shop said he'd lay the load bearing welds once I get it all tacked up.