SNOWMAN'S 85 CHEVOTA 4RUNNER BUILD

[SNOWMAN]

This all started whan I sold my daily driver 93 4runner. It needed at least one of the transmission shift solenoids replaced but would run fine if you warmed it up for ten minutes. Usually I don't have ten extra minutes every morning and I didn't have time to go get shift solenoids at a junk yard (kind of a complex deal) and the new parts were super expensive, so I wanted something different. I was able to sell it for $2800 which pretty much summed up my budget for whatever vehicle I obtained next. :lmao:

So I began to search and search on craigslist, allofcraigs.com and ebay the following friday (my day off). I was thinking something lifted was necessary and I almost closed a deal on a 96 XJ on 33's from some dealer in Pueblo but I couldn't get them down enough and it did not have cruise or A/C. Ironically neither does the vehicle I ended up with but the price was right and all the A/C parts are there except for the Condenser. I can easily obtain one though, convert to R134A, vac down the system and charge it being that I am a mechanic.

So after not finding a vehicle to purchase I went to go meet my wife for dinner in C. Springs and on the way I stopped by the Monument Wal Mart as I had seen a big lifted Suburban there recently. I've always liked Suburbans because my buddy Matt had one in High School. We used to pack in that thing and drive all around Lake Tahoe/Reno/Carson City getting into trouble. Those were the days. Moving on with my story though, the Suburban was not there but there was another 4Runner. This one was a 1st Gen and it was already sitting on 35's with a winch bumper and some beat up sliders and back bumper. I immediately thought that it had great potential but the price was probably too steep. So I got out to check it out and I'm glad that I did.

[SNOWMAN]

Having issues with picture upload. Hold on a sec. Need to resize my files. :wrench:

[Brody]

So does it already have a Chevy engine in it or are you going to do a swap?

Northwest Off Road is a good source for swap parts, but they are kinda a PITA to deal with. Advanced Adapters is another, though NWOR has motors mounts and all the rest of the other junk you need.

I did a Holley Pro Jected 302 swap with a C4 into a 1980 Yota pick up I had and that thing rocked....about 20 years ago...I have also seen some really sweet 4.3L swaps. If I had to do another engine swap into a Yota, it would be the Chevy 350 EFI. 6 bangers, like 4 bangers, are OK, but a V8 gets the job done. Personally if I was going to do all the work to adapt a Ford or Chevy engine into a Yota, I wouldn't even look at a 6 banger unless I had a freebie sitting in my garage..

Oh...and I am currently running a supercharged 3.4L in my heap, which I like, but there is nothing wrong with more horsepower.

[SNOWMAN]

Ok. Having no luck with that right now and I have to leave the house for most of the day. The pictures explain it all and the uploading & editing process on here seems to be a bit different than on CO4x4. Stay tuned for more pics and additional commentary....

Brody. Yes it already has a 91 TBI 4.3l V6, 700r4, NP208. Like I said. Stay tuned because I have 192 pics already of my progress on this thing but iphone photos are apparently too large for this forum to handle. Very confused because I have uploaded others on here. Not sure of the best way to resize them. Thought about uploading them all to shutterfly and then copying the resized photos back to my album on my computer but Shutterfly Uploader is not working either. :rolleyes:

[Brody]

PM Aaron, Chris, or Jock about the photo resizing. There is supposed to be a simple way to do it.

The 4.3L are sweet...

[SNOWMAN]

Test -->

[SNOWMAN]

So we ate dinner at Salsa Brava which is a bit further up Briargate from the shoppes. It was good and has a nice atmosphere but look out for the $7 Tall Dos Equis :rolleyes:. I called the guy mid meal. He agreed to meet me there after we finished dinner. Before the test drive I knew that it needed some love and that I'd have to find a back seat. I found the interior to be the major problem but it already had spare front & rear shafts, spare 35, spare birfield/hub/rotor, ubolts and spring plates strapped off to the roll cage. So that was nice.

I figured I'd ask him his bottom dollar. He replied with $2k. I told him "sold"! So that's when I started showing this somewhat beat down rig some love. :wrench:

So this is what I ended up with. --->

[SNOWMAN]

Two pics at a time for now seems to be the way to go. Build process to follow when I have more time. :lmao:

[EldoradoFJ60]

If that body is a nice as it looks it's a steal at $2K.

[Rob]

Nice find. So what's "beat down" about it, other than the interior?

[Mporter]

Nice. Lucky you found it before I did haha.

[4Runninfun]

That truck was for sale all summer in monument for $3,500. glad it went to a good home!

[SNOWMAN]

So what's "beat down" about it, other than the interior?

Thanks for the compliments so far.

To answer you Old Unit - The tie rod was bent, rear drive shaft is dented up and bent, stabilizer was crushed, front shaft needs some new joints. back bumper was destroyed and so were the sliders. It looks like lack of maintenance and abuse in general. A lot of wiring related to the swap was crappy, diagnostic link not hooked up so can't tell what the O2's are reading and whether or not its running lean or rich, temp sender is bad, stereo not hooked up, etc... Most of the minor issues are being ironed out every night here. I have already replaced the bumper, installed a different Deck & CB, 50/50 split bench in back, Interior Maplight. The plan is to switch the winch over from the Willys tonight. I'll get into all of it in a bit here. I have a 2.5 year old and a pregnant wife here so I'm lucky to be buying rigs and getting anything done with them to be honest. I have been documenting everything with photos and the content will come.

Here is what I did with the Bumper.

[SNOWMAN]

So I plan to trim that down a bit after I decide how I want to cut it. I'm thinking about cutting off that rear plastic on the sides and then tying it into the flares in one way or another. Or should I just ditch the flares? It's my opinion that with some 2" blocks in the rear and some better front springs I could easily clear 37's or I could just cut a bunch. But that will be next year at the earliest and maybe not at all. Regardless, I just needed a way to hang my mountain bike rack on there for now & I can also plug in my little tow hook should I get stuck. Shackle Mounts and Shackles will be ordered next paycheck for front and back.

After the Bumper was on, I had to take it up Dakan Rd for a shakedown run. :steer:

[Fordguy77]

Looking Good

[SNOWMAN]

Not much to my suprise, the front tires rub pretty bad when the wheels are turned and your going though off camber ditches and the like. It did good though and the 700R4 transmission seems strong and shift kit'd with a added B&M ratchet shifter (which needed some lube). The crawl ratio is pretty good though. Supposedly the 208 is a 3:1. Maybe somebody could confirm that.

So that little run was last weekend. This last week I left work early one day and ran up to Jims Used Toyota Truck Parts (also known as Yoda Jims). My buddy used to work there and is fairly good friends with Jim and the guys there. Shaun kinda gave me free roam of the yard and then took all my money $114...haha. I had expected that.

I scored the 50/50 split bench with all the hardware (sorry Patrolman that your standard bench didn't work out but I still have not been able to determine what brackets that thing used to use. More than likely the Roll Bar Mounted ones but I could not find any of them anywhere). In addition I got a tie rod, rear panels, door panels, grill, two mirrors, steering stabilizer, rear tailgate panel, wiper motor cover, back window switch and probably something else that I've forgotten.

Here is some of the work on that stuff and the dash. Under the CB I mounted a 5 circuit accessory fuse block in order to obtain key on power for cb, radio, accessory power point and map light. The major pain overall was installing the rear seat since my runner still had paint in the bolt threads and they were then carpeted over. It didn't help that I'm 6'4" 260 and I was doing this in the dark garage either. I think all the carpet is gonna go but that is low priority right now.

[SNOWMAN]

So this last Friday was my flex day and marked the two week mark of owning this biotch. I had already obtained a temp tag and my title but I wanted to make sure I was going to get through emissions. I had heard from somebody that I had to get a DR2365 (<-- Insert correct form number here) filled out by an inspector at the Emissions Technical Center. So I set up an appointment which I missed cuz my two year old was not so chipper in the AM. I rescheduled for 1pm. So after arriving early, I sat and waited for the inspector to get back from lunch. He showed up and pulled the vehicle in. He was trip'n about not seeing a check engine light come on with the key. Additionally, he was not satisfied that he could not talk to the PCM (Powertrain Control Module). I told him that only one of the wires are hooked up to the DLC (Diagnostic Link Connector). He tried and tried again but was unsuccessful :rolleyes: He came back about 30 minutes later and told me that it could easily be made to pass. All I had to do was install a complete exhaust system (moving the Y up closer to the bell housing and relocating the Cat to the transmission crossmember area), Install a second PCV Valve and remove the breather, Install a different air cleaner with the TAC (Thermal Air Controller) hooked up, Install a purge line on my EVAP can and wire up a check engine light and the DLC.

:lmao: Epic Fail! So I signed the form which was tamper proof paper (he informed me of that :thumb:) and I drove off around the corner to Advanced auto and bought some vacuum hose, a edelbrock air cleaner with the TAC inlet, Two new PCV's and some T connectors. $45 Total. I figured that a normal inspector might not care if the exhaust was built correctly as long as it had the Cat & Muffler. Additionally, they would not notice the check engine light not coming on for two seconds and they surely would not hook up to the DLC.

So I proceeded to the nearest Air Care Facility and they would not let me test due to my tire size and my air inlet system "Appearing to be Incomplete" :blah:

[SNOWMAN]

Not one to take no for an answer I signed another failure form and decided to go to the facility in Castle Rock. I take work vehicles there a lot and chum it up with the employees a bit. Additionally, I had prepared for this event by filling out a comment card and dropping it in the box the week before :lmao:

As soon as I pulled up the kid says "Dude, I saw that comment card you filled out last week. Thanks a lot man!" He then said something about my tires and I said well they are probably pretty close to 34" (max allowable on the dyno) by now. He agreed and told me to wait in the booth and that he would try and run it but might not be able too.

So, all went well this go around and I passed. I then proceeded to pick up my plates. :thumb:

Note: A different battery I had laying around was installed the night before.

[SNOWMAN]

That truck was for sale all summer in monument for $3,500. glad it went to a good home!

Thanks man. I plan to get her back in tip top shape. Yah, I had seen it at the Rockyard Landscape months back when I went MTB'ing on Santa Fe Trail but I wasn't looking for a rig at that time so I never checked it out. I guess the guy works there and his wife works at Wally World. The rig was supposed to be for her but she is also a wildland fire fighter and isn't around much in the Summers. He also mentioned that he is building a Suburban on Rockwells! They had traded a Jeep for it and got it out of Longmont. Now I know where to go get my rocks...ha-ha.

[SNOWMAN]

I got a bit done on it yesterday too. Painted the mirrors, front bumper and back panels. I also Installed the used tie rod and got the winch ready to swap over.

[SNOWMAN]

Now my back window works from inside. Sweeet! I love it when junkyard parts work. I also put some velcro on my stereo remote so I don't lose it and then put some in the back of the rig on the shell so that I can rock out on the taillgate by the campfire also and use the remote without loosing it.

[SNOWMAN]

OOPS, forgot the Tie Rod Pic. :wrench:

[Popsgarage]

Lookin' good man. How much do you notice the weight of the 4.3L?

[Brody]

Looking nice!

I cannot believe the absolute and total bunch of bullshit that you have to go through for the emissions testing. ****, they don't care if your tires are rotted through, your brakes can't stop your rig, your lights don't work, and your windshield has so many cracks in it, you will be spitting glass the first stiff breeze.

What a crock. What a racket.

[Clint Z]

BTW The 208 is a 2.72 to 1 low.

I used to be a chevy guy!

Clint

[SNOWMAN]

Lookin' good man. How much do you notice the weight of the 4.3L?

I had never drove a 1st gen 4runner until this one sooo I couldn't really tell you. I can say that it has good power on the freeway :)

[SNOWMAN]

BTW The 208 is a 2.72 to 1 low.

I used to be a chevy guy!

Clint

Thanks for the info. Was just going off word of mouth on that.

[SNOWMAN]

My build was stalled at the begining of the week but we are back on track now. :thumb:

Switched the Winch over the night before last. I think it looks great. I should make a new power lead for it one day at work but the one on it is ok for now.

So here I am, its Saturay morning, the wife and kid are gone for the day and I've got about 10 hours to go for a mountain bike ride and then either make additional progress while drinking beer or go get lost and drink some beers. HMMMM :D

[4Runninfun]

wow you are making great progress on it!

[Michael4rnr]

Looks really good.

[Cr33p3r]

Looking good, its coming along fairly quick too!

[Brody]

Lookin' good man. How much do you notice the weight of the 4.3L?

If I had to make a guess, I would say that the weight difference isn't too noticeable and was more than made up for in the power increase. The 4.3L can't weigh too much more than the 3.4L and that, as well as the 4.3L, is a common Yota swap. I don't even think the front springs are an issue or that there is a heating issue (bigger radiator needed) either.

I stuck a EFI 302 V8 into an 80 Yota PU I had and had all sorts of hoops to jump through -making motor mounts, tranny mounts and a mess of other stuff as well as having to mess around a lot with the front spring packs so that I could get flex plus eliminate any sagging. Then I had heating issues and eventually stuck a Griffen radiator in it. Liked the power, but the swap was a PITA.

[SNOWMAN]

Lookin' good man. How much do you notice the weight of the 4.3L?

If I had to make a guess, I would say that the weight difference isn't too noticeable and was more than made up for in the power increase. The 4.3L can't weigh too much more than the 3.4L and that, as well as the 4.3L, is a common Yota swap. I don't even think the front springs are an issue or that there is a heating issue (bigger radiator needed) either.

I stuck a EFI 302 V8 into an 80 Yota PU I had and had all sorts of hoops to jump through -making motor mounts, tranny mounts and a mess of other stuff as well as having to mess around a lot with the front spring packs so that I could get flex plus eliminate any sagging. Then I had heating issues and eventually stuck a Griffen radiator in it. Liked the power, but the swap was a PITA.

Well i plan to install a front axle truss. I've heard the housings aren't very strong. After driving it more now I would say that its not going to win any races but it does get around pretty good. Usually the trans is in the wrong gear but a smack of the snap your neck ratchet shifter usually resolves that quickly.

I equate my progress to living in the woods and being somewhat bored. Why don't some of you move to Larkspur?

Yesterday I changed the plugs. It had some Denso something or others in it. I think 3 out of 6 were loose :rolleyes:. They crossed to an Autolite 24 but I went one step hotter with the Autolite 25's. I also bumped up the idle screw on the tbi a half turn. When the motor was hot and had been loaded with fuel it used to lug down and occasionally died at some stoplights.

Not any more :D

Also yesterday I modified my bike rack by cutting 1/2" off the part that slides into the reciever hitch. It was too long and i couldnt pin it so I had been using my old rack but i much favor the Yakima Holdup that I recently got at the REI Englewood garage sale event for $89 (originally $419) :eek: So with that done it was time to go ride Dawson Butte trail off Tomah Rd. just south of Castle Rock & north of Larkspur. Its a great 5 mile loop that I tend to favor due too ease of access but we have some other great trails down here too.

After the bike ride and some carb loading I decided to install my Thule load bars and spoiler on it. I think i've owned these since 1992 but they are easily adaptable to all different trucks and suv's. They dont quite sit right on the chevota but it gives it a lower profile and they seem tight enough for some ski racks. I doubt I'll be throwing a boat up there though.

Today, the ski racks get bolted to the load bars. I cant wait to ride my K2's next weekend.

[Brody]

Hey Rian

Trusses the front axle is a good thing to do as the gears are good in Yaots but the axle housings are cheesy. If you do an axle truss, don't get one with holes or a cute "Yota" emblem cut in it. They are simply rust catchers. Daves Off Road Performance has some really nice plain Jane ones

http://www.davezoffroadperformance.com/

While you are screwing around with the front axle stuff, these are also a nice beef up:

http://www.trail-gear.com/creeper-gussets

If you plan to use the Yota for harder trails, you may very well want to truss the front axle horizontally, too, as the axles can flex both directions under hard use.

And, of course, you can always through a supercharger on the 4.3 if you have money burning a hole in your pocket!

[upnover]

SWEET!!!!.

We need to build you some new rock rails. It will look tits and protect at the same time. lol

[Popsgarage]

Well i plan to install a front axle truss. I've heard the housings aren't very strong.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the '85 housing was the strongest front axle that Toyota made.

[Brody]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the '85 housing was the strongest front axle that Toyota made.

Well, it was strong enough. The FJ60 and Fj80 houses are stronger. Toyota has a bad rep of weak axle housings and good gears. It has always been said that Rover, who has cheese gears and super strong housings, and Yota should simply get together and combine the best of both. It is a common Rover swap to install Yota 3rds into the Rover housings, but for some reason, you don't see or hear about the reverse going on.

The 85 front housing is fine until you get above 35" tires, then you have all sorts of unwanted happy **** going on. Add wheel spacers to that for clearance, and you add to the problem. Once you get the axle trussed to beat the band so that it doesn't flex and is strong (assuming big tires) then the other weak points start to show up: steering knuckle studs break and need up grading, hub studs break and need up grading, hub gears break and need up grading, etc. On top of this, even if you upgrade all of this BS, the actual knuckle balls themselves start taking a beating, hence the need for the 'creeper braces' for the ball reinforcement.

I have done all of this crap on my current rig, but have left the stock hub gears as a weak point. I am running the ARP upgrade knuckle studs, after shearing one side off on a trail..fun, for sure..., and have upgraded the hub studs to 12.6 metrics after blowing off the whole hub assembly 2-3 times. Of course I didn't start running into any real issues until I started running 38x15.50s, which was no real surprise. I was wondering what was going to break with the bigger (upgraded from 37x12.50s) tires. When I had to replace those tires, I dropped back down to sorta 37ish (37"+) slightly less aggressive tread (I was running the Nitto Mud Grapplers) and lost 2" on the width. No problems with the smaller tires so far.

[4Runninfun]

If you do decide to truss the front axle take it VERY easy. I would even go as far as to build a jig to hold the axle straight. There are a lot of stories out there about guys who have warped their axle by either going to fast or putting too much heat into the metal.

[Brody]

What Jon said. Leave the 3rd and the axles in to act as a heat sink if you don't do a jig and stitch it slowly, alternating sides...

[Funrover]

Sweet set up, I dig the bikes also!

[SNOWMAN]

So Thursday night I pulled my driveshafts out to have them completely rebuilt while I was skiing @ Copper on Friday. I probably should have gave Bill @ Englewood Driveline some better warning but I had called the week before and it seemed like he could easily handle it. I think that normally it would have been fine but he had six JK driveshafts that were dropped off to him the night before by some Team JK dudes. So Billl and his wife (awesome gal) proceeded to bust out custom work all day. UpNover and I sat in traffic because we were too stupid to check the news and notice that a haz mat semi had burned to the ground above Georgetown and they had been cleaning it up with I70 closed since 2AM. We made it eventually and got about 4 runs in and had 2 coors lights before rolling out. The beers were to calm our nerves after the traffic nightmare. Unfortunately, while we were off having fun Bill had an equipment malfunction at the very end of the day while he was trying to finish up my work. His balancer burned up a speed switch so he was not able to finish my front one albeit he did give it every effort and stayed open an extra hour I figure. Its no big deal though to me. I have other 4x4's and he will get it back to me as soon as he can. For now I have my rear shaft back (re-tubed with .95 wall for $127 otd) and can drive the vehicle without worry now. I'm very happy that my horrendous vibration from the triple dented rear driveline is gone. :thumb:

[SNOWMAN]

So my front shaft is pretty much getting completely rebuilt. It needs joints, a new double cardan joint in which he is going to take out the limit stops, a 16 spline slip yoke instead of the worn out 32 spline so that it lasts longer and re-tubed with .95 wall because the front was a toyota shaft and chevy shaft cut in half then butt welded together (not so strong).

Clearly this will be the more expensive of the two jobs since it's basically a completely new driveshaft with the exception of the yokes. From what I was told it should be about $250. Overall that's a small price to pay for reliability.

I think I will have about $2800 out of pocket into this thing after the emissions debacle, oil/filter, spark plugs, registration, junkyard run & driveshafts. If you count all the parts I had collected over the years or had laying around & the winch I swapped over then maybe closer to $3200. Not bad for a budget trail rig. Of course the project continues but I'll be focusing on less expensive upgrades for awhile as we get through the holidays here.

[Patrolman]

That is a heck of a deal. Hard to built such a good trail rig for much cheaper. Glad it has all come together with only minor hiccups.