4 Runner Rebuild PART 2

Average 4:30 Minute Read 

IM LINKING ALL THE PARTS I BOUGHT THAT FIT MY 1985 TOYOTA 4 RUNNER PERFECT IN CASE ANYONE WAS LOOKING FOR THE SAME PARTS.

     I left off in the Summer of 2015 in the last post where I had done all the engine work and some suspension. Well since I got back from a recent trip to Australia for a month I had the fire to get sheila ready for anything this upcoming summer 2016. I Finally felt like I was ready and have the time to do my dream trip, an epic surf trip driving to Panama, the end of the North American Continent!

     First thing is first I had been really really wanting to get some new paint on the truck for sometime now and I had a vision of what I had wanted. Since black is hot and just nasty I really wanted to go with a tan or desert sand as its called. Heard from a friend and after some research I found some reasonably priced military grade paint off a jeep restoration website called Gillespie. The other paint I used was just from Home Depot called Truck bed liner coating about $8 a can. Took me a solid day to prep the truck, between sanding, bondo, sanding, and more bondo. But once I got here all washed off and dried, I then acetond the whole car free of dust. Step two of the new paint job was lot's of

Moments after I finished painting!

taping and prep. The taping off took another few hours as well, For the painting equipment I just bought a small cheap gravity fed sprayer from harbor freight and it worked great!

     Now the painting begins I started on the roof and worked my way down, after each coat I took a bit to sand it down lightly with 800 grit, then blow it off and wipe it down. I did 3 coats then spent another few hours taping it off to spray the truck bed line along the bottom. After a long weekend Friday-Sunday from sanding, bondo, taping and painting I basically had a brand new truck! Everything came out pretty solid I was really happy with my new skills haha. Once the painting was done the list was endless, first up some sound deadner. I went with once again a reasonable alternative off amazon. Cleaned all the inside out vacuuming and simple green and then let dry so the noico sound deadner would adhesive properly. This stuff will help with not only sound but insulation keeping the metal body cooler and less rattling!

     The next big step was going to be making shelves and storage on the inside paneling. I wanted to

Rack installed

make storage on the inside paneling to get as much room as I could out of the inside. It took me about three days to build out the inside paneling and make the new door panels. I bought carpet from a electronic store that is usually made for sub woofer boxes and it's really easy to mold and bend over and glue down to all the wood paneling. During this time I had found a rack on Craigslist.org for about a hundred bucks after checking it out I made the guy I deal for $85 and it was mine. I knew it was going to take a little bit to get the rack looking like I wanted it to, I got some proper brackets bent out of thick steel from my welder. I also got some expanded mesh metal for the bottom of the rack once I cut it to size I took it to the welder and got it all done at the same time. When the inside paneling was finished I moved on to rebuilding the control center under my dash. I wanted to redo the dash so that it was clean and easily accessible to redo wiring, see the gauges, and simplify the switches. To do so I basically removed all wiring that had been wired into the cab from my led bar, lights, horn, etc. I installed a fuse block to run one positive and one negative from the battery and into the cab. On to that fuse block everything was attached like the lights, horn, triple socket 12v accessory plug, LED Bar, switches, gauges, fan, inverter, etc.

Skyjacker 4" soft ride rear leaf springs

    Once finishing up all the paneling and wiring I decided to throw in the new seats I got. Well there not new, got them from the junk yard but there in good condition and will work much better with the setup I'm trying to do with my rig. I changed from one rear bench seat all the way across to the 50/50 style seats. This way I can have one up and one down to make room to fit in more surf boards inside the car.

     One of the last big monkey's on my back was putting the new leaf springs on the rear to hold more weight. It was not going to be an easy task but needed to be done, I had already ordered the new Skyjack 4" leafs so all the parts were ready. Took about 4 hours or so with the help of my mate and dad to get the truck lifted and stable, pull off the tires, u bolts, leaf eyebolts, and replace everything. Not an easy job but beats paying $500 bucks to a shop, and now the truck will ride smooth and not sag with the added weight needed for the trip.

     Well guys that is where I am leaving off on Rebuilding my rig Part 2, Part 3 will be out in a few more days and as of now I am 9 days away from departure!