CA18_Sean's 1st Gen 4Runner expedition build

ca18_sean

Adventurer
1986 4Runner 22RE
My weekend toy that I'm in the process of building up to drive the Trans America Trail in the next year or so with a buddy of mine on his dual sport. *Edit, change of plans. Bought an HJ75 Troopy to do the trip with.

Current status picture:

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Current status : SOLD. Going away pics on page 14... awesome little truck, will definitely be missed.

The build:

Here's where it all started! I picked it up 5 years back with a blown auto tranny for $1k. Limped it back to the house in L.

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Found a junkyard g52 and swapped it to manual.

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I drove it for about a couple years then the tranny started sticking in reverse and eventually got stuck. Parked it for the last 2 years, been busy with work and getting married and buying a house, but finally got some spare cash and free time and here we are :)

First things first, I pulled the transmission and had it rebuilt. The reverse fork sheared off... The updated part number was much larger than the original so hopefully it won't be an issue again! Did some maintenance stuff, filters, wires, plugs, etc.

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Installed my freshly rebuilt transmission.

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Did moog ball joints, ball joint spacers, moog steering components, steering shock, bilstein 5200's, brake pads, bushings, basically went through the entire suspension and replaced anything that looked worn.

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Removed the 3 inch body lift, trimmed it to 1 inch, trimmed the rear bumper and trim and added a trail gear winch plate with a mile marker winch.

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Installed a rear seat delete panel.

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And here's how she sat after all that:

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More to come soon!
 
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ca18_sean

Adventurer
After I got it back together I debated making my own bumpers, but I got a deal on a pair of jeep bumpers on Craigslist that I just couldn't pass up. After a little trimming they fit pretty nicely!

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With Toyota mounts welded on. I used the trail gear winch plate as my front mount.

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After I removed the fender flares I found a good bit of rust. I never loved the purple the previous owner painted the truck, so I figured it was time for rust repair and a repaint back to its original expedition white.

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Got to work with the sanding and body work. POR-15 everything.

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Had to take a little break for my 30th birthday and played on the lake :)

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Then it was back to sanding!

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ca18_sean

Adventurer
Decided to pull the windshield and see how bad the rust was back there... I've certainly seen worse! But I'm glad I pulled it.

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Filled and primered.

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Here's where I'm at today. First coat rolled on. Following the write up in hot rod magazine. I've rolled a racecar before with pretty good success as well :)

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Here's my past rolling job.

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I'll put up more pics as I add coats. The first 2 or 3 coats always look pretty terrible, but I'm optimistic that it will turn out nice!
 

Simons

Adventurer
Does the paint smooth out after a few coats? Or does it end up with an orange peel look to it? Curious cause this looks like a great way to avoid overspray. Close ups?
 

ca18_sean

Adventurer
Thanks!

This is the article for roller painting... you definitely need to wetsand between coats if you want a smooth finish. The top surfaces self level pretty nicely on their own, but the sides aren't nearly as smooth. With wet sanding and polishing at the end, the end product is pretty nice. I purchased a couple spray cans in the same color as I'm rolling (canvas white) so that I can do stuff like door jambs and drip rails. Hard to get places with the roller. I sprayed all those spots first.

http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/body/hrdp_0707_1962_ford_falcon_budget_paint_job/

Here's another pic of the 240sx that I painted with a roller. I only wetsanded it once and didn't buff it. I'm sure if I'd tried a little harder I could have got better results.





Tires are treadwright re-treads. I will eventually be putting something else on there for my trans america trail trip, but these work fine around town. I bought them right after I bought the truck, but then it sat for a couple years so I really haven't put too many miles on them.
 

ca18_sean

Adventurer
Today's updated paint pics... No huge difference from yesterday. I've got pretty much full coverage by the 4th coat. Shooting for 6 total costs. I think it's looking pretty nice.

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