Project: Everything swap 88' 4runner

[redrocket93]

Nothing new with the runner. Been a little pre-occupied with the FJ40 I'm building on the side and fatherhood. The wife gave birth to our son Brady on 2/29. I'm a very proud papa.



I did get the runner out today to make a lowes run to pickup a sheet of OSB. The cage makes a great lumber rack. 

[Slolyfe]

Congrats Craig! He is a cute little guy!

[John Doe]

Congrats! Ready to strap in the child seat and go hit the trails? How is the fj40 coming?

[Volcom]

Congrats!  He's going to be your wheeling buddy in no time! 

[redrocket93]

Congrats Craig! He is a cute little guy!

Thanks a lot man. He definetely gets that from my wife. haha

Congrats! Ready to strap in the child seat and go hit the trails? How is the fj40 coming?

Thanks dude, I can't wait. The FJ40's moving along pretty good. Not sure if you've seen the build thread yet. http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=88102.0 Hows the motor in your runner coming along?

Congrats!  He's going to be your wheeling buddy in no time! 

Thanks man. I'm really excited for that.

[John Doe]

Got the runner to Davez last weekend. I have a few projects already started, I just need my truck to finish installing them. Now I am just waiting.

[redrocket93]

Got a chance to give my 4runner a much needed upgrade. The motor mounts have been junk for a while. I decided to give these http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ENS-3-1108G/ GM trans mounts a try. They are only $23 a piece and are thick enough to actually absorb some vibration, unlike the trailpoop ones a few of my buddies have. Plus they're half the price. Another bonus is they bolt right up with no other mods.

Old crappy stock mount


New mounts




After bolted up, I noticed slightly more vibes than stock at idle but not bad at all and my shifters don't flop around anymore. My buddies truck with TG mounts rattles your teeth out.

[Steve_925]

yea the TG ones are hard. might as well be solid.

[Peterbuilt84]

I like it Are you still going to chain them?

[redrocket93]

yea the TG ones are hard. might as well be solid.

For sure.

I like it Are you still going to chain them?

Nope, the new mounts have a built in interlock.

Made another much needed repair today. Noticed my front frame crossmember was starting to crack so I made reinforcement plate and gussets with the help of my buddies torchmate. Gonna replace my valve stem seals tomorrow with hopes to fix my oil consumption issue. After that my truck should be good to go for another summer of flogging.

[toyotathomas]

Hey Craig, how did you figure out this motor mount mod?  Pretty slick.

[MAD]

hey, congrats on the little one! very cool.

md

[redrocket93]

Hey Craig, how did you figure out this motor mount mod?  Pretty slick.

Thanks, I actually saw them in a TTORA thread a while back. Of course I can't find the thread now. 

hey, congrats on the little one! very cool.

md

Thanks Mike. He's pretty awesome.

[redrocket93]

Welp, the valve stem seal replacement didn't go as planned. When I pressurized the first cylinder to hold the valves closed while I changed out the seals I could hear a lot of air leaking into the crankcase which is an indication of piston rings not sealing. 

Pulled the motor and tore down. Low and behold the genius that put this thing together last lined up the ring end gaps with eachother on 3 out of 4 cylinders. That would explain the oil consumption and slightly low compression. Everything else in the motor looked good so it's going back together with new gaskets and rings that are correctly indexed.
 
Picture of what I'm talking about.

[Slolyfe]

Got to love it. I know the feeling. Is that wear on the piston from the cylinder wall?

[redrocket93]

Yes it is. It looks a lot worse in the picture than it actually is. I've seen much worse on these motors. I'm actually gone wait til we get our taxes done before buying anything for this motor. Trying to talk the wife into letting be blow our tax return on a 3rz swap. We'll see.

[Slolyfe]

Yes it is. It looks a lot worse in the picture than it actually is. I've seen much worse on these motors. I'm actually gone wait til we get our taxes done before buying anything for this motor. Trying to talk the wife into letting be blow our tax return on a 3rz swap. We'll see.

Hahaha My tax return is sitting on the garage floor right now.

[redrocket93]

Welp, we got our taxes done and it looks like I'll still be running a 22re. Urghhh...

Gonna do a few other things while it's out. Just picked up a new heater core and e brake cable so those will get replaced. Also gonna pull my windshield and finish weld the cage and plate the A-pillars to the cage down bars. Should be fully dialed again by memorial day.

[redrocket93]

Got the long block assembled today. Ended up having to replace the cyl. head due to some iffy looking valves and seats. Scored a re-maned head with new valves for 80 bux. Everything in the bottom end looked great aside from the improperly indexed piston rings. Should be stabbing the engine back in the runner tomorrow.

[Slolyfe]

Looking good dude.

[redrocket93]

Finally got this thing all buttoned up and running and just got back from a half hour test drive around town. Motor runs perfect and is stronger than it's ever been. Doesn't smoke or leak one bit, runs nice and cool and has great oil pressure. While the motor was out I also scored a slightly used centerforce clutch off a friend of mine. It grabs much harder than the no name aftermarket clutch that was in there before and feels like about the same pedal effort.

All dressed up and ready to drop in. Went a little OCD with cleaning everything but atleast it's not a greasy pig anymore.




Fired up and running.

[John Doe]

Speaking about OCD cleaning, time to scrap the rust off the brake master and booster!

[Slolyfe]

Looks good dude! Can't wait to get my pile out there!

[redrocket93]

Speaking about OCD cleaning, time to scrap the rust off the brake master and booster!

Haha, thanks. I'll get right on that.

Looks good dude! Can't wait to get my pile out there!

Thanks man! Do it!

[nisota]

Ha I got solid motor mounts but its ok as long as you have fake teeth  they dont bother you. im kiddin I dont have fake teeth but the solid motor mounts are viscous I agree with you. I will keep this new mount idea in mind if I ever decide my teeth have had enough.

[MAD]

Dude, I wish I had your skills.

My daughter is almost 2 now and she LOVES to ride in the 4Runner.  She wants to go for a spin every weekend now, which will be even more fun now that it's about time to take off the top.

How's it going with the blue cruiser?  Haven't seen any updates over there for awhile...

md

[HogCanyonHopper]

Curious about those motor mounts. Do you have any other info or pics you can share?  Nice work. 

[redrocket93]

Took the runner to Fordyce last weekend. Awesome trip, but managed to shear 5 outta 6 hub studs on the passanger side on winch hill 3. Had to 3 wheel it to Meadow Lake with the help of my winch and an occasional tug from my buddies full size chevy.

Looks like i'll be upgrading to ARP's now. A few random pics from the cold and wet weekend. 

[John Doe]

Looks like the water was lower then Memorial day weekend when I went up. But it looks like it was just as wet. I have some spare stock hub studs if you want any to get you by for now.

[redrocket93]

Looks like the water was lower then Memorial day weekend when I went up. But it looks like it was just as wet. I have some spare stock hub studs if you want any to get you by for now.

Yeah, the water level wasn't too bad. The wet rocks from the rain made for some interesting lines that needed lots of throttle. I might have to take you up on those studs. Thanks for the offer.