85 4runner "the slayer II" build

[theslayer85]

As mentioned earlyer this donor body was in a front end crash and it bent the whole passenger side up.  I took all the stuff off the fenders (drivers pic 1, pass. pic 2) and measured on the new clip I had from bolt holes and transfered that to the existing fender.  This is the inside line.  I didn't want to over cut and have not have the new clip fit.  You can see the major bends in the passenger fender from the crash.  Even after cutting the front clip off there is bent parts farther back I will have to try and pull straight to match up with the new clip.  The last picture is after I cut the front clip off.  I used the second line I drew on the fender as a guide, I just gave myself a healthy few inches of metal that would overlap to insure I had something to weld back onto.  I will have to do some more precise measureing and trimming to get everything to fit just right.  I am planning on using the outer fenders to help line everything up. I will bolt the fenders on to the cab half and the loose front clip and that should help with getting the two pieces to line up. 

[theslayer85]

While my welder was not working I decided to do other stuff and I just went crazy with the grinder cutting.  I cut out where the inner fender will be into the cab area.  There is suprising less stuff where I am cutting out.  I do need to find a new home for the computer and rerouting some wires that go through the firewall.  The drivers side I haven't gotten to yet but I may have to deal with remounting the peddle assembly.  I still don't know how far back I will cut on the bottom side.  There is a body mount there and also the mounts for the outer fender. 

[theslayer85]

So with the rear most body mounts I moved them forward because I bobed the truck 8 inches.  I looked at my old truck to see where I could put them and it was a best guess.  Come to find out that my best guess was a little off and they are to far forward and are in where the wheel well is.  So I have to cut them off again and move them back at least 1 1/4 inches.  That however requires lifting the body back off to get to the mounts on the frame.  I know for the next truck I build where to put them  . 

[theslayer85]

I work at a Lexus dealership and one of the supper fancy things that our detail shop will over charge you to do is to put carbon fiber accents on the car.  It looks really cool.  All they use is a 3M vinal sticker they get in huge sheets and lay it over the part of the car they are doing the accents on.  I got some of the sicker stuff and tried my had at it to see how it would look.  I took the gauge part of the dash apart and wraped it.  It ended up looking really good.  I will also do the black plastic part around the radio too. 

The second picture is my new shock mounts for the rear axle.  Because I did a U bolt flip the stock mounts were ditched.  My brother has access to a CNC plasma table and a press break so I did some measurments and drew up some shock tabs and he made them for me.  The only thing I did wrong is that I added to the gap where the schock bolts compensate for the material thickness, but I didn't need to.  So there is a bit of a gap on the sides of the shock.  I need to clean the fresh paint off the axle and get them welded on. 

[tgmaul88]

and den

[OCDswag]

So once I got the top tacked on I took small pieces 3 inches wide and put them in the bottom area of the fender to keep the spacing from top to bottom.  I then just added and pieced in the gaps.  The sheet metal was thin enough that I was able to use some sheet metal shears, pretty much just huge scissors, to cut the pieces I needed. Once I got everything tacked in I was careful and did short stitch welds around so that I wouldn't warp the body work.  Once it was all welded the very front and rear of the fenders were very boxy.  So i ground all the welds smooth and got the body hammers out and worked the corners into a nice curve.  In my pounding however the welds did crack and show through so I need to re-weld them back together. 

The front fenders are getting the same treatment, but because the front end was crunched I need to weld the new front clip on first.  The inner fenders are also being opened up a lot too.  The rears are going to be fairly easy and I did it on my old truck so I know how that one is going to go in.  The front end is going to be a little tricky.  I need to strip the dash and all the wires and whatever else Toyota hid back there and start trimming and welding it back together.  Then the magic of getting all the wires and stuff to fit back in. 

The goal behind this build is little to no lift and big tires.  With opening up the fenders I am hoping to clear 38's with only 2 inches of lift.  What would normally take 6 to 8 inches of lift to accomplish.

Still on the to do:  get an F-150 gas tank in and plumbed, finish the mounts for my on board air tank, install my rear leafs and axle, install my 5.29's, drill and tap my steering box for hydro assist, and I am sure lots of little things.

This is a cool way to make fender flares. Looks like a ton of metal work.

[theslayer85]

t was a ton of work.  I got the idea from a pre runner mag my dad picked up.  I am happy how it has turned out so far. 

I have done some more work i just need to find time to sit down and update this with pictures, I will try and update them in the next day or two.  I got the rear inner fender done on the pasenger side.  It has room for some serious tires, my 31 inch rollers looked dwarfed by the wheel wells.  I also got a few of the body mounts grafted back in.  I ended up moving 4 of them so two down and two to go.  I got luck and didn't end up having to cut off the rear most body mounts like I had thought.  I also got the front clip cut off and the new one tacked on.  I picked up a new front fender.  It is moving along slowly,  work is getting in the way of play time and play time requires money which means work time.   It is such a vicous cycle. 

[theslayer85]

the to do list:

finish rear drivers fender
pass. body mount under seat
rear shock mounts
gas tank
front wheel wells
front fender flares
finish welds on front clip
weld bed at bob line
finish welds and smooth on rear fenders
reinstall front end things
exhaust
5.29 in diffs
CB radio
rock lights wireing
cut hard top down
make soft top
brakes (braided steel lines, rear disc swap? prop valve, residual valve.)
dual transfer case adapter
raise drive tran 2-3 inches and flat belly
tool box for gear for the back of the runner
roll cage
bumpers
sliders

as you can see it is alot of body work to do.  I will be picking up a dual t case adapter and braided steel break lines this weekend.  so now that I am doing that I want to cut the transmision tunnel out and lift the whole drive tran up a few inches to be out of the way.  I was going to wait a while to do it because I wasn't planning on doing the dual cases right away, but came across a good deal.  I am going to do some skid plates out of some heavy dudy plastic to keep the weight down (and I have an aunt who can get some for me). 

[theslayer85]

this is the passenger side inner fender in the rear.  I cut the old fender out and using string taped to the outer fenders I found out where the new fenders would extend to.  I cleaned up the paint and the spot welded seam and got to work on the new fender.  I first tacked the vertical piece at a 90.  then I took a strip of sheet metal that was cut 12 inches wide (I measured off my old truck that I did this to before) and tacked it to the vertical piece and then cut away the overlap to the outer fender.  at the widest point, top it is 12 inches wide so as the body slopes down the strip gets narrower.  It was a lot of fitting, cutting, tacking, cutting tacks off, re-cutting and tacking.  I still need to finish the welds around the inside and the floor but it is in place.

[theslayer85]

When I bobbed the bed the body mounts were in the 8 inches I took out.  So I had to graft them back in.  I did some initial measuring and thought I had moved the mounts on the frame too far forward.  As i was trying to work on these I saw that one side of the body mount was missing some reinforcing because of the bob cut.  so I swapped the mounts side for side so the reinforcing was toward the rear of the truck and realized that they fit.  I didn't have to move the mounts on the frame.  I just cut a little off the front to make it fit without overhanging into the wheel well and they worked. 

In the first picture is the body mount grafted back in.  the second shows the drivers side as a before.  The body mount is underneath holding up the bed.  then I used it as a trace and cut the floor out the same size as the body mount and re-welded it to the floor.  That way it is bolted into the mount on the frame right were it needs to be so I don't graft it in the wrong spot and it wont line up.  The drivers side is grafted in now.

the last pictures you can see how wide the wheel well is now.  I added 12 inches to the inside and a 3 inch strip to the outside.  So about 15 inches worth of wheel well wide.  this then gives me an idea as to the tires size I can run.  The problem I found is that very few 38's come narrow enough to fit.  I am leaning toward either super swamper IROK radial which is a 37 x 12.50 or the super swamper tsl radial which is a 38 x 12.5.  (I think that is the right tires i erased the note off my phone) 

[theslayer85]

The drivers side inner fender was giving me a heck of a time and I got 3/4 of it tacked up but right by the seat it was leaving me with 1/2 inch or more gaps.  so I gave up on that for now and moved to the front.  I wanted to open up the wheel well to clear some serious tire.  I eyeballed off the fender where the flare is going to be and drew out my cut lines.  There is a hole in the firewall for some wires that the cut would have gone straight through.  so I cut around the hole and grafted it back in higher.  I used the line where the top of the inner wheel well meets the firewall and cut across there and down.  for the bottom I cut right between the two bolts that hold the fender on and went across from there.  It curves up slightly so I cut just passed the body mount along the floor.  I didn't feel like cutting out another body mount and grafting it back in on the front side.  I have the floor and outside edge all tacked in.  I still need to pull all the air conditioning stuff out and work the top edge of the fender in.  I bought a plastic welder, yes they make them not a joke,  and I will modify the air conditioning to fit back in. 

the blue circle is were the front clip is getting welded back on.  I found another post that talked about these clamps.  they are sheet metal but weld clamps.  I went and bought some and they work wonders.  you can see them going up the fender.  I still need to fully weld the clip on. 

For the front of the wheel well I took the curved piece and cut it out and moved it forward. I spaced it just far enough that the stock windshield fluid bottle would still fit.  I do need to find a home for the battery because it obviously will not fit there now.  I have to do the same to the other side, which I have put off because I need to figure out what to do with the air filter box. 

[theslayer85]

I also just picked up a dual transfer case adapter.  So I pulled two spare transmissions to build my new one and there is one in the truck too.  I made some block off plates for the shifter holes for the transmissions.  I was a bit borred and there was scrap laying around. 

I also just bought this magnetic weld backer.  it is has interchanable copper pads you put on the arm.  This will work wonders for the little gaps I have in sheet metal where I can't get a clamp to hold the other copper strip I have.  I haven't used it yet but I am excited to.

[koppersvette]

Sweet build man.

[theslayer85]

Sweet build man.

thanks.  I have put a ton of work into it and can't wait to get it done. 

[theslayer85]

Because I cut the back end shorter it meant the top also needed to be smaller.  I opted to take it out of the rear window and try and figure out how to cut the window down.  Ignore the parts washer in front of the truck, with as big as the shop is (40 x 60 feet)  space is limited.  I bought the parts washer and a motor stand from a guy at work for real cheap and haven't had time to find a home for them. 

[theslayer85]

I was at a friends house looking at his new toy, a KOH full race buggy.  The previous owner did run King of the Hammers in it.  He is a huge toyota guy and always has parts if I don't have what I need.  Because he now has the buggy he is down sizing and I was picking though his piles of stuff and found a gauge pod for the pillar by the windshield.  I took it and a few other things.  I cut the gauge pod down so it would match the contour of the existing plastic and cut a hole in the plastic and used a plastic welder to fuse it in.  I will end up putting an air gauge and an oil pressure gauge in there.  I have to add one more pod up higher.  I am just starting this plastic welding thing so you can see the back were I welded the two together, it is not pretty but it will do.

The last two pictures are the plastic welder.  I have told my brother, who is a welder just of the metal variety, that I bought one and he has no idea what I am talking about.  It is essentially a soldering iron or wood burner with a special "foot" that has a hole through it to feed in filler rod.  It came with several types of filler rod and a chart to show which one to use on which plastic.  It works really good.  I still need to modify my air conditioning stuff to get it to fit after I made the wheel wells bigger. 

[theslayer85]

I also snagged this from the friend.  It is an SR5 gauge cluster that has a roll and tip gauges.  This one has a 4 wheel drive indication light in it which I like.  The other '85 SR5 4runners we have have altimeters in them, which unless you are flying I don't see a real purpose for.  But the problem I face is what wires go to what?  They were just cut through and the other question, is there a difference in the under dash wiring for an SR5 and a normal 4runner.  Is there a plug hiding under my dash that I can plug into or do I need to splice everything in?  So if anyone can help with that it would be appreciated.  I have not sat down long enough to test wires and see what they do yet, I have been busy with welding the truck back together. 

[theslayer85]

The first picture is of the front fender getting the same treatment as the rears got.  After i got the wheel well done I used it a somewhat of a trace to know were to cut the fender at.  I cut right between the bolts at the bottom and made a nice curve up to the factory flare where it flattens out then down right next to the marker light.  I have to patch in piece by piece like I did for the back end. 

The bottom picture is the inside of the wheel well.  I opened it up so much that there is hardly any foot room now.  I took it right to the body mount on the floor and up and around.  It is going to be a tight fit to get the air conditioning fan back in and the ECU.  I need to take more of the AC stuff out so I can get to the back edge of the wheel well to finish the welds.  I may run into problems on the drivers side because of the peddles.  I will see how well that is going to work out.  I didn't want to take the fender off to get a picture of the wheel well.  I may have to do that later.  Still just a little bit of welding to do before it is all finished and done. 

[cabot]

Nice work.  Is there a reason that you didn't do the top bob like this: http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showpost.php?p=9606042&postcount=56
??

[theslayer85]

Nice work.  Is there a reason that you didn't do the top bob like this: http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showpost.php?p=9606042&postcount=56
??

I have seen this done before or take one of the sliders out completly but I still wanted to have that window function as a slider.  Now that I have found out how hard and possibly how expensive getting the glass cut down is I may have second thoughts, but too late now.  I also probably didn't do enough reasurch to see what other people did before I did mine. 

[fullsizenomore]

WOW! Man. Great work,you are a magician with sheet metal from what I can see. My buddy did homemade front fender flares on his 4 runner and he did a very similar process to what you did ,tons of work. Going to look great man.

[cabot]

Yeah... I was thinking that it would be way easier to get the glass cut down for the sliding window than getting a piece made that wraps to the top like the back part.  Do you have any ideas as to what you might do for that rear glass section? Close it up with fiber glass? Bring it down until it takes a flat panel of glass?

[theslayer85]

Yeah... I was thinking that it would be way easier to get the glass cut down for the sliding window than getting a piece made that wraps to the top like the back part.  Do you have any ideas as to what you might do for that rear glass section? Close it up with fiber glass? Bring it down until it takes a flat panel of glass?

Well the first thought was to cut it down myself.  They sell glass cutters at hobby stores and you score the glass then it just breaks along the score line.  So I bought a glass cutting tool and tried it and it didn't work.  I have 3 sets of windows for the hard top so I figured if I completly jack it up I had back ups. So now I need to call some places and see what it will cost to get it cut and if that is a small fortune or not do-able then I will look into fiberglassing over the entire hole where the window was, although I like your idea of just fiberglassing the top curve and using a flat piece.  I haven't ever done any fiberglass work so that will be learning curve.  I have a soft top off my old truck so in a pinch I may just cut it smaller and use if for now.  The hope is to finish it by January so I will need a top for the winter time one way or another. 

[cabot]

The curved part really ruins the score and break method, huh... That's why I was thinking it would be easier to do the front slider. Sucks. Of you find a glass shop that can cut that thing down, I want to know how they do it.

[theslayer85]

so I picked up my gas tank this morning.  I am excited to get this thing closer to moving under its own power.  the tank cost me $107 with tax.  I need to crawl under the truck and figure out how to mount it.  I also need to figure out adapting the hoses and what goes to what.  I also made a stop at Jims toyota auto salvage in denver (making a little plug for them)  to see if I could find a cover for my SR5 gauge cluster.  I have some grey ones but my interior is brown and tan.  I found out that these gause clusters go for like $150!  They also didn't have any in.  As soon as they get one it is gone.  They did have a maroon cover they sold me so I will need to see how well the vinal paint/die works. 

Oh I also picked up a hood yesterday allong with some more air fittings for my On Board Air.  I got the tank mounted and realized I needed more parts to make it work.  Getting a little done at a time. 

[theslayer85]

I am going to bring this back to life.  I had a job that was an hour drive to and from it and with working an 8 hour day I just was not motivated enough to do much on the truck.  If that was not enough I am several states away at school for a few months and the truck didn't come with me. 

As for an update the gas tank is on its third set of mounts.  At first I used 1 1/2 box steel to make a hoop for the top.  I had it all tacked in and it worked ok, then after lowering the body back on the box steel comes in contact with some body stiffeners and kept the body from the body mounts on the frame.  so I lifted the body back up and cut the stiffeners to clear the box steel.  That worked and the body sat all the way down, but once I crawled under the truck the front of the tank was only 4 to 6 inches above my rear axle.  The first big rock I hit is going to send the axle right into the gas tank.  So the box steel got cut off and I was going to make the front taller, but that still left the tank too low.  So the plan now is to use sheet metal and form my own form fitting box steel/channel to the couture of the tank which will keep it up higher.  Then use a 1 1/2 inch strip under with bolts at either end to hold it up to the body.  I still need to figure out the gas filler.  As it is now the filler pops out right in the middle of my wheel well, I can't move it to the back corner of the tank because of the rear body mount.  This cheap swap is growing to be a bit of work.

I got my air tank mounted and most of the way plumbed other than the air gauge in the truck and the air chuck in the back end.  I put the tank under the rear bench seat.  It fits nice and snug, which translates to it is a pain to get in and out.  I am tempted to make a new tank that is lighter.  The one I used has 1/4 walls and is meant for concrete additives.  I would like to get some stainless thin walled tubing and make another one the same size.  I like the size and how it fits, it is just heavy. 

Because I don't have my truck with me I was dying for something to work on so I build a custom tool box for the back of the 4runner.  I will have to snap  some pictures of it and post them.  It was an excuse to use the school's TIG welder and press break.  The box is the same height of my wheel wells and fits from wheel well to wheel well.  It will be flat all the way across in the back.  The locks do have a lock in them so when I am running topless my stuff can all be locked up.  The plan is to weld in some dividers and supports to hold extra axle shafts without them rolling around, recovery gear, and some tools.  I know it is a lot of extra weight, but I know the first thing I am going to break on the trail is going to be a front shaft until I swap in some cromo shafts.  So I better carry spares. 

I have also hauled a 5 speed and two transfer cases up to school with me and am in the process of rebuilding them with new seals and gaskets.  I also bought a dual case adapter that I will throw in while I am at it.  The school does have an anodizing set up so I am toying with the idea of anodizing my transmission, t cases, and adapter either parts or the whole thing.  I have one t case pulled apart and cleaned that I will use for my rear crawler case.  I am waiting for marlin to get the transmission rebuild kits back in stock so I can do that.  After the transmission and t cases are done, everything in the 4runner will be rebuilt or new. 

[theslayer85]

This is the tool box I made.  The pop rivet gun kept breaking and falling apart so I gave up and will have to use mine.  The second picture is the lock I am using.  It is able to lock, and will keep the honest honest it is not supper secure but works.  Once I get spare shafts rounded up and the recovery gear and tools I need I will weld in supports and dividers for everything so they are not rolling around. 

[theslayer85]

So I welded these up too while I was at it.  I have seen little trays for dividers and organizers for .50 cal ammo cans but no one local carries them.  I had some left over steel so I cut it up and busted out the TIG welder again.  I made this one for all my gun cleaning stuff, but as chance would have it a .50 cal ammo can does fit into my other tool box so I may make another box and divider set up for tools.  I need to weld in dividers and make one more tray for this box.  I ran out of time today to finish them up. 

[12Bravo]

Those ammo can trays are pretty cool! Good job!

[theslayer85]

Those ammo can trays are pretty cool! Good job!

Thanks, I will have to get a more completed photo of them.  I built one more tray and did dividers for the cleaning swabs.  I still need to do a little more to them like a tray for the brushes and more dividers for the other trays.