Ever since I sold my 2000 Jeep Cherokee, I've been jonesing for a replacement 4x4.
I'll be blogging about the 4Runner here
This Toyota has a lot to live up to. My 88 K5 Blazer was a great truck and incredibly capable offroad while the Cherokee was fully locked, caged, and suspended. Jumping over a house was not a problem. I learned a lot about what I like and what I don't like from both trucks.
The Cherokee was unbelievable offroad, but interior space was tight. We preserved the rear seats, but the cage ate up all the space in the cargo area. Requried for racing, not so happy for 'wheeling. We also left the stock seat belts in the front as backups to the 5 points. Made around-town driving muuuuuch easier. Gas mileage was poor after all the mods, and while it was a complete and utter blast offroad, and it had fantabulous street manners - but it lacked soul. I should have spent more time driving one before buying one. :)
The Blazer was awesome in so many ways. I still miss that truck. But after the 3/4 ton running gear and 36s, gas mileage was horrible, as were street manners. Detroit lockers are great, but when you don't have crossover steering, you can drive the truck around a curve by turning the wheel, then pressing or lifting off of the gas pedal to get less or more steering. Detroits are awesome units, tho.
A botched engine replacement after the stocker threw a rod didn't help (the cam was not compatible with the ECU, leading to other fun and learnings!). A complete loser replaced the transmission four times before I took it elsewhere, my goodness was that a nightmare. 4Wheel Parts made the situation the same, then worse, for a while, I am NOT a fan. I finally stepped in and did it myself, and found the root cause of the issue at the same time, forever solving that issue.
I grew up with fast cars, and ride a faaast bike every day. I don't need my truck to be a rocket, but it can't be slow. :)
So, we have a little experience building 4x4s, let's see what gets built this time!! :) I sense a hybrid of the previous two!
I suspect this will be the rollup site and I'll start a blog to track the Toy's progress.
Stats
1987 SR5 Turbo Toyota 4Runner
212K miles
Power everything
Sunroof
Automatic (blech), not shifting quite right, but doing surprisingly well considering
tiny, stock tires
stock, stock, stock
driver's side window switch completely missing (required to put ANY front windows up or down)
AC doesn't work (and the windows don't go down... huh..)
exhaust leak @ the head/manifold
turbo putting out 1/3 boost or less
Used nearly 1.5 quarts driving from Sacramento to San Diego
Interior goobered up by PO. He got it pretty clean, but he's an elevator repairman and would get into it without changing togs or washing his hands, put his greasy tool bag in the back on the carpet (trashed now, no cleaning that out). Yep, it smells like 80-90. Yuck on a hot day. Lot of change from the 8 month-old pics he'd posted...
First, we need to clean it up and get the basics working