New State, New Truck

Hello, name's Jake.

I just recently move from the San Diego area up to southwest Montana. Have had family up here for years and finally landed me a great opportunity, so I moved.

Having had a Tacoma for a couple years now, I wanted to find an earlier truck to have as a dedicated offroader/weekender. I was really looking for a '88 and older truck or 4runner. However, I couldn't pass up a $500 '90 4runner.

The 4runner is quite solid, straight and for the most part clean. But the bad news is the common 3 litre issues. Luckily, it's not a head gasket, it's either a burnt or stuck valve. The odometer reads just over 32k! I assume it has more miles than that but can't be much more.

The plan is to undo all the undoing that had been done, or undone I guess. Someone had gone through it and butchered quite a bit under the hood. Vacuum lines ripped out, wiring cut, parts removed and left hanging, timing cover and valve covers missing hardware, grille held on with bailing wire, too long and too small of bolts stuck through the brackets to keep the front bumper in place, and on and on. Lucky for me they didn't make into the rest of the truck!

I'll start piecing it back together and get the engine bay all sorted out. Then I'll decide if the 3.0 is worth sinking money into, or if a 3.4 swap is in order. Well enough rambling, I'll get a build thread started here soon.

 

nice, looks like a fun project rig

 

Toyota's are always worth the engine parts needed! (Especially 4Runners!)
I'd have to get someone to help me with the mechanics of it (you may not) but strip it down to the bare bone minimum for an offroader/weekender and just make it straight engine! you strip all the emissions off of that 3.0 and I bet it would scream!

 

It will still be a street legal truck, but nice thing about Montana is no emissions! If the 3.0 is too far gone, it's not worth the money for the end result. 3.4's are a dime a dozen and hands down out do the 3 litre.