it's gonna be that good *

plan is:
swap a 88 4rnr body onto a 87 standard bed/cab already DD static dropped truck. should be an easy bolt on cab swap...right?

i have no idea, so if you know a build thread for this swap please post it, otherwise im gonna fake it until i get it right

first we have an 88 4rnr, its been wheeled a teeny bit by a mom and her boys till the 3.slow gave out. then *SAS'd, 22re swapped in and now destined to be a torn apart, rebuilt frankenstien and resold after donating its good bits to my wheeler and the body to my mini... but thats another thread or 2.


then there is my 87 2wd; weber,intake, 5/4 static drop by spindles/torsions/blocks and 17in wheels. full story on this originally crackhead truck can be found here: http://www.toyotaminis.com/forum/build-up-project-threads-23/throw-away-body-13129/


got it up on the lift to inspect and get the body mounts unbolted


oh hey... looks like its been wheeled too



got the bed off, standard stuff cept for having to pull the tails to disconnect the wires



according to the OSHA approved whiskey work meter we have matured and are about to taste the good stuff


some gratuitous pics of the mini chassis before for refrence









got the cab onto a table and off to a corner of the shop for now, till its new home is ready



now to do the same thing to the 4rnr, same basic $hit as the truck. pull the body mounts and disconnect everything. for ease of reinstall i pulled the clutch master/line and unbolted the brake master/lines from the booster on both rigs


now im getting excited, first test fit. few pics for refrence







next morning i found a few hotrods in the yard


lots of refrence pics. at this point i want to warn you...
THIS IS NOT A BOLT ON SWAP... YOU NEED A WELDER!!!!




so the front body mounts are close enough to work, just the 4rnr ones are taller then the 2wd (note:2wd already cut off) but truthfully only the mounts behind the front wheels are the same so all but 2 body mounts have to be relocated on both trucks but you can fudge the fronts. *the other big issue is the gas tank, the xmem's are in totally different spots. i pulled the tank and will deal with it later (2wd), may end up moving the front tank xmem eventually to hold the 4rnr (longer) tank we'll see.


projected new body height


refrence 4rnr chassis shots










and a test fit without cutting any body mounts just to see where it sits and if there are any shortcuts out of cutting and relocating mounts....nope



holy wheel gap batman... fake body drop inbound.





ass needs to come down 6-7 inches, gonna hack all the body mounts off and see where it sits, the rear "A-frame" bed mount is super close to right so i left it there to see if i get the drop i want.







these are the "A-frame mounts" the rear "stepped" one is only like 2in off from where it should be, but its also about 4in too tall, so off its gonna come


i left it on for now to protect the tank, but i did unbolt the front of the tank and let it rest on the xmem for now to check fitment (note: dont be a dumbass like me and fill the tank right before this swap)


body sits much better on the chassis now, but the ass is still about 4in off the frame which makes it look like its gotta body lift... needs moar low


does look better tho









cut the rest of the body mounts off and removed the tank


clean frame... remember kids: paint the bare metal now so you dont forget to later and rust your frame




now both inner fenders hit the upper control arms. gonna try pulling them in during final fitment and only trim em if i really need to. but the pass side has a handy removable panel that im gonna try to keep somehow even if i have to move it.






body hits here too, my bfh and the body had a nice talk... now it fits and you cant really tell sitting in the back seat. but im a little worried about body noise because the whole xmem contacts the body all the way across. may lift it just a bit in the rear to build in rake and clear the xmem now that the body is "clearanced", plus the front 4wd fenders have a higher lip so now i tuck in the back but not in the front.


but now with the body on, i finally see awesome


yup, sexy from here

 

Awesome build so far. Im excited to see more

 

Nice, I like it! And, its going to piss off A LOT of 4runner purists.
My friend has a bagged second gen 4runner and he gets a lot of odd looks from other 4runner owners. Some like it and others look angry, lol.

 

Solid project! i always wanted to do this

 

Brave man. I like it. Keep the pics coming

 

Black sheep is back with another winner! Nuff said...

 

I've been holding onto an 87 short bed standard cab chassis just for this purpose. But I plan to take the easy way out and splice the frames under the front seats rather than deal with the rear body mounts etc.

 

thx guys, been wanting to do this for awhile myself and im documenting the **** out of it because i couldnt find any info out there by someone who's done this before. i started with my wheeler play book for body swap, but its a whole different animal.

bye- i was thinking about that too, but that still leaves the title fiasco i have to go through when im all done. right now i think the "easy way" might of been just to put 2wd suspension on the 4rnr frame, if i was going for bags that would be the easy way... or at least less work overall. there is no easy way lol



i just decided today that im going to move the front gas tank xmem forward to match the 4rnr to use that tank. only other way out with a stock tank is to drop it alot, like lowest point of the truck alot. so im gonna use the 4rnr tank so it tucks up at a stock location and i dont have to fuss around with an ugly fuel cell in the cab or loosing my spare tire and gas door.

 

ok update time

got all the body mounts sorted, ended up kicking up the ass a couple inches for clearance and a better stance. they whole body would sit flush on the frame but the ass dragged and it just looked weird.



blows my mind how stock these ended up looking



not these ones though lol. ended up using some off of my stout donor (89) then flipping the body mounts on the bracket to make a "high cushy" mount. the truck style A frame brackets for the bed are build to use a .25in rubber square for vibration and would of had to been modded a bit to work and prolly made noise. actually happy with these despite the looks, but ill take the function.



all of these were taken while tacked in and fitting, theres some missing bracing on this one. everything is fully welded and braced better then stock, but not really pretty lol.



gas tank Ver 0.2 beta

this was easiest way, used spacers to drop the tank and beat the body a bit to clear. worked fine with the air shocks pumped up to drive home, but i pinched a line and lost pressure. some uncomfortable driveline/gas tank noises... havent been under it to check yet.


said spacers



in the front the spacers are 1.5in and back 3in. you can see here in the rear where its probably hitting so im gonna shorten these a bit. maybe even angle the tank seam away from the driveline.


and had to buy some very expensive hose for this party. $28/ft but i feel safe dumping gas in it, the filler neck has to wrap around the body mount.



but now its parked out front and ive been working. kinks will be worked out soon.

 

nice work.. always loved the 4runner on a 2wd frame.

 

More work than I'd care to handle...good job though.

 

thx tyme, this is a bucket list build


Xs- way more then i thought it was going to be, body swap alone to driveable was 60hrs



okie dokie.

so drove from the shop to my house, 50mi ish with every kinda road type you can think of and had aired up the rear shocks to 100psi because i was worried about wheel rub... lol.

drove actually better then it did with the pickup body, bit more preload on the suspension from the extra weight. rear didnt make a noise and the front seemed to rub about the same as the pickup but maybe it a little harder, im blaming that on the very non straight pickup cab and beating the hell out of the inner fenders on the pickup, ive only lightly rolled where needed the front fenders on the 4rnr.

it sat over night...

during the swap i pinched the cheesy plastic lines for the air shocks, made it hard to fill and apparently dont hold pressure anymore. i found out the hard way because i left my work truck keys at the shop and had to drive the 4rnr. with no air in the shocks it was a very scary ride at any slight spring compression. the drive line hitting the gas gas tank is the scariest noise ive ever heard in a car. but i made the 2hr drive, cringing at every bump and got it back home without being set on fire. wasnt going to drive it until i got under it and confirmed the noise and finally did.




what part of that pic doesnt look scary?

there is roughly .25in of up travel in the drive line, usually a good bump at speed will make the chassis compress 2.5in and hit frame in the rear, im F'n lucky lol.

here is a better shot, stock 2wd tank has 1.5in spacers in front and 3in in the rear (pictured). note the shiny bare metal ring on the drive shaft...




since from both that angle and through the access panel on top there was a bit of room to go up in the back. so i pulled out the rear spacers, loosened the front and started jacking. the tank actually went up to the stock mounting point and most importantly moved 1in away from the drive line on the way up. a bit of the floor did deflect under the a$$ pad on the rear seats, but magically didnt pinch or even come close to any lines or ports.



now i filled it and went for a good thrashing. i did measure a lot first; axle to frame 2.25in, drive line to tank 3.25in, top of tire to wheel well 2in.... $hit.




no air in the shocks and it drove perfect, not a sound from the driveline or tank and a few good hits to the frame. for now the tank works, but has to go if i go any lower. feeling safe driving it i finally washed it and took a night once around. not sure if its an optical illusion or the bodies on crooked, but it might be because i didnt measure and center thinking i might be taking the body off again and forgot to center when i bolted it the next day and was in a hurry because of the superbowl. still liking how it looks despite the tiny wheels.













up next is cleaning/detailing/installing accessories, very soon is tubbing the rear... i need bigger wheels

 

so ive been cleaning the $hit out of this thing. tore out the whole interior cept the headliner and wiped down everything i could. took most of the fabrics to the car wash and hosed the **** out of em. here are the carpets before






kinda looks like a gi joe lego base exploded in my garage right now






and here we have the bones of a 4rnr, ended up swapping the whole dash with the mini truck one because somebody completely F'd the stereo portion on the 4rnr. while not perfect, it was free and doesnt look like someone used a hammer to get the stereo



this also made installing the alarm easy for once lol




for posterity here is how you find the sneaky bolt and remove the dash pad:

pop the grill out like this



then push the 4 clips in and just pull out the vent. you can then see the bolt above/behind the vent




and i happened to be at the junkyard the other day, saw a 2nd gen 4rnr with a cleanish rear bumper. half off day and a 10% coupon i couldnt say no to $25. the rear part looks like it will bolt up, the sides are definitly too tall and will need trimming. its going on the back burner for now, but i will make this thing fit one day, i really like the look.

mocked it up, drivers side shots are how it will end up sitting in a "mostly stock" mounting. i dont like how high the sides overlap and will need to get cut down shorter.





i lined up the top of the sides to match the 1st gen bumper position and have the top of the sides. way too low "bodykit" looking, might be cool if i was building some kinda bosuku ride but not my style

 

Nice man when mine is back on the road We will need to get together.

 

Your runner is awesome man

 

Looks really good man. Ya the body swaps are alot more work than imagined alot of small things that take time

 

hell ya we do, didnt know you were back in town, been off the board for a bit myself.

yea, in the past ive only done pickups, 2wd-4wd. those i can bang out in a weekend, learned alot of lessons here, someday im going to start with 2 minty trucks and do it again. now ive got almost as much time into fixing the gremlins in the body wiring, but thankfully its easy so far.


thanks boner, and thanks again for making me type boner too

 

Sandwich and whiskey for me please!

 

I've been cleaning the $hit out of this and chasing electrical gremlins then i had some time to waste and a handy empty parking garage and some decent weather so i took a bunch of pics, here's some.



















got some good pics, but it looked like it was just slapped together. alarm/stereo installed and most of the interior in and working, so i started making the outside pretty and detailing the crap out of it. installed mudflaps Ver 1.0 and stretched the 2wd bumper to fit. still need to futz with the brackets so it sticks out a little more and lines up with the wheel opening at the ends. but it looks damn good now, even found a stock 4rnr at random car meet to park next to


then i noticed the bumper was crooked and fixed it





i found out that there isnt any difference in the housing size for the center vents vs the passenger one, i had access to an extra and plopped it in. waiting to find one more then all the dash vents will have an on/off flap. need to find the auto center console to cover the shifter hole and it will look factory ish








trucks have a dome light in mirror but rarely a day/night mirror, so i swapped the day night mirror onto the 2wd housing and spiced into the spot lights power. door setting even works as both the spot and dome lights run on the same circut.


starting to really shape up now, especially in the dark

 

Saw you cruisin the other day on Roosevelt... Runner looks good...