Kevin B's 1985 4Runner

Kevin B. · Nov 6, 2012

clfrnacwby said:
I use gasket maker.

sixstringsteve said:
I use "the right stuff" gasket maker.

I Lean said:
Use Permatex "The Right Stuff". You'll never go back to paper, and most likely won't go back to any other type of RTV either.

The Right Stuff it is, then. Thanks guys!

No current pics, Steve. I'll snap one today if I remember.

sixstringsteve · Nov 6, 2012

Kevin B. said:
It's going to be a dual purpose DD/backcountry explorer build, and as much as I'd like to have a dedicated trail rig, this one is going to see way more road miles than dirt miles, and even fewer rock miles.

It takes a wise man to realistically examine his driving/wheeling expectations and pick what's best for him, rather than what everyone else is doing. It took me a handful of rigs to learn that lesson.

fwiw, I hardly got any lift out of a chevy swap. I'd bet that the OME/dakar springs get you more lift than the chevies. All that being said, I say go for the Dakar/OME Sport setup for your needs. Even if I never went offroad, I'd prefer my OME suspension over stock.

Kevin B. · Nov 15, 2012

An update! I make slow progress every day. It's flippin' cold in my driveway in the morning, so it's slow progress and I lack motivation, but it's progress. Today I rigged up extensions for my ebrake cable (needed because of the IFS width rear axle).

The old hardware was so rusty that I had to dremel it off when I pulled the old axle, so a trip to the hardware store was necessary anyway. Two clevis pins, two stainless steel bolts with nuts and lockwashers, a couple clips, and some aluminum barstock I had lying around got me this setup:

I'm fairly certain that'll work. I need to back off the tension on the cable just a bit, and then I'll see if it catches on the leaf spring when I engage the brake, but so far so good. It's a small thing, I know, but it's one more little step in making this truck mine. I'll pull the longer cable from the '86 before I junk it just in case this doesn't work, but it was tons easier than dropping both tanks and replacing the cable now, in the cold snowy driveway.

Tomorrow morning I need to drill out some broken bolts and replace them with spares from the parts rig so I can put the mudflaps back on and pass inspection. Then I can get around to throwing in my "tuneup in a box" that arrived a little bit ago courtesy of Low Range...

... and it'll be ready for safety and emissions inspection. Which will happen whenever the State of Utah gets around to giving me a dang title. They cashed my check last week, so it oughta be any day now. Or not.

Once I'm street legal, I'm going to go get it dirty the first chance I get. That may or may not be before I get around to fixing the rear main. It ain't leaking so bad that it's an emergency, so that may wait for spring, or at least until I can arrange some quality time with clfrnacwby's heated garage

. Maybe I'll go check out that Wrenchit Center by the downtown Napa.

sixstringsteve · Nov 15, 2012

Did you get the title in the mail?

TJDukit · Nov 15, 2012

Looks good Kevin, I bet that Chalula will give you at least five more horses.

TRD270 · Nov 15, 2012

Did the Cholula come with the kit?

BTW Kevin my runner is still for sale

you could be out in the dirt tomorrow and not wrenching in the driveway :greg:

Kevin B. · Nov 16, 2012

sixstringsteve said:
Did you get the title in the mail?

No.

TJDukit said:
Looks good Kevin, I bet that Chalula will give you at least five more horses.

TRD270 said:
Did the Cholula come with the kit?

Haha, just pour it in the throttle body? I've had a cold the past couple days, my hot sauce is the only way I can taste my food.

TRD270 said:
BTW Kevin my runner is still for sale you could be out in the dirt tomorrow and not wrenching in the driveway :greg:

See, I know you're just trying to get me divorced, but it won't work. If I so much as look at another 4Runner right now I'm quite convinced my wife will skip right past the divorce papers and just kill me. Painfully.

If I'm not rolling in another couple weeks, though, I'll be happy to borrow yours.

TRD270 · Nov 16, 2012

Kevin B. said:
If I'm not rolling in another couple weeks, though, I'll be happy to borrow yours.

For sure, $5000 deposit non refundable

Kevin B. · Nov 19, 2012

Yesterday I replaced the plugs and wires, and cleaned the air filter. Didn't do anything else. This morning I grabbed the now-dry air filter and oiled it up per instructions. Put it in and fired the truck up. It's stumbling and making a funky popping sound at the exhaust. I start pulling wires, and it doesn't get worse when I pull the wire on cylinder 2. I grab one of the old wires that I pulled off and put it in place, no change. I verified I've got spark from the plug to the block. I frogged the plugs between 2 and 3, no change. I put them back and I frogged the wires between 2 and 3. No change. I try two of the plugs that I pulled out yesterday. No change. I look at the plugs themselves - the one that was originally in 2 is still pristine. The one next to it in three is already browning and discolored from the 10 or 15 minutes of idling it's done since I changed them. The cylinder is definitely not firing, and the trouble definitely stays with the cylinder when I swap stuff around.

So it's got to be fuel, right? Bad injector? But it didn't have this stumble before I changed the plugs, and all four old plugs were evenly sooty and slightly wet with gas. I'm stumped, and could use some ideas. It's not a bad plug, and it's not a bad wire, but how on earth could it be fuel? What am I missing?

edit - nevermind. It seems to even out for a second when I shoot carb cleaner in the intake. It has to be fuel, dangit.

sixstringsteve · Nov 19, 2012

Glad you narrowed it down to the fuel system. Any chance its just bad gas?

Kevin B. · Nov 19, 2012

sixstringsteve said:
Glad you narrowed it down to the fuel system. Any chance its just bad gas?

I ain't sayin' the gas is good, but there's absolutely trouble with that cylinder. It's got to be fuel or compression - I'm praying for fuel at this point.

Spork · Nov 19, 2012

Have you tried swapping plug 2 and 3? wondering if just a bad spark plug...

TRD270 · Nov 19, 2012

Try putting the factory air filter back in, I put a K&N in mine and it made all the sensor's go wacky and run like crap

Kevin B. · Nov 20, 2012

Spork said:
Have you tried swapping plug 2 and 3? wondering if just a bad spark plug...

I did, yeah. No change.

TRD270 said:
Try putting the factory air filter back in, I put a K&N in mine and it made all the sensor's go wacky and run like crap

Did you over-oil the filter? I've never run one of these before but I've heard too much oil can travel up the intake and mess up the TPS and such. This doesn't act like sensors, but anything is possible I suppose. I'm pulling the plenum in the morning, that'll give me a chance to check the TPS and throttle body for ick.

I found a place on State a while back that did injector cleaning/balancing for performance guys, but I can't remember their name now. Anybody know who I'm talking about, or recommend another shop for an injector rebuild?

sLcREX · Nov 20, 2012

If you try cranking the motor with no spark plug in cylinder 2 it should spit out fuel if it's getting fuel, not any insane amount, just a few squirts I think, have you tried that? I think one of the guys on here helped me with that one before.

Kevin B. · Nov 21, 2012

There's no compression on cylinder 2

. None whatsoever. I'm trying to come up with any sort of scenario where this not a complete PIMA, and failing. I made sure the compression tester was working by sticking it on another cylinder, and it is. I put it back in 2 to see if maybe I didn't seat it right, still no compression. Needle didn't even move.

So I'm googling around for reasons I could be lacking compression. Short of a hole in the block, I'm seeing a hole in the piston head or a stuck/burnt intake or exhaust valve. Bad rings would cause low compression, but surely not zero, right? What else is there? I had to prop my phone up to get video while I turned the crank, but the rockers on cylinder 2 appear to move when I turn it, does that tell me it's not a stuck valve? Or is poor quality video not sufficient to diagnose that? If the valve was burnt, would the rocker still move?

Do I need to pull the head? Is that where I'm at? I'm burnt out, frustrated, on unfamiliar ground and over my head (again), any help or advice here would be welcome.

TRD270 · Nov 21, 2012

You could squirt a little oil down the cylinder to test the bad ring theory, I'm going to go with a bad head gasket.

Kevin B. · Nov 21, 2012

Can a HG go bad without mixing oil and coolant?

TRD270 · Nov 21, 2012

Could have a tear where there isn't an oil or coolant galley

TRD270 · Nov 21, 2012

One more possibility is you could have lost a valve seat, this happened to my cousins 4 runner several times. I think you would hear a lot of noise if this was the case though

Kevin B's 1985 4Runner

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