Hello everyone!

My name is Brad, and I picked up this truck for the purpose of hauling my scooters around.

It's a beater, but I only paid $1000 for it so I'm not complaining. It had 27x,xxx miles on it and most if not all of it was original. It also looked like it was side swiped at some point.

So far I've dumped about $1200 into it. Here is a list of what I had done:

New radiator
New hoses
Tranny service
NGK wires
NGK plugs
New shocks
New brakes
Magnaflow exhaust
New tip
New O2 sensors

4wd fenders
4wd bumper
4wd valance
4wd grill (not yet installed)
4wd clear corners
4runner map light
Black rear bumper
Crown Vic mesh wheels and tires
Replaced truck bed
Replaced complete dash
4runner gauge (not yet installed)

Ok now on to pics, from earliest to most recent:

 

looking good

 

clean project

 

Nice. Not bad for a $2200 investment.

 

Nice

 

Thanks guys!

So got up early and installed my 4runner grill before I left for work.

 

looking good

 

The truck looks good!

 

Aww you guys are very kind! I think the truck would look alot better if it was all one color. I've been debating which route I'm going to go. Here are my options, and right now I'm leaning toward the cheapest one:

1. DIY bodywork and paint. I've never done this before, but I feel like I might be able to tackle the job if I check out vids on youtube and reading some literature.

2. One day paint and body work. I've been told I can get a hookup for about $600.

3. Professional paint. I've got a guy that painted my scooter for a great price, and he offered to do complete paint and bodywork for $1800. I'm petty sure the truck would look near brand new with this option.

The truck currently has 289,000 miles on it and am debating if its worth dumping that much money into. What do you guys think?

 

Took my 87 mustang to Maaco and $800 later it looked like I spent 2k on it.

 

People don't realize that some of the cheaper paint places do a great job at painting your car..... Just as long as you remove all molding/trim and do the bodywork yourself.

Most shops use the high volume low pressure guns that leave major orange peel. It may look like sh!t at first but since the paint is so thick, once you get it color sanded and buffed out, you pretty much have a high end paint job.

Back in the early 90s, I use to have my buddy do the body work on my VW's then take them to Earl Scheibe for a $99 paint job.

 

Yup. Another good tip is to try and get to then while the work volume is low.

 

keeep the truck the last 4ever and ever lol

 

Nice solid truck man...I like those rims a loot keep it up bro!!!!

 

Suggestions on lowering? Cheap sounds nice, but....

 

Beefed angled blocks and crank the torsions.

 

Do I need angled blocks if I'm planning on just doing a 2" drop in the rear? I've got fat tires on my 16s and wasn't planning on changing them anytime soon.

From what I've heard the universal ones from the auto part store need to be drilled out a bit.

Are the djm and beltech ones the same as the universal ones?

 

So I guess the lowering is something that I'm going to have to figure out on my own.

Anyways, I got my eBay h4 hid conversion in, just need to find time this weekend for the install.

Great price on the hi/low hid kit and the glass headlights @ $66 shipped.

 

I don't think a 2" drop would change your pinion angle much. I've had both DJM and generic blocks on various Trucks and never needed to drill anything out

 

you can get the autoparts store blocks, the holes in them are just a little bigger then needed.

angled blocks help to keep the pinion angle correct.