1:1 4-Runner body work

[Metal Masher]

I acquired my 88 4-runner a few years ago for $400. It was ugly and rusty but it ran and i've been looking for one i could afford for a long time.

Although it ran pretty good the body was bad. the passenger side was the worst. here is how it looked after i got most of the loose rust off.

Well i patched it up quickly and got it on the road, driving it like that until last fall when the timing chain finally let go.

It sat most of the winter until i finally got some time to fix it right.

the first order of business was the motor. I've replaced timing chains in the 22R motors before but I've never seen this!

Yah, the chain tensioner should not look like that!

Anyways i replaced everything, buttoned it up cleaned everything and put it back in and it runs great now.

Next was the rear 1/4. I started by lopping off the skin with a set of air nibblers to get an idea of what i was getting myself into. It was so rusty on the bottom i only cut across the top of the fender and it fell right off!

The reason the body was so bad is the previous owner got rear ended a few years after the truck was purchased new and the replacement skin had nothing to protect it from rust and quickly rotted from the inside out.

you can see in this pic how the floor was compromised

The shabby body work left broken welds and wrinkled panels which weakened the corner significantly.

As bad as it seems i got lucky and acquired a really good rear 1/4 from another runner and started dissecting my truck to replace the bad sections.

I Started cutting spot welds

Then a lot more

then i cut about 50 more spot welds off the donor fender to get to the good inner structure

then i trimmed it down to what i needed

And gave it a test fit

it didn't come out to bad. I also threw on the new skin just to make sure everything lines up.

Not bad. Next to tackle is the structure at the bottom of the B pillar.

 

[Jer]

Glad to see another 4runner saved. That was always my favorite generation, nothing beats a removable top (cars or women)"thumbsup"

 

[MnRockCrawler]

The reason the body was so bad is because its a toyota

Fixed it for ya :ror:


Looks good! Looks like alot of hard work went into it!

 

[microgoat]

Might want to drop the roof back on just to make sure everything lines up before the final welds ;-) Looks like you're doing it right.

 

[Metal Masher]

Glad to see another 4runner saved. That was always my favorite generation, nothing beats a removable top (cars or women)"thumbsup"

I didn't have a choice, I can't afford a nice one so if i want one i need to fix it.

Fixed it for ya :ror:


Looks good! Looks like alot of hard work went into it!

That's too true! and yes i do have a lot of work in it.

Might want to drop the roof back on just to make sure everything lines up before the final welds ;-) Looks like you're doing it right.

Don't worry, I took tons of measurements and everything looks really good. As you've probably seen in my RC builds, I don't do anything half way"thumbsup"

Also i'm taking tons of pics for a future scale Project 8)

 

[ColquittCustom405]

wOW.....I never would of bought it. You could not have pay me to take it. But. you def' did it the right way. Glad you saved her.

 

[C*H*U*D]

If this turns out like your RC builds, it should be great!

I need to repair my 85's left rear wheel well. It's not nearly as bad as yours though. I thought about going the Fiberglass route, but the price turns me away. All I really need is the arch and I can get that welded in.

Looking forward to more pictures.

 

[microgoat]

You're gonna need a bigger sheet of tinfoil :ror:

 

[Metal Masher]

wOW.....I never would of bought it. You could not have pay me to take it. But. you def' did it the right way. Glad you saved her.

Thanks. I'm a sucker for cherity cases and i always like a challenge. This isn't my first time at this. I built a 76 Cherokee years ago that was actually worse then this!

If this turns out like your RC builds, it should be great!

I need to repair my 85's left rear wheel well. It's not nearly as bad as yours though. I thought about going the Fiberglass route, but the price turns me away. All I really need is the arch and I can get that welded in.

Looking forward to more pictures.

I hope it turns out good. So far it is.

You're gonna need a bigger sheet of tinfoil :ror:

LOL! you got that right!

Before i go into more progress i finally scored a good set of tires. They are old but were barely used end even have the white stripe down the center from the manufacturer! Not bad for $300 with rims ;D

With the inner structure behind the tire fitted I had only one spot the patch on the inner fender

Then i was able to tack the corner in place

Then weld it up and grind it down

I also filled in all the spot welds along with this small bracket

next up was the rocker below the B pillar. it was just as bad.

I stated by removing the outer layers

Then trimmed the bottom of the inner layer off

Then i went to my donor panel

drill the spot welds and cut the outer support away

Then cut what i needed from the inner support

The i fitted and welded the replacement inner support in

Then welded the outer support in place

One last thing was a small section of the rocker under the door. I cut off the bad section and hand formed a piece from a scrap section of spare skin i had

then i fitted it up as tight as i could

then welded and ground it down

And here it is ready for the skin

More later

 

[Metal Masher]

More progress

The last thing i needed to do before i could weld the skin on was the fix some small rusty spots

First i trimmed the offending areas then formed some patches

this one was the worst as it had shallow curves in multiple directions

then i tacked them in place

once it was fully welded and ground down I fitted it for the last time and made it permanent

Starting to look like a truck again!

Now i have some work to do in the replacement tail gate.

 

[C*H*U*D]

More progress

The last thing i needed to do before i could weld the skin on was the fix some small rusty spots

First i trimmed the offending areas then formed some patches

Did you use a shrinker/stretcher to make those curved pieces? If so, which one?

 

[Metal Masher]

Did you use a shrinker/stretcher to make those curved pieces? If so, which one?

Yes i do. it's from Harbor freight. Its not the best but it gets the job done.

Well i'm heading down the home stretch.

Sorry i don't have more shots of the smoothing progress, but i got the quarter filled sanded and primered then shot it with some single stage stuff i had lying around to seal the primer.

Didn't turn out to bad.

Then i repeated the procedure on the tail gate, reassembled it and fitted it back on

I wish i had time to paint the whole thing. o well, it will just need to look all patchwork until i get some time to paint it right.

Now all i got to do is re-assemble and i can start driving it again.

 

[Metal Masher]

well it's time to dig up this old thread. I've been driving my runner daily pretty much in the condition it was in when i finished the passenger side body work 4 years ago.



now it's time to move on and sell the truck but first i need to address the drivers side that i have neglected since i bought it.





the first order of business was to remove the offending rust in the middle of the fender.





I kept a section of the donor truck fender and cut it to fit the spot.



then i started forming the lip for the fender opening.



test fit looks good



the center was next.



then the lower sections





More later.

 

[BigSki]

Did you finish you dad's car? That was an impressive amount of forming/fab work. "thumbsup"

 

[Metal Masher]

Did you finish you dad's car? That was an impressive amount of forming/fab work. "thumbsup"

No i didn't. i put it on hold to get this done mainly because the registration and inspection ran out and i didn't want to pay it just to turn around and sell it in a few weeks. i got a car from my dad just to hold me over until i can get my falcon done.

More progress. i forgot to mention it but the inner fender was amazingly intact around the wheel lip and all i needed to do was rozet weld the new flange onto the old inner fender.

now with the skin secure to the truck once again i started digging into the cancer by cutting it out as far as i could.







then it was time to form some new sheet metal. the inner rear quarter had some texture to it that i had to replicate so more pounding was in order.



that fit well in the quarter and filled the gap with one piece.



i added a brake while i was at it and tied it into a patch for the wheel well.



next i made patches for the back of the quarter.



then it was time for some fun. the section behind the wheel opening has some pretty complex curves so to mimic that i needed to make the patch in two pieces. i started with the outer skin



Then the spot weld lip was formed.



The two were joined together



and it filled the void nicely.



More later

 

[bob1961]

after seeing your R/C metal work blake, this should be no problem to you "thumbsup" ....

 

[SkaldidDog]

Nice work.

What does the red donor-rig look like now?...

J

 

[Peaker]

That look so very much unlike the work some guy did on the 1958 chevy pickup in my friends garage, it is so bad the rest of the car have just been sitting there for 20 years now.

And it isent easy to find parts to a 1958 Apache stepside in Denmark, i even think its hard to do in the US.

The chevy will most likely end up as scrap iron as my friend is no longer able to work on it himself, so all that can save it is a lottery win and then pay some one else to do the work on it.

The erly 90ties smallblock put in the truck was mounted on solid steel mounts, home made by same blind monky which did the other work on the car.

My friend paid 11000 dollars for the Apache back then, and he put even more into the 85 ramcharger he drive now, and it is not in that much better state.
But it did pass inspection, but it will not do that again without even more work to the Dodge.

Told my friend dont buy car with your heart, do that with your wallet first.

Think the Dodge is around 17.000 dollars now, and its prime part is the "new" rebuild engine, i assume there will be many weeks of work for a metalmasher on the Dodge.

 

[thecrusader]

Great job,ive had to do the same thing to an old Holden i have in my garage.
Great to see other people welding sheet in there and not bogging the car up
with newspaper and chicken wire.

Out of curiosity do the cars rust like that there from salt being put on the roads?

 

[Metal Masher]

after seeing your R/C metal work blake, this should be no problem to you "thumbsup" ....

Thanks! there are a lot of similarities to both scale and 1:1 body work.

Nice work.

What does the red donor-rig look like now?...

J

actually I only got the fenders and tailgate from the donor truck. the owner of it scrapped the rest. so it probably looks like a microwave or a blender by now:ror:

That look so very much unlike the work some guy did on the 1958 chevy pickup in my friends garage, it is so bad the rest of the car have just been sitting there for 20 years now.

And it isent easy to find parts to a 1958 Apache stepside in Denmark, i even think its hard to do in the US.

The chevy will most likely end up as scrap iron as my friend is no longer able to work on it himself, so all that can save it is a lottery win and then pay some one else to do the work on it.

The erly 90ties smallblock put in the truck was mounted on solid steel mounts, home made by same blind monky which did the other work on the car.

My friend paid 11000 dollars for the Apache back then, and he put even more into the 85 ramcharger he drive now, and it is not in that much better state.
But it did pass inspection, but it will not do that again without even more work to the Dodge.

Told my friend dont buy car with your heart, do that with your wallet first.

Think the Dodge is around 17.000 dollars now, and its prime part is the "new" rebuild engine, i assume there will be many weeks of work for a metalmasher on the Dodge.

I have had my share of bad car buying decisions but not quite that much money wise. the worst rust I've dealt with was actually on my 1976 Jeep Cherokee. the body was much worse then this and I still fixed that one.

When you live in the rust bent you either spend a lot of money on a rust free rig or you spend a lot of time fixing rust. I don't have a lot of money so I'm stuck fixing them

Great job,ive had to do the same thing to an old Holden i have in my garage.
Great to see other people welding sheet in there and not bogging the car up
with newspaper and chicken wire.

Out of curiosity do the cars rust like that there from salt being put on the roads?

My
Cherokee actually had a dead bird... in the bondo!! :shock: along with newspaper, chicken wire, and window screen:lmao: and yes they salt everything here in the north east US.

Well I have been busting my but getting this done. I don't have a lot of pics of the progress but here is a shot of the final welding in process.



lots of tac, tac, tac, to keep worping down.

Than I coated all the surface rust with POR15



finally it was sand, bondo, paint, sand, bondo, paint for about a week.





Not perfect but not bad either.

lastly I threw everything back on, threw all the parts inside and put her up for sale.





I must have done something right because about a week later (this past Friday) it went with it's new owner to Connecticut.



it went to a good kid of 16 years old. He is a member on here by the way ( I can't remember his screen name :x) I believe he will turn the old girl into the rock crawling beast I could only wish for!