I bought my 4Runner new in 1989 and it was my DD for 20 years and over 280,000 miles. Now it's a 'Toy' and I get to have some fun with it. I wheeled it a bit in Ontario and BC and made a few upgrades along the way:
- 2" OME IFS suspension lift and shocks
- ARB front bumper
- 17" Centerlines and 32" Dueler Revos
- Swapped the 4.10s for 4.56s
- ARB air locker and compressor in the back
- Rebuilt t-case with MC twin stick
- 1" body lift

Some pix:
Basically stock, in 2001 or so:

Before and after the OME kit:



Summer 2010:


Got out wheelin with some new BC friends last summer and decided it's time for some more upgrades and to get rid of some rust. The plans are:
- body armour/rock rails and a solid rear bumper
- 3-link SAS swap
- Dual t-case adapter
- 36" swampers

Here's a poser shot with the 36s on. Not exactly functional:


The rear fenders are now rusting again and ther is rust in the rear wheel wells. Worse, the A-pillars have rusted around the windshield and leaked water, which rusted out the driver's side floor.

To deal with the rust in the rear quarters and to fit the 36s without more lift, I decided to go with a set of high-clearance fenders and quarters from Corey (CJM here) at Toyota Fiberglass www.toyotafiberglass.com. Here are some pictures of the panels:

I took the truck to Corey on March 26th and he tore right into it. Besides the fenders and quarters, I am also getting door skins. Corey is also replacing the outer A-pillars using pieces I brought form a donor truck. Mine was always rusty and a bad repair after a 'flop' in 1999 didn't help. Here are some progress shots:

Old panels removed:

Removing outer wheel well:

Outer wheel well removed:

No turning back now!

Prepping the donor A-pillar. See the rust behind the spot-welded drip rail. These will be left off.

A-pillar test fit:

Looks great, and no rust!

Now it's getting exciting... Test fitting the new panels.

Driver's side:


Front view:


Nice curves! Too bad about the 225/75R15 snows but I had to drive five hours to get to Corey's, including mountain passes and these are the only snows I have. 36s will look a 'bit' cooler!

Here's some shiny scrap metal.


Years of Rust Check paid off and kept the truck generally rust-free but the fender lips, wheel wells and A-pillars are a mess. Ontario winters aren't generally nice to these trucks and mine lived through 12 of them.

More to come.

Corey got into the doors today. Stripped the skins off and prepped for POR15 and the new panels. There was some rust in the seams. Not unexpected as the driver's door was re-skinned twice.

Door Prep:

Seam rust:

More Seam Rust:

Stripped and POR15d:

Old and New Skins:

More progress on the doors and A-pillars today.

Both doors were POR15'd then undercoated for extra protection:


Door skins bonded and clamped:


Passenger side A-pillar fiberglass filler. Courtesy of Tibor's Auto Body:


Driver's side A-pillar welded in:

More surface rust in the door hinge area.

Passenger side A-pillar welded in:

Lots of progress this week:

Final test fit of the passenger side panels. Body lines look great.







Got the windshield frame and A-pillars finished and primed in epoxy. Better than new!





Corey prepped the inner rear qurters and made the new outer wheel wells from sheet metal.

Driver's front prepped:


Driver's rear prepped:


Welded and sealed:


Primed:


Inside view:

Great job! I am always happy to see people preserving these vehicles.

Tell me more about the windshield pillar repair. I've looked at these and thought it was too complicated to disassemble. They usually start rusting where the door seal touches the pillar. Then once water gets inside the multiple layers it really starts to go cancerous. And, where did you get the replacement steel part?

One of these days I'm gonna tackle a rear shell rebuild, wheel housings and all the lower stuff that the quarter panel attaches to. I'll get some quarter panels cut off of a rust free 4runner wreck. -- Matt

Looks badass.. keep posting pics! Lookin great

The pillar is made of an inner and outer layer and the drip rail is spot welded to the outer layer. Mine rusted there, and where the weatherstrip touches, like you said. I cut the roof off a wrecked runner years ago to do the repair myself but:

1) I never got around to it
2) I don't have the bility to paint it properly and
3) My welding is more about function than looks

So I asked Corey to do it with the body swap.

Here is a picture of what I cut off the wrecked truck. Even though it looks 'clean', there is rust behind the drip rail, which is why they were cut off the A-pillars.