'96 4Runner front clip removal

[nilson]

Hello everyone.

I was in an accident which messed up the front of my 4Runner pretty good. The frame and engine are perfectly fine, but the bumper, radiator, fenders, and the drivers side wheel well piece (not sure what this part is called - what the fender bolts to) need to be replaced. I've already gotten off everything but what the fenders and radiator bolts to.

I think this whole piece comes off together but I really don't know. I'll try to get some pictures later today, but I am curious now if anyone can give me some tips. I can't see any bolts that hold this to the cab--just looks like spot welds and sealant. Do I need to drill out the welds?

I love this truck too much to throw away so I'm doing as much of the work as possible myself to make it worth keeping.

Any help would be greatly appreciated so I can get my baby back on the road.



Thanks!

[extremetoy2000]

Yes. all spot welded up. get a spot weld drill bit and crill them out from the front on your wrecked truck and just cut one off a doner truck so you can drill them out from the back side.

[nilson]

Thanks.

Just looking for advice, etc - I'm probably going to end up removing all the damaged parts and having a body shop put the new stuff on.

Is there any chance I would find a whole front clip (is that what it's all called?) at a junkyard?

I've never really done body work before, and I'm just pulling all the crap off that I can at this point.

[extremetoy2000]

Sure its possible but other than the core support itself all the other stuff are popular crash parts so they are usually expensive and the first thing that get sold off new arrivals at salvage yards.

[nilson]

Here are some photos of the damage, if anyone cares to annotate or provide any pointers. I'm very new and I don't want to mess it up worse!

Thanks for the help

[nilson]

Drilling out those spot welds is a real pain in the ass... gah.

Does anyone have any rough estimate what I might look to spend on having it reassembled if I get all the bent up crap off/bring the parts?

[nilson]

Any tips on removing the quarter panel piece that goes under the fender? I think I got all the spot welds but I'm having a lot of trouble with the part which is butted against the firewall which looks like its only held with epoxy type material.

Anyone have any rough idea what I might spend getting the front end redone? I expect I'll just bring it in with a bare front end, just the engine sitting in the frame and no sheetmetal forward of the doors.

Any ideas greatly appreciated.

[nilson]

thank you! I'd love to tube it but I just don't have the resources to do it right now. The pictures will help though. In the future this truck will become a great project but for now I just want to get it back on the road.

I'm a really broke engineering student with too many busted machines (blown motocross bike and a wrecked truck )

[nilson]

Well I got the drivers side core support off (any help with terminology here?) and the front stuff.

I am going to need to start ordering some parts if possible, but I am just a little bit lost on what the stuff is called aside from the external stuff such as fenders, bumpers, grille, and hood.

I feel a little better having most of the damaged parts off the truck, but I know I still have a lot of work to do and a lot of money that needs to be spent.


Any good sources for parts (and I need to know what they're called) Thanks!

[nilson]

Thank you very much! I should be able to find / identify just about everything I need from this site.

NorCalBorn

[nilson]

What happened to NorcalBorn's posts? I need that site again

[nilson]

It was a site that listed just about any part you could want for a vehicle, including exploded diagrams to show where it goes. They had salvage parts and new parts also I think.

Anyone know what it is? Looks like NorCalBorn is gone from the board or something, what wonderful forum software we have that deletes all old posts.... damn

[Chardy]

how come there are no other posts in this thread?? I'm only getting one side of the conversation.

[will.the.thrill]

because nilson is schizophrenic.

[nilson]

Nevermind it, I just ordered about 1500 dollars of stuff to hopefully get me started to having a working 4Runner again

[Scuba]

You may be thinking of toyodiy.com

And if you specifically need norcalborn's advice, I know he can be found on UltimateYota.com or IH8mud.com

good luck

[Wera285]

Originally Posted by nilson

thank you! I'd love to tube it but I just don't have the resources to do it right now. The pictures will help though. In the future this truck will become a great project but for now I just want to get it back on the road.

I'm a really broke engineering student with too many busted machines (blown motocross bike and a wrecked truck )

how much do you want for the motocross bike?

[nilson]

Originally Posted by Wera285

how much do you want for the motocross bike?

No way Id sell it Its my baby. A few hundred dollars for some new valves and a high-comp piston and she'll be ripping the trails and track again in no time.

[Wera285]

are you gonna go with the steel valves?

[nilson]

Yep, plan on sending the head to MX Time and having the seats cut, and all new valvetrain installed with stainless valves, and Im putting in (probably) a JE high-compression piston.

[nilson]

OK guys, thanks fro the help so far (especially those deleted posts). I am still in need of two parts especially--that is, the hood brackets and a drivers side fender brace. I've been unable to find these parts online, any pointers?

Thanks

[hunter4runner]

Pull-A-Part

[nilson]

Well I've been working a lot on the truck lately. Figured I'd give an update on my progress. I bought a donor truck that had been rolled, but had a good front end on it. The donor is a 1998 SR5 V6 2WD.

Former state of the wrecked 4runner:


What's left of the donor truck:


And some pictures of the progress I've made on my wrecked truck:





Still working on it obviously, but I did get it to crank for the first time in over 9 months last night. Makes me happy to be making progress to get her back on the road and dirt!

[hunter4runner]

i saw this and was like 'thats the guy with the green runner but that was a long time ago' and sure nuff its you, glad you made some progress on it !

[JDMHN8]

Shit would have been a good time to swap a snazzy Tacoma front end on there.

Guy who came and picked up my old seats had the Tacoma front end on his 4Runner. Quite impressive and very unique.

Looks like good progress, though

[nilson]

Well I found this wrecked Runner for a pretty good deal so I decided to go with that. Didn't know how easy it would be swapping on a foreign front clip either. Never done any sort of body work before believe it or not :P

The frame in the front was bowed in slightly from where the front crossmember took a hit and the passenger side body mount was crushed, so I had to do some heating and work with a jack to straighten the rails, then I welded on a new body mount and new crossmember.

The front clip went on without much fuss, and I've been working today on welding it to the firewall. As soon as that's done I can get to untangling the mess of hoses and wires under the hood and try to get all that squared away. I accidentally pumped what looked like a gallon of ATF onto the yard when I started her up yesterday

[nilson]

Well I got it all finished up today. Only remaining issue is some strange electrical problem with the headlights. The passenger side light has normal voltage but the drivers side is only getting between 5 and 6 volts. I've verified the ground is good on that side, so something is pulling the voltage down on the + side. Will do a little investigation on it tomorrow; if I can't figure it out I'm just gonna buy a couple of 12v relays and tap into the functional light :P