[TRoss]

You know the story about the tree limb thru the grille ... well, decided to get the a/c fixed up so I talk to my local a/c shop and we come up with a game plan. Ordered a new condenser, o-rings, recver/dryr, expansion valve etc. The deal was I'd install the condenser cause I wasn't sure if it'd all align up correctly. Gonna pull the evaporator and clean it up good too, then take it in to have some lines made and charge the system and so on...

So I pull BR into the basement, figured I'd do some odds and ends that need attention including a broken HVAC control cable. I'd also been having this rain water leak in the pass side floor board and figured it was the windshield or pinch weld that everyone BFH's ... not so!! Termites! Dang it! Right in the cowl drain area next to the hood hinge. I guess leaves, mud and junk sit in there and rot away the truck There's about three or four overlapped layers of sheet metal in this area and the actual rust spot in the drain is NOT accessible.

So I start pullin' stuff out and I can't STOP!!!!! Starting with the grille, marker light and fender.

Broke some plastic in the process... sheesh.. I can't get the air vent housing out without damaging them. What's the trick????

Here's the engine compartment/fire wall side after ziz-wheeling the cancer out with a cone shaped burr.

Made some cardboard templates to cover the holes then copied them to sheet metal.

Mocked up...

Routed out all the rust best I could (other side is blind ~ well, you kind sorta see it through the side if you get the light and eye angle just right ... made an upper cover plate

I had some pre-bent 16ga left over from the FJ40 half door project but I had to "un-break" it a little to fit the contour area.

Fit pretty good in there.

Of course to raise the banana factor I had to cut and grind around the wiring harness! So I put a piece of angle I had around it to kinda protect it.
Outside

Inside

Outside cleaned up as it's gonna get.

So the plan is to (don't laugh) pop-rivet the cover plates into place after neutralizing the remaining surface rust. I want the slather up the mating surfaces with seam sealer and pull it up tight with rivets. If I try to weld I'll never get the seal I need (and I can't weld upside down anyway!) Then seal the outside also.

tbc...

 

[benny_wiskas]

You always do things the easy way. You should have just cut off everything from the firewall forward, made a new firewall, and 3-linked the front with coilovers and full hydro steering. Now that is a snowball scenario! lol

 

[Lula Tacoma]

When your finished with BR Ill let you have the pleasure of fixing the AC in my 4runner, I have the thing for under the dash and o rings. Really i need to get off my butt and go fix it, how hard is it to pull the part under the dash?

 

[Boomtacoma01]

Dang man. It does tend to snowball at times.

sent from my Galaxy 2 Skyrocket

 

[TRoss]

You always do things the easy way. You should have just cut off everything from the firewall forward, made a new firewall, and 3-linked the front with coilovers and full hydro steering. Now that is a snowball scenario! lol

For sure... I hope one day BR will be a linked truggy with a/c!!! Until then it's a mod at a time... all based on breakage and body damage as we go.

When your finished with BR Ill let you have the pleasure of fixing the AC in my 4runner, I have the thing for under the dash and o rings. Really i need to get off my butt and go fix it, how hard is it to pull the part under the dash?

Actually the evap is easier than I though to get out. The biggest issue is NOT tearing up the hose ends, they corrode on there sometimes. Mine came off easy shmeezy.

Dang man. It does tend to snowball at times.

sent from my Galaxy 2 Skyrocket

Hey Chis what's up.. yeah, every time I try to do one project on the truck it turns into three or four!! lol

 

[misterzee]

Ted, you're amazing!

 

[*Darcy*]

go Ted go!

maybe you can help get the a.c running in little 4runner ... i've checked all there is to check, short of pulling it all out to replace, and can't figure out why (with fully working components) the darn thing just doesn't work right

 

[coryc85]

I think I have the exact same holes on my '88 4runner, I say holes because I have them on both the driver and passenger side. I have not wire wheeled them yet, but I don't think mine are quite as large, but definitely they are getting close to the wire harness. I've never really done any body work, so I'm subscribing to see how you end up pop-riveting those patch pieces in there. Is that 16ga aluminized sheet metal? I was contemplating ordering some from Eastwood, but wasn't sure my welding skills were up to it...didn't even think about pop rivets. I didn't see any termites, but I sure had a lot of leaves, dirt, and what looked like house insulation down in my cowl.

 

[Lula Tacoma]

Darcy, I never could get mine to get really cold this past summer, I'm going to throw a few parts at it and spend the money to have someone vac the system and shoot r12 in it. I remember talking to Ted once about ac, he said the ac got a lot colder with r12 instead of 134a in BR. Maybe the old Toyota systems don't like the new good for the environment stuff. Care to chime in here Ted and refresh my memory?

 

[TRoss]

Is that 16ga aluminized sheet metal? I was contemplating ordering some from Eastwood, but wasn't sure my welding skills were up to it...didn't even think about pop rivets. I didn't see any termites, but I sure had a lot of leaves, dirt, and what looked like house insulation down in my cowl.

No, just mild steel 16ga... it's what I had on hand. I thought about plastic or UHMW sheet too ... which would never rust! Ha, take that metal termites! I prolly should'a just duct taped and silicon-ed it and called it good

Nic, Josh, my a/c guy recommended R12 for BR. He was saying it just worked better in these older systems and less prone to leak too as the 134 supposedly runs at a higher pressure to get the same results. I'll have to post up a pic of the evaporator before I clean it up... it naaaasty which I'm sure kills efficiency.

Not much update, just cleaning and priming some stuff. Why didn't Toyota at least prime the cross/tube/bar thing that goes from A pillar to A pillar??? It is a neat piece tho, lots'O engineerin' in it.

So what do I do about replacing all the foam stuff on the flapper doors and around the duct joints? It's all crispy and falling off.

 

[Lula Tacoma]

Trip to the hardware store for foam weather stripping? Or a roll of Alabama Crome, it will fix anything.

 

[countryboyAL]

Trip to the hardware store for foam weather stripping? Or a roll of Alabama Crome, it will fix anything.

Lmao Alabama chrome

 

[TRoss]

Choot yeah, Alabama chrome! I love that stuff.

Okay, here's some pics of the evap coil ... yuck
Ya think that will restrict air flow and cold air transfer? Could barely see light through the durn thing!!

Exit side ... kinda like bugs on the windshield and none on the back glass.

More cleaning of ducks, I mean ducts and plastic and stuff tonight. Long weekend coming up, hope to get more done (rather be wheelin' tho )

 

[Nowayota]

Choot yeah, Alabama chrome! I love that stuff.

Okay, here's some pics of the evap coil ... yuck
Ya think that will restrict air flow and cold air transfer? Could barely see light through the durn thing!!

Exit side ... kinda like bugs on the windshield and none on the back glass.

More cleaning of ducks, I mean ducts and plastic and stuff tonight. Long weekend coming up, hope to get more done (rather be wheelin' tho )

Do you want the ones you gave me back. I'm not going to use them until the fall.

 

[TRoss]

Thanks! Maybe, depends how this one cleans up. It should be okay, my a/c guy gave me all the pointers so I should be good to go. The one part I might grab from ya is the lower duct that has the actuator/flapper bell crank thingy in it. I can't get mine to work free enough to keep it from popping the cable outta the holder.

I checked my drivers side cowl drain area underneath the dash and it's solid.... thank goodness!!!

For all you 1st Gen T4R's and 2nd gen trucks, check and clean yur cowl drains (or whatever they're called).

 

[Yotaoffroad27]

Looks like someone was driving thew URE with the "fresh" air mode door open... YUK!!!!

I have to say man, you are doing some great work! I wish I had the patients for doing good body work....

 

[STOMPER]

They make a coil cleaner just for the ac coils. Works wonders boils all the bad stuff out and wont hurt the aluminium.

 

[TRoss]

They make a coil cleaner just for the ac coils. Works wonders boils all the bad stuff out and wont hurt the aluminium.

Eureka! Hadn't thought of that. Your a king James!

 

[TRoss]

$182.97 later I had a new condenser, receiver dryer and expansion valve. The cost of luxury wheeling

Fit really well, I was sweat'n my ******* radiator support repair

Generic recvr/dryer is smaller than oem, so was the last one. This time I rigged a piece of angle behind it so the factory clamps could be used. Last time I just used tie-wraps.

The freon lines will be made at the a/c shop eliminating some crazy bends and a couple of unnecessary connections.

Now back to getting the interior cleaned up and back together. Uhhhuug

 

[Lula Tacoma]

What ac shop are you using?