85 4runner body swap

[acreves]

I recently picked up an 85 manual trans 4runner with quit a bit of body damage. I also bought an 87 automatic trans turbo 4runner with a blown motor and a great body. I would like to put the 87 body on the 85 frame but have a few questions?

Will the 87 body fit on the 85 frame as long as I cut the floor board for the shifters?

Will I be able to lift the bodies off the frame without removing the drive train as long as I disconnect everything attached to the fenders and firewall?

Should I consider swapping anything else from the 87? - Rear axle, Master cylinder, and Ifs calipers will for sure be swapped. Unsure of brake booster and Ifs hubs.

[fustercluck]

The 87 will bolt right up to your frame. If I could have, I would have done an entire body swap on mine, but my donor vehicle was totaled in the front.

I'm recalling this from the top of my head. The bodies have 10 mounting locations: Two in the front, four in the cab and four in the 'bed' area. Remove those and linkages/harnesses and you should be good to go. I'd have several well built and/or well motivated friends on hand to help. I just put a bed on my runner (check this thread http://www.ultimateyota.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=777.0 :D) and it was an effort for two of us to lift and carry. I imagine with the cab and ancillary components, one would want five/six buddies and some cool libations on hand for such an exertion.

AFAIK, the better boosters (dual diaphragm) are from V6 runners/trucks. The vented brake upgrade is recommended, but I think there are two ways to accomplish that upgrade. I used the FJ rotors and V6 calipers on my front axle.

[BruceTS]

Mike Carter did a frame swap between an 85 and 86, you may have to register to see the thread

http://67.122.16.97/bbs/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=576

[traxman25]

The 84-85 bodies are the same as the 86-89 4 Runner bodies. The frames are not the same but the sheet metal is. You will have to be careful buying after market components. In most cases you'll want to buy the part for the frame (IE front and rear bumpers, T-case mounts would be the big ones).

When I built my 4 Runner we made the frame a roller with axles, engine, trans, transfer. I didn't have anything else because I wanted to make sure it wouldn't interfere with the body, but I did a TON of mods at the same time as the rebuild. The note of caution is that you have to lift pretty high to get over the motor and the shifters. We removed the shifters so we didn't have to deal with them. Also those 4 Runner bodies are HEAVY! We striped the body down to nothing but the windshield and dash and it was still a bear, doable, but heavy so have help on hand, more than 2. I'd say 6 to be safe.

The 87 rear axle is 3 inches wider, so I'd swap that in. The best calipers are from an 86+ V6 as they are the large 4 piston calipers, but the IFS calipers are stiller better than the SAs. There are a few ways to set up the front axle, hubs, and brakes. I don't remember the details of all of them but what I did was this. I used an IFS hub, FJ 60 rotors (http://www.marlincrawler.com/htm/brakes/rotors.htm), 86+ V6 calipers and Sky's front widening kit (http://www.sky-manufacturing.com/) (sorry sky's site isn't set up for direct page links). This set up widens the front axle by 3 inches to make it match the 87 rear axle width. It also increases the brake rotor/caliper size which increases the braking power of your truck, a great thing with the bigger tires.
I'm not sure about the booster/master myself, that's something I havn't had to deal with yet...

Hope that helps!

[acreves]

Thanks for the info. I will try and get the old 85 body off and paint the frame with POR 15 on the 7th and 8th and and then put the new body on over the 24th - 28th. I'll take some pics and let you guys know how it goes.

[anthony1]

you can at least see the pics ...

http://67.122.16.97/carter/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=4Runner-Swap&page=1

[acreves]

Well today I got my Energy Suspension body mounts, stripped the interiors out of both 4runners, and started unbolting a bunch of junk from the 87 which actually turned out to be an 86.

1986 Turbo 4runner with blown motor.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n174/kellachica/IMG_0832.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n174/kellachica/IMG_0833.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n174/kellachica/IMG_0834.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n174/kellachica/IMG_0836.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n174/kellachica/IMG_0835.jpg

[acreves]

After Pics

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n174/kellachica/IMG_0846.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n174/kellachica/IMG_0845.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n174/kellachica/IMG_0844.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n174/kellachica/IMG_0843.jpg

[acreves]

And here is the 85

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n174/kellachica/IMG_0863.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n174/kellachica/IMG_0861.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n174/kellachica/IMG_0859.jpg

[acreves]

Between work, buying and moving into a new house, and having a new baby thing were put on hold for a while. However this past week I swapped the bodies. It took 5 guys to lift the new body onto the old frame and went as well as could be expected. I stil have a bunch of work to do but here are some pics.
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd225/acreves/IMG_1089_12.jpg
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd225/acreves/IMG_1092.jpg
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd225/acreves/IMG_0211.jpg
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd225/acreves/IMG_0217-1.jpg