80 turdyota

A few weeks ago I traded for a 80 toyota that had a locked 20r. Found a donor Swiss cheese of a 79 with a good 20r spare trans tcase and pieces of driveshafts. Finally got the "new" motor stabbed in and hope to fire it up Saturday if I have time to mess with it. luckily it came with a aftermarket header, and carb; trying to keep it budget friendly but have a decent trail toy. Looking at going with 35-37s, for now. Planning to weld the rear, and put a spartan\aussie\lockright in the front.

1. What is the best budget friendly spring swap option for the front? Have an extra set of rear springs off the donor.

2. I'm looking more at tcase gears in future, to keep parts easier to find(driveshafts) instead of doubler. But could be persuaded with a good deal and adjust from there.

3. Any good mods on the cheap that will help it on and off road that I didn't mention.

4. A roll bar and eventually an exo.(no poop pipe)

you'll need front axle shafts (along with the tcase gears & lockers) if you want to actually wheel it on more than rough dirt roads.

I would not buy a 4cylinder lunchbox locker.

I would go pull some v6 diffs (and snag the rear drive shafts too) from some 3rd gen 4unners at the pull-a-part/express pull n save.
The v6 diffs are just bigger, and the v6 Spartan locker is cheap and strong.

Don't be afraid to build some driveshafts, you'll be re-tubing them anyway as the stock ones are made of tinfoil. 2.5" sch 40 pipe fits the yokes well and you can indicate them in and weld them in the truck plenty straight for road driving.


Front spring swap requires steering work, the stock push-pull steering is marginal at best.


If it's mainly a trail toy, I'd throw a heavy duty tie rod on it, and get a cheap hydro ram and orbital.

Here is how I would attack this project
1. get it running and driving spending the least amount of money possible on the carb fuel system. A 30" tire should clear with stock wheels
2. weld the rear end
3. deicide if it is going to be trail use only or a combination of street and trail use

4a. for trail only use I would suggest propane to run the 20r and full hydro steering
4b. for street use a weber carb will do the job. they aren't real good off road. as far as steering goes i would suggest crossover with ram assist

5. using rear springs up front will work with some other springs added in, but getting the lift and placement of the front axle right can get to be a pain in the rear, not all toyota rear springs have the same offset center pin. I have heard good things about the all-pro front springs.

6. gearing, lockers, and transfer case gears or doublers. all of these options are available and they all have their benefits.

I suggested getting it running with a welded rear first that way you can get a feel for how the truck runs, the way that you drive, and how you want to drive it.

Thanks guys, definitely want to keep it streetable. Has to be dual purpose. My kids are getting old enough to drive the back roads so this would be perfect to learn to drive manual transmission.


It has factory power steering, would a IFS steering box bolt in to run high steer, or does it require frame modification?

What ratio rear diffs do most 6cyl 4runners have? I think the current ratio is 4.30ish.

mikeparker said:

Thanks guys, definitely want to keep it streetable. Has to be dual purpose. My kids are getting old enough to drive the back roads so this would be perfect to learn to drive manual transmission.


It has factory power steering, would a IFS steering box bolt in to run high steer, or does it require frame modification?

What ratio rear diffs do most 6cyl 4runners have? I think the current ratio is 4.30ish.

Click to expand...

ifs box requires frame mod (weld some sleeves in the frame)

Most 4runners have 4.10s, but they also had 3.90s, 4.30s, 4.56, and 4.88 (rare, 2nd gen only afaik)

4.10s and 4.30 are the most common in 3rd gens

Finally got the turd fired up. Ended up my battery was junk, and the starter was not needed. Now to get tires on it so we can yard drive it to work out the bugs, starting with a fuel leak at the accelerator pump.

How do you tell the difference from a Weber 32/36 or 38?

Took the junk bed off, moved fuel tank and redid fuel line/pump. Got the exhaust spliced and quieted down, could hear the blower motor run but nothing coming out anywhere, found a huge mouse bed just behind the vents. Removed the nest and vacuumed really well and now heater is working. With a set of tires it could drive more than just around the block. Slow go but it's coming around