How To Remedy The 2nd-Gen 4Runner’s Largest Downside

The second-gen Toyota 4Runner is one in every of my favourite vans. Its easy, utilitarian design is paired with bulletproof reliability and high quality supplies that final for many years.

That is why I picked up a Hilux pickup — or Toyota Truck because it was creatively referred to as right here within the US — for myself a pair years again. They’re nice autos, however one obtrusive shortcoming is their excessive lack of energy. Going up steep grades I’ll typically discover myself buried in third gear; they are surely that gutless.

Scott Kanemura has an inexpensive answer for this drawback, which he’s carried out on his ‘5150Lux’ 4Runner: 1,200 horsepower.

In V6 spec this truck would have produced 150hp when new, and the four-banger model even much less. Multiplying the ability output of a automobile by a full order of magnitude necessitates way over only a easy engine swap, after all. Scott says that primarily simply the shell of the Toyota stays, with a full chromoly tube body taking the newfound chassis masses.

The ability plant is an apparent one, and family-correct, too. The 2JZ-GTE has been absolutely constructed and stroked to three.4L and options a good looking fabricated exhaust that terminates by the passenger-side fender. It even has a muffler, however one thing tells me it’s nonetheless going to be a good bit louder than the truck’s authentic engine. I really like that somebody has gone this far with a chassis like this, which the engineers at Toyota may have by no means imagined when this physique fashion was initially designed within the late Nineteen Eighties.

Then there are the wheels – 3-piece Volk Racing Gr.Cs, which left the RAYS manufacturing unit in 17×7-inch sizing, almost definitely within the late-’80s/early-’90s, so interval appropriate for the truck. In Scott’s possession they’ve been stepped as much as 18-inch and at the moment are a lot wider on the rear. How do these match, you may ask? We’ll get to that in a second.

One other cool exterior element is the 3D-printed air inlet that’s built-in into the grille, by which turbocharger is ready to suck cool, contemporary air. The variety of components created from additive supplies appeared to have elevated exponentially at this 12 months’s SEMA Present, and I’d anticipate this pattern to proceed.

Inside, a set of custom-fabricated fixed-back bucket seats have been put in together with a composite sprint and a refined aluminum console that homes a ratcheting shifter. The seats have minimal padding, and I really feel like I could be terrified to be parked in a single at pace. There’s an Alpine stereo within the sprint, although, so it seems that Scott can nonetheless jam out on his subsequent grocery run.

Should you thought the entrance of the cabin was barebones, the rear has been utterly stripped and tubbed to accommodate the widened wheels and critically meaty rubber. One of many issues I actually like about this construct, although, is that it nonetheless appears to be like good again right here. There are brushed aluminum panels, a little bit of carbon fiber trim, and the cage is aesthetic. Usually drag vehicles — and even present vehicles — will neglect to essentially end off particulars like this, the place as Scott’s truck feels intentional all through.

You’ll additionally discover that the truck has a material gentle high, à la Volkswagen Bus. Better of all, it took me some time to understand that this JZ 4Runner was parked up proper subsequent to an ultra-pearlescent McLaren P1. On the SEMA Present, builds like Scott’s take the cake.

As a builder, Scott has come a good distance from his 1972 Hilux that Keith Charvonia featured in a Speedhunters highlight from 2015.

I’m undecided what comes subsequent after a truck like this one, however hopefully there are many high-speed passes in Scott’s future earlier than he strikes on to a different undertaking.

Trevor Ryan
Instagram: trevornotryan
tyrphoto.com

Pictures by Mark Riccioni
Instagram: mark_scenemedia
Twitter: markriccioni
mark@scene-media.com