Picked this up a few weeks ago to be my new DD. 1993, 115k, 3VZE V6, 4WD, automatic.
Currently out of commission with (per the PO) head gasket issues, burning coolant pretty significantly. Supposedly they have already been replaced twice so there may be deeper issues. The inspection expired in August of 2015, so it's been sitting for a while so who knows what else we'll find.
My original intentions were to do just cut to the chase and do a 3.4 swap but life has thrown me a couple major curve balls since I bought it. As as result I will likely be either fixing this engine or finding a replacement 3.0. The only progress I have made at all has been washing it and getting the dent in the leading edge of the hood PDR'd.
Probably going to be a bit before I get anything of significance done, but I'm excited for this one.
The interior is a freaking time capsule 
Note that all I have done is give it a quick vacuum and wipe the dust off.
wow. that interior looks amazing.
Thanks!
You don't get to choose your parents but maybe, if you're really really lucky, you might end up with ones as awesome as mine.
While I have been dealing with life things, my dad made arrangements to get the 4Runner towed from my work to their house. The next time I was there I was confused to not see it parked in the yard. I eventually found it parked in the garage. This is about the time my dad informs me that he has found the radiator is split wide open and that he has ordered a new one, which he as since installed. The motor has good compression and the cooling system holds pressure now, which is good. On the not so good side we pressurized the cooling system with the plugs out and got to observe a stream of coolant running out of cylinder #6, and the oil has gone from clean to milkshake.
The PO was assuming there was an issue on the mounting surface of the block that caused the HG failure, now we are wondering if overheating was the culprit.
Hopefully in a couple weeks I will finally be able to devote some energy to diving into this thing, but that's the update for now.
... and it sat.
To quote the wise Mazdeuce, it still hasn't finished itself despite my ongoing experiment in abandonment based project completion. The past several months have been a monumental disaster for me but things are finally starting to settle back down, both mentally and fiscally. The days are getting cooler and shorter here in VT, too, so it's probably time to make things happen on this thing!
Step 1: drain this out of the crankcase
This is where we (my dad and I) left off after evening #1:
Glad I was already planning on replacing the timing belt while it was apart 
Pretty boring update, but most of it was spent like this:
Lots of pictures, lots of labeling to try to keep all the vac lines straight. And it sure has plenty of them!
Downloaded a factory service manual, and hope to make some more progress on it tomorrow.
If you need the lifter bucket shim tools I think there may still be some lurking in my garage. One of the local dealers let me trace theirs to make my own.
After rebuilding mine due to a burnt valve it ran really weak. Turns out the head shop didn't readjust the valves after grinding them so most were hanging open by a few thousands. Mine was an 89 with the 100k extend ed warranty for the head gaskets, no evidence that they were ever changed.
That is one very well built motor, best crank support that I have ever seen. At 205k the bearings and rings/compression were perfect. Speaking of bearings they come in several sizes out of the factory as in custom matched to the rods while being built. I think from the smallest size to the largest size was something like .0015 difference, maybe less.
The head torquing sequence was crazy to the second round of 90 degree turns took a 3' pipe and someone to hold the engine stand.
Hopefully I won't need to dig that deep into these heads but I will keep that offer in mind if I do, thanks!
Made some progress tonight...
Guess which one is burning coolant?
Gasket:
Head:
Block:
All #6. Definitely have some concerns about the condition of the deck surface of the block, and that damage to the head. Any advice would be appreciated.
I'm far from an expert, but since these aren't Jalpa heads we're dealing with, I think that one is a paperweight. You're probably right to be concerned about the block, which means it should come out to get checked. Again, not a rare motor at all, so if I'm going to go through the work to pull the motor I don't think I'd bother to pay to have it checked and find a new head, I'd just work on finding a new motor. With the shape the rest of the truck is in, you should get your money's worth out of it.
If I were in your shoes I'd be looking into a good used engine. A quick search on car-part.com came back with some decent candidates in the $400-$600 range. You might be able to do better. With the deck looking like that I think you'd need to pull the engine anyway to have that surfaced. At that point you might as well do a rebuild.
Oh, and sweet looking truck. Nice color and the interior is really clean. Good luck!
Well, on the block I made the determination to use copper gasket sealant on the HG's and cross my fingers. The point of diminshing returns on fixing a 3VZE vs swapping in a 5VZE 3.4 seems to be pretty low and, quite frankly, I lack both time and money to tear this bottom end apart. There is even worse pitting elsewhere on both deck surfaces and the rest of it was sealing fine. So, wish me luck there 
I did buy a "freshly rebuilt" head on eBay from a junkyard to replace the one above.
It arrived looking like this:
Notice all the scratches on the mounting surface. Great.
Took that head and my original RH one to a machine shop to be cleaned and resurfaced. Got a call shortly thereafter "Your reman head is junk. It's already below minimum thickness". Greeeaaat. Decided to bring the original, damaged, head by to see what they thought of it. They decided that, as it is not in the fire ring, it's no big deal and a couple hours later I left with both my original heads looking like this:
Here is what remains of that blemish:
The pile of parts keeps growing. For some reason the head bolts seem to have disappeared from my RockAuto order but, other than that, hopefully I have everything! Not to try to get a refund on my paperweight rebuilt head...
In other news, floor mats.
Went up today to drop off the good heads and put the bad one back together to return it. My dad is away for the weekend so I skipped trivial tasks like starting to put the engine back together and, instead, focused on more important things like lubricating the rear window tracks, installing the roof rack, and thinking about how to mount my Hella 500's.
Window works smoother now, rack is on, probably going to end up just mounting the lights directly to the bumper.
Baby steps.
Check valve lash clearance. Torquing the RH cam down to 12 ft-lb resulted in this.
...back to the machine shop! $43 later its as good as new with a heli-coil.
Did some math, ordered some shims.
Time passed.
Pushed it back inside. The next time this truck moves it'll be under its own power. I hope.
Took it the rest of the way apart
Then started turning bolts rightey tightey! 
Did math correctly. Valve clearances all within spec.
Left off here:
Starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel. I have tomorrow off, hoping to pick away at it some more.
I suck at stopping to take pictures when I have momentum, but I picked away at some things yesterday...
Still some little stuff and tidying up to do, BUT...
Had a short day at work yesterday so in the afternoon I wrapped up a few things on the 4Runner. Re mounted the fan, properly assembled the intake, re-routed the spark plug wires to the passenger side, installed the coolant overflow tank, battery tie down, checked driveline fluids, changed the oil, put the skid plate on, then drove it 45 miles home 
Took a wrong turn on my way home from work yesterday...
Still sorting things out It had been a total dog - struggling to maintain speed, let alone achieve it. Played with the timing a bit tonight and it is much, MUCH happier now. Hopefully this also improves on the 9.5MPG it returned on the first tank
Other than that, though, it drives great. Suspension feels good, no clunks, no rattles, no weird noises, shifts well, 4WD works, most everything inside works... I am a happy camper!
That interior! And no rust! I love it, Looks Like a lot of fun. what are your plans for it?
No big plans for this one. Keep it reliable, bad weather daily driver, and adventure
My truck decided it wanted to be the Exxon Valdez for Halloween and put its costume on early. Not sure what the deal is, but the oil filter just would not seal and it's been PUKING oil. Finally got a chance to throw another filter on, which seems to have remedied that issue. Went to the car wash with a can of Gunk to pressure wash off the residual and, since I had to put in 5 minutes worth of quarters to do so, gave it a quick wash.
I hate the aftermarket headunit for a few reasons, and I can't wait to replace it and set fire to it. In the meantime, though, one of the reasons I hate it is because the aux input is located on the rear. So plugging my phone in, a five second process, looked like this:
As a bonus, though, the factory clock works now that it's plugged in.
I might already like this thing a little too much.
"Hey, do you want a big Thule roof box for free?"
Um, yes.
Did a little exploring today in the Green Mountain National Forest and brought along my camera...
IMG_4813 by Brian, on Flickr
IMG_4842 by Brian, on Flickr
IMG_4860 by Brian, on Flickr
IMG_4865 by Brian, on Flickr
IMG_4874 by Brian, on Flickr
IMG_4877 by Brian, on Flickr
IMG_4886 by Brian, on Flickr
IMG_4832 by Brian, on Flickr
IMG_4831 by Brian, on Flickr
A cloudy day in "stick season" isn't exactly as picturesque as Vermont gets but it could still be worse...
IMG_4893 by Brian, on Flickr
When I left off I was still having trouble getting the ignition timing correct. While mucking around under the hood we noticed that the plug wires were dated. And when I say dated...
Needless to say I went ahead and threw a set of plug wires and a distributor cap and rotor at it.
Happy to report that, with that, I was finally able to set the timing to the correct 10*BTDC and it is running better than ever.
Timely, too, because snow is falling as I type this and we are committed now!
When working on things, always make sure you actually tighten your crank pulley bolt. Ask me how I know.
Crank sprocket moved forward causing the timing belt to rub on something, crank bolt MIA, pulley gouged out. Ordered those three things and crossing my fingers the crankshaft isn't berked. Will know more when I get it apart later in the week.
Yay.
Supplies. (Not pictured: bolt)
Timing gear moved so far forward on the crankshaft I couldn't find the keyway and thought it was stripped. Adult language was used. Thankully the keyway was perfectly fine.
Did quite a number on the timing belt, thought.
Old pulley:
New pulley:
I forget exact numbers but almost 1mm of material got reamed out of it.
New pulley, bolt, timing belt, and alternator belt (another casualty) and we are back on the road.
I didn't forget to torque that bolt this time 180ft-lb. With Loctite.
