Fixing up a 1990 4Runner body

Hello,

I recently got a couple of quotes for repairing the body of my 1990 4Runner. The vehicle has got the usual rear wheel well / quarter panel body rot with deteriorating rear bumpers ends, as well as a few dings and some pitted rust spots (not holes) on the tailgate near the corners where the window meets it. There are more of these elsewhere on the vehicle too. All of them seem to be near an opening such as on a door or window near a gasket. Again, they are pitted and not rusted through holes. I'm located in the Northeast, so that's probably got a lot to do with it.

The estimates were $1600 and $2500. Both claim that they will weld in new panels, fix the rust spots, replace the bumper ends and paint the whole vehicle the same original color after removing the factory striping. Has anyone had similar work done, and if so, are these prices in the ballpark?

The second guy ($2500) wants to mask off a lot of items instead of removing them. I'll have to check back with the first guy to see if that was his intention as well. Also, a suggestion that he made was to leave off the running boards because that's where a lot of the road dirt collects and promotes the rot. Is that a good idea? I know that it will change the look of the vehicle, but I'm not that particular. Any pros or cons about doing so?

My plan is to fix up the body and replace the rusted steel rims (not the factory ones, but the next step up) with alloys to help dress it up a bit. I would just like to have the vehicle look presentable. Nothing fancy, just nice.

A friend of mine has a 1992 4Runner and just paid over $2000 to have the tailgate replaced and painted, along with new bumper ends. That seems kind of high, doesn't it?

Mechanically, the vehicle is working fine now. You can read my other long post here, if you like. And I really like the way it rides. It's much better than Chevy Blazers that I've driven or ridden in. Any thoughts on that?

Are there any reasons to not go ahead with restoring the vehicle back to respectable shape other than cost? Is this model known for frames rusting out or things of that nature that would make this a bad venture?

Thanks in advance to those who post a reply here.

Peter.

Reply to
Peter Bogiatzidis
Loading thread data ...

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.