hey all - a few questions. i'm formerly the owner of 3 toyota 4x4's ('82/'84/'86) as well as an old ('71) FJ40... sadly they are all long gone and i am currently the extremely fed up owner of an '87 Jeep Wrangler. i wont bore you all with the horrendous details of this vehicle, suffice it to say that it was basically given to me at a time when i had no car so for this much i am grateful. however - enough is enough. i am seriously looking at buying an '87 4runner with a 22RET (turbo) engine (approx 130k), Auto Trans and SR5 package. the price is right since i believe i can trade my POS Jeep more or less straight up for it - now here are the issues:
- rear brakeline is apparently shot. very little pressure in the system... not a terribly difficult fix i believe but it could entail a master cyl rebuild etc.
- exhaust is worn thru in front of the cat - smogging is not an issue at present since i live in MN - but i might one day return to CA so looking at that as well - also wondering if with the turbo there is a special type of cat or a special need for one.
- rust. this is after all MN. there is body rust - how expensive are replacement panels for these things?
also, i am wondering about the reliability of the turbo motors - my old
22R motors were practically unbreakable - true, they were not exactly brutes in their HP and Torque specs... also how are the turbos for mileage? this is obviously important these days with gas at a premium... my old toy's were pretty awesome for mileage... i'd expect the turbo to be more gas hungry but perhaps not... finally i assume all the turbos were EFI? hence the E in the RET right?
sorry for all the questions - i am utterly sick of this Jeep and want to get back to something that is dependable and has a little more room. i'm happy with the IFS - i dont do much rock crawling - and i'm not planning on doing much towing (read on this forum that having the turbo engaged all the time is hard on the motor) so neither of those things is an issue for me... but i'd love some good answers before i commit to buying this beast. i'm looking for something i can own for the next 3-4 years that i can drive in any and all weather and conditions, and that will do double duty as a SUV and pickup truck (for the occasional motocycle).
thanks in advance and sorry for the long post. bennett
PS - the one thing i really like about the wrangler is that its a convertable... now if only i could find a 4runner that's FULLY convertable! any ideas? sawzall? plasma cutter? Really Bad Idea?