It looks great Stephane. I’ve had several Toyota hi-lux pickups over the years and they were supremely reliable trucks. I’ve not had a 4Runner but believe they are based on the hi-lux aren’t they? Shame about the Disco though, maybe you could part exchange it for a nice leaf sprung Series Land Rover ;-) You should pay a visit to http://www.lannyclark.com/
Anyway, looking forward to the pictures of your 4Runner in action this winter :-)
Lanny Clark: OMG, that is too funny! I see he’s in Colchester, Vermont. My family and I spend a week there every summer, and have been for the last 5 or 6 years. What a coincidence. And I had no idea. I did not go this year, since I had bought my cabin here, but my wife and kids did. I in fact drove the Disco there last year. I’m definitely going to check him out next time (2 hours drive, not bad). :)
4Runner: yup, it’s the family version of the Hilux (branded Tacoma in North America). It’s going to be a breath of fresh air to be able to go in any auto store and or shop and get off-the-shelf parts and service instead of having to import the former and pay premium for both. And it’s also a much simpler/smaller engine, which is going to be easier for me to maintain on my own.
Disco: cracked engine block (best guess)… :( All the coolant empties itself in the engine block in ~10 minutes. But you might not have seen or heard the last of it. I’m storing it for now (winter is coming, nowhere indoors to work) and am currently planning to take a page out of your book and fully “restore” what is still good of the engine, swap the block, and bring it back to life. Great father-son(s) project, likely next summer. If not, I’ll be stripping it and selling it for parts myself, with the goal of getting a Series or older Defender indeed. The Disco, even with the off-road tires (no lift), is a much better highway car though, so I’d really like to fix it and use that for the Montreal-to-cabin drive, and use the 4Runner to go drive/mess around once at the cabin.
Good news! I jus found a $500 replacement engine. As well as in indoors garage to work in. So it’s decided, the Green Beast shall live again, but it’ll be a while. Not going to drive it until I take it all apart, clean/mend it, then rebuild it, Ian/mud4fun-style. :)
And not sure about the “soon” part. Gonna take a break from spending on it for a couple of months. I might still strip it and sell it for parts, to finance a Series or something. :)
LOL, I’m not sure you’d be able to handle the back to basic rock hard ride and zero creature comforts of a Series after the positive luxury of the Disco!!
tekArtist 
Looks to be exactly what a family of adventures need!
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It’ll be put to good use, that’s for sure. :)
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Awesome!
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I hope this one lasts. Turns out the Land Rover has a cracked block. Needs a new engine. Maybe next year (storing it until then).
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It looks great Stephane. I’ve had several Toyota hi-lux pickups over the years and they were supremely reliable trucks. I’ve not had a 4Runner but believe they are based on the hi-lux aren’t they? Shame about the Disco though, maybe you could part exchange it for a nice leaf sprung Series Land Rover ;-) You should pay a visit to http://www.lannyclark.com/
Anyway, looking forward to the pictures of your 4Runner in action this winter :-)
Ian
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Lanny Clark: OMG, that is too funny! I see he’s in Colchester, Vermont. My family and I spend a week there every summer, and have been for the last 5 or 6 years. What a coincidence. And I had no idea. I did not go this year, since I had bought my cabin here, but my wife and kids did. I in fact drove the Disco there last year. I’m definitely going to check him out next time (2 hours drive, not bad). :)
4Runner: yup, it’s the family version of the Hilux (branded Tacoma in North America). It’s going to be a breath of fresh air to be able to go in any auto store and or shop and get off-the-shelf parts and service instead of having to import the former and pay premium for both. And it’s also a much simpler/smaller engine, which is going to be easier for me to maintain on my own.
Disco: cracked engine block (best guess)… :( All the coolant empties itself in the engine block in ~10 minutes. But you might not have seen or heard the last of it. I’m storing it for now (winter is coming, nowhere indoors to work) and am currently planning to take a page out of your book and fully “restore” what is still good of the engine, swap the block, and bring it back to life. Great father-son(s) project, likely next summer. If not, I’ll be stripping it and selling it for parts myself, with the goal of getting a Series or older Defender indeed. The Disco, even with the off-road tires (no lift), is a much better highway car though, so I’d really like to fix it and use that for the Montreal-to-cabin drive, and use the 4Runner to go drive/mess around once at the cabin.
We shall see. :)
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Good news! I jus found a $500 replacement engine. As well as in indoors garage to work in. So it’s decided, the Green Beast shall live again, but it’ll be a while. Not going to drive it until I take it all apart, clean/mend it, then rebuild it, Ian/mud4fun-style. :)
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Wow, great news. Are we going to get some rebuild posts soon then? :-)
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Maybe I’ll finally make use of myrover.wordpress.com, which I had forgotten I had registered. :)
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And not sure about the “soon” part. Gonna take a break from spending on it for a couple of months. I might still strip it and sell it for parts, to finance a Series or something. :)
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LOL, I’m not sure you’d be able to handle the back to basic rock hard ride and zero creature comforts of a Series after the positive luxury of the Disco!!
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A fair statement.
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:-)
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