3rd time's a charm? 1997 "Roach Coach"
 

Back in '11 I picked up a white '95 that I made into a decent little "basic *****". Megan coils, style 95s, little stereo action, etc... I always wanted the 98-00 body style, I felt like I'd made a mistake going with the '95-'97 so I ended up selling it off to a friend of mine some time in '13 or so?

This is literally the last picture I took of it, this is my buddy leaving with the car to AZ.

Attachment 445141

A year or so came and went and I had picked up a '98 4Runner from a friend. My woman and I had a son so I got rid of her Saturn and the 4Runner kinda became hers. The LS bug had returned so after numerous hours spent hunting CL I was able to pick up a black '98 with a blown motor for $900. I threw in a JDM engine, dropped some coin on maintenance and threw some D2s on it, right when I was starting to feel good about the overall condition of the car a woman pulled out in front of me and caused it to be "totaled". The damage isn't too too bad but it was still enough to make me want to pick up a different LS. I bought the car back but still don't have a real plan for it, if nothing else I'll pull the drivetrain to swap in the 4Runner in the future?

When it was delivered:

https://instagram.fsnc1-1.fna.fbcdn....62490302_n.jpg

Claybar'd, compounded and polished:

https://instagram.fsnc1-1.fna.fbcdn....68270967_n.jpg

https://instagram.fsnc1-1.fna.fbcdn....09190094_n.jpg

Coils installed:

https://instagram.fsnc1-1.fna.fbcdn....19335003_n.jpg

The accident:

https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...smcrr7xmy.jpeg

Attachment 445142

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After another couple of weeks searching CL I found this '97 Coach for cheap. I guess the wife hit a coyote, got an insurance check and went and put a deposit down on a G35? The LS only needed a bumper cover and a washer reservoir to be back to 100%, everything else is really nice minus some driver's seat bottom damage. I bought an AIMGAIN front bumper and just threw it on (unpainted for now) Friday night. I've been driving this thing since early December with half the stock front bumper missing so it's nice to have a complete front end finally, even if it is begging for paint...

Day I picked it up in ABQ:

https://instagram.fsnc1-1.fna.fbcdn....16374987_n.jpg

https://instagram.fsnc1-1.fna.fbcdn....72542726_n.jpg

during and after swapping the D2s from the black car:

https://instagram.fsnc1-1.fna.fbcdn....89221453_n.jpg

https://instagram.fsnc1-1.fna.fbcdn....71809715_n.jpg

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https://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g...scwppghin.jpeg

Most recent pic:

https://instagram.fsnc1-1.fna.fbcdn....13524681_n.jpg

Paint in the next week or so, hopefully. I keep going back and forth on going monotone though, I can't make a decision.

:cry:

Ouch! Do you still have that LS? Might as well just keep it, even though the insurance company "totaled" it, and replace the front bumper and reservoir. Insurance companies like to play too many games, but you're better off keeping the car "totaled" and doing the repairs yourself.

It's much cheaper than junking it and buying another. :D

Updated my first post and touched on deal with the black car a little more. The bumper cover and reservoir comment was in reference to my new '97 Coach. The black car has a little more going on than that, the core support took some (slight) damage as well as needing a hood, LH fender, bumper cover and LH headlight...

I kept it but I'm not sure why yet.

Ah, I see now. Sorry to hear that. If anything, keeping the car is good for parts, in case you need things from the engine, interior, etc. You could also part it out, over time.

Good luck with the new Coach!

Bump! Figured out how to add pics from IG, I'm over Photobucket...

man.. what happened to that black 98 is a cryin shame. :(

anyway congrats on the 97 coach! those are fairly scarce. get all the extra stuff with it?

It's a damn shame... It still doesn't leak a drop and didn't even feel like it was knocked out of alignment when I drove it home. :sad:

None of the Coach goodies were included, it didn't even have floormats. I picked up an OEM set off of Amazon though. Obviously just the regular Ivory set. :(

That 98 is worth way over 5k in parts easily if you feel like parting it out on ebay.
Your 97 is looking damn good

I've thought about a partout but I just don't know if I have the time, space nor patience to do something of that scale. I've got a spare set of headlights in the garage, I'm kinda thinking about pulling the core support back out, straightening out the panels as much as I can and trying to sell it cheap... I don't know... :sad:

Thanks, I really miss the 98+ body but this Coach is just too clean. I ordered some E Class fogs and OEM bumper retainer brackets yesterday, as soon as those show up and get fitted I'm going to be cutting the center horizontal bar out of the bumper and then it'll be ready for paint.

:woot:

Here's a really bad photoshop of what I'm attempting:

Attachment 444984

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https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...c7c32e3870.jpg

E Class fogs fitted, bumper painted and YAJ clear headlights installed.

aww snap looking good! are the JDM headlight corners now act as your signal lights? i know my set of corners that came from japan have dual filament bulbs.

They are. Mine are socketed for a 3057 bulb so I re-pinned it to where they're parking lights and turn signals.:thumbup:

You can probably get another core support from a junk yard for under a $100 and have it welded but the problem is going to be finding a hood, bumper and fender for the car.

These things don't exist in junkyards here, man. I wish it was that "easy."

Lexus is looking great!!

Question about your 4 Runner though. Why did you install a Tacoma front clip on it? I'm assuming the hood, grill, lights, cornering lights, and front fenders are all Tacoma parts???

As for your 1998, I'd see if you can't sell it to a body shop for cheap. It looks like a pretty easy fix, just a lot of labor to repaint the whole front half of the car.