Hey all,

first off... if there is anything that pisses you off about my post then please don't reply to my thread, you wouldn't yell at me in the street if you saw me so don't yell at me here. Thanks!

So... my father's best friend purchased a 1987 4runner SR5 brand new and kept it in AMAZING condition by using seat covers for the first 15 years of its life and garaging the car for its whole life. 4 years ago he was thinking about what car he would buy next so I told him that if he EVER sells the 1987 4runner that I have first dibs. Last year he decided that it was time to get a new car so he purchased a 2010 4runner Trail Edition (freaking sweet!) and sold the 1987 4runner to my family. The Trail Edition was so sweet that my dad had to copy his best friend and ended up purchasing a 2011 Trail Edition just a couple months ago in December (but i'll leave that for another post). Now my family has two 4runners (2011 and 1987). My Subaru WRX was recently totalled (not my fault) so I told my dad that I would like to spend a little money on the 1987 4runner and turn it into my car instead of spending over 10K on a new car for me.

Let me tell you about the 1987 4runner. The car is in amazing condition both inside and out despite being taken on long trips (including some off-roading). It has 240,000 miles on ALL original parts (No upgrades/modifications), always perfectly maintained with no major issues besides an early blown head gasket that was quickly fixed before the car hit 100,000 miles. Since the head gasket fix there have been no real issues. The 4runner does suffer from the infamous saggy rear end and all 4 shocks need to be replaced.

Here is my plan and I hope that anyone here on the forum could give me some advice or recommendations for other modifications/specific parts that I might be interested in. I have a good amount experience with auto work but mind you i'm not trying to go ALL OUT nor am I trying to spend thousands of $ (My budget is around $2000-$2500 for this first stage), just trying to improve the overall quality of the car while making it a little more capable for trips and comfortable to drive in.

1) Add-a-leaf to the rear end to fix the sagging/raise the rear end just a bit higher
2) Replace all 4 shocks to OEM or something a little bit better (while keeping the price reasonable)
3) Rock Rails/Rock Sliders. The car already has bumper guards on the front and rear so I figured i'd protect the sides as well.
4) Dynamat (or another type of sound deadening material) most of the car to reduce road noise for daily driving comfort
5) Add artificial Thule rain gutters to better support a Thule roof rack to hold my bikes, snowboards, surf board, etc.
6) Fix 1 tiny oil leak. The engine was just steam cleaned so we could find a small oil leak coming from the front of the engine.
7) Regarding engine/transmission, I would rather wait until something happens to either before I change/upgrade them.

(When I figure out/think of more modifications i'll post them)

Some of my initial questions:

1) If I am adding a leaf to fix the rear sag and replacing all 4 shocks, should I replace the front torsion bar too or simply adjust the height?
2) If I am already changing the above suspension parts, is there anything else thats worth replacing while the suspension is taken apart and I have to get an alignment anyway?
3) Does anyone recommend that I change the rear drum brakes with a disk/caliper set up?
4) Any recommendations for a cheap solution for rock rails/sliders?
5) If you have any other recommendations/suggestions/ideas please let me know, especially regarding specific parts for any of the above plans!

Thanks in advance for not yelling at me and for any help anyone can provide!