zacattack20's Matte Blue ‘98 to '02 Sport Edition - Not the normal build thread

zacattack20's Matte Blue ‘98 to '02 Sport Edition - Build Thread

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Zacattack20's<br>'98 to '02 Sport Edition<br>Build/Mod/Photo Thread
Instagram: 98trd4r


1998 SR5 3.4L V6 Automatic 2WD
Converted to 01-02 Sport Edition
Matte Metallic Dark Blue Vinyl Wrap
Custom Black Interior
Too Many Mods
Probably not a single bolt/screw/fastener I have not touched/broke on this thing.

2nd Owner
Owned Since 2006 at 88,000 miles
Currently at 225,000+



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UPDATE - No idea if these links work, but you can try, should get you close to the correct post

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The links will take you to the correct post but I have multiple things in each post so just scroll through the post to find it; some have pictures, some are just information. A lot of words and not too many pictures at first. </center>

Exterior
Currently Have
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- Matte Deep Blue Metallic Vinyl Wrap
- Gloss Black Roof Vinyl Wrap
- Custom Made TRD Pro Grille
- Sport Hood
- Bushwhacker Flares
- 99’+ Bumper with Custom Grille Insert
- Sport Edition Skid Plate
- JDM Headlights
- Square Mini D2S 4.0 Projector Retrofit with Apollo 2.0 Shrouds, TRD Etched Lenses
- JDM Clear Corners
- Custom LED Switchback Strips in JDM Clear Corners
- Replaced Front Blinker Housings with Mesh
- Custom Front DRL with Switchback Blinkers
- Revier Blinker Side Mirrors w/ Puddle Lights
- Blinker Arrows Behind Side Mirror Glass
- OEM Fog Lights with LED Bulbs
- Rav4 Windshield Washer Nozzles
- Removed Fender Radio Antenna
- Added Shark Fin Radio Antenna on Roof
- Removed Door Lock Cylinders and Installed Push Button Locks
- Custom OEM Mudflaps to Fit Flares
- Flipped Trailer Hitch with Bumper Cutout
- LED Tail Lights
- LED Third Brake Light
- Added Factory Spoiler with Vinyl Stripes
- Debadged Hatch and Added TRD Emblem
- License Plate Light Backup Camera
- TRD Gas Cap
- Savage Offroad Sliders
- Alpha Foxtrot Roof Rack with custom adjustable mounts for storage case and traction boards

Previously had
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-Semi Gloss Black Paint
-Fat Lip Bumper with Slats Cut Out and Mesh Backing
-Sport Skid Plate
-Sport Hood with Scoop
-01-02 Grille with Slats Cut Out and Mesh Backing
-Bushwacker Flares
-Sport Running Boards w/ custom end caps
-99+ Headlights
-Projector Retrofit
-Clear Corners and Blinkers (Link 2)
-Daytime Running Lights in Front Blinkers with Switchback LED's
-Blacked Out Inside of Front Turn Signals
-Smoked LED Tail Lights
-LED Side Mirror Blinker Arrows
-Debadged Rear Tailgate and Added TRD Emblem
-Flipped Hitch with Bumper Cutout
-Blacked Out Emblems (Link 2)
-Tinted Windows
-Smaller Black Antenna
-Viper Alarm with Remote Start (Link 2)
-Jaos Rear Spoiler



Interior
Currently Have
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- Blacked Out Interior
- New Black Carpet
- Reupholstered Headliner, Door Leather, Center Armrest
- Plastic Pieces Painted with SEM Paint
- Metal Door Handles
- Lexus F-Sport Heated/Ventilated Seats
- Blue Seat Belts
- Under Seat Footwell Lighting
- Viper Remote Start Alarm
- Push Button Start
- Celica Steering Wheel with TRD Emblem
- Steering Wheel Radio Controls
- TRD Pedals
- TRD Gauge Cluster
- TRD Shift Knob with Leather Boot
- Cutdown Shift Lever Height
- All Windows One Touch Up/Down Operation
- All Interior Lights Come On with Door Open (Map, Dome, Cargo, Footwell)
- ‘99+ Center Console Cup Holder
- Relocated A/C Controls and with Blue LED’s
- Billet Aluminum AC Control Knobs and Dials
- 10.1” Android Head Unit
- Panavise Phone Mount with Wireless Charger
- Garmin45 Dash Cam
- Sound Deadened Interior
- Full LED Dome Lights/Glove Box Light
- USB Ports In Place of Rear Ash Tray
- Outbound Nevada Molle Panel w/ Fire Extinguisher, Roadside Recovery Kit, First Aid Kit, Noco Battery Jumper, Tools
- Switch To Turn On All Interior Lights
- Cargo Area Rear Window Switch
- Extra Cargo Lighting
- Lemme Out Hatch Opening Mod
- JDM Hilux Surf Cargo Cover

Previously had
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-Push Button Start (Link 2)
-Custom Gauge Faces
-Cluster Lens Replaced
-White LEDs in Instrument Cluster
-Blue LED's in everything else
-LED Accent Lights
-LED Lighted Window Switches
-LED Map and Dome Lights
-LED Footwell Lighting
-All Map, Footwell, Middle, and Rear Dome Lights Come on when any door is opened or alarm is unlocked
-Black and Silver Razo GT Pedals
-4Runner Aluminum Door Sill Protectors
-99+ center console and cupholders
-Reupholstered steering wheel
-Electric Seat Swap with Seat Heaters and Coolers
-Sound Deadened entire interior (Link 2)
-Pioneer FH-X700BT radio (Link 2)
-One Touch Up/Down Window Operation with DEI 530T Window Modules
-Homelink
-Custom iPhone 5 Charger
-Fully Converted Black Interior (door panels not yet done) (Link 2) (Link 3)
-Black Passenger and Cargo Carpet
-Black Headliner
-Black Leatherette Coverking Custom Fit Seatcovers (Link 2)
-Black Leather Center Console Lid



Under The Hood
Currently Have
--------------------------------------------------------------------
- Painted Manifold/Throttle Body/Valve Covers
- AFE Air Intake with P2M Blue Hose Clamps
- ‘99+ MAF Sensor
- Doug Thorley Headers
- Full Borla Exhaust: XR-1 Muffler, Resonator and Tips, 2.5” Pipe
- TRD Radiator Cap
- Big 3 Wire Upgrade
- CS144 Alternator
- Spiker Engineering Hood Struts
- Under Hood Lighting
- Optima Yellow Top with New Terminals
- Battery Tie Down Box with Cover

Previously had
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-TRD 2nd Gen Black Supercharger
-Deck Plate Mod
-ISR Mod with Airaid Intake Tube with Sanded Off Airaid Logo (Link 2)
-aFe Pro Dry S Air Filter
-Tru-Cool Transmission Cooler
-CS-144 Alternator (Link 2) (Link 3)
-Optima Yellow Top Battery
-Monster MPC P300 SLM BC3 Terminals
-1/0 Gauge Battery Wires
-Painted engine bay to match the rest of truck
-Washer Nozzles from a Hilux



Suspension/Wheels/Tires
Currently Have
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- TRD Pro Wheels
- Falken Wildpeak AT3 265-70-17 Tires
- Icon Stage 5 Lift w/ adjustable CDCV and Delta Joint UCA
- OME 890 Rear Coils
- Durobump Bump Stops
- Overland Custom Design (MStudt) Adjustable Sway Bar Links with Energy Suspension Bushings
- 13WL Tundra Brake Upgrade Painted Red with TRD stickers
- Rear Disc Brake Conversion
- EBC Dimpled and Slotted Rotors with Yellow Stuff Pads
- Red Stainless Steel Brake Lines
- Diff Breather Mod
- Addco Sway Bars
- Eimkeith Reinforced Lower Control Arms

Previously had
--------------------------------------------------------------------
-Icon Coilovers (Link 2)
-Camburg Upper Control Arms (Link 2)
-Tacoma Lower Ball Joints (Link 2)
-OME 906 rear springs
-OME Rear Shocks (Link 2)
-Addco Front and Rear Sway Bars (Link 2)
-Moog End Links with 2nd Gen Links in the Rear
-Powdercoated Semi Gloss Black 17" Tundra/Sequoia Rims
-265-70-17 BFGoodrich All Terrain
-13wl 231mm Tundra Brakes painted red w/ white trd stickers (Link 2)

This is the third car that I have owned. My first car was a 1989 BMW 735i that I bought in 2003 for $2,500 when I was 16.





There were numerous issues with that car that needed to be fixed but it was totaled in a car accident after 6 months of driving. After that I drove my moms 1991 Jeep Cherokee around for a few months until I bought a 1993 Saturn SC2 from my dad's co-worker's parents for $1,100.






It was cheap and I needed a car right before my senior year of high school started. That was the car that I learned how to drive a manual transmisson on. It was a great little car that got good gas mileage, never had any issues with it besides at one point the drivers side door wouldnt open and had to get in from the passengers side.

In 2006, after my first year of college, my dad took a job in Hawaii and I went there for the summer intending to move there. I was there for a month and a half and hated living there and moved back. Its beautiful and great to vacation there, but living there is a whole different thing. While I was there my dad purchased a red 1998 2WD 4Runner Sr5 that was traded in at his dealership. It had one owner and had around 88,000 miles. I dont know how much he paid and he doesnt remember. It was the truck I drove around Hawaii before I moved back.





About 6 months later, in early 2007, my dad had enough of Hawaii too and decided to move back and he brought back the 4Runner. Around this time I had gotten my girlfriend(now my wife) pregnant. So for my birthday that year my parents gifted me the 4Runner because the Saturn wasnt really big enough, and with me paying them the $1,300 that I sold the Saturn for.

The only money I put into the 4Runner until 2009 was just oil changes, a $30 exhaust tip, and less than $20 bucks for an antenna from autozone when the antenna motor went out. That was my first mod.



I didnt take many pictures of my truck at first because there wasnt really anything to take a picture of. Here are a couple with it in the background of my old Jetta.





I didnt know anything about cars when I started with my truck. The only thing I had ever done was changed the oil on my saturn once. I have learned everything as I go. I would ocassionally lurk around here and other sites but didnt start doing anything to the truck until I was let go at my job and had plenty of free time to mess around. That has turned into an uncontrollable downhill spiral of spending.

The next thing I did was to replace all dash lights with blue LED's from autolumination. I also installed reverse glow gauges from eBay for like $15. After a couple months, autolumination's LED's would start flickering and were going out. I would not ever buy from them again after spending like $40 on LEDs and they go out in a couple months.

Also my truck had an aftermarket alarm system installed but my dad didnt get any remotes with it when he purchased it. So I was just using the key in the door to unlock and lock the doors. I decided to purchase a cheap lock remote. I didnt care about an alarm, I just wanted to unlock and lock the doors with a remote. I bought a cheap Bulldog security system off eBay for like $25. The reverse glow gauges and the lock remote was the first time I had done anything with wiring and was helped by my dad when I couldnt figure it out. I ended up just piggy backing the remote locks off the other alarm system in there and it worked for locking and unlocking the doors so I was happy with it.

The top of the steering wheel was tore up due to the heat so I had been driving around with a steering wheel cover the whole time and hated the feeling of it. So for Christmas 2009 I got my parents to pay for half to re-upholster the steering wheel with new leather. I went to a couple junk yards to just get a newer steering wheel but all those were trashy and dirty and they still wanted like $90-100 for them. I looked online and found good ones going for $125-150. I was just going to buy one online but the steering wheel coming from a ten year old car, although looking good, was prone to or soon going to crack and peel like mine had so I figured I would look around about re-upholstering. I called maybe 6-8 places to get an estimate and only 2 would actually do steering wheels. One place wanted like $250 and the other wanted $150 so I obvioulsy went with $150. The place is called California Auto Upholstery and its located in Garden Grove, CA. When I went in there, I told the guy that I could only find one other place that would do a steering wheel and he was like yeah that guy actually sends his stuff to me to do, and that he was one of the few in southern California that would do steering wheels. They did great work, you cant tell that it was redone, it looks OEM.



Around February 2010 my brakes started to make a loud squeeling noise so instead of just replacing the pads, I figured I would do the tundra brake upgrade. And if im going to do it, I am gonna do it right and not regret it later so I went with the larger 13wl 231mm calipers. I got the calipers from rockauto.com for around $200 and cross drilled/slotted rotors from ebay that came with free brake pads for around $100. I painted the calipers red and put TRD stickers on them and then put a clear enamel over it. I had read differing things about whether my stock rims would fit over the calipers or not, and of course they didn't.

Since I needed new tires soon as well, I decided to get some 17" Tundra/Sequoia Rims. I paid WAY WAY too much for them but I was in a hurry to get my truck back together. I was looking around on craigslist and couldnt find any so I just ended up purchasing them off eBay for like $500. I then got them powder coated semi gloss black at Primo Powder Coating in Huntington Beach, CA for $65 a wheel and they came out great and have held up great. I then went to get tires and I had no idea which ones to get so I just got the same brand that was on the truck before, Bridgestone Duelers in 265-65-17. They are decent enough and havent had any issues for my purposes. I also spray painted my lug nuts black which obviously havent held up that well, and havent replaced them yet. Also at the same time decided to spray paint my grille black too, and removed the tiny chrome strips above the wheels.




In May 2010 I decided to finally do some real maintenance on the 4Runner. At around 125,000 miles I replaced the spark plugs, plug wires, fuel filter, air filter, oil and oil filter, seafoamed it, and replaced the battery with an Optima Yellow-Top. So I just spent quite a few bucks. The very next day, I left work early to drive my girlfriend(now wife) to the doctor because she was feeling dizzy and didnt want to drive herself. It was like 1pm in the afternoon on the 405 south in Long Beach which there shouldnt be any traffic at that time, but all of a sudden I had to slam on my brakes and I stopped just in time to not hit the guy in front of me but the lady behind me didnt and slammed into me and hit me into the car in front of me and her car was pinned under the back of my truck lifting it up in the air.
















I didnt get any information from either party due to the CHP saying that I didnt have to because they were taking all the information and putting it in their report and I should be able to get the report in a couple weeks. Yeah that took a couple months for them to finally file the report. Once that happened my insurance called me saying that she didnt have enough coverage with her insurance to cover all the damages to the cars and that I had to file with them. But whatever, it didnt end up affecting my rates. I had the damage appraisal done, and they mailed it to me with over $3000 on the appraisal. I took it to a body shop guy I knew and he looked at the damage to my truck and said that he gave me a really good appraisal. So instead of having it fixed, I took the over $3000 check.

The only damage to the truck was the front and rear bumpers. There was no actual body damage. So with that money I went nuts. I purchased the rear bumper, bumper ends, plastic piece of top of bumper, front fat lip bumper, front lower bumper valance, front bumper retainer, front and rear bumper brackets, crappy smoked altezza tail lights(I didnt want LED's due to not wanting to be pissed if an LED went out like the crappy autolumination LED's I had), LED third brake light, 99 style clear headlights, clear corners, clear blinkers, hood with the hood scoop, 01-02 grille. And I still had close to $1,000 left over. I installed everything except the hood which I had sitting around in the backyard until I finally got my truck painted.

I wanted to get a new alarm system for my car, mainly because I just wanted my dome light to come on when I locked and unlocked the door and I figured I might as well just get one with all the features so that I didnt regret it later. So for Christmas 2010, my dad and my sister got me a refurbished Viper 2-Way Remote Start and Alarm system for $90 from sonicelectronix.com. It looked brand new when it came, everything that would come with it if it was brand new, just in a plain white box instead of a viper box for like $300 less. I then purchased the tilt sensor and glass breaking sensor from ebay for close to like $20 each. Before installing it myself, I had been reading a lot about alarm installs and looking at wiring and figuring everything out ahead of time. I dont beleive in wasting money and paying a person to do something that can easily be done myself. Especially someone that doesnt care about my truck, and only sees it as a paycheck and getting it done quickly and not neccesarily perfect. I removed all the wiring from the old alarm system in the truck and then installed the Viper alarm. I dont have any pictures because I dont want to put out there how its installed or where things are at. It took me one day to install it but would have been a lot quicker had I not forgot the remote start has an on/off switch. I had everything installed, everything worked except I couldnt get the remote start to work. So I started going over all my wiring, wasted maybe an hour before I was finally just sitting there stumped and saw the on/off switch in front of me switched to off. Flipped the switch to on and worked perfectly. Ive had it for more than 2 1/2 years and havent had any issues with the system itself, only the remotes suck because the batteries die so quickly and the remotes are all scratched up. I plan on replacing the remote with the rechargeable remote with the screen on it.

The install ended up costing me an extra 80 bucks though. The day before I had installed some new Razo GT pedal covers, that I think were around $30, so I wasnt quite used to them yet and also was wearing shoes I dont normally drive in.



I was pulling up in the driveway, a little faster than I should have, and I swear I was hitting the brakes but the truck wouldnt stop and I hit the side of the garage. The only thing I can think of is that my shoe was pressing both the brake and accelerator at the same time since the pedals were a little bigger than the stock ones and I wasn't used to them yet. I broke one corner light and smashed the bumper. I had ordered the corner lights from Burtman Industries since he said his products are better made. So I contacted him asking if he would just sell one clear corner but he said no, I wasnt about to pay another $70 for only needing one corner light so I bought the cheap ones off of eBay for $30 and they seemed to be the exact same ones as his. And then I needed a bumper, I found someone on craigslist selling a complete OEM front bumper with brackets and everything for $50. I went to pick it up the next day and thats the first time I met James/Children of Bodom. I remember him asking if I was on the forums but at that time I wasnt. Ive bought a few other things from him since.




In March of 2011, Im in my truck, on lunch at work, and idiling. I get out to go back to work and there is a huge puddle of coolant coming from the truck. I find it coming from the water pump. I go to the Toyota dealer and buy everything I need to replace the water pump and timing belt. It was around $250-$300 I paid. I took the next day off of work and took me all day to finish. While taking off the old water pump I see that it is an aftermarket water pump. I had around 135,000 miles on it at the time and my dad had the water pump replaced, with that aftermarket one, when he bought it at close to 90,000 miles. So the aftermarket water pump only lasted 45,000 miles before it failed.


In May of 2011, I took my car to be painted. I wanted black, I just went back and forth between whether I wanted a normal gloss black or semi-gloss. Semi-gloss is a lot harder to take care of, no waxing, no buffing, cant be touched up if you get a scratch. But I finally decided if Im gonna pay for a paint job, I want it to stick out and be a little different. I still like it and happy I did it, but I think if I get bored of this and want to get it painted again, I would get a normal paint job but a nice looking blue.

I disassembled every possible thing that I could and had them painted seperately, even seperating the door handles, and having the side rear cargo glass removed. I was a little worried on where I took it but I wasnt about to pay $6,000+ for a paint job, so I actually took it to Maaco in Stanton, CA. I know I was taking a big gamble with what people say about them but they did a great job and couldnt have been more pleased.


























When I picked up the truck.



The paint job was:
$1,200
+ $375.00 for the door jambs
+ $75.00 for all the extra parts painted seperately
+ 125.00 for surface reconditioning
+ 87.08 for materials and supplies
+ 203.00 for body labor (little dents and dings and one small crack on the front bumper valance)
+ the rest was tax
Total Price was $2,105.01

Right after putting most of the truck back together without the flares yet.

Most of you guys take your running boards off, I actually added some running boards to mine since I have two small kids that need help getting in. I had purchased some limited running boards from a guy locally for $80 but they didnt line up well with the Bushwacker flares I had bought so I bought some sport edition running boards off of Bandit Runner for $150 shipped. They didnt line up good either. I found that the rear end caps from the sport editon lined up good in the rear, and taking the rear end caps from the limited runnning boards and swapping them to the front lined up good. So I have the rear end caps from the sport edition running boards on the rear and on the front of the running boards I have the rear end caps of the limited running boards.

After installing the Bushwacker flares

























For my birthday that year, I got my dad to buy me the Sport Edition faux skid plate. Its actually the one for the tacoma since its easier to find. It was a little over $100. I wanted it to hug the front bumper instead of sticking out like the sport editions. I didnt have to fabricate my own brackets like other guys have. All I had to do was buy a couple long bolts with washers and nuts and then drill one hole through each bumper support. They both had a hole already on the bottom, so I just drilled up through the top and then dropped the bolts in. It worked perfectly.

Since the engine bay wasnt painted, it was bothering me everytime I would see the red when I opened the hood. I removed most of what I could and taped off the rest and used high temp black spray paint and painted the engine bay myself. Came out fairly good and you can no longer see any red in the engine bay. I also added a Tru-Cool transmission cooler.

















Since I had most of my interior torn apart I figured I would add some sound deadening material and start converting my interior to black starting with the headliner and the carpet. For the sound deadening I bought the roofing material Peel N Seal from Lowes for like $15 a roll. I ended up buying probably more than 20 rolls and did everywhere possible, the floor, all the doors, the roof. I also bought the insulation foam spray that expands when it dries to fill in cracks and spots and I couldnt get to with the roofing material. You have to be really careful with that stuff because if you spray to much it will bend and deform parts of your body. I then redid the headliner myself with black headliner material I bought from Joann fabrics for like $40. I used Permatex headliner glue that I purchased from autozone. Its been 2 years and is still holding up strong.










I purchased the carpet from stockinteriors.com. They sell on ebay at different prices due to shipping differences, but I found it to be cheaper to buy through their site directly. I upgraded to the carpet with massbacking for $100, just adds another layer of sound deadening. I got the front passenger area, rear cargo area and wheel wells, and floor mats in black with mass backing for around $475. It comes pre-molded to the floor, the only thing you have to do is trim the excess carpet on the sides to fit and cut the holes for the seat bolts and all of that. You pretty much lay the old carpet on top and trace around it and then trim the carpet. The thing that made that hard was cutting through the massbacking for the seat holes. The cargo area was harder. Since the carpet attaches to the back of the seats, you have to remove the carpet from the "wood" pieces that clip into the seat and then staple the new carpet back on. Which was also made more difficult by the massbacking on the new carpet.

Along the way I had also installed footwell lighting and replaced my dome and map lights with LED panels from oznium.com. I purchased one panel for the center dome light and it came with a couple LED's out so I contacted them and they sent me another one at no charge and didnt want the old one back. So I put the new one in the center dome light and the one with LED's out, I put in the rear cargo light. I got the LED strips for the footwell lights from eBay for $10 a pair. I also wired it so that whenever any door is open (passenger or cargo) the map lights, center dome light, rear cargo light, and footwell lights will all come on. I did a crappy write up on it if you want to read it.

Interior Lighting Mods


















One of the first things I had done on the truck when I started modding it was to debadge the trunk. I had removed the TOYOTA and the SR5 emblems but left the Toyota logo and 4RUNNER since those would have left holes behind. When I had the truck painted I had them fill in the holes on the license plate surround where the 4RUNNER was at. After awhile I decided the back was too empty and needed something. I wanted a larger TRD emblem but the only one I could find that was bigger was over $100 and I wasn't about to pay that much, so I bought the biggest one I could find on eBay for like $10.

I had taken off the white reverse glow gauge faces awhile ago and put in white LED's from VLeds.com. They are a much better supplier of LED's and I buy everything from them now. I haven't had a single issue with anything I have bought from them. I wanted something different for the gauges so I contacted blackcatcustom.com. The gauges started out at $119 and depending on customization they would be more expensive. Since they hadn't done any 4Runners they had to wait to get a gauge cluster in. I then gave them my idea and they drew it up and sent me samples until I was happy with it. I came up with a very simple design but if you look at other ones on their site, you can go pretty crazy. It ended up being a little more than I planned at $180 but they are great quality.





























I also installed some ambient light LEDs in the in the Rearview Mirror/Map Light assembly. They seem really bright and took some getting used to but I like the little bit of light they put out. Only complaint is they glare in the rearview mirror a bit. It would be a lot better if I can install them on the underside of the rearview mirror itself.






I didnt like the look of the Altezza tail lights anymore so I decided to buy the LED tail lights. The tail lights were too glossy for my paint so I decided to use VHT Nite Shades and make them a little darker. I also purchased white reverse LEDs and amber blinker LED's from VLEDs.com. Also since I now had LED tail lights with the LED third brake light, the resistance was too low so my ABS light kept popping on. I had to buy a 25w resistor to put across the wires of the third brake light and that fixed the issue.

I don't like the look of the satoshi grille with the fat lip bumper but I wanted something different for the grille. I decided to cut out the slats of the grille and leave the main center bar and then put mesh behind that. I also cut out the side parts of the lower grille of the bumper valance and put mesh there. I used the gutter guard stuff from home depot and don't like how it turned out. I like the idea and how it looks, I'm just not happy with the material. I bought some better stuff to use but i've had it sitting around and haven't tried to fix it yet.














I picked up the older style hitch that's bolted together on the sides for the purpose of flipping it. I bought it from surf185 for I think $40 and picked it up at his house. I took it home sanded it down and painted it. I then cut a hole in my bumper with a grinder. Very nerve-racking to cut into your bumper that you just had painted. Good thing I didn't mess up. Also just some extra pictures to throw in here.


















My battery terminals were looking pretty crappy and the tiny ground going to the body didnt look like it was going to hold up much longer so I decided to just replace all the wires and terminals. I picked up positive and negative Monster MPC P300 SLM BC3 Terminals from Frys for $20 each and bought some 1/0 gauge wire. I removed all the old wires of the system and replaced them with 1/0 wire where I could, and smaller size wire where that wouldnt fit.

I picked up some switchback LED's from Vleds.com for way too much. I think they were close to $30 for the pair. They run as daytime running lights when I turn on the truck and then when you turn on the blinker it changes to amber. Once you turn the blinker off then it goes back to white. They are a little more blue than I like but not that bad. I also had to buy new blinker sockets from eBay for $7 for both. They have three wires coming off of them. One ground, one power to the blinker, and one power for the daytime running lights.


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I then installed some arrow blinkers behind the side view mirror glass. They have to be glued to the back of the glass. They are great at night but during the day you cant really see them. I purchased them off eBay for really cheap.




In May 2012, I was rotating my tires and I found evidence of the rear axle seal leaking on the drivers side tire. Took them apart and also found the passengers side wheel cylinder leaking. Ordered both axle seals from the dealer, both wheel cylinders from rockauto.com, and purchased a seal driver set from Harbor Freight. Fairly simple and havent noticed any leaking since.








With my tax return that year I decided I needed to upgrade my 165,000 mile suspension. So when I got my return in March of 2012, I purchased 99 tall coils for the rear, tacoma lower ball joints, tie rod ends, and inner tie rods from the dealer. I purchased front and rear Addco sway bars from summitracing.com. And then I purchased OME rear shocks, Camburg upper control arms and 2" Sway-A-Way coilovers from Wheelers Off Road. I got everything right away except the Sway-A-Way coilovers. Wheelers contacted me and said that Sway-A-Way was waiting on parts and I should have the coilovers in a couple weeks. Couple weeks turned into a couple months. Having occasional contact with Wheelers Off Road with promises from Sway-A-Way that the parts were in and would be shipped soon but never happened. Tried contacting Sway-A-Way with no one ever returning my calls. Finally Wheelers Off Road called me and said they had enough of the crap and if I wanted they would send me the standard travel Icon coilovers to me at no extra charge and cancel the Sway-A-Way order. So of course I would take the better coilovers at a close to $300 discount.

So finally in June of 2012 I installed all of that good stuff. Pressing out the upper ball joint and pressing in the new one was the worst thing I have ever done and would never want to do that ever again. It was a complete *****. Only issue that I have is that the tacoma lower ball joints due make contact with the sway bar end links and makes a disgusting noise at full lock. I used the end links supplied with the Addco sway bars which look pretty cheap and I plan on replacing them with something with a smaller profile so that it doesnt rub, just havent gotten around to that yet. Also a little before this I replaced the cross drilled slotted rotors with Brembo rotors and OEM pads.














I had purchased a Jaos rear spoiler from a guy off craigslist for $200 and had it sitting around for almost a year waiting for me to take it to be professionally painted. That never happened so I finally just decided to try and paint it myself and see how bad or good it would come out and to my surprise it came out fairly decent.





I also got pulled over and got a ticket for tinted tail lights and tinted windows. I had gotten my windows tinted at The Tint Pros in Huntington Beach right after I had my truck painted. I got dark on the back and medium on the front hoping that the difference in color wouldnt get me a ticket. They wanted like $100 to just remove the old tint and reinstall new tint when I went back. So instead I bought new front glass from James/COB part out truck for $40 and swapped out the glass and then cleaned off the VHT Nite Shades with Goo Gone. Took it to get it signed off for a fix ticket and then swapped back in my tinted glass and resprayed the tail lights with a lighter coat of nite shades. Fix it ticket cost me $50 for two violations.

There was a pretty beat up 4Runner that got traded in at work and they were just going to send it off to auction, so I got the ok to grab a few things. I took the roof rack, fog lights, and the little arm thing on the rear wiper because mine was all beat up for some reason. I took the roof rack apart and painted it. I installed the fog lights but have yet to actually wire them. And bought a knock off $10 TRD oil cap from eBay. Put my roof rack to use at Christmas getting a tree.












I had to get my truck smogged this year. I installed the deck plate before I took it in just in case something was said about that. Last time I had it smogged I had the Airaid intake tube on there and they didnt say anything but this time I had to go to a STAR certified smog station. Took it in and passed the smog test but failed the visual because of the Airaid tube. I tried to BS him and tell him thats how I bought the truck but that didnt work, the guy said for 30 extra bucks he would look the other way. But since I had the stock air tube at home and they gave one free re-test for a fail, I just went home swapped it out and took it back and he passed me.




My air conditioning hasnt been working for sometime now and has been pissing me off and I had to replace the compressor. I found a guy on craigslist that was selling a brand new refurbished compressor for $80 that he had bought to replace his but then his son totaled the truck before he could replace it. While I was at it, I figured I would throw some extra parts at it since I had the system apart. I flushed all the lines and then replaced the condensor, reciever, expansion valve, evaporator, and o-rings for a total of $130 with new Denso parts. The picture shows the old evaporator after I tried to clean it up. The whole thing was covered in black gunk and you couldnt even see the fins. That's why newer cars have a cabin air filter, because thats the gunk thats blowing in your face and you breathe in.






My hood had started to become really oxodized from the heat of the engine. I was told that I cant wax my paint because it would bring out the gloss. I started reading online of people using Pledge wood wax and other brands. My mom had purchased some of that spray wax from the guys that bug you while you are trying to pump gas. I figured I could try that first so I tested it in a small spot and looked fine so I went for the whole hood and you can really see the difference. It made it look a lot better.





I just bought a new radio. I didnt have the money to go all out but I wanted something clean looking with bluetooth. I bought it off amazon for $120. Its a Pioneer FH-X700BT. Hopefully i'll install it soon.

c-c-c-combo breaker!

Looks great man!

Great build...plenty of well done mods!!

SWEET nice build thread man! Been a long time coming! Looking good.

I especially like where you mentioned the front glass

4-Ripcord said:

c-c-c-combo breaker!

Looks great man!

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Thank you. Good thing I was done reserving posts. Haha.

Rod said:

Great build...plenty of well done mods!!

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Thank you.

ChildrenOfBodom said:

SWEET nice build thread man! Been a long time coming! Looking good.

I especially like where you mentioned the front glass

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Thanks. Yeah I didn't really have the time before to put the effort into a build thread. And I'm bad at taking pictures of my process just because I'm in such a hurry to get it done so I don't think my build thread would be too good with a lot of writing. It was a lot to come up with all at once after 4 years. I left a lot out. And I have to mention when I get hooked up with a good price. Haha

Great build thread! Just added a whole bunch of great ideas to my own list.

Finally you made a build thread! Interesting story behind your 4Runner. For some reason I always assumed it was black, then you got it painted matte black. Very tasteful mods. Looks great!

Your 4runner looks great. I love the satin black.

0xfded said:

Great build thread! Just added a whole bunch of great ideas to my own list.

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Zachpins34 said:

Finally you made a build thread! Interesting story behind your 4Runner. For some reason I always assumed it was black, then you got it painted matte black. Very tasteful mods. Looks great!

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ranbar02 said:

Your 4runner looks great. I love the satin black.

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Thank you guys.

Installed the new radio. Excuse the other mess of random wires. I need to clean those up.




Soldered and heat shrunk new harness.




Installed.




Put the microphone for the Bluetooth into the front map lights. I need to clean it up a little bit still. And make some more room behind the microphone so that it doesn't stick out as far.

Nice lookin stereo. What model number is it? I'm tired of my junky JVC