Hey Guys,

I'm new to this forum & to 4Runners, but have off-roaded in Jeeps for years. Last week I purchased my first 4Runner from my Boss for a great deal. He was the original owner of this 1997 SR5 4Runner, and sold it to me for next to nothing. Its well taken care of, but will need some mods before I can consider it "mine"!

The day I bought it:



The pinstripes were faded and cracking badly, so those were first to come off!



I'm also not a fan of the gold emblems at all, and these were pitted and turning green... So they're now satin black! I also re-sprayed the tailgate cover as well:


Next was to get rid of all the chrome bumpers... I think they date the car as a mid 90s SUV, and they had to go! Time for more paint! While I had the bumpers off, I also did the Satoshi grille mod!






Next up is the stereo, removing the running boards, and painting the flares to match the bumpers!

Stay tuned!.....

Bumpers look sweet. What prep/paint did you use?

Looking good! Love that pic showing the grill mod. Very tasteful. What did you use to paint the chrome bumper inlay / rear bumper cover?

Same way I had done my jeep a long time ago...

Sanded with 100grit, cleaned & degreased, adhesion promoter, 4-coats of spray-on bedliner from a rattle can.

They hold up pretty well, and touchups are easy. It'll hold me over until I get an Outdoor Logic bumper down the road.

I had those awful gold badges also, so they promptly got a coating of Plastidip.

Smart move for the future mod of taking those running boards off. One of the easiest, quickest, and cheapest (FREE!) mods you can do.

Grill looks fantastic.

Looks great man! What kind of pad/disc did you use to remove the pinstripe? I have a friend with a white '97 that has the gold striping, and he really wants it gone.

3M makes a wheel specifically for that job. Its called the "pinstripe removal wheel". It's literally a giant pencil eraser you attach to a drill. Spin the drill up to 3,000RPM and watch it take the stripes right off! It's $30 on Amazon.

It leaves behind a rubbery residue, but just rub it down with a bit of cleaner wax and it comes right off. The whole truck only took me 60mins.

3M Pin Stripe Removal Wheel

Hey Waketek, I'm here in OC in Dana Point/Capistrano Beach. I just bought my truck 2 months ago and have done several mods and upgrades as well. I also just finished painting the chrome bumpers black with SEM paint and love the results.

COB has a great thread and he's also here in OC. In fact, there's a lot of SoCal guys using this forum.

COB's Build link: COB's 4Runner Timeline (Pic Heavy)

Here's a link to Brianemc2 who's down in SD: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-ge...ce-thread.html

Many people have great threads on here, from trail beasts to stock DDs, but here's a few more guys whose threads and posts have helped me out: Bigfishallday, 4-Ripcord, and Steeze McQueen. Also, the stickies are a great place to learn more about our 3rd Gens. Good luck with the build!

Looks great man. Keep up the good work.

More progress in the last two days...

Pioneer Head Unit (DVD/NAV) hooked up:






Back up Cam pointed down towards my hitch. The red line is even with my hitch when the tail gate is open:




I also repainted the hitch with some rust converter rattle can stuff. Came out okay and will hold me over till I can afford a REAL bumper.



Flares & Running boards will be this weekend....

I'm diggin' it! Your photos are making me turn to the dark side and think about spraying the chrome bumpers on my '97 Limited. I look forward to updates.

Cleaning up real nice!

Very nice beginning. Great taste in mods. Keep it up!

Which Pioneer is that? I'm jealous of it regardless

Really nice rig! I'm not the biggest fan of painting everything black, but it actually looks pretty good! I'm about to cover the entire underside of my rig with rust converter and then chassis paint - that's another mod to think about that doesn't cost much but saves you tons of money down the road...

Thanks!

It's the Avic Z120BT

That's on my to-do list as well!