How it looks now:







Prologue:

My family owns a small herd of Toyota's. The vehicle I grew up riding in was a 2nd Gen 4Runner, and my parents currently have a 14' Tundra and 03' Sequoia, while my twin brother has a voodoo blue 07' FJ with Icon Stage 1 & full armor he recently inherited for a steal from my parents. He and I drove the FJ to high school on occasion but mainly a 00' Dodge 1500.

Now he and I go to the same college, but were starting to need separate vehicles. I've always been extremely interested in cars, so it was an easy decision for me to decide on which one, right? It had to be one I could mod and daily drive dirt roads/snow. Researching consisted of watching Autotrader/Cars.com/Craigslist incessantly every day. I first started by looking at some WS6 Firebirds. But 2wd would suck in the snow. Then to Suburu WRX's. They look cool, make boost noises and are AWD, but reliability didn't seem the best as most looked modded/raced/rebuilt. Lexus has a nice looking 4dr IS350 with 306 hp I test drove and almost bought, but I live on 2 miles of dirt roads; it seemed way too nice for me! After making spreadsheets with mod lists for just about every vehicle in my budget for sale within a 250mi radius, including M3's, SVT Lightnings, TrailBlazer SS's, GTO's, RX-7's, MazdaSpeed3/6's, Evo's, 240SX's I was thoroughly confused!(And so were my parents!) How does this explain the picture in your lower peripheral vision, you ask?

Back in highschool, I thought a 4th gen 4Runner looked pretty hot for an SUV. (Better than the FJ! ) Especially lifted ones I saw on these forums. Why didn't I consider these earlier? They checked all my boxes except the go-fast, irresponsible, drift machine box. Narrowing my search to low mileage 4th gen V8's and 3rd gens, they all had numerous door dings and scratches/other issues. I looked obsessively for a whole summer, and finally a nice craigslist ad popped up by owner for a 2005 4Runner Sport Natural White V8 with 115,000mi at a decent price too. But it was almost 4hrs away in Oklahoma. My dad and I called the owner and talked, and drove down the next day to finalize the deal. The 4Runner didn't have a spec of dirt underneath, but had a few more paint dings than I had anticipated, although still in the best condition I had seen in my search.(I'm way to picky apparently!!)

I ended up driving 4hrs home as a happy new 4Runner owner with big plans and an even more broke college-student-budget!

Hopping in to go home; I'm overly-enthusiastic for a long drive!



Fast forward a couple months, and I've decided I should start the "Build Thread" with goals to record my progress and hopefully take pictures of it out in the wild. I'm really not certain what path to take with this build, but hopefully I can help others mod their vehicles on my way. My two dream cars would be a long travel 5.7L swapped speedway blue Taco or a Supra . The 4Runner will just have to hold me over until I can afford one or both. But it should be a pretty sweet ride up until that point! Stay tuned!


Current Mod List

Performance:

Dirty Deeds 20" SS Exhaust
Doug Thorley Long Tube Headers
Homemade 2.5" Equal Length X Pipe
Homemade 2.5" Magnaflow Dual Muffler Section
HCF Delete
AFE Drop-in Filter
AFE CAI
Sprint Booster
Functional Hood Scoop
Rear Spoiler Added
Stoptech Cryo Rotors
Stoptech Pads

Drivetrain:

ECGS Dana 60 Rear Axle +6" Width 4.88 Gears ARB Locker
Front ARB Locker
Custom Machined High-angle CV Cups

Comms:

Cobra Hand-held CB Radio
2ft Firestik
Diamond K400 Hatch Mount

Suspension:

Camburg 1.25" Uniball UCA
Icon 2.5" RR+CDC Coilovers w/ 700# Coils
Wheeler's Front SuperBumps
Total Chaos +2" Standard LT Kit w/ Heim UCA
King 2.5" RR+CDC Coilovers w/ 600# Coils
Bajakits CV Axles
Taco Tab Alignment Cam Delete Kit
Wheeler's Diff Drop

Icon 2.5" RR Rear
Metaltech HD Long Travel Rear Coils
Wheeler's Rear SuperBumps
Front Range Offroad Upper/Lower Links

4Crawler 1.5" BL

Wheels/Tires

315/70R17 Hankook Dynapro MT
37" BFG KM3
SCS 17" SR8 Matte Dark Bronze

Armor:

Homemade Front Bumper w/ Warn Evo 10-S Winch
Modified DIY 4x4Labs Rear Bumper Kit
RCI Front Skid
Homemade Transmission, T-case, Fuel Skids
Stubb's HD-SKO Sliders
All Pro Lower Link Skid
TC Spindle Gussets (not installed)
Relentless Fab BMC Plate (not installed)
Ceramic Coated Paint
Homemade Aluminum Inner Fender Liners

Other:

Poly Bushing Rebuilt Front Control Arms
Full Sound Deadening
Desert Does It Seat Jackers
Indel-B 31L Fridge
Switch-Pros Panel
Sparky Gauge Cluster White LED Conversion
XPEL Protected Gauge Cluster Lens
Diode Dynamics Interior LEDs
Cheap LED Pods and Bar In Bumper
LED Headlight Projectors, 06' Conversion.
Rocksteady Motorsports Windshield Washer Tank
Factory Roof Rack Delete
ARB Dual Compressor System
Homemade Aluminum Drawer System
FJ Fender Liner Conversion

Shopping List

PSC Steering Fluid Reservoir
Marlin LT
Rear King 14" Coilovers

Long-Term:

Seats
Boost
Crawlbox/T-Case
Relocate Fuel Tank
Double-triangulated 4-link rear suspension
Internal Roll Cage/Bar