This is my build thread. It will actually be a restore thread for one T4R and a build thread for the other, with some interesting things thrown in for click bait.

Snow

Since 1998 my family has had a 1997 Limited T4R, Evergreen Pearl dark green with e-locker. It has been neglected for a few years looking pretty sad and I recently fell in love with it / felt sorry for it so I'm bringing it back to life.

It has had a few rough winters. It is the summer utility / off road vehicle at my mom's property on the island (she drives a Prius). So in winter we would cancel the insurance. Unfortunately, for two seasons in a row, the last time we drove it was November with salt on the road, and it sat there all winter with salt underneath in the dampness of the PNW, getting eaten alive. I told my mom to drive it down the road when it rained but she didn't understand the importance of this; I was away and unable to do so.

The rust is ugly but mostly surface flaking, at least on the frame. Some of the suspension is shot, the shocks are toast. In chipping rust off the differential housing I poked through and had to patch it up with JB Weld which is holding for now. It has 300,000 km on it.

~original







Here's what I plan to do to it. I originally wanted to build it up a bit but now I think I want to restore it to its original glory. In 2021 it will be 25 years old and therefore eligible for collector status in BC. With this you get cheaper insurance rates and special license plates. But the catch is it has to be pretty much stock so I can't really build anything up on it.

⦁ Swap out the rusty rear axle with the near mint one I picked up from another 1997 Limited for $350 Canadian.

⦁ Rear diff breather vent mod.

⦁ New radiator because I got scared of the pink milkshake. DONE at 299,707 km and I avoided the PMS! But last summer it got pretty hot going up a big hill, into the red zone, I hope I didn't screw up the head gasket. I should do a compression test.

⦁ Paint the frame with Rust Trap and get rid of all rust.

⦁ Replace broken suspension components: LBJ's, shocks, sway bars, bar end links, etc.

⦁ Replace cracked windshield. I want to do this myself to fix the rust on the pillars from the previous replacement done by a technician who obviously didn't give a sh!t and scraped the paint. Now I have to deal with the problem of rust going down the pillar to who knows where.

⦁ Fix a few other areas of rust on the body.

⦁ New wipers and other miscellaneous pieces that are rusted out.

⦁ Clean up running boards and put back on. My mom likes them, seems to be a girl thing.

⦁ Buff the pin striping off the paint, wax her up, and build a cover to park her under to protect from sun, pine needles, sap and bird doo-doo.

⦁ Replace the stock trailer hitch with the Hidden Hitch one I picked up from the junkyard which will give an extra 3" of departure clearance.

⦁ Replace all bumpers; all rusty.

⦁ Swap cracked passenger seat with the nicer one I picked up recently. Put on seat covers.

⦁ Clean mould everywhere inside, especially the carpet. Put in moisture absorbing salts in winter to keep humidity down.

⦁ Paint rims silver. DONE and it looks great. See photo above.

⦁ Change oil / filter and external belts: all done at 299,100 km.

Sand:

My love for this vehicle is only so deep because it is automatic. I'm not a fan of automatic. Plus it lives at my mom's house. I live in Vancouver and have a Nissan Leaf electric car which doesn't do off-road and has limited range. So I decided to get me my own T4R, a manual. I wanted tan colour and in a short while this one popped up on CL:



It had 264,272 km on it and I've since put about 7000 km more, mostly over a period of two weeks freeway driving up and down the west coast but with some Mexico 4X4'ing as well.

It is nice inside and has no body rust but it has significant underside rust beginning. She is lucky I got her in time because I think another year or two with the PO's would have been too much for her to stand and she'd start breaking. I got it from a New Zealand couple from Whistler who was going back home and had to sell... so that's always a good indication that the sale is for good reasons. That time in Whistler with the salt really did a number on the rust. The differential housing is pretty rusty but not as bad as my mom's; I was able to chip down to bare metal and repaint without poking through. 4.1 gearing with no e-locker.

This one is for off road exploring around BC and also taking me on my long trips down to Baja California where I go into the middle of no-man's desert. I'm not into crazy rock crawling. I 4X4 to get out there. I don't go out there to 4X4.

My plans for this one are as follows. I want to keep it looking as stock as possible, but with lots of hidden features.

Bodywork / external stuff:

⦁ Remove running boards. DONE in first week.

⦁ Now that dirt gets kicked up all over the sides with the running boards gone, I want some fender flares; probably convert some Limited ones over and drill them on like blcktpgsr did. I took off the little chrome / black ones and noticed grit grinding down the paint. I'm glad I took them off. If I put on some rock sliders those can take the place of the running boards and protect the sides from rocks. Thinking of the 4X Innnovations ones. So now I am thinking I will not put flares on.

⦁ Put a new rear bumper on it to replace the original piece of rust with a little bit of metal left on it. DONE with a cheap $100 POS from Amazon that doesn't fit properly. PITA, now I'll have to monkey around with it.

⦁ Put on a roof rack. DONE with a stock one but not very well. It still needs some touch-up paint. Plus I want to extend it out towards the front like this which will require drilling holes in the roof which I'm not too excited about but considering there are already 10 holes for the existing rack that I successfully sealed up with silicone I don't see any major issues. I have no sunroof. I may put a ladder up the back hatch to climb up onto the roof, we'll see. Maybe some other idea will come to me like something that is removable and hangs off the side back so you climb up onto the tire then a few more steps gets you up top. I will then weld up my own full length low profile rack.

⦁ I am thinking the colour scheme will be black and tan, no chrome. This means I will paint the bumpers and fender flares black and run black rims. What do you think about painting the rims the same tan colour as the body? Edit: nope, I am going full chrome!!! Looks way better.

⦁ 1" body lift to allow for some bigger tires and the side benefit of better access to the shock mounts which I'm sure are rusted on permanently. I'm not interested in a suspension lift because of reliability concerns with the suspension components. Also I want to maintain my great 23.5 mpg mileage and the bigger the tires and the higher it sits, the more this will be impacted. I want to keep the wheels small enough to keep the spare underneath the back.

⦁ Replace the cracked windshield. I want to do this myself to ensure no scratches are left on the paint underneath to avoid the problem my mom's has from the shoddy workmanship.

⦁ Some kind of rain shield over windows for when I'm sleeping in it and want fresh air. Also some bug screen to go over the open windows.

⦁ Clean the girl up, touch up and buff the paint, wax, touch up rust, fix the dents in the rear hatch door.

⦁ Find somewhere to put in extra gas tanks. The roof is too hot in Mexico. The rear is a safety hazard if you get rear ended. Underneath is also a safety hazard. Inside stinks up the cabin. Where else?????!!!!!!!! Maybe inside with an expandable container so when it gets hot the gas fumes don't burp out the container.

Underside / Drivetrain:

⦁ The original axle had a hum at speed all through Mexico and I determined it was the carrier or pinion bearing in the third member. It was pretty noisy. Swapped out (unlocked) rear axle Aug 12, 2017 to put in a replacement axle with e-locker I got from a 2000 automatic in Oregon on my way back from Mexico, with 226,000 miles. It is 4.3. I also got a front 4.3 differential (from a 1998, 238,000 miles) so I'll swap that out while I'm at it so they match. I think I'll just do an aftermarket electrical job on this which won't integrate with the computer; that way it will also work in 2WD and 4Hi. No flashing light in the dash but no biggy. That can always be added later.

⦁ I would like to do the Low Range 2WD mod where you can put it into Low Range for compression braking but not have the binding issues of 4WD on pavement.

⦁ Extended rear diff breather vent mod.

⦁ A simple non-obtrusive bush bar underneath the bumper and along the front side to protect the side lights. I'm not into those big ugly honking things that go over the whole front -- unnecessary. A single bar along the bottom will push the bushes over and keep them off the front. I just got a welder so maybe I'll make one.

⦁ Winch on the front. I got an Engo 9000. I want to hide it behind the stock bumper. The 98 isn't a fat lip bumper, and I'm not a fan of the look of the fat lip bumper. It will be an interesting challenge to mount it in there somehow.

⦁ Flip the trailer hitch upside down so the hitch comes through the bumper, to give me another 3" of departure clearance.

⦁ Paint the frame and gas tank skid plate with Rust Trap. I want all rust gone underneath. That will be quite a job.

⦁ LBJ swap. DONE at 265,200 km. I still should do some of the other components.

⦁ Put on some better sway bar links.

⦁ Fix loose steering wheel column. DONE with a tack weld. See here

⦁ Annoying squeaky clutch pedal. I took it in to a transmission place to get the 3rd member checked out and they magically made it stop. Not sure what they did.

⦁ Put in new clutch master and slave cylinders at 288,000 km, July 2018.

⦁ I don't think I'll do a Tundra brake upgrade. It doesn't get hot here much and I don't think I'll be towing much. Also I have a manual so I can use compression braking down hills. I like the split 3 spoke rims which are not compatible with the 230 mm calipers so at most I'll put in the 199 mm calipers.

Interior:

⦁ I want to mod the center console so it comes apart with the upper half removable. This will allow me to stretch out across the front seats and rest which I frequently want to do like when I sit on the ferry for an hour and a half. Right now the console kind of makes it sore on your back...

⦁ Build a removable shelf unit on the driver's side back half, with seats removed. The passenger side will be for sleeping. Leave space for puppy cage for next time I go to Mexico and find more puppies to rescue...

⦁ Sort out a space for a cooler with a "bilge pump" to suck out ice melt.

⦁ Put in front and back dash cams. DONE but I need to run the wiring better.

⦁ Get a new stereo with hands free calling.

⦁ Seat covers on front. DONE. I got the Coverking ones which are pretty good. They don't look super plush but they are strong and easy to clean.

⦁ Get a good vacuum cleaner for it.

Electrical:

⦁ House second battery with solar panel trickle charger. Big 3 upgrade and alternator upgrade.

⦁ Put in a kill switch for the daytime running lights (in Canada your headlights are always on when the ignition is on). Also a kill switch for all external lights. Sometimes you want to drive at night without being seen.

⦁ Power antenna freeze switch. If it's up it will freeze it up, if it's down if will freeze it down, or do it in between. I'll just put an on-off switch in the wire from the radio to it. The antenna works fine so the fewer times it goes up and down, the longer it will last. See here.

⦁ Add lots more lights and a set of switches, all wired up to a new fuse box like Ripcord did.

⦁ Front headlight and reverse light upgrade.

⦁ Side lights. In BC often you are driving down a bush road at night and come up to a side road. Once you get up beside it to look down it you can't see it anymore because your lights are shining forward.

⦁ Put in a decent size inverter and run 120V plugs throughout the cabin.

⦁ Wire in trailer light plug.

⦁ Put in a compressor somewhere.

Engine / Maintenance:

⦁ Timing belt / water pump. Last done at 144,592 km, Feb 20, 2006; not sure if water pump was done then.

⦁ Change front diff fluid. DONE at 265,362 km.

⦁ Change rear diff fluid. DONE at 273,893 km, June 3, 2017. This axle is DONE Aug 12, 2017. Swapped it out.

⦁ Oil and filter change. DONE: 265,285, Nov 2016 with Castrol GTX 5w30 dinosaur oil and Mobil 1 filter;
272,900, Apr 9, 2017 with Castrol Edge Titanium full synthetic, 5w30, FRAM Ultra Synthetic filter XG3614;
287,652, Jun 17, 2018 same as last time. That is almost 15,000 km between oil changes. But they say synthetic can handle that.
291,064, Jan 7, 2019 realised that FRAM filters are crap from the Youtube videos so I swapped it out with a Napa Gold 1348.

⦁ PCV valve change. DONE at 265,362.

⦁ Spark plugs change. DONE at 265,362 with NGK BKR5EKB-11 Stock #3967. Checked again at 291,472 Apr 13, 2019. Washed in POR degreaser, water, sanded electrodes and put back in.

⦁ New fan clutch at 288,000 km, July 2018. Swapped out to Snowy at 291, 064, March 2019. Replaced with old one that doesn't work well.

⦁ Power steering fluid. Last done 166,933 km.

⦁ Coolant flush, new radiator

⦁ Flush brake fluid. Last done at 166,933.

⦁ Check brake pads. OK at 288,000 km

⦁ Change transfer case oil. DONE at 272,866 km, Apr 8, 2017 with Canadian Tire Motomaster 75w90.

⦁ Change transmission oil. DONE at 272,900 km, Apr 13, 2017 with Amsoil 75w90 Synthetic Manual Transmission and Transaxle Gear Lube GL4. The old oil didn't look too bad but I didn't know what it was and how old it was so out it came. See here for discussion of Amsoil vs. Redline.

⦁ Grease zerks. Done sometime mid 2017.

⦁ New fuel pump and filter

⦁ Air filter

After I got her home:



Down in Mexico:



As she sits today:



My Leaf with 350Z rims, getting a charge in front of the criminally insane asylum:



Leaf Maintenance:

⦁ 2012 version, bought in Dec 2011. It is my daily driver around town.

⦁ Added a 1 1/4" trailer hitch and wiring. I towed my 18' sailboat 100 km to my mom's house but I needed to charge it several times along the way. According to the user manual, we aren't supposed to tow anything or even put on a trailer hitch. I guess I wrecked my car then...

⦁ To install the trailer I needed to remove the large airflow deflector underneath the back. I left it off to allow for better access under there to clean off salt. I applied Rust Formula 5000 rust inhibitor to a few areas showing rust starting, fall 2016.

⦁ Original Ecopia tires lasted 50,000 km. Bought a set of 6 spoke 2004 350Z sports car rims off Craigslist which fit the large wheel wells. They came with Michelin winter tires. They went on fall 2016. I bought another set of identical rims and put some 3 season tires on those, they went on early May 2017 at 70,000 km. Sold my original Leaf rims early 2017.

⦁ Other than that I guess I should do SOMETHING to maintain it... it's true, these electric cars hardly need any maintenance. Oh right, my range has gone down about 20% since I first bought it, and apparently it degrades faster and faster when it starts so I will need a new set of batteries at some point. I believe that is around $5000. So offset that with the gas and maintenance cost savings. You can pick up used Leafs now for $15,000 or less, so it really does make good economic sense to buy a Leaf as a second car.