P_nlsn
Member
Figured I might as well start a build thread with all the big plans I hope to one day do, so here goes nothing. Everything here will either be over-explained or poorly-explained, so please reach out if you have questions. If you'd like to see pics and keep up, give me a follow on Instagram too! @toto.runner
Buying It:
I bought this as my first car on 7/24/2019 with 299k miles on it. It's a 2003 V6 Sport Edition. With it being a 2003 model, that makes my car almost the same age as me! While many would laugh at even considering buying a car with so many miles - come on, it's a Toyota, it had just got broke in. And since all the other cars we looked at were pretty rusty, my dad and I figured a lot of miles with no rust was better than less miles with a lot of rust.
End Goal / Intentions:
My long-term goal is to hopefully get this thing in a condition to do some real overlanding, where it's just me and some friends in the middle of nowhere, but since this is my daily-driver for a while, it's just gonna be built for shorter camping and off-roading trips for now
For reference, here she is stock (7/24/19):
And where she is as of 3/7/21 (pics may be blurry when resized, click them to enlarge):
Currently has over 350k miles
(except the engine - swapped in a 175k engine @ 326,725 miles)
Average mileage is about 12mpg right now (lots of interstate miles because I'm in college)
It averages about 12ish @ 80mph and 15-16ish @ 65 on the interstate, with 16-17ish when holding a steady 60mph on a highway
The city mileage is rough though - need get it regeared so it can move these tires and extra weight
Here's what I've done as of 3/29/24:
(click on an underlined item to go straight to the post)
Performance (lol, yeah right)
URD 3° Retard Exhaust Cam Gears
JBA 409 Silver Ceramic LT Headers
Maintenance Stuff
5th Gen Powerstop Caliper Upgrade All-Around (fixes notorious frozen calipers on 4th gens, which I had in the front driver side) @ ~299k mi
5th Gen Front Rotors (thicker than 4th gen)
4th Gen Rear Rotors (to ensure emergency brake adjustment screw hole lined up) @ ~299k mi
Skid Control ECU replacement @ ~299k mi (wasn't necessary)
Brake Booster + Accumulator Replacement @ ~310,430 mi
OEM Radiator replacement @ ~315,274mi (cause I smashed into a sheet of ice)
175k mile engine swap @ ~326,725 miles
New BFGoodrich 35x12.5 KO2s after 47.8k miles (bad alignment wore the front inside bald, quarter/half tread left on rear)
4wd Actuator Repair
Drivetrain + Suspension
3" Toytec Boss Lift Kit
1" Toytec front diff drop kit
JBA High Caster UCA's
Toytec BOSS HD front coilovers
Dobinsons IMS front struts
Dobinsons C59-354 front coils
Toytect 2" rear bumpstop spacers
Dobinsons Long Travel IMS rear shocks
Dobinsons 677V rear coils
Dobinsons adjustable Upper/Lower rear control arms
TrailGear extended rear brake lines
EimKeith Panhard Correction Kit
1.25" Wheel Spacers (Installed by PO)
35x12.5" KO2's
17x9" Helo HE878 Wheels
Custom Body Mount Chop
Electrical + Lighting
USB QuickCharger in center console
Unknown Light Pods on rear (Installed by PO)
2x 2" RoughCountry Flood Pods (outer bumper holes)
2x 2" RoughCountry Spot Pods (inner bumper holes)
'06-'09 Headlight Upgrade
Armor
Coastal Offroad 3-Hoop Front Bumper
Coastal Offroad Oil Pan Skid Plate
Coastal Offroad Transfer case Skid Plate
4x4 Innovations Rock Sliders
OPT Offroad Rear Axle Bash Plate
Interior
Dash/Instrument Cluster LED swap to red
Various painted interior trim pieces
Custom 3D printed 4wd selector knob
VSC Off Mod
Red/Black Parahandles
Custom Packed First-aid Kit - MyFAK Bag
OrangeBoxx Center Console Molle Panel
OrangeBoxx Rear Window Molle Panels
Sound
Kenwood Excelon DPX593BT Radio
Sony XAVAX5500 Headunit
1000W 5ch JVC KS-AX3205D Amp
6x9" Kenwood KFC-6966S Speakers (front)
6.5" Kenwood KFC-1666S Speakers (rear)
8" 250W Rockville W8T4-S2 Sub (Installed by PO)
18" MagnaFlow Muffler
Exterior
3" 4crawler Body Lift
Generic Roof Rack (Installed by PO)
Custom 3D printed front emblem
Various stickers
Dobinson Snorkel
Communication
Uniden CMX760 // CB Radio
Uniden B7 // CB Speaker
4' Firestik II // CB Antenna
Midland MXT400 Micromobile // GMRS Radio
Midland MXTA25 Ghost Antenna
Browning BR-173-S // GMRS Antenna
Icom IC-V8000 // 2M radio
Browning 1115-B-S // 2M antenna
On the topic of communication gear - if you ever hear the GMRS callsign "WRKF394 - Unit 2", then that's me
And now we're HAM licensed too
KI5WMC
Original Content
Beyond The Road: An Overlanding Documentary
Engine Swap
4wd Actuator Repair
Body Mount Chop
Center Dash CB Speaker
Python Mileage Calculator
3D printed front emblem
3D printed 4wd selector knob
Various painted trim pieces
Custom Packed First-aid Kit - MyFAK Bag
Videos/Pictures/Trips
Ouachita National Forest - May 2020
Ouachita National Forest - Snow Storm - February 2021
Highschool Senior Pics - April 2021
Ozark National Forest - October 2021
Disconnect (Short Film Documentary) - April 2024
Beyond The Road: An Overlanding Documentary - December 2024
Major Wishlist
Custom Steel Rear Bumper with Spare Tire Carrier (possibly jerrycan/high-lift carrier too?)
Larger Roof Rack
Gas Tank Skid
Regear Front+Rear
Snorkel / Partial Waterproof
Rock Sliders
Rebuild Engine
Long Travel Rear
Major Current Issues:
Infamous head gasket leak - Pretty common for '03s
Oil leak from rear main seal (or around that area) - Typical for this age
Exhaust tick - Cheap manifolds cracked
Bad rear diff mesh - whine from rear diff
Bad rear pinion bearing
Seized 4wd actuator
Buying It:
I bought this as my first car on 7/24/2019 with 299k miles on it. It's a 2003 V6 Sport Edition. With it being a 2003 model, that makes my car almost the same age as me! While many would laugh at even considering buying a car with so many miles - come on, it's a Toyota, it had just got broke in. And since all the other cars we looked at were pretty rusty, my dad and I figured a lot of miles with no rust was better than less miles with a lot of rust.
End Goal / Intentions:
My long-term goal is to hopefully get this thing in a condition to do some real overlanding, where it's just me and some friends in the middle of nowhere, but since this is my daily-driver for a while, it's just gonna be built for shorter camping and off-roading trips for now
For reference, here she is stock (7/24/19):
And where she is as of 3/7/21 (pics may be blurry when resized, click them to enlarge):
Currently has over 350k miles
(except the engine - swapped in a 175k engine @ 326,725 miles)
Average mileage is about 12mpg right now (lots of interstate miles because I'm in college)
It averages about 12ish @ 80mph and 15-16ish @ 65 on the interstate, with 16-17ish when holding a steady 60mph on a highway
The city mileage is rough though - need get it regeared so it can move these tires and extra weight
Here's what I've done as of 3/29/24:
(click on an underlined item to go straight to the post)
Performance (lol, yeah right)
URD 3° Retard Exhaust Cam Gears
JBA 409 Silver Ceramic LT Headers
Maintenance Stuff
5th Gen Powerstop Caliper Upgrade All-Around (fixes notorious frozen calipers on 4th gens, which I had in the front driver side) @ ~299k mi
Skid Control ECU replacement @ ~299k mi (wasn't necessary)
Brake Booster + Accumulator Replacement @ ~310,430 mi
OEM Radiator replacement @ ~315,274mi (cause I smashed into a sheet of ice)
175k mile engine swap @ ~326,725 miles
New BFGoodrich 35x12.5 KO2s after 47.8k miles (bad alignment wore the front inside bald, quarter/half tread left on rear)
4wd Actuator Repair
Drivetrain + Suspension
1" Toytec front diff drop kit
JBA High Caster UCA's
Dobinsons IMS front struts
Dobinsons C59-354 front coils
Toytect 2" rear bumpstop spacers
Dobinsons Long Travel IMS rear shocks
Dobinsons 677V rear coils
Dobinsons adjustable Upper/Lower rear control arms
TrailGear extended rear brake lines
EimKeith Panhard Correction Kit
1.25" Wheel Spacers (Installed by PO)
35x12.5" KO2's
17x9" Helo HE878 Wheels
Custom Body Mount Chop
Electrical + Lighting
USB QuickCharger in center console
Unknown Light Pods on rear (Installed by PO)
2x 2" RoughCountry Flood Pods (outer bumper holes)
2x 2" RoughCountry Spot Pods (inner bumper holes)
'06-'09 Headlight Upgrade
Armor
Coastal Offroad 3-Hoop Front Bumper
Coastal Offroad Oil Pan Skid Plate
Coastal Offroad Transfer case Skid Plate
4x4 Innovations Rock Sliders
OPT Offroad Rear Axle Bash Plate
Interior
Dash/Instrument Cluster LED swap to red
Various painted interior trim pieces
Custom 3D printed 4wd selector knob
VSC Off Mod
Red/Black Parahandles
Custom Packed First-aid Kit - MyFAK Bag
OrangeBoxx Center Console Molle Panel
OrangeBoxx Rear Window Molle Panels
Sound
Sony XAVAX5500 Headunit
1000W 5ch JVC KS-AX3205D Amp
6x9" Kenwood KFC-6966S Speakers (front)
6.5" Kenwood KFC-1666S Speakers (rear)
8" 250W Rockville W8T4-S2 Sub (Installed by PO)
18" MagnaFlow Muffler
Exterior
3" 4crawler Body Lift
Generic Roof Rack (Installed by PO)
Custom 3D printed front emblem
Various stickers
Dobinson Snorkel
Communication
Uniden CMX760 // CB Radio
Uniden B7 // CB Speaker
4' Firestik II // CB Antenna
Midland MXT400 Micromobile // GMRS Radio
Browning BR-173-S // GMRS Antenna
Icom IC-V8000 // 2M radio
Browning 1115-B-S // 2M antenna
On the topic of communication gear - if you ever hear the GMRS callsign "WRKF394 - Unit 2", then that's me
And now we're HAM licensed too
Original Content
Beyond The Road: An Overlanding Documentary
Engine Swap
4wd Actuator Repair
Body Mount Chop
Center Dash CB Speaker
Python Mileage Calculator
3D printed front emblem
3D printed 4wd selector knob
Various painted trim pieces
Custom Packed First-aid Kit - MyFAK Bag
Videos/Pictures/Trips
Ouachita National Forest - May 2020
Ouachita National Forest - Snow Storm - February 2021
Highschool Senior Pics - April 2021
Ozark National Forest - October 2021
Disconnect (Short Film Documentary) - April 2024
Beyond The Road: An Overlanding Documentary - December 2024
Major Wishlist
Custom Steel Rear Bumper with Spare Tire Carrier (possibly jerrycan/high-lift carrier too?)
Larger Roof Rack
Gas Tank Skid
Regear Front+Rear
Major Current Issues:
Oil leak from rear main seal (or around that area) - Typical for this age
Exhaust tick - Cheap manifolds cracked
Bad rear diff mesh - whine from rear diff
Bad rear pinion bearing
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