I want to keep that plastic removable still, so I re-used what was there. The dirtiest of the sealant was removed, I grabbed some from the top where it was still in good shape and carefully re-spread and mixed it up in place. Then rolled it back down with a small wood roller. The 'right' way to do it is with new butyl sealant tape, which is the same stuff you can buy for re-sealing headlights.

I just checked (after ~3" of rain in the last 24 hours) and there may still be some water sneaking by the inner seal. Nothing made it to the point where it goes over the top of the door seal on the frame though, so I probably won't mess with it anymore.

-Charlie

Brake upgrade time!!

This all started as a quick little project to upgrade the rear wheel cylinders from the smaller ones used on the 15" wheel trucks to the bigger 16" wheel truck cylinders... (no pics there, just simple swap) When I was bleeding the brakes, I ruined the master cylinder. It was questionable for a while (slight bleed-down while stopped at a light) but it is now undriveable.

So, new a new OEM master cylinder was ordered and has arrived. While waiting for that (and knowing I'd have to do a full brake bleed again), I figured it was a good time to do the Tundra brake upgrade too...

A few pics:







As you can see, my backing plates are already for the larger brakes (swapped the knuckles with the 4WD swap, kept the smaller brakes as they were in much better shape that the 4WD truck parts). I had also already trimmed the backing plates to clear the Trundra brakes... So, now I just need to install the master cylinder (after a bench bleed!) and swap the lines over at the calipers and bleed the brakes.

Let's hope there are no soft pedal issue that others have reported in some cases...

-Charlie

So like many of us I've been using some new found free time to get some projects done. I've been busy with the swap (along with the full engine rebuild) for the last few months. Engine is done now I'm getting all of the 4x4 details set up. I swapped the 4x4 ECU+harness to make all of those wires just plug and play but when it comes to the VSV wires I had no choice but to cut those from the donor. So my question for you is how did you get those set up? I got the grounds in their place but in the harness inside the car did you use quick splice adaptors to tap into existing wires or was there blank spot in the plug you had to pin them into? I just want to be 1000 percent sure I'm getting those into the existing wires correctly and just need to be pointed in the right direction. I can plug and unplug and ECU and harness all day but if I'm splicing things and looking for two wires in a harness the fear and confusion starts rising so I'd rather ask than do something stupid I have successfully wired a trailer brake controller and that's basically the extent of my wiring abilities.

Well, hopefully you didn't literally cut them from the donor... I 'just' pinned the two wires right into the stock connector there under the dash. The ground wires I trust you have figured out.

If you right click and open in a new window the interior under-dash picture, you can see the two wires needed for the VSVs run up to the left side of the big connector in the picture. The left side is side of the harness that runs out to the engine bay. I was able to match the colors/positions of the wires on both sides of the connector there to cross-reference and make sure it was correct before plugging inserting them into the connector. Once the white locking bar is lifted a bit, the pins just slide in and click in place for OEM reliability.

If I was using a donor truck of the same year, I would have pulled that whole harness and swapped it...

Depending on year, etc. the position and color changes. You will need diagrams for your specific year.

-Charlie

Had a rough weekend with the 4Runner. Master cylinder bench bled, worked out fine... Installed on truck, brakes bled... and, the new (OEM!) master cylinder leaks out the back side (between booster and master cylinder). A new one is on the way...

So pretty, yet coming right back out:



So, the 4Runner is down for another week and a half... Gotta get it up and running 100% so I can do some major maintenance on the 3s-gte Camry Alltrac. 200k miles and it is ready for a bunch of work (timing belt stuff, motor mounts, rear diff mounts, rear suspension bushings, re-doing oil filter relocation - you know, normal stuff for a 30 year old turbo, 4wd car).

-Charlie

Wow that's annoying! I bought an aftermarket unit primarily to get a clean reservoir, and it's been working fine so far, but I wondered if I should have gone OEM. Sounds like maybe not .

I feel for ya Charlie. Damn. Does look nice though!

Not sure why I never noticed you had an Alltrac. I almost picked one up a decade or so back, in my "sleeper" days, lol. I think it was less than $2k also. I bet they are pretty rare now. A labor of love for you I'm sure...

I've owned two. My first/current one took about a year of semi-serious searching to find a clean, low mileage, rust-free example.



I've had it for ~13 years now. 3s-gte + manual swapped + bolt-ons:





Track days, daily driving, all that.

I also had a second one for a while, factory 5-speed, that I picked up with a blown motor. I swapped a 3s-ge BEAMS in that one (2.0L, 200hp NA):





That one basically only had the engine done, everything else was stock... and I sold it soon after it was done (was possibly going to be a cheap daily driver for the wife, but she didn't like it).

-Charlie

Nice. Appreciate you sharing. With the CF hood I imagine you did other weight-reduction, like removal of the rear seats. Sure it's fun to drive.

Naw, full interior w/ leather front seats, original R12 AC, and cruise control, all the way! I'm swapping out the rear diff mounts from solid to poly to get rid of some NVH. I think I'm getting old.

That hood is 1 of about 5 ever produced, and the front bumper is a JDM one for the extra venting for the intercooler. Just about makes up for the extra weight in the front from the turbo. The car is probably ~3200lbs...

-Charlie

While waiting for the replacement master cylinder to arrive, I figured I should at least paint the visible parts of the caliper... Otherwise I'd have another set of rusty calipers on the truck...



Kinda a half-assed job, but better than nothing, I suppose. The master cylinder should arrive today, which is good, because I need the 4Runner back!

-Charlie

Well, put me in the 'soft brake pedal with Tundra brakes" category!

At least the replacement master cylinder is leak free.

In tracking down this problem, I did look up the official bleeding procedure from Toyota:



The first time I bled the new master cylinder, I forgot to follow the "NOTICE" right above step 4 - and really had a bad time. I went back to re-bleed the master cylinder using the Step 2 procedure and it improved greatly. I believe there is some sort of front-rear fluid biasing in the master cylinder (to pre-pressurize either the front or rear brakes) that gets 'reset' when you bleed the master as described in the manual there. You can actually see different fluid volume and timing coming out of the two ports as you depress the brake pedal.

The pedal is basically very soft for most of the travel and firms up right near the floor... I haven't done a max effort (ABS) stop yet to see if anything changes with that. Pedal effort to stop normally is greatly reduced (also put on the larger rear wheel cylinders as part of this process) but long travel is still happening. I do have stainless brake lines F/R, so there should be very little 'flex' in the brake system otherwise...

So, has anyone solved this one yet?

-Charlie

For what it's worth my OEM master has a paper gasket between it and the booster... the lack of may explain your leak. Either way glad you got it fixed.

As a side not the alltrac is rad! I'm on the hunt for a Cressida wagon as a sleeper project.

The paper gasket is/was in place - but it is only there to seal dust/water out of the booster/cylinder interface. There should never be brake fluid in that location.

Regarding Cressidas... I always had a thing for SC's/GS's - which are sort-of the successor to the Cressida.

-Charlie

Hey Charlie, how many miles does she have on her now?