1997 Anthracite Metallic Limited E-Locker
Exterior
-Amateur(me) paint corrected
-OEM '02 tails
-OEM '02 front bumper w/fogs
-Retrofitted 7443 amber LED corner lights **SOLD**
-Morimoto D2S 4.0 retrofit in progress

Interior
-'99+ 5mt center dash bezel
-'99+ overhead console
-'99+ center console/e-brake
-'99+ leather seats(fr/rr)
-'99+ headliner
-'99+ quarter trims, upper, lower, and hatch trim, 12v recept.
-POS Pioneer mech-less head unit
-Focal 6.5" Polyglass components up front

Suspension
Front- 2.5" lift over stock '97 height
-OEM '99 tall coils
-Bilstein Tundra 5100 on 3rd perch of 5
-Tacoma free-spin hub swap
-OEM Aisin hubs
-OEM blue axles
Rear- 3.75" lift over stock '97 height
-ToyTec Superflex coils w/Bilstein 5100 shocks
-Eimkeith Panhard Correction Brackets

Wheels & Tires
-17"x9" et0 5" BS Level 8 MK6 Matte Black
-315/70R17 BFG K02

Maintenance
240k - 5/5/16
315/70R17 BFG K02
17x9 Level 8 MK6 Wheels
241,000 - 4/20/16
-Energy Suspension poly rack and FSB bushings
248,500 - 12/12/16
-OEM LBJ's
-Whiteline LCA bushings
-Redline 75W90 in rear diff

I'm calling my 4Runner an "OEM+" build, because I'm keeping it as factory as possible. I know some guys like the super "modded" look, but I like more of a subtle kind of rig.
I do my best to keep the mods on my vehicles as unnoticeable as possible- kind of the opposite of many guys.
I've written out two long intros now, and decided both just rambled way too much. Been into Toyotas since I was born. 'Axled my dads '91 when I was 15, had a super clean 'axled, 1st gen runner, 3.4 swapped/R150 swap/dual RF1A/ flat belly'd 2nd gen, etc.
When we decided on a 3rd gen for out next vehicle(my wife loves vehicles as much as I do), we soon decided the only color we were interested in getting was Anthracite. We drove 4hrs north to look at 3 Anthracite 4Runners. On our way up, I was searching the local(Seattle) CL for 4Runner parts... I can't help it.
I found a set of professionally-painted gloss black 5 star wheels, wrapped in 285/75R16 KM2's for $600. I also found a used 3" ToyTec spacer lift for $160.
After quickly passing up the first rig- due to poor condition- we looked at #2(that sounds wrong). This was a Limited, had a locker, was pretty straight outside, pretty nice inside, and had no oil leaks. It had higher mileage than I wanted, but it drove nice, and the condition gave me confidence. The roof and hood had been freshly painted my Maaco, and I wasn't thrilled about that, but this was a rig to have fun in, not be perfect. That wasn't a big enough con to turn us away. Agreed on a price, handed over the cash, and we were on our way

The wheels/tires guy- @GSPRunner -wasn't available till 4, and the lift guy wasn't available till 4:30. I think it was about noon at this point. While we were trying to pass the time, we got the front windows tinted to match the rear.
After a long trip back home, we were excited to have a new 4Runner, and super excited we already had parts for it!


Didn't waste any time getting the wheels/tires and "lift" on-

Cleaned up the engine bay-


Replaced the axles, 'cause the 3" lift immediately destroyed the boots. Didn't know any better at the time, and went with NAPA lifetime axles-

A mere 10 days later- on an icy morning- the neighbor pulls out of his driveway for work, and slides right down the street, right into our "new" 4Runner 🤦🏼



Wasn't mad at all, cause that means extra cash and fresh paint
Fought with insurance, settled, found a replacement hatch, and had it repainted. While I was having paint work done, I wanted to have a little ding on the quarter panel fixed too-

Look at our beautiful new 4Runner

Grabbed a hatch-

Somewhere in the middle of all this, we took a trip up north to visit a new buddy- I'll leave his name out of this. Got a R150, 99+ manual cluster, 99+ manual center bezel(no ECT button), manual front driveline, master and lines, clutch pedal... maybe some more random bits.
We were also in the middle of building a house- see also; living with the in-laws.

That means truck parts go into storage. My hoist-

Center bezel swapped-

Swapped the brake pedal to make me feel like I'm closer to the 5-speed

I was wondering when you were gonna make a build page. I drool over your runner quite often. I am even thinking of getting the same center cap stickers for mine when I put my MK6's on.

Looking forward to this thread; subscribed!

First, what the hell did you do to that paint to make it like like that!? Looks better than any 3rd gen paint that ever drove out of the factory IMO.

One of the things I like about your truck is the understated mods, like you, I prefer a more OEM look. I think of it as OEM+ look too.

That said, you are killing me with that fat lip bumper though. I've learned to appreciate them but I'm still smitten with the 96-98 skinny bumpers. I'll give you credit though, I'm sure you will make the fat lip look good with whatever you have planned for it. I know you are trying to bring over the 99+ turn signal stalk, but I'm curious what was your reasoning for the fat lip swap?

Manual '99+ cluster-

Got some mint OEM 01/02 tails from a member-

The house progress-

Fresh paint!



Rear window switch is now on the new bezel, so I moved the security dealio to the dash, and just tucked the ECT switch behind the bezel- in prep for the '99+ console-

Hatch shell on!

Trimmed out-

Busy with building the house- and just overall craziness of living with the in-laws- the 4Runner got pretty neglected.

But I still loved it, and loved snappin pics-


New house! Seemed like that took a lifetime-

Now that I had my own space, I could get back to giving the 4Runner love. The above pic reminds me- when trying to install the spoiler on the new/old hatch, a couple nutserts broke loose, and were just spinning. So frustrating. Now there was two screws stuck in there; I couldn't even get them out. I said fućk it, and it was like that for months. Haha so ghetto and embarrassing.
Doin some heavy haulin' for house projects-

On one of our trips to our favorite place- Bend
Shameless selfie with the better half-

Awesome view from this high spot-

Little poser flex action

Back at the house-
Cousin's 5th gen, and father in-law's S/C TRD Tundra-

Sold our '04 F250, as well as our '07 6MT 335i(most amazing car, and we'll forever regret selling it) right before we moved into the new house. I had a little Mk3 Jetta for my daily(seen above), and she was driving the 4R. After the move, and things settled down, I sold the Mk3 for a Mk4, and we got her an A3. Worst. Car. Ever.

Went up and found some snow-

I'm trying to keep this 3G/4R related, but I have many other hobbies, and am pretty deep into Mk4 VW's.
Anyway, here's my stupid clean 1st gen runner I built... and sold for an engagement ring As much as I'd love to have it, it was the best decision at the time, and it was at its peak value. The seats had been covered with custom covers since day one; the paint was beautiful. ARB front, Detroit rear, new 22re, 35" MTRs, SR5 cluster... got $9k from it.
2nd gen grill.



Got our Boxer(Bronx, now almost 7) during that time as well-

3rd gen party at the coffee stand(neither were with me )-

Clean 5-stars- don't judge me for the cheesy pic with my hat; it was actually only there cause I was doing something under the rig- it wasn't a prop!

Had a pretty good wobble in the steering wheel at highway speeds. To check the bushings and joints, I moved the wheel back and forth, while watching the steering rack and tie rods. Vehicle must be on its own weight, and not running.
The rack bushings were clearly worn out- lots of play. I got Energy Suspension rack bushings, and got FSB bushings while I was at it. Apparently I took no pictures of this, but it tightened up the front end A LOT! The wobble was still there, and since things were tighter, the wobble seemed more sharp than before.
The KM2s were worn out, loud, and couldn't get them to balance out on the 5-stars.
NEW WHEELS AND TIRES!
315/70R17 BFG K02s on Level 8 MK6 17x9 et0 in "Matte" black. These are not matte at all, and are very satin. I couldn't be happier with the color/finish, as I'm not a fan of matte. I am, however, disappointed I didn't go with the -12 offset. I wanted as high of backspace as possible to give me the smallest scrub radius as possible, and thought the 9" wide wheels would have a 4.5" backspace(at et0), when they actually have a 5" backspace. They don't hit the UCA too bad, but it's annoying that they run the frame at lock.

Love the new wheels and tires, and the tires ride SO good, and are SO quiet compared to the KM2s-

Pretty tucked for being 315's on 9" wide-

Little taller than the 285's

I love how well they tuck up with the high offset-
Unfortunately, this changed when I put the extended Bilstiens

Hated the Level 8 center caps, so I cut some overlays-

Thanks a lot man ☺
LMK if you want me to make you a set of those center cap overlays. I can send you just the vinyl- just gotta be very meticulous when applying it. I got bubbles real bad the first time I did it(I'll eventually get to those pics!).
Thanks man! Always appreciate the compliments ☺
I got a Porter Cable random orbital buffer, and went to town on it with some polishing materials. It will bring any 3rd gen paint to a whole new level! My paint was in horrible shape(still has plenty of imperfections, but you don't notice them when it's all buffed out and waxed), and it didn't take much work to get it looking really nice. I was super excited how nice it buffed out.
Haha man I hear ya- I hat the fat lips I like the updated look from the front a lot, but the side profile is ridiculous! I love the color matched Sport front ends, and that's basically what I'm going for. I was going to stick with the 96-98 bumper, but just use a painted one to color match.
That's when I ran across something amazing for new Tacomas and 4Runners, and made me excited about the fat lip. Wait and see, and I think you'll like it too. I got plans!

I'm really excited to see what you have planned next! I love your plan of keeping it as factory as possible, I'm trying to stay that same route with mine. Anthracite is probably my favorite color next to Desert Dune (only because that's the color mine is) btw lol

Nice!
Most Desert Dune I see are super neglected, and the paint looks horrible. Kind of left a bad taste in my mouth for the color. I recently saw a pic of a DD 4R all polished up, and it looked so nice! It can be a nice color for sure

The leather seats were pretty rough, and we weren't sure if we really liked the leather anyway- cloth sounds comfy!
So, back up north to our unnamed 4Runner homie for some '99+ cloth seats, and a '99+ center console!
Seats were pretty dirty, but seemed to be in good shape under the dirt.

It was a dual purpose trip; we picked up an IS250 to replace the A3 on the way up, and stuffed the whole set of cloth seats into the new car

Old leathers and console-


Cleaned while everything was out-

New cloths in-




Old leathers were on CL for the weekend for $120. No one bought them, and I didn't have any room to store them, so to the dump they went-

Wife got me an orbital so I can finally stop neglecting my paint, and get it polished up!

We've wanted a Cane Corso for years, and it was finally the right time- meet Koa ☺

Curious about his new brother, but gave him space. I was super pleased with how well they both respected each other. They both kept some distance for the first 24hrs or so.

Soon became best friends-


Decided I wanted brighter corner lights, and hated the amber lenses in the bumper. My PLAN was to open up the signal opening in a 96-98 bumper(using a second bumper to keep the nice edge), and put two LED pods staggered in the opening- like you see Raptors do-

As you may already know, this plan changed, and I'm no longer doing the 96-98 bumper. That said, here's what I did with my corners-



Many steps in between, here's the finished product-

Parking and signal wiring spliced into the new 7443 socket from the tail/brake housing/harness-

While I was in the plastic cutting and gluing mood, I decided to make use of the Focal components that I've had in my closet for 10 years


Shaved down the tweeter housing-


Factory enough for you?
Stock door speaker setup-

Focal 6.5" woofer and crossover mounted-

Though they were in good shape, and looked nice- we hated the cloth seats. Out they go-


Thanks to @UnderFire for the '99+ leathers
Pulled the '99 tall rear springs and 2" spacers-

Superflex and Bilsteins-

New height-


Before and after-

The boys approve-

Video of the corner retrofit-

Finally got pads for the polisher; time to make 'er shine!


Oh shit

Would you consider selling & shipping the cloth seats?

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

Already sold em a couple months ago, sorry man.

I couldn't believe my own eyes. My poor old paint really came to life!

Got the new D2S 4.0 projectors from Morimoto.
My headlights are so horrendous, and I can't wait to have great light ahead of me!

Output should be parallel with this-

High beam-


Can't decide between chrome-

Or painted. If I did painted, it would be Anthracite.

And the kiddos-


New OEM mats anyone?

Shrouds showed up- getting closer to retrofit time!


Very disappointed to see the reduced up-travel from the extended Bilsteins

Sway bars on front and rear-

First piece to my color-matched front end puzzle!

Not much to show, but took another trip up north to see the 4Runner parts homie. You see, last winter, my sunroof drains had gotten clogged. I didn't realize what had happened, and by the time I did, the headliner had black mold growing. I needed to get that replaced, and finally took the time to do so.
While I was already driving 4hrs each way for a headliner, I made the most of it, and got '99+ quarter trims with upper and lower trim, as well as hatch trim. Then I could have everything updated to the newer color- and have a bigger storage compartment. He also gave me a killer deal, as always. Also got the '99+ overhead console.
I've seen guys do this('99+ overhead console) swap, and they made it MUCH harder than necessary. They used the old two-rocker control board, and retrofitted it into the new console. This requires cutting the new map light lens, and looks horrible.
All that needs to be done to swap in the '99+ overhead console, is re-pin 3 ground wires, one constant power wire, and one switched power wire- THATS IT! I had a spare constant lead, so I used that to power my new rear 12v receptacle.
Figuring out what wires are what-

I only pulled all the wiring down to make it easier, and look completely factory. It was convenient since the headliner was out, but not necessary for the overhead console swap.
I also added the '99+ visors, which have a passenger side lighted vanity mirror. This was the only reason I had to splice any wiring-


Tucked back up-

Please don't tell me you really threw those seats away!

I would have snapped them up in a heartbeat. I'm in searious need of leather seat bottoms.

I'll come back to read more — after I go chase my tears away with something green...

OEM+

Looks awesome with the Level8 wheels, and the flag sticker ties it all together!