[bosox15]

Originally Posted by apohl17

Everything was going smooth up to this point, started to install the woofer...
AND...
Then got totally ROCKED by a really bad storm. Sheboygan County of SE Wisconsin -- reports of tornados touching down nearby, over 60mph gusts at my house, trees uprooted as far as the eye can see... Local town made the news for carnage. Yeesh.

Dang, we had the same storm system down here in North West Illinois. Sirens went off about 7pm but luckily no touchdowns. Six poles on the county highway were uprooted or snapped though.

[apohl17]

Originally Posted by infamousRNR

I'm really digging this idea. Since I have never smoked a cigarette in my life and don't intend to start I really want to do this.. I was looking around eBay for a similar size Bass knob and couldn't really find the same one you had. It fits really nicely in that space. Do you mind sharing the link from your purchase?

wicked build so far btw,,,

@infamousRNR Thanks mate! I actually got it with the S/O powered sub when I purchased it- but you can pick up the remote knob on Crutchfield here. I custom made some brackets for mounting it in the opening, but for the most part it fits well! Definitely serves it's purpose to adjust the bass control!

I also tried to incorporate the led ring from the OEM cig lighter, but the diameter wasn't right for that to be incorporated.

[apohl17]

Originally Posted by bosox15

Dang, we had the same storm system down here in North West Illinois. Sirens went off about 7pm but luckily no touchdowns. Six poles on the county highway were uprooted or snapped though.

Yeah, it laid a decent swathe across the midwest. Sheboygan and Ozaukee counties were one of the worst affected in WI, sounded like it hit you guys in IL too. Before the power went out (it STILL is by the way, argh) the weatherman on TV pointed to the "hottest" area to watch out for tornado/most damage, and, of course, his finger landed dead smack on where I live. SO many trees down, but hey, it could have been worse...

[apohl17]

Off of work today and since I got up at my normal time (5:30am), I couldn't help myself to getting my SGII mounted. I took a piece of 4x6 galvanized...

Made some bends and hems with a tin snips and handheld bender...

Threw on some primer & paint...

And voila. Industrial hook and loop strips hold the unit on the bracket, and I filed a round hole for the wire to feed back behind the dash down to the Obd2 port. Bracket just clips behind the top of the dash trim and has a bit of tape under to keep it solid.
Real nice to be able to ready tranny temps and a LOT more!

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[Jake2828]

Way Way way better then stock . Great job

[apohl17]

Originally Posted by Jake2828

Way Way way better then stock . Great job

Thanks! And since I will be heading to @4xInnovations HQ in a few days hopefully, who knows where this build will eventually get to...

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[apohl17]

Finally got my passenger side 6.5 components in. Took me easily half the time I spent on the driver's side because I knew what I was doing. I'll post a write-up with lots more pictures later on, but in basic:

Remove the door panel-

Remove oem woofers and tweeters-

Replace with new-

Find location for and install the crossover-

Wire it all in.

Pretty straightforward, but you will notice that I did not replace the wiring... When I decide to throw in an Amp to power the system more, then I have a reason for some 14 or 16 gauge. Sound quality is noticeably, definitely better than OEM for now though!

[apohl17]

Thanks to @mtbtim and his thread for radiator caps, I checked mine, and it was a goner. Took a magnet to get the small plunger piece out of the top of the radiator. PO said he had it replaced the whole shebang last year, but now I don't know...

Also, some regular driving pushed my atf temps to nearly 200 °F, so I just picked up some maxlife to do a 4qt drain & fill of the lower pan. Pics to come alter today as I let the fluids cool down.

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[apohl17]

So this is why I purchased a scangauge. After replacing the radiator cap I also noticed a decrease in my coolant temps, likely because of it actually holding pressure on my radiator now. After checking the date code, it looks like my radiator was replaced in 2014, but it's not and OEM Koyo.

I still did the drain and fill of the tranny- 4 quarts of this stuff to freshen it up a bit. The fluid didn't look too bad - it was still fairly clear, which makes me happy!

Comparatively, on my brother's runner, it looked like we were draining filthy engine oil... His needed a flush more than mine. Either way, I think it shifts into gear smoother now, but maybe that's just in my head...

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[apohl17]

Stopped by 4xInnovations HQ today and met some awesome guys and some impressive manufacturing capabilities. Hopefully I can work out some business with them and I can start pseudo-armoring up the Iceberg. Stay tuned!

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[Horsethief]

Nice build! I really like all the lighting mods. I'll be coming back here for reference wen I finally pick up a 3rd gen!

Also, respect for pulling apart the dash and interior bits. I hate messing with that stuff, I think I'd rather pull the suspension apart than the interior, haha.

[apohl17]

Originally Posted by Horsethief

Nice build! I really like all the lighting mods. I'll be coming back here for reference wen I finally pick up a 3rd gen!

Also, respect for pulling apart the dash and interior bits. I hate messing with that stuff, I think I'd rather pull the suspension apart than the interior, haha.

Thanks! In my opinion, pulling apart the dash is easy after you do it the first couple times. It really is just a few bolts, clips, and some gentle pressure and you can get to pretty much any part of the wiring up front. Suspension is (was) way worse at least in the Midwest, because we have to deal with rust!

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[Horsethief]

Originally Posted by apohl17

Thanks! In my opinion, pulling apart the dash is easy after you do it the first couple times. It really is just a few bolts, clips, and some gentle pressure and you can get to pretty much any part of the wiring up front. Suspension is (was) way worse at least in the Midwest, because we have to deal with rust!

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This is true. I'm in New England, so I feel your pain on the rust! That's what led to my trusty '97 Grand Cherokee and me parting ways.

I just feel like I can never get the clips out correctly, and nothing seems to go back in the right way. Of course maybe because most of my interior experience is with GM cars, the Toys are prob put together a little better.

Oh, and your rig has a great stance, BTW. How does it drive with the 4.10's and the 265/75's? Did you notice a big difference in drivability or mpg from stock? (I'm planning my own build, so I'm asking lots of questions)

[apohl17]

Originally Posted by Horsethief

This is true. I'm in New England, so I feel your pain on the rust! That's what led to my trusty '97 Grand Cherokee and me parting ways.

I just feel like I can never get the clips out correctly, and nothing seems to go back in the right way. Of course maybe because most of my interior experience is with GM cars, the Toys are prob put together a little better.

Oh, and your rig has a great stance, BTW. How does it drive with the 4.10's and the 265/75's? Did you notice a big difference in drivability or mpg from stock? (I'm planning my own build, so I'm asking lots of questions)

Sorry to hear. You'll find lots of info in the forums here, and I'm more than happy to answer your questions man! From doing a little interior work on a similar year Sonoma/S10, I gotta say, the clips are a lot more difficult to work with. The Toyota build quality is solid. Now, are there things that could be better? Sure. But hey, these beasts were made 20 years ago, so I can't complain.

The 4.10s and the 32s really don't drive much different than the stock 265/70s. I don't drive it hard most of the time and it has enough power when I need it. Coming from my last runner which got 21 hwy mpg and 19ish city, I now get about 17 city and 19 hwy. I can live with the small difference! I mean, I'm lifted, tires are Way more aggressive, and I'm running the four roof rack bars. Hope this helps. If not, ask away!

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[apohl17]

After driving this week, and some longer trips, I am constantly running a coolant temp of roughly ~205 degrees. That's a little high for me- it looks like a new thermostat is in order and hopefully, installing it with the jiggle valve at 6pm will drop me into the 190s. Figured I'll do a coolant flush while I'm at it as well, since it has probably been a while!

Since I am not running a bypassed transmission cooler, I should get some added benefit of not heating up the ATF as much after I (hopefully) decrease the coolant temp by 10 degrees or so.

I'll also update on that, it looks as though replacing the radiator cap with an actual working unit lowered my temps by 5 degrees or so, but it's hard to say yet.