[gh25_]

Originally Posted by alexperrucci

Yeah last I heard they were like a year out haha. That's awesome though, where did you order from?

Great to hear about the improved ride. I know mine was a big difference when I replaced everything up front.

Oh wow I didn't know they were like a year on the wait time that's crazy lol I can't imagine waiting that long. I'd have everything else modded out before they even came in. I have special connection within king. I'm not supposed to talk about it though haha

Yeah before when I would hit bumps it was very jarring and off road they would get over whelmed super easy and they were super bouncy if I was hitting bumps. I think the stock spring rate is very stiff so that also didn't help. It's smooth sailing now though. Stoked!

[gh25_]

Decided to finally purchase a scangauge because I wanted to be able to see the actual number for my coolant tempurature, voltage, etc.. I also liked how I can use it for trip tracking so I can see stuff like my distance to empty, miles until empty, mpg. Not worried about tracking my mpg but if I ever do a road trip it will be really handy to have that information. It's also nice that it's a code reader. I got it more really for the engine information. If anyone has any xgauge codes they use on their 3rd gen's feel free to drop them below. I found a pretty neat place for it on my 1998 interior. I didn't like the standard mounts you can buy. I also have seen people just put in on top of their column on their steering wheel but I also don't like that either. I used some special velcro my dad got from work. It's like 5x as strong as regular velcro and better to hold it in place. I've seen some people that just put it underneath that little cubby on a single din radio but I want to keep my double din radio so I had to find somewhere else to put it.

[snydmax]

Originally Posted by gh25_

Today January 24th, 2024 marks 1 year with my 4Runner. It has been an amazing year so far with her. Since I have gotten her I have gained a new passion and learned a ton of skills working on it taking it apart and putting it back together. It's been a lot of fun. She is sitting with around 201,950 miles right now, and many more to go! Can't wait for more maintenance and mods that the future holds. Here's a picture at the gas station. 1 year apart from the first photo on this thread.

Nice grille!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[gh25_]

Originally Posted by snydmax

Nice grille!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks! It's pretty sweet. I liked the blacked out look with the gunmetal grey letters

[alex9000]

Originally Posted by gh25_

Decided to finally purchase a scangauge because I wanted to be able to see the actual number for my coolant tempurature, voltage, etc.. I also liked how I can use it for trip tracking so I can see stuff like my distance to empty, miles until empty, mpg. Not worried about tracking my mpg but if I ever do a road trip it will be really handy to have that information. It's also nice that it's a code reader. I got it more really for the engine information. If anyone has any xgauge codes they use on their 3rd gen's feel free to drop them below. I found a pretty neat place for it on my 1998 interior. I didn't like the standard mounts you can buy. I also have seen people just put in on top of their column on their steering wheel but I also don't like that either. I used some special velcro my dad got from work. It's like 5x as strong as regular velcro and better to hold it in place. I've seen some people that just put it underneath that little cubby on a single din radio but I want to keep my double din radio so I had to find somewhere else to put it.

What's this thing?

[gh25_]

Originally Posted by alex9000

What's this thing?

Hey Alex. Sorry, are you actually asking what it is? I'm not good at sarcasm over the computer hahaha. But anyways it's called a scan gauge 2. A lot of 3rd gen owners use it for the various things it can do. People typically buy it to see readouts like their coolant temperature, mpg, voltage, and on 99+ 4runners people add the tranny temp gauge thru x-gauge. They use it instead of relying on the factory dash gauges which can be unhelpful in the event that something is over heating, which at that point is a little late. When you calibrate it, it's also good for road trips you can see fuel economy stuff. It'll also tell you like your distance tank to empty, hours to empty, and miles to empty, gallons to empty, etc. It also functions as a code reader you can pull the codes that it's throwing and also clear them as well. It's a really nice tool to have to monitor a lot of stuff. Which is why I got one
Cheers.

[gh25_]

After searching for a while I finally found a moon mist 1999+ center console without a rear heater. In case you didn't know it is quite hard to find moon mist interior pieces lol. Thankfully the one I found was in good condition too. I got a good deal as well. 100 bucks for everything! center console, center console bracket, e-brake tub, and the e-brake. Since my rear window and ECT switches are on my center console I needed to relocate them. I saw SRQ had a sweet switch panel that replaces your ashtray. I never used it before or even kept anything in it so the switch panel is a perfect use of the space. Since I am remounting the switches not very far from where they were I didn't have to do any extending of the wires or anything like I've heard. All I had to do was unravel the single little ebrake light wire from the two other harnesses and re wrap the switch harnesses and the single wire do a little cable management and I was good to go! Hardest part of this swap was the e-brake tub. My 1998 was manufactured in 03/98, so unfortunately the tub wouldn't just drop in like the 05/98+ 4runners. I was not going to take a part of my body out then have to mess with re spraying paint. I just got a rat's tail file and made the holes more oblong to make it fit. It worked perfectly. I was very very excited to get this new center console in. The 98-98 ones are so lack luster compared to the 1999+ ones. Two cup holders, a secret cubby behind it, and taller primary storage AND extra lid storage. How did toyota go from the pre 1999 console to the post 1999 console. Lol not even funny how much better it is. I guess it's also cool I have 6 cup holders now! 2 in the dash 2 in the console and 2 in the rear of the console. Cup heaven!

[gh25_]

Fun little upgrade, or at least I'll call it that haha. Never really had a problem with the stock 1998 steering wheel and I actually like it but ever since seeing the 3 spoke is300 / supra / rav4 / corolla type steering wheel I've wanted to swap one into my truck. I liked the 3 spoke look and that it was a bit smaller and more sporty feeling. I liked the ergonomics too. I sourced the wheel from eBay. It ended up being one out of a MR2 actually. I also had to decide which airbag I wanted since there was a few options and I ended up with the rav4 one with the silver ring around the middle. I like how it looks. I wanted to get this new steering wheel for the different design that I liked but also because of the e-shift functions. For now the down / up buttons don't do anything but in the future when I get a new stereo that has steering wheel controls I am gonna wire the up and down buttons to have functions for the stereo. Volume up / down so I don't have to always reach for the knob to change the volume. And also the forward and previous. Big thanks to @midcoma for the awesome write up on how to do this swap and and also the wiring to keep the proper cruise control functions. Very detailed and great instructions and information. I'm all for OEM+ and of course wanted to keep my cruise control. This mod came out great!

Steering Wheel Swap - Lexus IS300 with E-Shift

[gh25_]

Little white since I've made a update on here. I've definitely been working on my 4Runner quite a bit lately. Since I put the SRQ fab billet ashtray switch mount I've had to take my scangauge out because where I had it before is now blocked by the swith panel. I found what I thought to be the cleanest place it could go considering the lack of space in our interiors. I've never liked the on the colomn of the steering wheel look and i didn't like the look of the spiker engineering mount either. I prefer it in a place where it's not as random or out of place to me. Thankfully this guy on etsy has a great solution. Replace your old sunglasses door with one to fit a scangauge. Perfect! Unfortunatley for me though I have a 1998 4runner with the usless card holder upper console. So I had to source a moon mist one with the sunroof controls off ebay. Since my sunroof is sealed shut and I don't plan on using it the controls are useless. I Haven't gotten the blue and white plug harness I need for the full swap so for now it's unwired. Had to cut into my headliner to fit it. Overall not bad though. And the routing of the scangauge cable ended up super clean, can't see it anywhere when routed under the headliner and down the A pillar to the OBD2 port. Glad to have my scan gauge back and actually it's in a better spot than it was before. Cool thing too is that the guy who makes these doors made it to where it's not just solid so I can still even fit a pair of glasses inside it! But I have my little trees in there instead haha.

[gh25_]

Somehow I stumbled upon the LCE website and scrolled through seeing what they sell for our 3rd gen 4runners and on the pulley section I saw their lightweight 5vz crankshaft pulley. I looked at it for a good 4 months before I decided to buy it. Not that I needed to convince myself to buy it or that it's super expensive (it's only 207 dollars) I was just waiting lol. I was also waiting because I needed to save up a little money for some other parts while I was there. I decided while I had all the belts and pulleys off I would replace the fan clutch as well as the actual plastic fan since that's one of the few things I hadn't replaced. I also wanted to replace the fan clutch bracket. That's the piece with the bearing in it that the fan clutch spins on. Nothing was wrong with it just assumed it was original and I wanted to replace it lol. I mean while I am there right? Anyways. Installing the pulley was pretty easy of course. A straight swap from the oem one. I had to use a belt trick to tighten the crank bolt it because they don't have the two holes for you to use your 5vz harmonic balancer pulley holder tool. Worked out fine. Really enjoying it so far. I can definitely feel the difference from it. She's quite peppy now and responsive to throttle. Holds the gear on hills better too. Overall she's a lil faster which for 200 bucks i'll take haha. And I can say my engine isn't stock anymore. Lol.

[gh25_]

Right now I am waiting for my 2.5 rear king shocks to come in and I decided it was time to refresh some of the rear bushings since I basically replaced everything in the front suspension wise now. Rear was running on those old worn out bushings. Decided that I didn't want to mess with pressing out the old bushings in the stock control arms and splurged on a set of upper and lower OPT Offroad rear adjustable control arms with the jhonny joints . Originally I was just gonna get the uppers for the adjustability so I could correct my pinon angle after I lift the rear, and then just put some whitelines on the lowers but like I said earlier I also lowkey didn't feel like pressing the old bushings out. These arms were a definite solid upgrade. Definitley overkill for me since I am 2WD and it's not like I go 4 wheeling and need these beefy arms but when I do hit the trails or the dezert they will be nice. As of now I am still on the stock rear shocks and these links alone made the ride a lot better in the rear. Those old rubber bushings prolly about had it. These new links smoothed things out. Since I was in the area I also installed my rear durobumps and my overland customs sway bar links. I had bought both and they were laying around for now waiting until I installed my rear lift. Not sure if it's the new sway bar links or the bushings but the now my body roll is much less since I replaced them. Right now I am running no front sway bar up front since I took it out when I was installing the front shocks and never bothered putting it back on lol. Before the body roll was definitely kinda bad but now with the new sway bar bushings and links it is a lot better. Not as much nervous rolling and steering is more racey