[JVC8790]

Finished ordering everything for my suspension upgrade. Most of the bushings started arriving over this weekend from Amazon and the final pieces should be here later this week from Rock Auto

TRD Offroad Tacoma Front Struts & Rear Shocks with 10k miles (Bilstein 4600) - $180 Shipped
FJ Cruiser Trail Team Rear Springs - $50 Shipped
Energy Suspension Rear Shock Bushings, Front and Rear Sway Bar Bushings - $55
Moog Front and Rear End Links - $120

All in all should be a welcome upgrade for everything tallying just a hair over $400 + install.

I'll be sure to take some measurements and before and after pics of everything when the install goes down on the 5th, I might even convince my friend to give me a hand with my sport hood install that evening too since we'll be in his heated garage with a lift.

[JVC8790]

Here's a few pictures from last nights install. The only thing that never showed up from Amazon (still says "on its way") was the front poly swaybar bushings. Luckily those are easy to access and we removed and anti-siezed the bolts for the bar itself so I should have no problem popping it off and putting those on once they arrive. My friend whos house we did this at did most of the hard work while I messed around with a few little things and overall just looked around the underside of the truck since I am not as familiar with it as I was my Volvo beforehand.

First impressions... WOW. The Xreas was very wofty, loose in turns, this is much tighter and rides a bit firmer but not "rough" by any means. That being said, I am used to lowered european cars on low profile tires, so a rough ride is all relative and this thing is like a cloud in comparison.

Beforehand, I had some noise from the front right that I suspected was an end link, and sure enough, the front endlinks were shot. I replaced all 4 corners with MOOG and everything is tight and quiet now. I am honestly blown away by how much of a difference this made, I wish I had done it before my 6hr each way roadtrip for work last week.

The thing that everyone likely wants to know is the height change.

Front went up 1.75", Rear up 1", truck sits just about level and you can certainly feel the difference of leveling from in the cabin, next major exterior upgrade will be wheels and tires, but for now I'm pretty darn pleased with this install. Those measurements were taken after setting the truck down and giving it a bounce. I will remeasure in a day or two when it's not torrential down pouring.

During the installation


Front beforehand (sprayed down with pb)


Front after


Rear After


General Crusty Midwest Undercarriage picture. I spent some time poking around to assess the frame condition and it's mostly all surface. I used a flashlight to look inside the frame rails where I could and they all look pretty good. I plan to fluid film the inside and then POR15 the outside in the spring.



Buttoned back up and waiting to be set down.


The only difficulty we really had was with the rear upper shock mounts, the ones from the Xreas shocks were taller and the thread length on the Tacoma rear shocks was shorter than the Xreas so we had to shave down the Xreas rear mounts to make everything work right. It really wasn't that much work, it was just tedious as we didn't anticipate it.

Overall labor cost for approximately 4 hours of his work and access to a lift/tools came out to $150 with me helping just a little bit.

More pics to come in the next few days, this was a great upgrade and I think is just the right amount of lift that I was looking for based on my anticipated use.

[Bluesky 07]

Looks good!

I didn’t run into the fit issue with my rear shocks. Maybe the ‘06-‘09 mount is a little different.

[JVC8790]

Originally Posted by Bluesky 07

Looks good!

I didn’t run into the fit issue with my rear shocks. Maybe the ‘06-‘09 mount is a little different.

The issue was the threaded part on the shock body from the tacoma shocks was shorter. We ended up using the Xreas bushings and just opened up the center hole a little bit. Part of the reason for doing that is that the Tacoma shocks didn't come with the bushings from the guy I bought them from.

[JVC8790]

About 5 days into ownership of my 4Runner I found a white sport hood locally and picked it up for $250. I was a bit concerned with its condition as it had a lot of little black marks that were hard to tell if they were rock chips or just contaminants.

Finally brought the hood into the garage and got to work yesterday.

Here's the before.



Removed the scoop to clean it up best (1/5 of the bolts had to be cut off)



Borrowed a friends Griots orbital while he's out of town and hit this with just some 3M Polish I had kicking around. The whole truck needs a once over once its warm out so I didn't spend too much time on the hood.





While the hood was off, I mounted the C4 Fab light bracket with the AutoFeel 10" Light Bar I picked up off of Amazon. The light bar seems to sit a bit higher than I anticipated but I'll have to see how it impacts the light output before I make any adjustments. Of course this bracket was not designed for a cheap light bar so I expected some adjustments to be necessary.







Then today I went out and snapped a few pictures and took some more measurements after everything has settled for a handful of days.

Front picked up about 1" and the rear got just short of 1". That being said, I still think it looks good and the ride is a drastic improvement from the worn out Xreas.









iPhone Background sized, PM me if you cannot download it and want a hi-res and I can send it!

[JVC8790]

Ordered some more stuff to finalize wiring/installation of the various lighting I have collected after telling myself I wasn't going to do any crazy aftermarket lighting...

Ordered 10 of these so that I can better connect/wire in all of the accessories. Seemed like a good idea to allow future lighting adjustments to be "plug n play" if I switch out any of the lighting itself.



I also ordered some light smoke film to put over the light bar in the front bumper. I want it to be stealthy when not installed as I honestly am not a big fan of the in your face silver look of light bars when not in use.

I decided to save myself some time when it comes to install by buying the CaliRaisedLED brackets for the stealth mount 32" bumper bar.



While I was on their site, and thanks to @originalg00kster I found a set of the 14-19 Tundra Ditch Light Brackets in CaliRaised's Scratch and Dent section. Picked those up for a rainy day as I currently do not have any lighting that would mount to those brackets, maybe once I get the rest of these light bars hooked up I'll spring for some Element LED Amber Cannons that I've wanted.

I think was looking into doing a Bussmann RTMR for the wiring, or possibly making my own plate, and then I stumbled upon this option on eBay. It's a 4 fuse, 3 relay pre-wired box that will be a nice starting point for 2 light bars and no other accessories that I can think of at the moment.

GEP Universal Pre-wired Waterproof Mini Fuse Relay Panel Box Holder 80 AMP 12V | eBay



This will certainly look better in the engine bay than a spaghetti mess of wiring using each individual wiring kit that came with each bar.

I also ordered a few switches from amazon to complete the interior look, I haven't decided where I'm going to mount them so any suggestions are welcome!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1



I'm REALLY REALLY hoping the weather this weekend is decent so I can make some headway and maybe get one of these light bars wired up. The last few weekends that I have had free it has snowed and I haven't been able to work in the driveway. Then it seems like it ends up being 50 degrees during the week and I have to work.

More updates to come once I get in all of these various pieces to the puzzle and start putting them together/installing!

[JVC8790]

Well, this "build thread" is starting to look like a place just for me to update what I'm doing, hopefully it'll pick up now that some mods are getting done, I've got a variety of other stuff sitting on shelves and waiting to go in as well.

Got some work done over the weekend despite the 30-35 degree temps and some drizzle.

Unboxed the fuse/relay block. First impressions is that this kit is awesome, has everythign neatly packaged together, pre-wired, super easy to understand. The company has many other options and I'll link their website when I get home to find the little business card they included with a coupon code.



Started by picking where I was going to mount the box.



Ran the 3 leads for the relays and the ground into the cabin (probably will pull the ground back through the firewall and ground in the engine bay). I also need to order some wire loom to clean everything up a bit and provide a more OEM look to the install.



Some of the basic tools I used for the install.



Bought this little box on Amazon a while back and it has been exceptionally helpful, especially in the process of starting to shave the bay in my Volvo. I also have a pair of cable crimpers that were a great investment for stuff like this!



Positive cable crimped (ended up having to drill out the hole a little bit to accommodate the battery post.



Showing how I ran the positive cable. I did take about 6" off of the length it came with, but that was more-so just because I didn't want a big extra loop of wire.



Bought a pack of weather-proof connectors to use for the light bar since it came with bare wires.



Assembling these connectors was a little difficult for the first time but will likely be easier next time!



Tapped a blank fuse in the panel for my 12v for the switches, I used the fuse spot on the top row between the 30 and 20 to the right side. I'll likely pin out the back of this fuse panel down the road, but for now I just used a fuse panel tap (add a fuse, not pictured)



I bought rocker switches on Amazon and later found out about the Toyota fitment push button switches, so I'll be ordering some of those and then re-locating these two switches. I wired it to have a switch for my hood scoop light bar, and then pre-wired for the 32" bar I'll be putting in my lower bumper when the CaliRaisedLED brackets show up this week.



This switch location seemed easiest temporarily, I looked it up and a replacement cover for this is only like $15 from Toyota. I dremeled out two holes and popped the switches in.

Show of the pigtail harness I made to connect both switches together with the power/ground/trigger wire setup.



Completed shots in the engine bay (at night, phone died while finishing the install and it started to rain)





Plan is to put these wires in some loom and then route them up through the cowl panel to make the install look cleaner.



ANDDDDD On to the part that everyone has been waiting for. Light output shots of the 10" Amazon $17 light bar.





Honestly, it sucks... haha. The light bar sits a bit too high so I think there's a lot of light lost on the edge of the hood. That being said, I tilted it around and it never really got better.

I'm now on the hunt for a better (but not $200) 10" Light bar for this mount. I may keep this light bar and try to mount it elsewhere just for fun down the road, but honestly it's light output is dismal, the headlights (with 9005 mod) BLOW it out of the water.

Should be able to get the 32" bar mounted up this week in the front bumper and that is likely to throw a bit more light and help out. The good news on this 10" is that I've done all the hard work so all I have to do is pop the bracket off, change the light, wire on the right connector to the new light and re-install.

Anyone have any suggestions for 10" bars that aren't crazy expensive? There's a few Rigid ones on eBay open box that are about $120 but I'll wait to pull the trigger until the 32" bar is installed to see how much the 10" is really important vs. just having it to have it.

IF YOU MADE IT THIS FAR, THANKS FOR READING!!

[JVC8790]

Based on this post by @originalg00kster and the image below, I bought a pair of 14-18 Tundra ditch light brackets. They're pretty darn close on the fitment around the hood. The only thing that I noticed was that they do contact the plastic wiper tray (just barely).

Other Notes, they're pretty low profile, so whatever lights I end up with I may have to trim the bottom nut under the bracket so that it doesn't hit the hood. Also whatever lights I pick cant be too tall as I think they might end up pressing against the hood if they're too bulky. For that reason I was looking at some Element Eggs or Amber Cannons from Element LED.







Also, thoughts on these 2010 Trail wheels? There's a cheap set in Florida near where I'll be in a few weeks for Vacation and I'm thinking about picking them up, packing them, and shipping home to myself. Funny enough, the last time I did that was with a set of wheels for my Volvo and I was in the Clearwater, FL area.

[blackjackck]

Nice Write up, I figure I'll wait till spring/ summer to work on mine. Definitely post if those lights are worthless as I'll be getting later.

[JVC8790]

Originally Posted by blackjackck

Nice Write up, I figure I'll wait till spring/ summer to work on mine. Definitely post if those lights are worthless as I'll be getting later.

Thanks! I'll post up more pics/details of the 32" Curved AutoFeel bar that I picked up when I get it mounted and wired up. The 10" one just doesn't have the output to be meaningful, I think it's mostly the design as the Baja/Rigid one has only 6 LED's, where as this one has a bunch of tiny tiny ones. I think a cheap bar with only 6 LED's like the Baja/Rigid one have might be better, that's my next step after I get this 32" installed.

[JVC8790]

Had a friend over last night who was re-upholstering the seat on his snowmobile and needed to use my heated garage and my air compressor for the stapler. I had a few hours in the garage to tinker while in between helping him out so I had some fun.

I bought a variety of LED boards on eBay to test and tune my interior light setup. These were one of the "left over" pieces that didn't show up from China quick enough.



When I bought the hood from a part out, I snagged this light housing, and the middle dome light for a retrofit just like this for even more light.



Before Picture, this was already a drastic improvement over the stock bulbs. This is one SuperBrightLED festoon bulb (garbage bags are clothes going to be donated, not trash)



After!!



I'm ordering a few more of these panels and looking for some slightly smaller ones for elsewhere in the car, but holy crap, they're bright!



While I had some time, I also applied a smoke film to the 32" light bar that is going in the bumper with the stealth (behind the grille) brackets from CaliRaisedLED. I wanted to do this to minimize how visible it was during day time and when looking at the truck with it off. I'm not a huge fan of big silver/chrome light bars front and center, so this was a good way to make it a bit stealthier and hopefully without losing much meaningful light output.



More details later this week/weekend when this gets mounted and lit up!

[kyle_uran]

Really getting after those modifications. Looking bright!

[blackjackck]

Originally Posted by JVC8790

Had a friend over last night who was re-upholstering the seat on his snowmobile and needed to use my heated garage and my air compressor for the stapler. I had a few hours in the garage to tinker while in between helping him out so I had some fun.


More details later this week/weekend when this gets mounted and lit up!

That's what I need too, a buddy with a heated garage with an air compressor. I'm only a couple of state from you. ;-)

[JVC8790]

Originally Posted by kyle_uran

Really getting after those modifications. Looking bright!

Thanks! I'm doing what I did with my last daily (1998 Volvo V70R) which is go hard for the first few months of ownership until I'm happy with it, then try my best not to touch it for the next 6 months and just drive it. Seems like a good way to not spend all year ignoring my project car and instead just take a 2-3 month break from the project car then get back after it once the daily is situated.

Originally Posted by blackjackck

That's what I need too, a buddy with a heated garage with an air compressor. I'm only a couple of state from you. ;-)

Well, It's a 1 car garage (12'x25') so I have about 6-8 feet between my project car and my tool box in front. Unfortunately, it's in my basement underneath our master bedroom so I can't work too loud or too late. The nice thing is a small space heater works wonders in keeping it a reasonable temperature and for an added boost I'll crack the door into the finished basement to let some heat (or AC in the summer!) into the garage.

Next house will have a 2-3 car minimum with a tall enough ceiling to do a lift, or at least enough height to do a small scissor lift/short 2 post!

[JVC8790]

Got my 32" AutoFeel (Amazon) curved light bar installed with the CaliRaisedLED brackets this weekend! I also put some smoked film on the light bar itself so that it wouldn't stick out behind the grille too much! I love the stealthy look! The install was pretty easy and I think I'll have to line it up with a wall to make some aiming adjustments and move the light bar down a little bit so it's centered with the grille opening rather than behind a few slats of the grille.





And with it turned off!



Light Bars only (rainy, including my 10" hood scoop bar)



Light Bars and stock headlights with the 9005 bulb mod.



After that, while the weather remained cooperative. I tackled replacing the factory subwoofer with a Skar 8" Dual 2 Ohm I got on Amazon.

I didn't take any pictures during the process since it's well documented, but I did have to cut out some of the castings on the inside of the box to make this fit. After firing it up, there isn't a hugely noticeable difference over the working 8" JBL sub that I had, but this will be ready when I have the time to wire in my amplifier for this and throw a bit more power at it, then it should sound better!



Also installed a new/used shift knob I snagged on eBay. Admittedly I was looking for an FJ Cruiser one to cut down and had been drinking and bought this for $25 from Japan on eBay. I'd actually pretty cool although nothing in the interior really matches it, we'll see how long it hangs around for!





Last but not least, I ordered some wheels a bit unexpectedly. I was looking to find some 17's but I stumbled across these in 18x9 on SummitRacing.com

Level 8 Wheels MK6 Bronze Wheels MK618906139+00BRZ - Free Shipping on Orders Over $99 at Summit Racing

They have a $51 off $500 or more code right now code "ALWAYS" so I put 5 in my cart, dropped $2.99 on a pack of chrome valve stem caps to raise my subtotaly to $500.49 and then used the promo code and IT WORKED.

Scored 5 wheels for $483 shipped. More pics when they arrive later this week. Time to start deciding on what size tires to run since I had all but decided what tire size with 17's but here we go, onto 18's.



They look like they're a bit more gold/champagne in person rather than this image, but I'm still excited and for the price I can't go wrong. Worst case I'll plastidip or have them powder coated down the road.

That's it for now! Maybe a bit more tinkering later this week but my parts pile is starting to dwindle!