This last weekend we continued to tear down the vehicle. The main things we tackled was removing the rest of the glass. This was a bit of a process as we had never pulled glass before. We also managed to crack the windshield prior to removal which made it much harder as it splintered as we worked it out.

We did manage to get it out though and we learned a lot during the process!

We also pulled out the driver airbag, this was super easy. There are two T30's under each plastic cover on the wheel and the whole thing just pops out. We plan to replace it with a nice aluminum cover and run the stock wheel for a little while. Eventually, we will replace it with a quick disconnect wheel to make it a little easier to get out of the vehicle in an emergency though it doesn't seem that it will be a big issue as is...





We pulled the rear glass as well, these came out fairly easy, we used a torch and some welding wire to cut the glue and with some patience and muscle, they came out unscathed. We plan to replace these with aluminum panels that we can use to mount fans for trans cooler and maybe power steering cooler as well. Then a fill neck on the opposite side. Managed to not grab a picture of these sadly but you'll see soon enough.

We lastly made up a quick bracket for the driver seat to hard mount it where we want while we design the cage around it. We should only need the one as the cage will be symmetrical so we will just mirror what we do on the driver side to the passenger side. We will then replace the mount with a mount that ties into the cage and frame because these nuts are known to rip out in a hard crash.




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We started designing the cage and ordering more things to get the cage started here shortly.

We have a Warn VR-10S Platinum with some goodies coming our way. 8 General Grabber X3's. Doug Thorley long tube Headers, Mid-Pipes and new O2 Sensors. The Marlin Crawler kit should be buttoned up around mid-October as well. We need to hit a junk hard and find a Ford 9" and order up the components needed for that as well.

We should have all the wiring components we need ordered here in the next couple weeks along with a Switch-Pros system.

We also need to order some more stuff from PRP Seats, we are going to run their harnesses, window nets, and limit straps. Just getting the details finalized and need to send in our window net templates.

This car should start looking more and more like a race car here pretty soon. Beyond excited for the progression of this build and the awesome connections we are making within the industry and community. We love seeing how stoked everyone is and how supportive people are of this build.

This mod is super easy, we will not be running TPMS sensors so we wanted to get rid of the light on our dash. It was already flashing when picked up the car and frankly just did not want to deal with it. So we get rid of it!

There a lot of threads on here explaining this well, we referenced this one by @txt4r .
Write-up: How to Disable (Bypass) the TPMS

To save you some trouble this is all you need to do.

"Steps (on my '05 4Runner):
Disconnect the battery (Although I did not do this)
Take out the screw that holds the black plastic panel located below the glove box
Gently pull the black panel and it should just pop out
Drop the panel and you will see that the TPMS module is right there
Unplug the harness (as show in the second picture below)
Use utility knife or scissors and cut the yellow type open (BE CAREFUL-Not to cut the wires!!!!)
Inside the yellow type there is another layer of black type, cut that open as well (again, BE CAREFUL Not to cut the wires!!!)
Now, look for two wires: the Pink-Black one (TPMS) and the White-Black (ground) wire (see below the third picture)
Use Scotchlok wire connector to connect the Pink-Black wire and the White-Black wire (watch youtube Scotchlok Wiring Demo clip here: ScotchLok Wiring Connector Demonstration - etrailer.com - YouTube) NOTE: Check both channels inside the connector. If one channel is blocked, you need to cut out the plastic block to make adjustment so that the wire can go through just like the other channel).
Done! The TPMS light is now bypassed and the light will never come back on. (Note: this mod is reversable by simply removing the connector or wire a switch to turn it on or off: see TPMS light bypass switch)

Since the TPMS is disabled, be sure to check your tire pressure regularly."

Here is ours
No more light!!

Quick update for you all.
Things are starting to trickle in for the racecar!

First is our tires for this build.

We first did some test fitting while it was still stock because why not. We tested the tires from @Flemster s personal vehicle. Looks good! Of course, 35's on any 4runner is nice.



But these are what we will be running!

They are General Tire Grabber x3's in a 35x12.5r17 flavor! We are pumped on these tires. Huge shoutout to General Tire for supporting our team and coming aboard as our tire sponsor for the foreseeable future. They got us started with 2 full sets to keep us rolling in case we had a couple failures. Though we don't plan on it being an issue we did not want tires to be the thing that kept us from finishing a race so we are well prepared with this setup.




We just need some wheels and we can get these mounted up! Still deciding on what wheels to run. We are chatting with a company that works mostly in Europe doing things like Rally Cross, Dakar, and other series but hoping to bring some attention to their product in the US market and in our application. So hopefully more on that at a later date. THEY LOOK REALLY GOOD as well.

Next is our Medium Duty Epic Recovery Kit from Warn Industries.


This kit is going to be awesome for races that we find ourselves needing it, everything gets packed nicely into a backpack. Being organized and able to pull this out in a pinch with no hassle can save us valuable time. This will also be great to have at events we are not participating in so we can help the staff with recovery or emergencies.



Excited to get the rest of our Warn recovery gear.

We finally tracked down a good supplier for our steel as well, we have about 200ft of tube in our shop as of today as well as the means to get the cage started. I want to give a huge shoutout to Scotty at Addicted Offroad for his advice and time on this subject. He pointed us in the right direction on where to get our materials at a great price here locally.

Lastly, the first episode of the series is live!! If you guys want to watch the build process as well as read it, definitely check it out and share it with your friends who like race car things.

Slinging Tube (October, 6th 2019)

We finally got a bender all set up and started on some tube projects. The first of which is a rear bumper. Being that none of us have experience working with tube we decided to start on a smaller project than the cage to learn the bender and the process of measuring 100 times and cutting only a few times... I feel like I picked it up fast and only made minor mistakes. The biggest learning curve for me was measuring out where to put the tube in the die to get my bends where I need them. But taking my time and getting the feel for everything has made this easier. I did most of the bumper solo as the team was gone all day Saturday but here was the process.

First I cut out the stock cross member and welded on some new plates to start off the project off of. I thought about using 1'4" plate here but the frame was still fully plated in and I figured 3/16" was plenty.





I also cut the stock bumper wings at relatively the height of the hatch. I ended up cutting all the way to the height of the tape by the end. I was just using this as my reference line mostly.


Then I made a new rear cross member out of 2" .120 wall tube.


Then I bent up the outer bar.



It looks pretty slick. I made some posts to mount directly to the cross member then made some wings that bend up slightly to tie it all together. All of which I just notched with a grinder. We picked up a tube notcher the next day and they are helpful and time saving for sure.


Here is how it turned out. I need to grab some more photos at some point soon once it is fully welded up.



Next, we started on the cage with confidence that we won't ruin a bunch of tube. All we got done in the hour and a half we worked on it was the main dash bar, but that gets kickstarted for sure.

I think that truck on 35s is really going to need a 1.5" body lift to keep from rubbing on the inner fenders.

Very cool, I REALLY enjoy seeing the 4th gen 4Runners being taken to this level. Good luck to you guys.

Is that HREW tubing? If so, I would highly suggest using DOM. It's more expensive but engineered for structural applications.

We have built a 4th gen on 35's and they fit quite well without a body lift, especially with the suspension we have planned for it. Also, anything over a 1" body lift is not allowed within our class if I remember correctly.

Appreciate it man, thank you!

This is 1020 WHR steel which is within our specs for our class. Our thought on the subject matter is our body is retaining 100% of its oem structure on top of this cage. The two combined will be plenty strong for its application especially when built properly with good bracing, proper gusseting and the works. We have talked with many experts on the subject and they all have all agreed that our idea is plenty sufficient. Yes DOM is much stronger but at 4 times the cost it was worth the trade-off for us.

The sliders and front bumper I run on my personal vehicle have taken an absolute beating over the past 6 years and show no signs of fatigue or crazy damage other than mild dents from hard hits on pointy rocks and it is made of the exact same material. I feel very comfortable with the material. Is DOM superior yes absolutely, I would much rather be running it but this will do.

We finally picked up some wheels. Our team is partnered with Black Rhino Wheels and we ordered up some Primm Beadlocks in a 17x8.5 with 3.57" backspacing. These wheels are super rad and from what we have heard and been told will be great for our application. They are really not terribly heavy for what they are either. They weigh in at 32lbs a wheel.

So shout out to Black Rhino for helping us out and joining the team! We still need to order a few more for our spares but we are waiting on that for now.











They may not really fit at all yet but we had to mount them up... We are trying to avoid getting to cut crazy until we get our suspension setup done and know exactly what needs to go as the rules are pretty strict as far as clearancing tires go for our class.



This thing looks ridiculous.













More to come!!

So, when is that rear bumper going to be available... because that is amazing.

You should check out @Stellar Built on insta. They have a similar design that they have made for a few 4th gens...join me in pestering them until they bring it to market to ship because I think they only currently build in house and they're across the country from me but I want one bad

We are by no means a fabrication shop and we have no plans to reploduce this bumper sadly. We appreciate the kind words regarding it, it was a great first project. I personally have never built any piece of armor from scratch so it was a fun project. We took inspiration from Stellarbuilt, some homebrew bumpers, and Invision Fabrications bumper and made our take on it.

Stellarbuilt makes an awesome bumper for the 4th gens, they are only in house and one-off based on what the buyer wants from my knowledge. Definitely inspired our design a little. They do awesome work. Excited to see their SAS 4th gen they are working on!

Yeah, from the messages I've got from them, I get the vibe that they are considering putting that one into production but I could be wrong. If enough people ask they will deliver.