0xfded's Build Thread: Unit III

[0xfded]

4xInnovation Bumpers

Finally! Bumpers are on:



4xInnovations front and rear. I ordered these back on the Black Friday sale, painted them during the winter, and then sat on them until I had some free hands available to help get them installed.

Because I don't plan to get a winch in the near term, I made matching grills for the various access ports out of the same aluminum grille that I did my grille mod with. They're screwed in, so that I can remove them in the future. In the meantime, they should keep any junk out of there.



The fog lights are Rigid D2's, with amber covers. Bright as my headlights! I've been caught in some winter night conditions in Canada where I've wanted amber running lights, so now I'm set for next time I'm caught out in heavy snow.

Next up, switching out the LED relay to accommodate the new LED signals, and getting some anchor shackles.

 

[Rock_Rat]

Finally! Bumpers are on:
The fog lights are Rigid D2's, with amber covers. Bright as my headlights! I've been caught in some winter night conditions in Canada where I've wanted amber running lights, so now I'm set for next time I'm caught out in heavy snow.

Next up, switching out the LED relay to accommodate the new LED signals, and getting some anchor shackles.

Rigs looking good. Relay is easy to swap out. About thirty minutes IIRC. I did a how-to on here. I'll find it and send you the link. Mechanical fingers came in handy.

EDIT: Just found the link - Replace flasher

 

[0xfded]

Rigs looking good. Relay is easy to swap out. About thirty minutes IIRC. I did a how-to on here. I'll find it and send you the link. Mechanical fingers came in handy.

EDIT: Just found the link - Replace flasher

Yep, already did the swap once, but turned out Amazon had sent a different part than what I ordered. Replacement is en route (hope they don't do it again).

 

[trovergraywilson]

Sub'd. Great thread - truck and sense of humor. Keep it up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[0xfded]

Amazon sent me the wrong flasher relay again (same wrong one as before), so I checked local, and turns out O'Reilly has them:

Novita EP35

Works like a charm. Screw resistors, use one of these if you're doing LED signals.

Only hard part of the install was nearly losing a fusebox mounting bolt into the void between body panels. It caught on a piece of foam, which is fortunate, because a loose bolt sliding around in there would have lead to the rapid decline of my sanity. O gracious and blessed foam!

 

[0xfded]

Need up update the front picture now that the bumper is on. Need to wait for a pretty sunset first, though...

Have my mirrors off, going to black out the housings. The existing ones are pretty chipped up from the years, and I think the black will tie in better with the windows and trim. Also, it's an excuse to screw around.

While I had the corner covers off, I finally manned up and took the dremel to them to properly install the adjustable tweeter housings:



Back to the mirrors, I'm thinking of getting fancy and adding turn indicators to them, using these:

Custom Dynamics TruFLEX LED Light Strips

Maybe it's just from being a motorcyclist on the side, but I think the mirror mounted indicators on more modern vehicles are a great thing, and I've got the things all pulled apart anyhow. Feature creeeeep...

 

[0xfded]

Mirror Indicators

Decided to mend the chipped paint on my mirrors. Which naturally led to unnecessary improvements!

My alter-ego is that of a mild mannered motorcyclist. In recent years, I have come to appreciate the advent of mirror mounted turn signals, which have on-occasion provided timely warning that the vehicle beside me is moving into my lane, my presence there notwithstanding.

So I decided to add my own while the mirrors were off.

I looked around at different lights and decided to use these:

Custom Dynamics TruFLEX LED Light Strips - 30 - LED/Amber/Clear

A little pricey, but there's not a lot of options for dense packed, weatherproof LEDs, and this brand (which comes in longer and shorter sizes) seems well regarded by motorcyclists.

While those were on order, I figured out where to tap into the signal circuits. After some confusion induced by incorrect coloring on wiring diagrams, I picked out the wire on each side, tapping into the rear signal circuits.

Driver, behind the kick panel and in the floor wire bundle:



Passenger, behind the kick panel and right before the floor wire connector:



Tapped both using a T-tap, which make a tidy and removable tap. Next, I ran wire along the door wiring boots:



I wish I could have run it through the boots themselves, but I couldn't figure out any way to do that short of removing the door entirely to straighten them out. So I went with very small holes and a bit of silicone to re-seal them.

Meanwhile, after painting the housings, I got ready to mount the lights. Normally, these bars are surface mounted, and come with 3M mounting tape on the back for that purpose. But I decided I wasn't going to like how that looked on the curved and exposed mirror housing, and decided to go with a recessed installation instead.

Which meant it was dremel time. The rotary tool is a capricious and unpredictable beast, like a cat who purrs in your lap one second, and mauls you the next. Even so, I was able to avoid mishaps this time and cut slots for the lights:



After many fit-dremel-fit-dremel iterations, the lights slot in nicely, and I sealed them in using a clear expoy, which you can't see here because it's clear:



I then painted black over the epoxy to blend it in, since it's still visible with the mirror installed that close to the edge. Voila, mounted indicators:




After this, it was just a matter of routing the wiring back through the housings and mounts, and then reassembling. Ready to reinstall:

 

[0xfded]

I'm still in the "will it break if I touch it?" phase, but so far the install seems robust, and the lights themselves are brilliant.




Very visible in my blind areas. You're welcome, fellow motorcyclist! Sorry for trying to merge overtop of you!

I've already changed over to an LED compatible turn relay (for my bumper signals), so there was no issue here at all. Just works.

Here they are in action:

Turn signal gifv clip

All around pretty happy with how this one turned out!

 

[GangsterOfLove]

Slick! :thumb:

 

[MaYheM97]

I love this build, looks great bro!

 

[Rock_Rat]

All around pretty happy with how this one turned out!

You should be, they turned out very professional looking. Nice job!!

 

[0xfded]

You should be, they turned out very professional looking. Nice job!!

I think I could have worked the corners in a bit better, but I felt like I was taking enough chances with the dremel as it was. I'll feel better about it once I properly fill in the backs with a bit of black putty.

BTW, watching your AEM install in MTD's thread. That's the route I'm going to go eventually, probably next year. Terribly envious of the headers and exhaust you just put in.

 

[0xfded]

And this is how it sits with the bumper and mirrors more or less sorted out now.



Couple of little tweaks still in progress, but nothing really that visible until I eventually figure out the sliders situation. That'll probably be late this summer.

 

[derpiful]

I really like the turn signals! Quite unique, can't say I've seen those before on the 3rd gen. Turned out incredibly well too- they look stock. Nice work!

The front end came together rather nicely, looking good!

 

[0xfded]

I really like the turn signals! Quite unique, can't say I've seen those before on the 3rd gen. Turned out incredibly well too- they look stock. Nice work!

The front end came together rather nicely, looking good!

"They look stock" is about the nicest thing someone could say about it, thank you.

Front end still needs some tweaking... even tightened up, the bumper is able to tip down ever-so-slightly, and that causes the front fender flare to pinch. So I have some adjustments to make there before I can say it's sorted. There's also some wiring around the washer fluid reservoir that I want to armor against highway rock-strikes, but I haven't figured out exactly what to do there yet.

Otherwise, I am really pleased with that bumper. I think I'll have to repaint it using the more durable chip-guard paint I used on the mirrors, but that's easily managed when the time comes.

 

[0xfded]

Hmm... and looking at it, now I think I want to black out the door handles too. I think that'll probably wait until I want to properly house the rear door speakers.

 

[paddlenbike]

I searched and searched to see if mirror-mounted turn signals were ever a JDM option on 3rd gens and came to the conclusion that they don't exist. Well, until now; good work. I've gotten used to them on our Acura and may end up following your lead.

 

[SpookyMulder]

your runners a beaut! and I'm rather jealous of your turn signals

 

[0xfded]

I searched and searched to see if mirror-mounted turn signals were ever a JDM option on 3rd gens and came to the conclusion that they don't exist. Well, until now; good work. I've gotten used to them on our Acura and may end up following your lead.

If you do, there really is a variety of flush mounted motorcycle turn signals that are perfectly suited for this. You can dodge all of the housing modification if you want to.

But I guess ultimately the wiring was more time consuming, and there's really no dodging that. If you try it out and have any questions, let me know!

your runners a beaut! and I'm rather jealous of your turn signals

Appreciate the kind words!

 

[zacattack20]

I searched and searched to see if mirror-mounted turn signals were ever a JDM option on 3rd gens and came to the conclusion that they don't exist. Well, until now; good work. I've gotten used to them on our Acura and may end up following your lead.

They do exist.
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/144246-zacattack20s-1998-semi-gloss-black-build-mod-photo-thread-15.html#post1979249

[MENTION=84917]GreenbowCounty[/MENTION] has some too.
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/121760-greenbowcountys-build-up-3.html#post1486686