1997 SR5 Father/Daughter “Build”

[tukes mountain man]

How fun is that. It's great that your passing on knowledge to your daughter. She will never forget the time spent with her father. Have fun.

 

[jason275]

How fun is that. It's great that your passing on knowledge to your daughter. She will never forget the time spent with her father. Have fun.

Its a blast! We are having fun, too much sometimes, there have been some days where very little gets done, but tons of smiles and laughs

 

[blarblarjosh]

Thank you all for the positive support! We really do appreciate it! It's a slow and sometimes aggravating process, but we are enjoying it... so far at least lol

Quick Update.

We gave her a valve cover gasket job along with timing belt / water pump.

I read about this on the forums lol, It barely moved, but enough for me to use a cheater bar with the breaker to fully break the bolt free.


Got 'em:jump:


Gave it a little cleaning


So much gunk It's hard to tell what's actually leaking, So I went under for a good hour it felt like trying to clean everything off, so I can get a good assessment of what's actually leaking and from where... who knows what kind of issues I'll find.
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Like Father, Like Daughter? :lmao: Snuck in the Tacoma for LBJ replacement


Got her buttoned up, topped up fluids (Will do a drain/fill next) Test drove, No more oil leak, but there is what seems to be an exhaust leak coming from the Crossover pipe It was late, so I'll have to put that on the list of things to do/check

Next to the trusty 2Runner

Thank you all again for being such a great community :rockon:

How exactly did you clean this other than elbow grease? I'm baffled at how clean it came out. I know you're doing some amazing work, but this stands out to me Lol.

 

[STI_MECE]

How exactly did you clean this other than elbow grease? I'm baffled at how clean it came out. I know you're doing some amazing work, but this stands out to me Lol.

+1, to me it seems like a pressure washer from a distance, a good bristle brush and degreaser?

I need to do mine

 

[jason275]

+1, to me it seems like a pressure washer from a distance, a good bristle brush and degreaser?

I need to do mine

How exactly did you clean this other than elbow grease? I'm baffled at how clean it came out. I know you're doing some amazing work, but this stands out to me Lol.

lol, no pressure washer, I did use a hose though. Just elbow grease really.

Sprayed degreaser (I used simple green semi-diluted, 20% water lol) let it soak a bit, used a brush with a handle to break up the grease chunks, then hose off.

Did that a few times to get a large majority of it off, then a final sweep with a rag and degreaser to finish it off.

It does take time and patience. Large clumps of grease have more sticking strength, so just focus of those areas. Once the clumps are broken apart, they hose off pretty easily after letting the degreaser of your choice do its thing

 

[Ryance39]

I need to do that same clean up on mine. I’m so not looking forward to the mess...

 

[Chrslefty]

Awesome job on getting the underside all cleaned up. I started a similar project with my son we have a 97 also.

 

[det107]

...Kiddo wasn't around this weekend, Had too much homework unfortunately

If I was the teacher, I would be satisfied w/note from "dad" & give kiddo an A+ for tackling real world stuff!!

 

[jason275]

Small update since getting the drivetrain bolted backup, changed the trans gasket and filter while I was at it.
Cool view:
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Test drove for a bit, no more leak, great! Didn't drive much, but it would leak even just sitting idling, its not doing that anymore. Fingers crossed.

Time to move on to other components

UBJ boots are ripped, and I'm sure the UCA Bushings are shot
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This shock is crying
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Its like a brain puzzle game
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I also pressed out the LCA bushings and replaced with Whiteline
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Of course, I didn't forget the LBJ
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Just waiting on a package in order to complete the setup
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The boots look like they're about to go, opinions?
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They are OEM Axles (I think) Should I re-boot them? Get another set of OEM? Just send it?
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The rears are looking good though
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Junk Parts
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BTW, when I was removing the LCA, I noticed the steering rack had fluid in both boots, so out it went.

We got some 6 ton stands and a nice floor jack from Harbor Freight.
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Safety 3rd
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Supposedly 2" lift from the OME 2906 and Bilstein 5160 Setup
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Geez the paint is terrible.
I need to learn how to do body work and weld

 

[Haybale]

Looking awesome. I hope my daughter will want to wrench with me when she gets older.

 

[4x3Lander]

So cool to see all of the continued progress and with your daughter

I bought those exact jack stands last weekend. Now I need to buy the same floor jack.

 

[nissanh]

Since you know all these, you can now run a 3rd gen 4runner and 1st gen tacoma workshop.

 

[Dezert4Runner]

I’m glad the console lid went to a good home. It’s awesome you and your kid have a 3rd gen to restore and build together. My 14 yr old has no interest in offroad capable vehicles, when the time comes she wants a compact like a Smart car or Mini Cooper or Fiat because they’re “cute” :help:

 

[jason275]

Finally got the fronts in!:bravo:
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Installed! New rotors and pads as well :roll:
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Lookin' good, if I do say so myself
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Sitting right, just not so pretty at the moment
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Kiddo did a headunit and speaker upgrade
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While I got to install the alarm... yay
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Let there be light!
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LED's are awesome, the light is actually usable now lol. But I have a problem with the Passenger Dome light not switching on when a door is open It works fine when I switch it to ON. The Trunk Light functions no problems under the Dome setting.

Got myself a new tool cart and organized a bit :reddance:
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Thanks for reading eace:

 

[phattyduck]

LED's are awesome, the light is actually usable now lol. But I have a problem with the Passenger Dome light not switching on when a door is open It works fine when I switch it to ON. The Trunk Light functions no problems under the Dome setting.

Thanks for reading eace:

Does the door open indicator on the dash work? If not, its the door switch(es), if it does, clean the contacts on the dome light.

I'm having the opposite problem - my hatch doesn't turn on the cargo light (and doesn't turn on the door-open indicator on the dash). Still haven't torn it apart though.

-Charlie

 

[jason275]

Does the door open indicator on the dash work? If not, its the door switch(es), if it does, clean the contacts on the dome light.

I'm having the opposite problem - my hatch doesn't turn on the cargo light (and doesn't turn on the door-open indicator on the dash). Still haven't torn it apart though.

-Charlie

Yes the door open indicator on the instrument cluster works as intended. And I have checked each door switch to test it.

I have been doing some researched and what I've found is that the wiring for the Dome lights are a little different. They are a switched ground or something along that line. So I'm thinking there's a bad ground somewhere.

 

[phattyduck]

I just peeked at the '97 wiring diagrams I have... the 'door' connection for the dome light does route back to the integration relay, not directly to the door switch circuit. Of course, the way it is drawn in the diagrams, the light would be ON all the time in the "DOOR" position, so there is some error in the diagrams.

At least it isn't the black box that is the '99+ lighting system, controlled by the gauge cluster, of all things (as are the headlight auto-off and a bunch of other things).

-Charlie

 

[HiLife]

Safety first. Glad you took your safety seriously and got some jack stands.

Great thread! Keep it going. Your daughter will be the smarter one as she gets older because of your involvement. She is getting hands on knowledge how parts go together and function. And hopefully watching on how you troubleshoot when parts are not working.
She will thank you if she ever steps into a repair shop/parts store alone.

 

[jason275]

Safety first. Glad you took your safety seriously and got some jack stands.

Great thread! Keep it going. Your daughter will be the smarter one as she gets older because of your involvement. She is getting hands on knowledge how parts go together and function. And hopefully watching on how you troubleshoot when parts are not working.
She will thank you if she ever steps into a repair shop/parts store alone.

That is the idea with this project, but ultimately with everything right? Teach them what we know so they are just as independent and capable as ourselves

I just peeked at the '97 wiring diagrams I have... the 'door' connection for the dome light does route back to the integration relay, not directly to the door switch circuit. Of course, the way it is drawn in the diagrams, the light would be ON all the time in the "DOOR" position, so there is some error in the diagrams.

At least it isn't the black box that is the '99+ lighting system, controlled by the gauge cluster, of all things (as are the headlight auto-off and a bunch of other things).

-Charlie

I did some wire cleanup today.
The previous owner definitely had some electrical done. I found what looks like previous splices for an alarm with an aux kill switch, and the truck had aftermarket aux lights at one point.
There were some wires that seemed like they were cut accidentally, Nothing spliced to them, just cut and reconnected. I even saw one with bare wire just hanging there lol

So I looked for all these mysterious cuts and found a couple that were not reconnected, I didn't have a wiring diagram for reference, so I just traced the wires to find it's matching colored end and connected them.

There were two red w/ white stripe wires by the driver kick panel that I reconnected. They both came from the wire loom coming from the floor.

Sorry I said I was terrible at electrical my description probably confused you more than anything, I don't know what I reconnected but the Dome light works as intended now which is great.

 

[phattyduck]

There were two red w/ white stripe wires by the driver kick panel that I reconnected. They both came from the wire loom coming from the floor.

Sorry I said I was terrible at electrical my description probably confused you more than anything, I don't know what I reconnected but the Dome light works as intended now which is great.

Glad to hear it is working. That Red-White wire is probably the connection from the back hatch door switch (though there are other Red-White wires in the truck that do other jobs).

Front driver's door is a Blue wire, the other three doors are Black-White.

-Charlie