1blink's build thread

[1blink]

I should have started this thread years ago, it's unlikely that I will backtrack thoroughly enough to include all the things I've done in the past few years. Have to start sometime, so here goes.

1997 SR5, manual transmission
Factory E locker
Stubbs HD SKO rock sliders
graphite wheel paint
Low profile roof rack mount (followed this write up http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/66978-roof-rola-basket-custom-mounts.html)
And a marlin heavy duty clutch kit going in...

 

[1blink]

One of the things that got on my nerves the most on our long road trips was the noise in the cab. I used a decibel meter to get a baseline, pre deadening 72 dbm at engine idle stationary, and 94 dbm with cruise control on at 70mph. (Post deadening numbers: 71 dbm at 70mph. Idling measurement too low to register on my meter, which bottoms out at about 53 dbm) Considering that for every change of 3dbm, half of the noise energy must be eliminated, this is a very impressive result.

I saw a few posts on sound deadening and was intimidated by the amount of work involved (upwards of 70 hours for a thorough job), but eventually I took the plunge. I spent about $500 on enough PS Ensolite and RAAMat to cover the whole truck. Out came the seats, off with every door panel and even the head liner.





The doors got sealed completely to improve mid bass response, cut pieces of roof flashing to close up larger holes, tacked in place with self tapping screws and sealed in with silicone.





Layer of RAAMat, Infinity components and crossovers mounted. Notice the blue split wire loom wrapped around the door latch rod to permit it to freely slide.






The entire interior including the roof received a near complete coating of RAAMat, then I layered the PS Ensolite foam over that. I even added a layer of foam to the inside of the plastic door and cargo area panels, where it would fit.






The dash got a Pioneer AVIC F900BT (add a few washers behind the lower 2 mounting screws to give the display some upward angle and making it easier to read)
front doors Infiniti Kappa 6.5" components (required some cutting with a dremel to fit)
rear doors Polk Audio db521 coaxials with adapters and spacers from these guys http://car-speaker-adapters.com/items.php?id=SAK039
Pioneer TSWX251 shallow mount 10" sub/box
and under the driver seat a Polk Audio 5000.5 amp to drive them all

 

[1blink]

Eventually decided to spend the money on a proper lift. Toytec Ultimate with Superflex rear coils, billy 5100's, extended rear brake line, differential drop, and panhard drop bracket. That reminds me, I need to weld on some bracing to my drop bracket so I don't bend the drop bracket like some have.

I frequently carry a lot of weight in the back or haul a trailer. The superflex coils have been great so far for that, not sagging much with a load, and still have some give when unloaded so the ride isn't severe.




We were still in the mood to do some work that weekend, so we started a cargo build:










We got the top skinned with some 1/2" plywood before we ran out of time. Tested it on our recent camping trip to Colorado, it worked out great! I have some drawer slides I scored at the local junkyard that should come in handy for wrapping this up when I get around to it. I am hoping to figure out some sheet metal drawers somehow. I am new to metal work, recently bought my first welder. I'm having a blast with it so far.

 

[1blink]

Finished my Satoshi grill today.







Particularly helpful were BigFishAllDay and BrianSD_42's posts
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-g...one-2001-sport-ed-trd-scd-51.html#post1211398
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/109468-post-your-satoshi-mod-pics-here-4.html#post1018960

I really liked the mesh material BFAD used. I found some free steel mesh scrap in the same pattern, and that pushed me to go ahead with ordering the other parts I needed.

 

[1blink]

I've wanted to do some lighting upgrades for quite a while. I got in on a recent Hanma group buy lead by Ark_Swamp_Rider and got two 6" single row floods for reverse lights, and a 30.5" BCS Series single row flood/spot combo bar. The trouble I am having now is deciding where to mount them!



With my current roof rack configuration (yakima load warrior without extension), mounting to the roof rack has serious drawbacks. A quick test fit tonight showed that the rear lights would be obstructed by the spoiler, blocking light till at least 20 feet from the truck. The front facing bar would glare in the sunroof and off the rearview mirror.

Has anyone seen a mount on either side of the rear spoiler? I'm trying to picture what that would look like, bolting or welding the mount brackets on both ends of the spoiler. It's that, mount under the bumper, or buy a load warrior extension and mount to the roof rack, thereby pushing the lights back and giving them the angle necessary to light the ground closer to the truck. I frequently haul ladders on the roof, so if I mount them up there, they must not extend above the upper basket rail.



The front light looks like it would fit nicely in the space behind the front license plate after a little bit of dremel work and fabbing up a mount bracket. The big question mark left by that idea is what to do with the front license plate afterwards!

 

[RedStickRunner]

Man I absolutely love that color. Definitely not one I see everyday but it looks Awesome! Trucks looking really good keep up the great work!

 

[snivilous]

Did you test the noise levels after the insulation? I'd like to know what they dropped to, that's a pretty awesome modification! Looks awesome man! :bigok:

 

[1blink]

Man I absolutely love that color. Definitely not one I see everyday but it looks Awesome! Trucks looking really good keep up the great work!

Thanks, I love the color too. It has some great undertones in the sunlight

Did you test the noise levels after the insulation? I'd like to know what they dropped to, that's a pretty awesome modification! Looks awesome man! :bigok:

I'll grab some readings once I get it back on the road. Currently waiting on parts. It will be a week or more before I get it off the jack stands I'm afraid. Getting a used spindle/steering knuckle shipped in from the east coast so I can finish my UBJ/LBJ/UCA job.

 

[Jedrattle]

Nice! I am getting some wind noise that I can't find while driving. I'm interested in the noise level after all that work. The stereo should sound great.

 

[1blink]

A few weeks ago I started on the job of replacing lower ball joints & otre's with oem parts, plus upper control arms with Light Racing ones. While trying to bash out the upper ball joint, I bent the top arm of the steering knuckle. Crap!

I lined up a used replacement, but after waiting 4 days for the part to get pulled, boxed and shipped, they doubled the price at the last minute.

I found another used one from a parts locator online. $75 shipped, from a truck with 106k miles. Sweet! 10 long days of waiting later, I unboxed this lump of rusted, seized garbage

Holy hell. I started out with break free and some wrenches, thinking I could grind off all the rust and refinish it. Half the bolts sheared off while removing them, the bearings are questionable, and there's no telling what the upper ball joint sleeve looks like under there.

I give up. Without the ability to inspect prior to purchase, I am definitely soured on the used parts market. I guess this means I am buying oem from camelback. It will cost $325, but at least it should show up in a timely fashion, at the agreed on price, in new condition. 3 weeks and counting now, on what I anticipated to be a day job. Frustrated grrrr

 

[TheKorstjens]

Man that sux. At least a new one will be pretty.

 

[1blink]

Time to make some bracing for my panhard drop bracket. Several members mentioned theirs bending or twisting without extra bracing.

Grabbed some 3/16 diamond plate I picked up at the scrap yard (25¢/lb for whatever you find is hard to beat). Made some templates tracing cardboard up against the frame, and put the new harbor freight 4x6 bandsaw in vertical mode for the first time.

Love the thin kerf cuts, no hot rolled edges to grind off like an abrasive wheel leaves.

Back to horizontal mode to cut a piece of pipe. This will brace around the stock bolt location to prevent twisting or collapse.

Rolling out the Lincoln 180 hd. I haven't had it very long yet, I still get a bit giddy every time I have an excuse to roll it out.

Area prepped for welding, used a wire wheel to take off the paint. Pipe section already welded in place here.

Front gusset

Rear gusset. My welds are finally becoming presentable at this point in the project. Confession, this is the first time I have been brave enough to actually weld on my own 4runner. I've been practicing a bit with this welder. I quickly realized that the level of difficulty getting a nice bead goes up dramatically when you are lying on your back under a vehicle.

I enjoyed myself so much I came in to a cold dinner tonight. Didn't want to stop till I had it wrapped up. The wife tolerates my projects. Lucky me.

 

[1blink]

So now that I have my new steering knuckle and wheel bearing in hand, I've been having a hell of a time finding a shop capable of pressing it in.

Not having a press, or the special service tools for the job, I decided I had best hire it out. My first call was to the dealership. $150 was too rich for my blood, so I kept on looking. Next, I dropped it off at an oilfield machine shop that quoted me $20. That's more like it! Except that when I came to pick it up, they told me it wouldn't fit their press. So the next day I try a local automotive shop. They quote me $95. That seemed a bit high, and they didn't impress me as very capable, so I kept on rolling.

I found my way to an automotive machine shop this morning. They quoted me 65 to 100, a bit ambiguous, but I had to get to work, so I dropped it off. He called me at 6 this evening, saying he could not press out the spindle without cutting off the splash shield. List on that part is $68, so I said no way.

After dinner I went to the garage and started fabricating a jig to hold the knuckle in place while I press out the spindle (I have to go find a press to borrow now I guess)

I have my fingers crossed...hope this works! It better...took me a few hours to make. Tomorrow!

 

[1blink]

At last! The new steering knuckle, complete with new wheel bearing pressed in. Once past the bearing hurdle, it was quick work to get everything mounted up and torqued to spec. Finally down off the jack stands.

At this point, I have installed the toytec ultimate lift, LR uca's, and replaced inner/outer tre's, lbj's, and extended sway bar links in the past 1500 miles. Still intend to do extended bump stops. Alignment tomorrow at Firestone, I should be ready to roll after that

 

[sggaz]

Hey 1Blink. It all looks really nice. What is your impression of the Marlin HD Clutch? We may need a new one soon. Thanks.

 

[1blink]

one serious week of wheeling and a few thousand miles later, I love it so far. Feels similar to stock on pedal pressure. Grabs well, forgot it's there after a thousand miles or so.

 

[1blink]

I picked up some LED lights from [MENTION=44866]ARK_SWAMP_RIDER[/MENTION] 's recent Hanma group buy. Two 6" floods for reverse lights, and a 30.5" BCS single row combo pattern bar for the front.

My plan was to mount them all on my Yakima load warrior rack. Test fitting of the lights forced me to change my approach.

The rear facing lights were obstructed by the spoiler, preventing light from hitting the ground until 20 feet away from the bumper. While in reverse, that is a very important area to see. Those lights will end up under the bumper instead.

The forward light bar mounted on the rack would blast light in the sunroof, blinding the driver. The light also was obstructed from reaching the ground for 25 feet or so.

Looking closely at the lower bumper valance, the vented portion looked to be a good size match to the light bar. Then I would have to come up with a new way to mount my license plate, hopefully blocking neither the light bar, or my brand spanking new satoshi mod.

I pulled the valance, test fitted a bit, and got to work.

 

[1blink]

I cut two pieces of 1.25" angle iron approx 3 inches long drilled a bolt hole in each, and welded them on top of the frame rails standing up, butting into the cross member in front of the condenser. I bolted the pieces to the light bar temporarily to make tacking them in position easier. Then I masked and painted the new mounting tabs.

Using some flat bar (3/4 x 1/8), I made two L shaped brackets to lift the license plate up in front of the bumper. I welded on some threaded rod (cut the heads off 2 bolts) to have an attachment point for my license plate bracket. These will attach where the two center valance mount bolts used to.

After mounting the plate bracket with lock washers, I cut off the bolts flush.

I also cut out the center vented area of the valance to make room for the light bar.

I do wish I had cut the valance to fit tighter against the sides of the light bar, preventing access to the mounting bolts and making theft more difficult. How do you guys secure your lights?

 

[ARK_SWAMP_RIDER]

Turned out great, nice work!!! Do you have any output shots? Interested in seeing how the newer 10W bars perform.

 

[USMC0351]

I cut two pieces of 1.25" angle iron approx 3 inches long drilled a bolt hole in each, and welded them on top of the frame rails standing up, butting into the cross member in front of the condenser. I bolted the pieces to the light bar temporarily to make tacking them in position easier. Then I masked and painted the new mounting tabs.

Using some flat bar (3/4 x 1/8), I made two L shaped brackets to lift the license plate up in front of the bumper. I welded on some threaded rod (cut the heads off 2 bolts) to have an attachment point for my license plate bracket. These will attach where the two center valance mount bolts used to.

After mounting the plate bracket with lock washers, I cut off the bolts flush.

I also cut out the center vented area of the valance to make room for the light bar.

I do wish I had cut the valance to fit tighter against the sides of the light bar, preventing access to the mounting bolts and making theft more difficult. How do you guys secure your lights?

And sudenly my little square oem fog lights seem horribly inferior lol. Awesome job with the light bar, man, I'm jealous. Does the bar have a cover or anything to prevent damage from flying rocks on the highway, that's kind of an unprotected spot.