4Reak Show's build/use/nonsense

[4Reak Show]

Alright alright. Finally, after receiving zero requests, I decided to make a designated thread for my shenanigans.

For those that don't know:

1995 4Runner, SR5. Acquired in 2004ish as a 17 year old in high school. First car I've ever owned. 185,000 miles and 3.0 with automatic trans originally.

The REALLY cool stuff

3.4 5VZ conversion
Manual trans conversion
K&N intake
Flowmaster muffler
Supercharged
CA BAR legalized

100% functional engine/trans swap including cruise control, Air Conditioning, clutch start cancel, you name it, it works as it should.

Sliders, 4x4 innovations

Bumper, Coastal Offroad
Winch, Smittybilt XRC 9500

(Coworker owns the SAS'd, dual transfer case'd, dual lock'd, 37 tire'd, 223:1 ratio'd 94 4Runner in the background, but mine is still pretty cool)

Detroit TrueTrac in the rear end (courtesy of Zuk, who is THE MAN by the way). Being a v6 auto at first, 4.88 gears factory
32" X 11.50 BF Goodrich Mud Terrain KM2's
OME HD 901 springs in the rear
1 1/2" balljoint spacers in the front
Poly Urethane bushings in all suspension
Procomp dual steering stabilizer kit
Front and rear diff breather extensions

 

[4Reak Show]

The not quite as cool stuff

Built a sweet roof rack light system.
Second hand Walmart rack kit and mounted to stock roof rails. Low profile. Added a 30" front light bar, 12" light bars on left/right side, (2) 4" light bars in the rear.

Wired into a console mounted rocker switch ensemble

Underside wiring

Custom rear quarter panel TRD decals

And interior badging to match

 

[4Reak Show]

Originally I had more fun building it than using it. So I finally started using it a couple years ago once I got the major stuff upgraded.

Signal peak with a group of fellow T4Rers

Corral Hollow with a different group of T4Rers

Attempted Strawberry Pass, got snowed out. Saw Caples Lake

And first time in snow on MET on the same day trip. That sucked and I bailed

Recent attempt to Poker Flat. Still had snow. Crummy snow. Used the winch!

 

[4Reak Show]

Current mission is 2 fold: add a CB and reconfigure 7th injector wiring. (Did I forget to mention is has that also?)

Anyhow, I'm making it more removeable with matching connectors. But man it's a mess of wires

It'll be rad when it's done.

Plan for CB: cobra 18 wx st ii single DIN under stereo. Found a tuneable antenna converter to utilize stock antenna. (Mixed ideas on if it will work, so I'll report soon for how that goes)

Also wiring in an audio interrupter. This way I can have tunes blasting while wheeling and when something comes over the CB it cuts off the regular music and inserts the CB incoming to the stereo speakers. I will also review how that unfolds. Should be this week

 

[Melrose 4r]

Damn cool!
I love the "Doomsday Survival Edition" labels.

 

[4Reak Show]

Damn cool!
I love the "Doomsday Survival Edition" labels.

Thanks. I'm a fan of the zombie theory personally, but I didn't want to leave out any particular option, whether it be religious, aliens, natural disaster or nuclear war. So "doomsday" sort of encompassed all possibilities.

 

[4Reak Show]

Progress on the CB job.

First of all, cleaned up that nasty wiring debacle from 7th injector install 1.0 from the first go-around. Here was the end result. Works out great.

And got the CB mounted and tested. Had to sand down the edges of the trim piece for the lower half. Some websites claim it to be a single DIN.... It's close. A hair big but end result is friggin awesome.

One of the 2 additional things was the audio interrupter which highjacks the main stereo speakers whenever the CB has an incoming. CBM-U4 Audio Interrupter – SxS Radios

In the brief testing I did it seemed to work great.

The other item claims to utilize the stock amfm antenna for CB use... Well we have to see on that one. Initial testing inside the garage with a SWR gauge indicated wide open signal (worst case scenario). Maybe parking in the open as you're supposed to will warrant better results... I'm pessimistic on this one.

https://www.amazon.com/d/Radio-Antennas/AM-FM-CB-Antenna-Splitter/B0045J9Z3K

the little adjusting screw didn't seem to do much of anything.

Anyway I'll report back after an actual field test. Otherwise, a hood mount Antenna is an easy fix. Only a $30 gamble.

 

[4Reak Show]

Amazon rocks. 3' firestik, mounting spring, 2 CB Coax unions and 18' coax for $55 2 day shipping.

Mounted antenna to bumper corner

Ran cable in on passenger fender well area near the stock antenna entry point.

Gonna test and tune this weekend. Hoping for better results. Looks promising so far

 

[4Reak Show]

To quote Mr. Mcconaughey "alright alright alright" time for an update

CB project is complete. I contacted the manufacturer of the Audio Interrupter. Turns out they have a killer customer service department and are located in San Diego. Also they stand behind their product. After emailing my concern of an overactive unit (giggity) they sent me out another magic box to go inline of the original unit. Idea being it can be adjusted to decrease the active "noise" coming thru the CB originating from my engine's electronics. Worked like a charm. Immediately got great results.

Ended up mounting it so it can be fine tuned as needed depending on circumstances.

Switch on the left is a basic switch to control the power antenna that I've had installed for awhile. Works great since I don't listen to the radio much if at all (instead I Bluetooth my awesome classic rock library) and it allows me to keep the antenna down while using the stereo.

Knob on the right is the newly added interrupter control. I know they aren't quite even with each other but it's the only way they could fit there. It's down low on the console anyhow and isn't really In Yo' Face. I'm satisfied.

BUUUUUT the Mad Scientist came up with an even BETTER idea than all this stuff. I'm going to mount my portable compressor under the center console and delete the rear heater! It's gonna be sweeeeet! Waiting on some China parts so it'll be a bit. But man it's so cool on paper.

 

[4Reak Show]

Went out for a ride today! Had a blast. Snow is still sucky up in the mountains. Mormon Emigrant Trail has on and off snow, the icy stuff. Gun it, reverse, gun it, reverse. Gets old quick for me. And then we got to this. Giant downed tree.

It was passable around the left, but the snow kept going and going. Talked to a guy on a Polaris and he said 5 more miles until it cleared. Naw. We turned around and cooked some hot dogs and let the girls play in the snow.

On the way out we got more action and found a couple dudes stuck in their jeep.

Bald street tires. Zero recovery gear. Doesn't even have a front tow hook. Used our 2 shovels and my buddy's winch to get him out. Took an hour. We made them feel dorky. Totally ill prepared. But it was a blast!

 

[4Reak Show]

Ok folks. 2nd genners and 3rd genners should like this one... I'm deleting my rear heater located under console for a hard mounted compressor. It's a total utilization of space of you rarely or never use the rear heat. Which I don't.

So far:
I've removed the original rear blower relay and jumped its pins to run ignition power for both control and load side permanently to the wiring under the console

And to keep them in place, 3 strategically placed zip ties, wrapping around entire connector base

Old system had a 20 amp fuse, compressor requires 30. So I put in a 30. The wiring is pretty stout to run the blower motor so I think it'll be fine. I'm also going to include a 25 amp circuit breaker in the system anyhow to split the difference of amperages.
Removed old rear blower unit and capped off old hoses. I've had the coolant hoses disabled in the engine bay ever since the 3.4 swap 10 years anyhow.

The trickiest part so far was making feet for the compressor to mount to blower unit mounts. And then I bent a piece of 2" steel flat stock after a million measurements in order to recreate the platform the console mounts to inside the tiny storage area.
End result

The black dots are marking how close I got to center using the console screw holes. It'll work perfectly with a couple self tapping screws.

I'm also deleting the tiny ash tray on the back of the console, installing a vent in its place as well as little computer fan to run tandem with the compressor in order to push out the heat and generate airflow to the compressor intake. Then I'll have a quick connect chuck to attach an air hose, and a switch where the old blower switch was for the compressor.

I f*cking love making stuff. It's so stupid overall, but it keeps my mind occupied and I have fun repurposing and designing. Stay tuned.

 

[4Reak Show]

Console compressor just needs a final field test. Cosmetically it all came out so cool I think.
View from back seat, rear of console

Here's what the final compressor and hose looks like. Hose was barely touching the compressor body so I wrapped it in that special heat resistant tape.

This was my favorite creation of it. I drilled and tapped 2" aluminum flat stock to 1/4" NPT, and maxed out the male barbed fitting. Then Teflon taped the other side and tightened down the female quick connect. Exact fit.

Bonus:
Added a combo dual USB and cigarette adapter to front of console.

Its power comes from compressor relay 87a pin, so when relay engages it'll switch that circuit off. Total utilization of wiring under there. Very pleased.

 

[itrinethran]

Nice build!

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

 

[4Reak Show]

Never fails: do something fun, then a maintenance item acts up.

Drove it to work on Friday, smelled a little burny if that makes sense. Came home and saw a drip hanging off the transfer case flange, between it and the driveshaft.

Took it apart tonight to see and the little seal inside the flange had a notch f'd up on it. Not the main outer seal.

Having a hard time track this down. Luckily I know a guy that knows a guy.

 

[Jimmy Two Dogs]

Just now found this thread. Love what you've done here. I might be a bit biased, but as the original owner of a '90 4Runner, I think this is the prettiest body style of all. Compliments on what looks to be a great and thorough job. Love the photos, too.

:cheers:

 

[4Reak Show]

Hey thanks. I'm pretty fond of it. And I agree on the 2nd gen's overall body look. Too bad their front suspension sorta blows for upgrades and ride quality, and the engine is a turd in my opinion. But man do they grow on you like moss. My wife is jealous of the strange love affair I have with mine. When we got married, I never put her name on the title... Maybe she's a bit spiteful

 

[4Reak Show]

Couple updates. Flange leak should be fixed. For those wondering here are some part numbers

The nut is INCORRECT however. Gonna check on that and I'll update. Totally different and too small to thread on

I'm of the mindset: ain't broke don't fix it so I only did the little inner seal. Pushed in by hand super easy. Old seal

Torqued flange nut to 90 lb/ft and re-staked it, also added blue lock tite. I'm confident.

And to contradict myself, I'm also a "good enough is NOT good enough" guy so I added a dust boot to the compressor quick connect.

That shouldn't be able to be improved upon until I add an air tank and air horn... One days

 

[4Reak Show]

Forgot to add a pic of her at her best. All cleaned up

And the glimmering shot duuuuh

 

[Voltan73]

Just noticed your thread. Excellent rig Nick. Apologies on the flange nut.

 

[4Reak Show]

Not a problem at all. A good parts guy is a lost art so I'm super happy to have you help me. I was planning on reusing the old nut anyhow so it all worked out. I just want one as a spare for the trail box. We'll work it out.