4Reak Show's build/use/nonsense

[4Reak Show]

Installed the wheelskins cover today.
Before (super faded, 25 years old)

After

Turned out really good. Great quality product. Doing the "spokes" were tricky as there isn't really a way to hide the thread. And if I were to do it again, I would probably wait for a warmer day. The material is a super tight fit so every bit of slack you can get would help. And now I sort of wish I had chosen black but the grey is a real close match. Overall, great improvement.

 

[CamTom12]

So I got antsy and hooked up the Ultimate Camping mod by adding the constant power back window switch. I just tapped into the same wires that runs the tailgate key switch. Easy enough. Ran wires up the D pillar and around to the center finish trim. Little chop chop and it slid right in.

Now I can roll the back window up and down any time I want from the inside. Beats having to lean over, turn on ignition and then run switch from center console.


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That's a great idea, I need to do that!

 

[4Reak Show]

Registration coming up soon. Smog required. Took it and it passed yesterday no issue. 10 years on the 3.4 & manual swap and still going strong. (Of course having it BAR legalized makes it a breeze since everything is on the up and up).

Don't have to worry again for 2 years.

I did notice one of my rear tires looked wobbly while on the dyno. I have a big maintenance planned so that will get some extra attention... Strawberry pass was pretty rough on it.

 

[4Reak Show]

Sometimes you're the windshield... Sometimes you're the bug

Doing some winter maintenance yesterday: oil change, K&N air filter cleaning, changed manual trans fluid to Redline MT-90, changed rear diff and transfer case fluids to Lucas Heavy Duty 80w90. I wasn't going to do the front diff but figured what the hell might as well do all the fluids underneath at the same time. Drained front and it looked brand new but I was already committed.

The drain plug was double washered! (Or so I thought). I beat the hell out of that second "washer" trying to get it off the drain bolt. Hacksaw, razor blade, screw driver, scraper. Nothing. So I went to order a new one and sonovab!tch they come with a washer looking thing on it molded to the head. F*ck. Oh well. Now I wait for the one from eBay. $14 lesson on that.

Old one I mangled terribly

New eBay picture

Notice the circle washer that's part of the new bolt. Now we all know. But I could have sworn the other drain plugs didn't have that piece.

 

[4Reak Show]

Got the winter fluid maintenance done. Boring, but important. Haven't noticed much of a difference with the redline MT-90 but I've only driven it once.

On another note, noticed my CV boots tearing... AGAIN. I've decided I'm going to do the manual hub conversion while still keeping the ADD system. Sort of a hybrid. Just waiting for tax return money.

 

[4Reak Show]

Tax returns came through. Decided to pull the trigger on something to save my CV boots from premature tearing. Driver side inner has about a 1" tear forming. Still totally functional and worth another few offroadings. These should slow the bleeding substantially since now it won't be spinning at 70 miles per hour

This also should save an MPG or 2 with less drag. Waiting on replacement center caps that are open instead of fully capped. Fun fact: brand new hubs don't come with base gaskets. Had to order those sepeately.

 

[4Reak Show]

Did driver side tonight. Inner CV boot will thank me! I also opted to leave the ADD system intact. It has always worked great and now I can have 2wd low and have better maneuverability. Or I lock hubs on the trail and leave it until I head back home like it was prior. Never bad to have more options. And boy does it look awesome.

I would have started sooner but I was waiting for the correct wheel center caps. Had the covered ones prior, ordered open ended from Amazon but they were like 1.5" too long and would have been terrible. Ordered correct ones off summit and they got here quickly but cost a lot more. Gotta pay to play!

I'll do the other side tomorrow so I can drive it to work Friday and see if I feel a difference at all.

 

[4Reak Show]

There is definitely a difference with the manual hubs driving. Not a whole lot, but it feels less draggy not having the CVs turning at 70 mph. So I'm glad I did it. Plus it allows for a more trouble free TrueTrac front diff upgrade potentially down the road...

Anyway, I'm knocking out some other nuances that have annoyed me or need addressing. Such as the subwoofer: I totally love the sound when I'm jamming to Led Zep and 98% of the time having it in the cargo area has no ill effects. However, those 2% of the time when I need the space for sleeping or hauling stuff it actually blows pretty hard being back there. And it's an entire unit with the amp and capacitor mounted to the sub box, but now it's easily removeable!

I used those massive quick connectors normally used for winches. My roof rack LED light relay box ran off the positive post that feeds the capacitor. So I crimped that main feed line into the new big connector on the truck side. Therefore, even with sub removed the relay box with still work.

Next up is to clean up the wiring under the hood a bit.

 

[4Reak Show]

Due to this virus nonsense and the inclement weather my weekend free time was substantial today. So I tackled a project that has been nagging at me since I did the 3.4 swap ten years ago: the main battery wiring connection.

When I was young and dumb I made work what I had to, which included running a bolt through all main battery connection wires, taping it up and leaving it to float out in the engine Bay Area for the next decade. And to my credit, it held just fine! But looked terrible.

The red rubber cap on the right is the suspect connection.

Here it is with the cover and tape removed

So that went away along with some unused wires and installed is a killer buss bar to make everything incredibly cleaner

Had to extend some wires and rearrange some things but I'm pleased with it. And makes me feel a lot more comfortable for fire risk and such.

It's amazing what ten years experience and some patience will generate.

 

[4Reak Show]

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[4Reak Show]

Came across a leftover LED light strip from work so I managed to solder wires to it and attach it to under my hood. A magnetic switch automatically turns it on and off with hood open or closed.

Suuuuper bright.

No more flashlight leaning on shit to see anymore. Can't recommend this upgrade enough.

 

[OzSurf]

Came across a leftover LED light strip from work so I managed to solder wires to it and attach it to under my hood. A magnetic switch automatically turns it on and off with hood open or closed.

Suuuuper bright.

No more flashlight leaning on shit to see anymore. Can't recommend this upgrade enough.

I did the same with a strip across the front and have to agree it's definitely recommended. The magnetic switch is a great idea! Tidy looking 2nd Gen you've got there.

 

[4Reak Show]

This COVID stuff sure does force a person to find things to do. I FINALLY fixed my clutch line issue that has bothered me for 10 years since the engine swap.

Again, I didn't know as much as I do now, and I was somewhat rushed, so the job got done however it got done. Basically, the clutch flex hose had to be installed in a pretty tight "S" shape, and there were no brackets to hold the hard line ends. Now that's fixed.

I don't have any before pics, but basically the firewall hard line end was floating, attached to a flex hose, slave cylinder hard line was also floating, and went upwards about 10", forcing flex hose to be in that "S" position.

The new flex hose is a Marling Crawler stainless steel braided line and it's only at a smooth 90° bend now. Both brackets I made out of 1.5" wide 1/8" thick steel flatstock bent on a vice and painted. Close clearances, but it doesn't touch or rub anything. Pedal feels a lot smoother.

Final advice: if you're going to do the 3.4 swap, get the V6 clutch hard line. It terminates much higher on the firewall and then you avoid this very difficult job.

 

[4Reak Show]

My birthday was last week and my brother in law got me a cool gift: LED light kit specific for particular LEGO sets! In particular the Ghostbusters Ecto 1!

So you start with building the Ecto 1 which was a killer 508 piece set I had sitting in the box for like 2 years.

Complete with all the Ghostbusters and their gear

And then you add in the LEDs

Which are actual Lego pieces drilled out with lights installed and wired in to a battery pack. End result is killer! Flashing lights and super bright

Company is called Lightailing (like detailing, but with light). They makes tons of kits specific to particular sets. Very cool idea for adult nerds like me.

 

[4Reak Show]

The due date for my second child is 4/28. Wife is super preggo and ready to pop any minute. So what I'm saying is that my projects are limited since I don't want to be tied up when the water breaks!

I ordered some patches to add to my headliner collection.

The America map is meant to be sharpie'd in with each state's visit.... So far I've only done a bunch in NorCal so it looks a little pathetic

Collection is going well though!

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[4Reak Show]

Figured I'd pop in to update my life to all zero of my fans.
Our son was born late April, all good on that front! But have had little time to mess with the 4Runner. Plus it's sort of like done for now I think as far as mods go.

COVID blows. Hard. Couldn't go anywhere really so no adventure.

Oh oh oh, umm had a squeak pop up in the right front suspension. Applied some fancy energy suspension lube to the upper control arm bushings as best I could and that fixed it for now.

Hmmm what else? Oh my wife and I are buying a travel trailer. A cheap, light, but actually well furnished 21.5'. The wife's 5th gen will have the honor of towing it so I've prepared her 4Runner for it while I wait for its arrival.

Added a tranny cooler

And a Redarc brake controller

Other than that there hasn't been much activity. Sadly, it's looking like I may not take any Offroad trips this year in my 2nd gen. And any project I'm even considering on it is a bunch of time and money for minimal reward or use. Oh wel. Still fun as hell to drive on the streets!

 

[4Reak Show]

Came out to the garage yesterday morning and noticed a funny shimmering light on the floor. It was my under hood LEDs on... with the hood closed? Hmmm. Turns out the automatic magnetic switch already failed. So I did something else with leftover parts I had. Used some angle aluminum, a toggle switch and a red aviation cover. Turned out pretty slick

It was cool having it automatic. But I can’t risk having another failure and kill my battery since it sits for a week at a time.

 

[4Reak Show]

It’s official: I’m a celebrity. Don’t believe me? Go ahead and pick up the July/August 2020 edition of 4WD Toyota Owner magazine. Flip to the “your yota” section in the back and boom

Full page spread.

Anybody wanting an autograph will need to contact my agent.

 

[Cali 4runner]

Props to you for updating this thread.
Nice magazine feature!

 

[4Reak Show]

I haven’t updated in quite awhile. Been pretty calm with COVID nonsense and preoccupied with modding our travel trailer. That’s a fun project.

Unfortunately, the 4Reak Show developed a misfire. Which sucks because I barely drive it and the engine and such is only a total of like 150K old. Anyway it took like 3 drives for it to flag a specific cylinder, number 3. I swapped coil to #1, spark plug to #5. Misfire was flagged on 3 again. Oh shit... not ignition. It’s unlikely a coil command/igniter issue since #6 still runs fine and it uses the same coil as 3.

I noticed via my AEM Air/Fuel Ratio gauge that when the misfire occurred the numbers went to like high 15’s low 16’s meaning it was lean. Normally it’s ALWAYS around 14.5/perfect. I also noticed that during engine braking (manual trans, decelerating in gear, no feet on the pedals) the exhaust tone totally went back to normal, which indicates to me the cylinder is likely breathing/sealing as it should. I confirmed this tonight with a compression reading in #3 of 210 psi. That was such a relief! (I didn’t have time to test the rest, but I will just to verify overall engine health/balance).

So now I’m heavily leaning towards the injector. It ohms out perfect at 14, but it could be mechanically clogged. So final test is to hook up an injector test light in parallel to that injector and verify the light flashes WHEN MISFIRING. If it does, that means it’s being commanded to run and the ECM/harness is fine as well. Then I’ll put in 6 reman’d injectors since it will require pulling the supercharger anyway to do the one. And if one is failing, the others may not be too far behind.

Super stoked it’s not looking like a major engine issue. I was dreading that possibility. Probably won’t get back to it until next week.