A few pictures of my Runner

[1985taylor1925]

Headlights installed! Check out the difference.

Side by side



Old



New





These things reflect so much surrounding light that I cant even get a clear picture of them!

 

[fightman80]

Nice man! Depo or 0em?

 

[1985taylor1925]

Carbon buildup

So this has me concerned. Ive driven my 4runner about 25k since Ive owned it, and changed the oil 5 times. And I noticed this carbon buildup the first time I changed it. Does anyone have carbon buildup in this spot? Should I be concerned with this to the point of taking care of it immediately?

 

[shamading]

Not sure about the buildup there (done see it on my 99) but love what you've done to your rig. I wish I had black instead of this green with metalic business but I hope to do a lot of the same things you've done here never the less...starting with wheels and rust conversion on the bottom.

 

[1985taylor1925]

Nice man! Depo or 0em?

Thanks Fightman. Depo brand. I was in Milwaukee yesterday and I knew they have a Certifit, so just spur of the moment decided to get some headlights. Man are they crystal clear! Cant wait till it gets dark so I can see the difference

Not sure about the buildup there (done see it on my 99) but love what you've done to your rig. I wish I had black instead of this green with metalic business but I hope to do a lot of the same things you've done here never the less...starting with wheels and rust conversion on the bottom.

Thanks for the complement. There's still a ton I want to do to it. I also plan on doing a rust converter and then protective coating this summer.

Anyone else have advice on this carbon buildup?

 

[MAUI BUILT]

Nice ride keep the mods going.

 

[HCurphy]

RE the sludge build up in the valve cover, thats not necessarily a terrible sign. Oil doesnt' sit there but it does splash up there. I think it leaves those deposits because it's not constantly being flushed with oil. I have these sludge deposits there, too. Mine looks a little bit better then yours though.

I have been trying to clean them out slowly. I switched to high milage mobil one full snythetic and I run about a 1/4 to a 1/2 cup of sythetic atf ~100 miles before an oil change. I'm not necessarily suggesting this is what you should do, but it is what I'm choosing to do. It seems to be working but I've only been doing this for about four oil changes.

If you really want to know what's up, you could pull a valve cover. If your gaskets are old though you may want to be prepared to replace them if you choose to do that.

 

[1985taylor1925]

RE the sludge build up in the valve cover, thats not necessarily a terrible sign. Oil doesnt' sit there but it does splash up there. I think it leaves those deposits because it's not constantly being flushed with oil. I have these sludge deposits there, too. Mine looks a little bit better then yours though.

I have been trying to clean them out slowly. I switched to high milage mobil one full snythetic and I run about a 1/4 to a 1/2 cup of sythetic atf ~100 miles before an oil change. I'm not necessarily suggesting this is what you should do, but it is what I'm choosing to do. It seems to be working but I've only been doing this for about four oil changes.

If you really want to know what's up, you could pull a valve cover. If your gaskets are old though you may want to be prepared to replace them if you choose to do that.

Funny, Mobile 1 high mileage synthetic is exactly what I run. And I have been since I got it. I know the valve cover gaskets were both replced just over two years ago and should be good. But when it warms up I think I am gonna pull it apart and try to clean some of that carbon out.

 

[HCurphy]

yeah. you could at least take a look under the VC to ease your mind, but I don't think it is to much concern.

If you get a flashlight and peak around a bit in the oil fill hole you might be able to see a little more and be able to judge if you think that sludge is throughout or just there at the fill hole.

 

[sprchrgd_4x4runner]

You should do a seafoam treatment, it works wonders.

 

[1985taylor1925]

You should do a seafoam treatment, it works wonders.

Did it a year ago. And I almost wonder if that contributed because it cleans things out. Some of the carbon may have deposited there

 

[HCurphy]

you could put seafoam in the crankcase, and it might very well work wonders at cleaning all that out. ( I have considered this and did it once-small amount of seafoam) the danger with that is knocking to much sludge loose and clogging either the screen on your oil pick up tube in the pan, or clogging some critical oil passage. (I'm no engineer, I have no idea how the cooling or oil passages are constructed in this vehicle-diameter and such).

Just some food for thought. Also, here is some good reading.
Oil Sludge Monster Attacks!! - YotaTech Forums

 

[1985taylor1925]

you could put seafoam in the crankcase, and it might very well work wonders at cleaning all that out. ( I have considered this and did it once-small amount of seafoam) the danger with that is knocking to much sludge loose and clogging either the screen on your oil pick up tube in the pan, or clogging some critical oil passage. (I'm no engineer, I have no idea how the cooling or oil passages are constructed in this vehicle-diameter and such).

Just some food for thought. Also, here is some good reading.
Oil Sludge Monster Attacks!! - YotaTech Forums

Wow those pictues are amazing! Thats really bad. I could do the seafoam, but its not gonna get the carbon out of there. I'll just have to pull it apart when it warms up and clean it out

 

[1985taylor1925]

LC coils and shocks installed

Today my LC coils and brand new OEM LC Tokico shocks came in. I got them from cj80cruiser. Shocks were still in the bag unopened. He said the coils have around 90k on them.

Theyre marked double pink, blue and white, so I believe they are 7.5 wraps. They lifted me another 2.25" above the Performance Products coils putting me around 4.5" from stock. Thats about what I was expecting, and is more lift than I want. My plan from the beggining was to install them to see the inital lift, and then cut them down to give me between 3" to 3.25". So thats what Im gonna do tomorrow.

I also have a set of front Tundra/bilsteins on the way, so look for that update soon!

Side by side of the PP and LC coils.



New LC shocks and old KYB shocks. The LC shocks are 2.75" longer than the KYB's, which are around 1.5" longer than my stock shocks were. I installed the coils and drove it around for a few minutes before putting on the LC shocks. The KYBs definately were'nt long enough. I could feel them lock out a few times over larger bumps.



And the rake with 4.5" rear lift and 1.75" front lift. The picture is really deceiving because the rear end is sitting in a lower spot than the front end. My driveway isnt level. On level ground theres alot of rake going on. Just compare the front and rear wheel to fender gap. You can tell theres a huge difference



Im guessing the Tundra set up will give me around 2.25" front lift. Then Ill cut the LC coils to give around 3.25" in the rear. This will give a subtle but noticable rake which is what I want.

I was surprised to find that these rode pretty similar to my PP and KYB combo. Still pretty stiff. Maybe a little more bouncy feeling. But I dont think Ill really be able to tell until I get the tundra set up on the front.

 

[fightman80]

Looks good, but I don't think cutting the coils is a good idea...... They are manufactured the way they are on both ends so that they seat properly in the perches.... cutting material from either end could cause some safety issues.

Also, cutting them in the center, and trying to weld them back is also not a good idea, as you change the metals characteristics.

I would simply get some adjustable coilovers for the front, and try to level it out that way..... much safer.

Sorry for being such a downer......

 

[1985taylor1925]

Looks good, but I don't think cutting the coils is a good idea...... They are manufactured the way they are on both ends so that they seat properly in the perches.... cutting material from either end could cause some safety issues.

Also, cutting them in the center, and trying to weld them back is also not a good idea, as you change the metals characteristics.

I would simply get some adjustable coilovers for the front, and try to level it out that way..... much safer.

Sorry for being such a downer......

I completely understand your concern fightman. I had the same concern for cutting them. But theres a member here on the forum who did the same thing. He cut from the top, and just took off a few inches and hes been running them for a while now with no issues. The bottom obviously cant be cut as it is more narrow to sit in the grove. For the top though, the diameter of the coil is the same throughout. The only difference would be that there wouldnt be quite as much flat portion to seat. But I think the weight of the vehicle will compress the top of the coil enough into the 1/2" rubber seat portion of the cones to seat flat.

 

[1985taylor1925]

On the other hand though fightman youre right. The ends of the coils are designed the way they are specifically so they will sit in the top and bottom seats properly. I will take a very close look tomorrow at how they are seated under the weight of the vehicle, and consider carefully how much room there is to modify them.

 

[fightman80]

Cool..... I'd just hate for you to either:

A) Compromise the safety of the truck

OR

B) Ruin a perfectly good set of LC coils



Keep us posted as to what you decide to do man! Good luck!

 

[zacattack20]

I know it was over a month ago but if you want the console lid to look better you could remove the inner black plastic by unscrewing all the tiny little screws of the lid and then fold the leather inside and then put the inner plastic back in over that.

 

[1985taylor1925]

Well Im a little confused. I thought the LC 7.5 wraps were suppose to give around around 3.5 of lift, and as mentioned above they gave me 4.5. I also thought they were supposed to ride nice, and these things are pretty stiff.

So this is 225 lbs of bricks in the back of my truck . . .



And the coils dont even feel it. Didnt drop an inch with the added weight. And ride is exactly the same.



Holy rake batman!