Bandit Runner's Build Thread

[Bandit Runner]

Killer looking truck! What's the secret to keeping it clean in the Michigan winters?

The secret is to not take pictures of it in the winter. :jk:

Believe me, it gets plenty dirty with salt and slush. Here's a pic from a few years back when I was building my rear bumper:

 

[trailbikerider]

Hopefully I won't have to worry about it, since I'm planning to move to Arizona, but in the event that I stay here I am going to have to break out all of the stops to try and prevent rust.

 

[Bandit Runner]

Cleaned up the 4Runner real good before winter hits. Wash, Clay Bar, and Wax. Took a few pics:

 

[Nervo19]

Cleaned up the 4Runner real good before winter hits. Wash, Clay Bar, and Wax.

Beautiful truck. I just read your whole thread to try and figure out why you have such great paint. Do you mind sharing what products you use? Do you have a buffer or does your son now have huge biceps?

 

[Bandit Runner]

Cleaned up the 4Runner real good before winter hits. Wash, Clay Bar, and Wax.

Beautiful truck. I just read your whole thread to try and figure out why you have such great paint. Do you mind sharing what products you use? Do you have a buffer or does your son now have huge biceps?

Thanks. The paint is actually showing its age. If you get up close, you can really see the flaws.

That being said, I do use a orbital buffer to put the wax on, but I take it off by hand. Its just a cheap 9" Craftsman buffer. I usually use Meguiars wax.

Nothing special really.

 

[frodiesel]

This is one sick truck! Surprised to see a friendly Michigan plate on such a clean rig. Top notch!

 

[Bandit Runner]

This is one sick truck! Surprised to see a friendly Michigan plate on such a clean rig. Top notch!

Thanks. Where are you located?

 

[frodiesel]

Kalamazoo, I work on the road and rarely get home lately. spent the last 3 weeks in Louisiana

 

[jwilbanks]

Hey man, beautiful 4runner. Also from MI here, Royal Oak. I was wondering, I have inventor and autodesk, how did you create this design? Did you do it from scratch, or modify another design file? I wanted to modify a design because I am not even really sure how to start this from scratch.

Thanks.

 

[owyheerat]

4runner looks awesome!

...as always!
[MENTION=12884]Bandit[/MENTION]runner, your 4runner is aging well.:fro: It does not look like a 14 (almost 15) old vehicle. Kudo's. What brand of clay bar do you use? I've never tried one before, is there any tricks, tips you can give?

BTW, I am still super happy with my rear bumper. I receive a lot of compliments on it.

Take care.

Durwin

 

[Bandit Runner]

Hey man, beautiful 4runner. Also from MI here, Royal Oak. I was wondering, I have inventor and autodesk, how did you create this design? Did you do it from scratch, or modify another design file? I wanted to modify a design because I am not even really sure how to start this from scratch.

Thanks.

I sent you a PM. But yes, I designed the bumpers from scratch. I use Creo, but can export in other formats.

 

[Bandit Runner]

...as always!

[MENTION=12884]Bandit[/MENTION]runner, your 4runner is aging well.:fro: It does not look like a 14 (almost 15) old vehicle. Kudo's. What brand of clay bar do you use? I've never tried one before, is there any tricks, tips you can give?

BTW, I am still super happy with my rear bumper. I receive a lot of compliments on it.

Take care.

Durwin

Hi Durwin,

Thanks, and good to hear from you. I currently have Mothers brand clay bar kit, but any brand should work well. They are basically just a clump of clay and some lubricant. These are the steps I follow:
1. Wash truck extremely well. I use a dish soap detergent for this step, as you want to remove as much dirt as possible and any old wax.
2. Rub clay bar all over painted surfaces as per directions. The trick here is to lubricate just enough to get the clay to slide across the paint, but still be tacky enough to grab and pick up any contaminates in the paint. If you use too much lubricant, the clay bar will just slide too easily across the paint and not pick up any stuff. If you use too little lubricant, you won't be able to slide the clay bar across the paint at all. So it is a balancing act. Do this step by hand, don't use a machine, so you can feel how the clay bar is sliding and grabbing the paint. You'll get a feel for it pretty quickly. Also, Don't drop the clay bar on the ground because it will pick up dirt, and you will be rubbing dirt onto your paint making scratches.
3. The paint should feel super smooth after step 2, but you will probably have some light clay smudges all over the paint. You need to re-wash the car again to remove these. Again, I use dish soap.
4. Now dry the car real good.
5. Apply your favorite wax and buff off.

This is all pretty labor intensive and takes a good deal of time. I usually spend one day just washing and clay barring. Then a second day to wax. It really makes a difference and I highly recommend it. I try to do it at least once per year.

 

[owyheerat]

Thanks

Hi Durwin,

Thanks, and good to hear from you. I currently have Mothers brand clay bar kit, but any brand should work well. They are basically just a clump of clay and some lubricant. These are the steps I follow:
1. Wash truck extremely well. I use a dish soap detergent for this step, as you want to remove as much dirt as possible and any old wax.
2. Rub clay bar all over painted surfaces as per directions. The trick here is to lubricate just enough to get the clay to slide across the paint, but still be tacky enough to grab and pick up any contaminates in the paint. If you use too much lubricant, the clay bar will just slide too easily across the paint and not pick up any stuff. If you use too little lubricant, you won't be able to slide the clay bar across the paint at all. So it is a balancing act. Do this step by hand, don't use a machine, so you can feel how the clay bar is sliding and grabbing the paint. You'll get a feel for it pretty quickly. Also, Don't drop the clay bar on the ground because it will pick up dirt, and you will be rubbing dirt onto your paint making scratches.
3. The paint should feel super smooth after step 2, but you will probably have some light clay smudges all over the paint. You need to re-wash the car again to remove these. Again, I use dish soap.
4. Now dry the car real good.
5. Apply your favorite wax and buff off.

This is all pretty labor intensive and takes a good deal of time. I usually spend one day just washing and clay barring. Then a second day to wax. It really makes a difference and I highly recommend it. I try to do it at least once per year.

Jeremy,

Thanks for the step by step instructions. I want (need) to do this to my 4runner before spring. The weather is starting to get cold, so I'll have to wait for a nice day or two.

Durwin

 

[jwilbanks]

Cool, I was just curious if you had deisgned from scratch, or modified another design for your specific needs. Thanks.

 

[Bandit Runner]

Took a few more pics of the truck today just for fun:

 

[TLar25]

Definitely the best looking 3rd gen out there! Everything just flows so well on it! Mad props bandit

 

[Bandit Runner]

Definitely the best looking 3rd gen out there! Everything just flows so well on it! Mad props bandit

Thanks, Appreciate it!

 

[Bandit Runner]

So my truck has been throwing P0440 CEL codes for the last year or so. I was told that the charcoal canister had to be replaced, and it would cost over $400. I decided to wait.

Then recently, I saw that [MENTION=103068]NotKewl[/MENTION] was selling a used charcoal canister off his ’02. I contacted him, and he was super helpful in answering all my questions. He was great to work with, and we made a good deal. He even went out of his way, and sent me the pages from the Toyota service manual on how to install it.

So today, I decided to go ahead and try to replace the charcoal canister. On the 2002’s the canister is located above the spare tire. First I labeled where all the hoses and connectors went. The hardest part was removing the old canister because all the rusty bolts either broke off or the heads stripped out. So after about an hour of dremelling rusty bolt heads off, I finally got the old one removed. I had to cut some parts of the canister off in order to fit the dremel up in there. Here’s a pic of the old parts I hacked off:

The new one went on pretty easily after making some new mounting holes in the attachment brackets. I reconnected all the hoses and electrical connector. Then I cleared the codes with my scanguage. I drove around a little and no CEL light came on. I’m hoping this took care of the issue.

 

[AZBub]

Just out of curiosity do you top off your gas tank often?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[fourfive]

So my truck has been throwing P0440 CEL codes for the last year or so. I was told that the charcoal canister had to be replaced, and it would cost over $400. I decided to wait...


...The new one went on pretty easily after making some new mounting holes in the attachment brackets. I reconnected all the hoses and electrical connector. Then I cleared the codes with my scanguage. I drove around a little and no CEL light came on. I’m hoping this took care of the issue.

Did you do any testing to verify that the charcoal canister was damaged/cracked or if any of the components on the canister (hoses, vent valve, etc) were damaged?

I have a P0440 code that came back & trying to narrow down where to start troubleshooting first.

Glad I saw your post on this.