CBlock's 98 Limited Build/Maintenance Thread

[cblock406]

Hi Everyone,

This thread basically starts in 2017, even though we bought this in 2014 and the thread starts in 2014.

We bought it in November of 2014 with 158K from the second owners who had it the majority of it's life. All around really clean, good body, good interior, PNW car all of its life so not a hint of rust or rot.

This is the day we brought it home:



It was used by my fiance (now wife) as her daily driver until December 23, 2016 when it was stolen. Luckily it was recovered two weeks later. A couple of degenerate homeless druggies lived in it for two weeks and trashed it. We got it back insanely dirty, interior trashed, but overall it wasn't as terrible as I thought and I've been slowly cleaning it up and fixing it.

Through 2016 I didn't do a whole lot to it except the following:

-New brake pads and rotors in the front
-removed running boards
-new windshield
-new rear bumper
-alignment
-sound deadened the floor, front doors, and rear hatch and added amp/sub/headunit etc.
-3 or 4 oil changes

It looked like this right before getting stolen:

 

[cblock406]

I don't have many pics but this is what it looked like when we picked it up from Impound:

It was completely full of other peoples crap and garbage. It was basically lived in for the full two weeks it was gone

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We drove straight to a dumpster and threw everything away; it was disgusting to say the least.

They did some weird stuff: stole our Kenwood and wired in their own stereo, Installed a trailer hitch, took out the security module under the front seat and wired in a jumper switch through the door jam and into the hood to jump the starter relay :noidea:, ruined the steering wheel and center console etc.

 

[cblock406]

So the truck sat in our driveway all dirty and gross from January until April as I didn't have time to touch it.

Over the last week I started to clean it up, luckily the only damage they did to the outside was dent the front bumper and break the bug guard, that's it! :dancin:

Inside however was another story. Here is the custom steering wheel lol, cut the rim up pretty bad, and broke the center console.

It was gross.

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Put my Bissell to hardwork, getting clean again!

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Did the 99 center console retrofit :dancin: and threw in a nice steering wheel I picked up from another forum member, and it is starting to look like our car again.

I didn't get a picture but I had to notch out the floor for the new ebrake mounting plate with my angle grinder.

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moved the switches from the old center console to the blank switch plugs in the dash. Luckily the wiring was long enough and I didn't have to extend anything.

 

[cblock406]

So thanks for reading if you made it this far. My plans this year are to catch up on some maintenance and hopefully try and do a few mods. Plans this summer are to do the following:

-New battery from sitting 3 months. Done
-Fix the dash and wiring where our stereo used to be. Done
-New bumper and bug guard.
-Power steering flush, Done
-front and rear diff and transfer case oil, rear done
-B&M tranny cooler (bypass), Done
-air filter, plugs & wires Done
-Valve Cover Gasket Done
-OEM timing belt/water pump/Toyota Coolant done
-new radiator done

Nothing exciting but once that stuff is done hopefully move onto the suspension next and start doing some fun things to it.

Phew, sorry for such a long post, had a lot to catch up on!

 

[cblock406]

Had a chance to work on the 4runner a little more this weekend, close to being able to start driving this thing.

New 650 CCA battery. The old battery completely died from the car sitting so long:

Dash but back together. Luckily they didn't cut the factory harness. Bought this Kenwood again for the second time in the last year.

The car smelled so bad after we got it back I had to buy an Ozone machine. This badass little thing straight up killed the odor.

I've fixed most of the damage except the front bumper and bug guard. Will wait on that until I can afford to go custom.

All in all, we got pretty lucky getting it back in the condition we did. Goal is to get it cleaner than it was prior to getting stolen.

 

[fightman80]

Nice and clean looking truck man! Sucks that those jerks stole her... but looks like aside from the bumper... she's looking good as new again!

I see you're looking to replace your bumper with an OEM type replacement... am I correct??

I love to see some fully built rigs... but I also appreciate a nicely resto-modded OEM looking one too!

Check out my build sometime... I think we may be on the same page... mod wise anyway.

 

[cblock406]

Nice and clean looking truck man! Sucks that those jerks stole her... but looks like aside from the bumper... she's looking good as new again!

I see you're looking to replace your bumper with an OEM type replacement... am I correct??

I love to see some fully built rigs... but I also appreciate a nicely resto-modded OEM looking one too!

Check out my build sometime... I think we may be on the same page... mod wise anyway.

Thanks man, appreciate it. Looked through your build thread last night, quite a read and very cool T4R!

Just going to do a stock bumper for now.

I also realized the dash lights aren't working (not sure if they ever have after getting it back.) Tail lights are still working, no blown fuses and the dimmer wire is NOT hooked up to the stereo so I'll be testing out the dimmer switch tonight after I get off work. Once I get the lights figured out we can start driving it again!

 

[trailbikerider]

Great looking truck even after dipshit stole it. Those are the kinds of people I wish would rot in hell for all eternity...

 

[cblock406]

Great looking truck even after dipshit stole it. Those are the kinds of people I wish would rot in hell for all eternity...

Thanks! I agree. I suppose it was bound to happen living in the Seattle area lol

I actually drove it to work today, first time it's been driven since the beginning of January, other than driving it home from the police impound. I forgot how much I like it. Really pumped to get started on a big round of maintenance!

 

[cblock406]

Small update:

The steering column slip joint was really loose and causing ALOT of steering wheel play. When I pulled the steering column out to weld the slip joint it rolled off of my work bench and landed on the splines DOH!!!

Luckily the same guy I bought the steering wheel and center console from sold me the steering column and yoke from the same 4runner. The new steering column shaft was tight but I tack welded it anyway. This made a HUGE difference in the way it drives. Very nice and tight.

If you have a loose steering column you NEED to do this.

Took a few pics today with the good camera:

Now I am just waiting on parts to arrive to do some actual work!

 

[cblock406]

While I'm waiting on my parts to arrive I thought I'd fix something that has never worked and always bugged me. Soldered together the clock contacts:

Also figured out that my dash lights were not working due to a faulty dimmer switch. I by-passed it for now but will probably end up replacing it just so everything works as it should.

So essentially I am back to about the same condition the 4runner was in before getting stolen; albeit with a nicer steering wheel, 99 center console, and a working clock!

Really stoked to knock out all of the maintenance so I can start putting together my suspension and do some of the fun mods.

 

[cblock406]

Some progress finally.

Just replaced the timing belt, tensioners and pulleys, water pump, radiator, thermostat, and coolant hoses. The whole job took a solid 6 hours, with a couple beer breaks . The only pain in the ass part of it was getting the tensioner next to the AC compressor out. Had to unbolt it and take off the bracket. And whoever did the job last time definitely didn't have the crank pulley torqued down to spec.

Other than that the job went super smooth and easy. Bolted everything back up and it drives great!

Didn't really stop to document anything.

This is the kit I bought:

Timing belt off:

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So now I still have this to install, undecided if I want to run it in parallel with the radiator or not...leaning toward not.

It should be a pretty good baseline then to start doing some fun mods...can't wait to get to the point when I can do suspension and wheels but I'm all about knocking out all of this stuff first.

And since this is a super boring post with no cool pictures, here is one I snapped of my other car Friday night:

Couple shots of the old 4runner, to Be continued

 

[jgue467]

I'd recommend adding trans cooler in-line with oem trans cooler. Ambient temps in our area may not be what they are in central texas but mountain passes, towing in stop/go traffic can get trans temps close to mid-200s. In-series keeps them under 180 no matter what.

I can relate to the bmw thing, yet I'm very lucky. I don't have one but gf does, an 06' 330 ci, same red as yours. Very luckily her son is a certified master bmw mechanic so all i do is oil changes. Nice how those guys work in a/c and heat on floors you can eat off of! Luck and enjoy that very nice runner. :cowboy:

 

[Ricktuk]

nice work let me know how the tranny cooler works. That is on the list for Erika Su (my daughters 1999 limited) 250 k on the original radiator Im afraid of the strawberry milkshake.

 

[cblock406]

I'd recommend adding trans cooler in-line with oem trans cooler. Ambient temps in our area may not be what they are in central texas but mountain passes, towing in stop/go traffic can get trans temps close to mid-200s. In-series keeps them under 180 no matter what.

I can relate to the bmw thing, yet I'm very lucky. I don't have one but gf does, an 06' 330 ci, same red as yours. Very luckily her son is a certified master bmw mechanic so all i do is oil changes. Nice how those guys work in a/c and heat on floors you can eat off of! Luck and enjoy that very nice runner. :cowboy:

nice work let me know how the tranny cooler works. That is on the list for Erika Su (my daughters 1999 limited) 250 k on the original radiator Im afraid of the strawberry milkshake.

Thanks guys, and nice vert! Good argument for running it in-line...pretty sure that is how I will do it!

 

[cblock406]

Did some more wrenching on the 4runner this weekend. Replaced my very hard, old leaking valve cover gaskets. I would guess these have probably never been changed before.

Also changed the upper and lower intake manifold gaskets, spark plugs, wires, pcv valve, and air filter. Took about 4 hours from start to finish, not a difficult job but not one that was particularly fun.

The valve covers were disgusting:

I didn't take any pictures of the valve train but it looked extremely clean.

Just about caught up on the maintenance now. Next up is a transmission service (fluid, filter etc.) power steering fluid change, and diff/transfer case fluid. Then I think this thing will be all caught up. Then some mods might actually happen! :naughty:

 

[xdustin]

Looking good! Loving all this "basic" stuff you're doing as it's exactly what I have coming in my very near future. Luckily the PO did the timing belt a couple thousand before he sold it to me, so at least I can skip that one. Very clean! Also in Washington, down/up in the Tacoma area.

 

[cblock406]

Looking good! Loving all this "basic" stuff you're doing as it's exactly what I have coming in my very near future. Luckily the PO did the timing belt a couple thousand before he sold it to me, so at least I can skip that one. Very clean! Also in Washington, down/up in the Tacoma area.

Thanks! I'm in the Bellevue area. All the basic maintenance isn't very exciting but it sure feels good getting it done. In the home stretch on ours and can't wait to start on suspension.

 

[cblock406]

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Flushed out the power steering today for some nice clean Dex III. It was pretty damn dirty, probably been years since it was changed, if ever.

Turns out a Sharpie cap works perfect to cap off the return line fitting.

I hate dirty engine bays and since I've been spending a good amount of time under the hood, cleaning things as I go, I thought it deserved a good detail.

Not bad for 185k. I can't tell you how nice it is not smelling burning oil every time I drive this.

Purple Power and Mother's back to black for the job here.

I hate how much crap that collects behind the front fenders. I managed to get it all out with some pry bars and my shop vac...yuck!

Oh almost forgot, decided its getting into good enough shape now that I can rock the T4R decal I've had for over a year :reddance:

Next on the list is a transmission service (fluid and filter) and installing the tranny cooler that is sitting on my workbench, and front/rear diff and transfer case fluid. After that it should be pretty much up to date on all services and then I can start spending money on some fun stuff!!! :rockon:

 

[staypuft]

Very nice truck! I'm keeping an eye on this as I have the same color and everything. I also used to have an e46 so we have the same taste in rides! Here's mine so far: