iversong's 2007 T4R Limited V6 Build Thread

[iversong]

I just bought my first 4Runner last month. The moment I drove it, I was hooked. Shortly after, I found this forum and the mods began. I think I may be developing a compulsion, but I am thoroughly enjoying my new 4Runner!

A week after purchasing my 4runner, I added a Nilight 20" LED Light Bar (hidden below the bumper) and and took off on a 4,000-mile trip from south Florida to Colorado. In CO I added an Aries Grille Guard.

 

[iversong]

Custom Satoshi Grille

Immediately after returning home from CO, my dad and I made a custom Satoshi grille. Sorry, didn't photograph the process.

I bought the mesh insert and Toyota emblem from customcargrills.com

 

[iversong]

Swapped out the lights with XtremeVision LED headlights. Also put in OPT7 LED fog lights and JDM LED backup lights (no picture) from Amazon. I like the way they look, but the headlights are so bright that the fog lights are useless from the driver's perspective.

 

[iversong]

Rola Cargo Basket

This past week, I added a Rola Cargo Basket (which would have been nice on the trip!)

 

[iversong]

Plasti Dipped Badges

This weekend I tried my first attempt at Plasti Dip. I was surprised with how easy it is to use, and I really like how it looks!

Now I'm planning on dipping the Toyota logo on the back. I also bought some Dupli-Color to repaint the small panel it sits on. I guess the plastic there is different or something because for some reason the paint there looks very cracked and weathered.

I also bought enough Plasti Dip to do my wheels. I want to try out the look before I either paint them or buy new ones.

 

[iversong]

Plasti Dipped Badges - Pt. 2

Yesterday I got a lot accomplished. I dipped my rear Toyota emblem, front wheels, and put in a Daystar front 2.5" spacer.

I have some Dupli Color Perfect Match paint coming so I can repaint the trim piece silver, so I'll have to redo this, but it looks good enough for now.

 

[iversong]

Plasti Dipped Wheels - Pt. 1

I want to see what my 4Runner looks like with black wheels, but I don't want to commit to $1,000 new wheels unless I'm 100% certain I love them. So, I decided to try out the look with Plasti Dip.

I pulled my wheels of to put in a spacer lift, so I figured that would be a good time to dip them.

The before shot.

Cleaned and ready to be taped up.

First couple of coats.

Gotta hit the hub caps too.

The finished product.

I only got around to the front wheels last night, since I had them off anyway. I need to do the rear wheels tonight or tomorrow. I'll post pictures of the final product under "Pt. 2"

 

[iversong]

Daystar 2.5" Front Spacer

I am interested in buying some 275/65R18 Falken Wild Peak A/T3W's for my 4Runner, so I have to lift it. To do this, I got a Daystar Comfort Ride 2.5" Strut and Coil Spring Spacer Kit from Amazon.

Last night I put the front spacer in.

Here are the spacers.

Taking off the wheel.

Need to detach the ABS and brake lines from the suspension.

Disconnect the bracket for the ABS line.

Another mount to remove.

Remove the nut on the upper ball joint.

Remove the lower bolt from the shock

Finished putting in the spacer, just need to crank down the nuts on top.

Put the wheel back on.

The (almost) final product. Like the mismatched wheels? I'll take photos after I dip the back wheels.

Now all 4 wheels are black.

 

[iversong]

SPPC Black CCFL Halo Projector Headlights

My SPPC headlight assemblies came yesterday. I couldn't wait to get them on.

The before shot

The new headlights - SPPC Black CCFL Halo Projector Headlights

Left side finished

Removing the old assemblies took quite a bit more work than expected. The top three screws were no problem, but for the fourth bottom one I had to go in through the wheel well. I ended up taking off the lower bumper grille while I was unscrewing things down there. I want to put an LED bar in there later.

Got both working

The final product

 

[S p a r k y]

Looks great! You can use spray paint on top of the dip. Creates a shell like an m&m to protect dip and lasts much much longer. Can be removed, just messier! You can change wheel colors by just spraying more.

Extremely clean 4runner btw

 

[iversong]

Looks great! You can use spray paint on top of the dip. Creates a shell like an m&m to protect dip and lasts much much longer. Can be removed, just messier! You can change wheel colors by just spraying more.

Thanks for the tip. I have actually tried this already. I used plasti-dip as a sort of mask. I used the plasti-dip, spray painted over it, then pulled it all off to reveal the original color. Worked great!

Extremely clean 4runner btw

I was surprised how clean it was when I bought it in December. I think an older couple owned it. They know how to take care of their stuff!

 

[iversong]

Repainting plastic trim on back door

The paint on the plastic trim on my back door was cracked and pitted when I bought the car, so I got some Dupli-Color Perfect Match to repaint it.

Here's a picture from before I did anything. I had the idea of Plasti Dipping the Toyota emblem ask as a mask. I spray painted over it, then just peeled off the Plasti Dip.

In this picture, you can see all of the cracks and scratched paint.

I sprayed 3 or 4 coats, then did several more clear coats. The next day I removed the Plasti Dip.

I Plasti Dipped the emblem again. This time I'm leaving it on.

All done!

 

[iversong]

265/70R18 Falken Wildpeak A/T3W Tires

I got my new Falken Wildpeak A/T3W tires this week. I was so excited to get them put on.

Tires were delivered earlier than expected.

I am going up from OEM 265/60R18 to 265/70R18. That's going from 30.5" to 32.5" tires so I was expecting to have some rubbing.

Taking the tires to the shop.

The tires were rubbing under turn (where the red arrows are) so I had to push the fender liner forward and trim the edge of the fenders (blue arrows).

I also had to take off the mud flaps.

These changes got rid of all rubbing except for a slight bit when backing up. If I turn the wheel all the way to the left or right, the tires barely rub something (I think it's the frame), but this is uncommon enough that I'm not concerned.

The final product

I love these tires. I decided to go up from stock size (265/60R18) road tires to these because I wanted a bigger tire, and I want to do some mild off-roading. Even though I had to push the fender lining forward, trim the plastic, and remove the mud flaps, the tires look great. I notice that the car has a little less acceleration because these are about 2" bigger than my previous tires, and the speedometer is off by about 10% now. All of this was expected though. What disappointed me is that Walmart would not mount them nor give hazard warranty because they said they are "too big." I went to a local tire shop to get them put on.

 

[iversong]

Roof Mounts

I have completed several small jobs this week. I got stuck in some sugar sand a couple of weeks ago, so I decided to cary a shovel and some traction mats with me everywhere I go.

The first project was mounting my shovel on my roof rack. I searched for a mount online, but the cheapest one I could find on Amazon was $50! I decided that I could make my own out of parts from Lowe's.

I found some pipe clamps that looked like they would work. They are basically u-bolts with pieces of metal across the two bolts. With that tightened down, the bolts should be long enough to fit the shovel.

With the shovel in place, I put another piece of metal across the two bolts and tightened down two thumb nuts.

By the way, the I got the Fiskars shovel on Amazon.

After getting stuck a few weeks ago, I bought some TRED traction mats online. When looking for a way to mount them to my cargo rack, the cheapest solution I could find was $45 on Amazon. Again, I figured I could make my own.

I got some metal truss straps, some small u-bolts, and some 5/16" x 6" bolts. I drilled holes in the truss straps to accomodate the bolts, then cut some pieces of scrap PVC to work as spacers to hold up the traction mats.

Here's what the traction mats look like mounted on the brackets I made. I got some straps from Walmart to tie down the mats.

 

[iversong]

Grille guard back on

A few weeks ago I took the lower grille off so I can put my LED bar down there. Now that I have that off, I put the grille guard back on today.

 

[iversong]

Nilight 20" LED Bar Mount

Today I finally mounted my LED bar in the lower grille.

I bought some hardware at Lowe's, including a couple of angle brackets. I decided to mount them to the back of the bumper in the four factory-drilled holes. However, I had to drill holes through the front of the bumper bumper so I could put bolts all the way through. I had to cut the angle brackets, bend them, and drill holes to get them to work.

The view from inside the engine bay.

Front view

Final product with the LED bar off.

Final product with the LED bar on.

I may get some grille mesh to match my Satoshi grille. I haven't decided yet...