This weekend I changed my 97 map lights and worthless “garage door opener” holder to a 99 unit with a sunglass holder. It was pretty straightforward and I followed
the write up on 4runners.org , but I changed a few things.
I didn’t cut away as much as on the write up but it worked just fine. You’ll be able to see my hack job in the pictures.
You need to extend the power wire for the map lights and add a ground wire. Instead of making a new connector, I just cut the connector out of the original map lights. The 3 inches of so of wire on it is adequate for the new console.
Then I added a ground wire with a ring connector to the 99 console and extended the power wire with the old connector.
Instead of adding a new screw I sanded down to bare metal where one of the old screws from the 97 map lights attached (that would now go unused) and attached the ground wire there.
Next you need to cut an additional hole in the light diffuser for the additional moonroof button in the 97. I taped the diffuser to the old console like in the write up, and traced where the hole would go.
After that I drilled out the corners and used a cut off wheel in a dremel to cut most of the rectangle out.
Maybe if I was more patient and used a slower speed and less pressure this wouldn’t have turned out so aweful, but it cleaned up alright in the end.
I really didn’t want the lettering for the 99 controls, and in the write up he wasn’t able to find a good way. Before I did any cutting I tried a little bit of acetone where I was going to cut it out anyways. It removed the lettering amazingly, but it also messed up the finish on the diffuser, and some of the acetone ran over into the area that wasn’t going to be cut out.
I tried gently scraping the lettering off with a card scraper and a razor blade, both had no effect. Then I put my buffing wheel on my bench grinder with a medium compound. That worked really well.
There are only two problems. The first is that the compound got all over the plastic. It was easy to come off the front but it collected in the textured part of the back. It took a while to figure out how to clean it out, but dish soap and a stiff bristled brush did the trick.
The other problem is that the diffuser has a matte finish, and where I used the buffing wheel it turned out much glossier and smooth. It feels different but it’s not noticeable visually.
The marred area to the left of the new hole is where the acetone spilled over.
Here’s the finished product.
I made the new hole a little too far to the left, so it took some additional file work to get it to fit, and there is a little bit of a gap on the left, but I can live with it. Also the front and back of the opening should be beveled so that the switch moves freely. The moonmist on the 99 is a little bit lighter than on the earlier 4Runners but I'm sure it's a closer match than anything I'd find in a spray can. I’m okay with how it turned out but if I find another diffuser I’ll do it over again. If anyone wants to avoid making the hole and wants to trade let me know.
Nice way to spend a little time on the weekend. Now my sunglasses have a home.
