fatfaka808
New member
sickest 4r bro !
Jesse1983
- Thread starter Jesse1983
- Start date
Jesse1983
5th Gen Moderator
Waxed the 4Runner this weekend. I used this Turtle Wax Black Box. I'm really impressed how good my paint looked when I was done. This is my first (and last) black vehicle because I hate how the black paint shows every imperfection. This kit did a good job of covering up swirl marks and making the black nice and deep. The process is a little lengthy, so you may want to set aside an entire day, or split the process into two days, which is what I did. Here are some pics:
kmiller8821
New member
Looks really sic Jessie. I agree with you on black, it's such a big pain in the a** to keep clean and it does show every little thing. (My girls last car was black.) great job
Antman
Elite Member
Nice! I owned a black truck once, never again.
If you don't already own one, get a California Duster at the autoparts store. Great for between washes when your rig is just dusty. The dirtier they get the better they work- I've had mine for 20 years now. Man, I'm gettin old.
Your 'Runner is really sweet!
If you don't already own one, get a California Duster at the autoparts store. Great for between washes when your rig is just dusty. The dirtier they get the better they work- I've had mine for 20 years now. Man, I'm gettin old.
Your 'Runner is really sweet!
Jesse1983
5th Gen Moderator
yup, still loving everything about this truck. Granted I didn't drive it long before lifting it, but it really drives great. In comparison to my 05 Tacoma, this 4Runner is 10X better. Once you lifted a Tacoma it opened up all kids of problems; vibrations, shudders, etc. The I think I have about 17,000 miles on it now and the suspension has done nothing but help my ride. I'm kind of bummed though because I've kind of run out of mods to do, so it's very possible that if there is a Tacoma redesign next year I may be jumping ship.
Jesse1983
5th Gen Moderator
I finished my retro this weekend. I'm very happy with the way they came out. The great thing about doing them yourself is that you get to make things just the way you want them. I didn't use a lot of epoxy or adhesive, these things are 95% bolted on and aren't going anywhere. I installed springs on the screws between the projector and the reflector bowl, this provides a lot of pressure against both, and keeps everything nice and tight. The project was time consuming though. I spent probably 5 hours taking the lights apart, dremeling the reflector bowls, and painting the reflector bowls. The I spent all of this weekend putting the lights back together and installing all the wiring. Anyway, I took some pics along the way:
This is how the projector sits in the reflector bowl.
I decided to tuck the relay's and bulk of the wiring from TRS in here. There is a plastic cover (not pictured) that conceals all this. And the relay's are bolted to the metal (you can see the gigantic gold screw, which is all i had in the garage). Once the plastic cover is back on, all you see is the power and ground coming out.
I stuffed their in-line fuse in the fuse box, and dremeled out a little hole for the wires.
The driver side ballast is mounted down and to the right of the battery. There is an empty hole you can use to bolt this down.
Passenger side ballast is mounted in this big empty area. You can see i just took that existing bolt off, slid the ballast mounting hardware under, and re-tightened.
So that's how everything is installed. As for the lights, I got the FX-R Stage 3 kit from TRS. I used the Orbit Shroud and customized it. I used eBay purchased headlights (Depo brand) and maybe I got lucky, but no fitment issues. They line up perfectly. Here is the final product:
I blacked out the marker lens while I was in there:
Installed:
I'll get some better pics eventually. Most of the pics I took had me in the lens reflection and just didn't look good. I don't have a good camera, just my iPhone. Maybe I'll ask Antman to come up one day for a photoshoot.
better pics as of August 2013
This is how the projector sits in the reflector bowl.
I decided to tuck the relay's and bulk of the wiring from TRS in here. There is a plastic cover (not pictured) that conceals all this. And the relay's are bolted to the metal (you can see the gigantic gold screw, which is all i had in the garage). Once the plastic cover is back on, all you see is the power and ground coming out.
I stuffed their in-line fuse in the fuse box, and dremeled out a little hole for the wires.
The driver side ballast is mounted down and to the right of the battery. There is an empty hole you can use to bolt this down.
Passenger side ballast is mounted in this big empty area. You can see i just took that existing bolt off, slid the ballast mounting hardware under, and re-tightened.
So that's how everything is installed. As for the lights, I got the FX-R Stage 3 kit from TRS. I used the Orbit Shroud and customized it. I used eBay purchased headlights (Depo brand) and maybe I got lucky, but no fitment issues. They line up perfectly. Here is the final product:
I blacked out the marker lens while I was in there:
Installed:
I'll get some better pics eventually. Most of the pics I took had me in the lens reflection and just didn't look good. I don't have a good camera, just my iPhone. Maybe I'll ask Antman to come up one day for a photoshoot.
better pics as of August 2013
Last edited:
Johnny Utah
New member
it looks mean sir!
azn-sensation
New member
Awesome work! Welcome to the retrofit club!
mikey's2010SR5
New member
Doing the retro is definitely on my list of to dos. Damn I need some more cash!
4ShoreRunner
New member
One of my headlight bulbs burnt out this weekend...I almost used that as an excuse to just send my headlights to lightwerkz lol....wish I won that lotto!
