96RedRunner
Senior Member
[MENTION=221666]Joelzy[/MENTION], Good to hear move went well!
Did you dolly Runner pull drive shaft or trailer it?
Did you dolly Runner pull drive shaft or trailer it?
Joelzy's 96 5SPD(daily) & 5VZ block-up rebuild
- Thread starter Joelzy
- Start date
Joelzy
New member
Thank you! It was hectic in the time crunch but got through it all.
I dollied it with my wife’s frontier. Disconnected the driveshaft at the rear end and just strapped it up out of the way. Went great until we hit snow and it didnt stop until we got to Layton. So the last 3rd of the trip was 30mph. Took about 27 hours when we were expecting 22-24.
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Joelzy
New member
Joelzy's 3rd gen & 5VZ block-up rebuild
Finally got some work done yesterday
Didnt realize how terrible the exhaust was until i dug in and i was very glad to get it replaced with the gibson catback i ordered from [MENTION=9]Jason B[/MENTION]
I knew i had some leaks as you could hear them under rpm but it was way worse than i thought.
Didnt think it would effect performance but it is noticeably more responsive to throttle now and of course the sound is great. Very happy with it.
Ill try to get a good quality sound clip soon
Also got my sway bar brackets in with new bushings and added a spacer to the passenger rear upper spring bucket to level out the passenger dip.
Got my [MENTION=28464]eimkeith[/MENTION] panhard bar correction kit but did not get a chance to install just yet, hopefully next weekend
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Finally got some work done yesterday
Didnt realize how terrible the exhaust was until i dug in and i was very glad to get it replaced with the gibson catback i ordered from [MENTION=9]Jason B[/MENTION]
I knew i had some leaks as you could hear them under rpm but it was way worse than i thought.
Didnt think it would effect performance but it is noticeably more responsive to throttle now and of course the sound is great. Very happy with it.
Ill try to get a good quality sound clip soon
Also got my sway bar brackets in with new bushings and added a spacer to the passenger rear upper spring bucket to level out the passenger dip.
Got my [MENTION=28464]eimkeith[/MENTION] panhard bar correction kit but did not get a chance to install just yet, hopefully next weekend
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weekendclimber
New member
I did my O2 sensors recently and even with little to no rust on a WA only rig I still had to use Irwin bolt extractors to get the nuts off. That exhaust looks 50 times worse!! Good job! :cheer2:
Joelzy
New member
Thanks! Luckily i was able to cut it in a few places and pull it all out but if i had tried to unbolt it i’d have been in trouble for sure.
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DreadPirateJon
New member
Dude,
You've done a lot of great work on a pretty tight schedule. I'm really impressed.
You've done a lot of great work on a pretty tight schedule. I'm really impressed.
Joelzy
New member
Well thank you, i appreciate that, trying to get it in where i can. My daily being in texas for the winter really pressed me to get it drivable so here i am.
Also, strangely enough the ABS system seems to have fixed itself. Light has been on and i think it was down since i got it running and all of the sudden the light went off and abs seems to be working... not sure i love that though.
No CELs?!? This is new territory for me
Traded in the wife’s pro4x on a brand new highlander last night. Wasnt going to pull the trigger but they kept coming down until the payment was almost the same for a 19 with all the bells and whistles. Little fancy for me but she loves it and it has room for all of the dogs and babies that i suppose will be happening at some point.
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CdaleR4000si
New member
[MENTION=221666]Joelzy[/MENTION], Congrats on the Highlander. We bought a 2018 for my wife a few months ago, she loves it! And I am glad to have another Toyota in the driveway.
Joelzy
New member
Joelzy's 3rd gen & 5VZ block-up rebuild
Thanks! Yeah I'm pretty happy with it too but honestly it hasnt left the garage since the night we brought it home as she works from the house and its been snowing. I prefer the 4runner in general but especially when there is a chance of someone sliding into me.
Ordered the LEDs to swap out all my dash lights and might be grabbing a new headunit and a rear door speaker soon as im finally starting on creature comfort things as i drive it every day.
Need a little warmer day so i can put in my panhard bar correction kit, run the new foglights i bought and potentially start a front skid to clean up the front end.
here is a quick sketchup of what im planning with the lights and skid.
Thanks! Yeah I'm pretty happy with it too but honestly it hasnt left the garage since the night we brought it home as she works from the house and its been snowing. I prefer the 4runner in general but especially when there is a chance of someone sliding into me.
Ordered the LEDs to swap out all my dash lights and might be grabbing a new headunit and a rear door speaker soon as im finally starting on creature comfort things as i drive it every day.
Need a little warmer day so i can put in my panhard bar correction kit, run the new foglights i bought and potentially start a front skid to clean up the front end.
here is a quick sketchup of what im planning with the lights and skid.
phattyduck
Elite Member
That could turn out really nice - are you planning on using the front frame rail bolt hole and maybe the side bumper bracket holes to mount the 'upper' part of that front skid?here is a quick sketchup of what im planning with the lights and skid.
-Charlie
PS. I like the dog in the front seat. :biggrin2:
Joelzy
New member
Lol yeah that dog loves car rides so i take him with me as much as i can.
I cut the factory ends off the frame but happened to have some brackets that fit really nicely in the end so i’ll be using those to mount to the front and yeah probably the side brackets as an extra support as well depending on how wide i go.
These arent currently welded in just hammered into the rail and fit snug but i’ll weld them in and bolt to them.
We’ll see how it goes, if it doesnt work out i’ll actually buy some material and start over rather than using the scraps i currently have.
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96RedRunner
Senior Member
The fog's look trick mounted like that.
Joelzy
New member
Thanks hoping to get them actually mounted this weekend. Weather has been keeping me from working on the outside of the 4R but i’ve been tinkering on the insidey parts in the meantime.
Currently about halfway through my red LED conversion.
Couldnt find what the tiny bulbs are in some spots but was able to fake the look currently by removing bulb gels and green film on some.
The temp stripe looks a bit weird but I dont mind it so much. photo doesnt really show it well but the red looks pretty good. The clock is a bit dark as needed a few layers of red to actually get the color I wanted but that is with the lights on so its dimmed on top of that.
Hoping to wrap but the dash panel and ignition today and need to see about LEDs for the maps lights
If anyone local to the SLC area wants some, i have most of a roll of red film for changing the clock color. just come get some or all of it
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Joelzy
New member
Joelzy's 96 5SPD & 5VZ block-up rebuild
Didnt make as much progress as i would have liked but i got somewhere at least...
• got the under headlight panels remounted, its weird i had to drill new holes as the original mounting is over an inch off... maybe i wasnt as close as i thought on my core support rebuild but it matches side to side and drilling a new hole was easy enough :cheers:
• pulled the grille off and prepped/painted it but think i might get a spare and build something different eventually
• dont have pics but replaced all of the door speakers with new fosgates, didnt get new tweeters but realize now that i should.
• cleaned the hell out of all the dash pieces and redid the clock with one less layer of film so it shows up a little brighter now but still has a good red tone
• all of the dash is now red LED which looks awesome compared to the pale green.(dont mind the airbag and ABS, i have the airbag off currently and the ABS was grabbing randomly so i pulled the fuse until i have the time to diagnose)
• the ignition ring wasnt showing up as much as i'd have liked so i sanded the inside edge a little to disperse the light around the corner better. worked a little.
• While i was at it i went ahead and pulled the cluster apart and realized the PO had scratched the cover pretty good, so i polished it out and got it looking great again.
• Was well on my way to gettting these mounted when i realized i was out of argon and cannot find the metal pieces i kept to make some brackets so mounting them is for another day :hurt:
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Didnt make as much progress as i would have liked but i got somewhere at least...
• got the under headlight panels remounted, its weird i had to drill new holes as the original mounting is over an inch off... maybe i wasnt as close as i thought on my core support rebuild but it matches side to side and drilling a new hole was easy enough :cheers:
• pulled the grille off and prepped/painted it but think i might get a spare and build something different eventually
• dont have pics but replaced all of the door speakers with new fosgates, didnt get new tweeters but realize now that i should.
• cleaned the hell out of all the dash pieces and redid the clock with one less layer of film so it shows up a little brighter now but still has a good red tone
• all of the dash is now red LED which looks awesome compared to the pale green.(dont mind the airbag and ABS, i have the airbag off currently and the ABS was grabbing randomly so i pulled the fuse until i have the time to diagnose)
• the ignition ring wasnt showing up as much as i'd have liked so i sanded the inside edge a little to disperse the light around the corner better. worked a little.
• While i was at it i went ahead and pulled the cluster apart and realized the PO had scratched the cover pretty good, so i polished it out and got it looking great again.
• Was well on my way to gettting these mounted when i realized i was out of argon and cannot find the metal pieces i kept to make some brackets so mounting them is for another day :hurt:
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Joelzy
New member
Joelzy's 96 5SPD & 5VZ block-up rebuild
Got a little done
Swapped in the perfect taillights that [MENTION=102606]infamousRNR[/MENTION] found for me [emoji44]
Thank you again man!
Dont mind the purple tint, its period correct
Also painted the back bumper black as i was really tired of looking at the chrome and i think im a ways out on a plate rear.
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Got a little done
Swapped in the perfect taillights that [MENTION=102606]infamousRNR[/MENTION] found for me [emoji44]
Thank you again man!
Dont mind the purple tint, its period correct
Also painted the back bumper black as i was really tired of looking at the chrome and i think im a ways out on a plate rear.
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Joelzy
New member
Little update, making some progress
Decided to ditch the frame ends i had in there and start over not only in case i end up buying a bumper, but also so i can build a crossbeam and skid for now that will eventually replace the factory skid.
Tig welder is acting up and didnt want to waste the day diagnosing so i bought a harbor freight 100 dollar mig and i have to say, im pretty pleased with it. Slag is bad but it’ll run a bead
Hard to really tell but i built a crossbeam and start of a skid that currently just overlaps the factory. It’ll eventually get continued to replace the thinner stuff.
Crossbeam is thicker box tube that i notched for the frame ends to slide into then added the end caps. Shouldve taken more progress pics
Probably build upwards from there too eventually
Also removed the rickity factory roof bars in preparation something more substantial
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Decided to ditch the frame ends i had in there and start over not only in case i end up buying a bumper, but also so i can build a crossbeam and skid for now that will eventually replace the factory skid.
Tig welder is acting up and didnt want to waste the day diagnosing so i bought a harbor freight 100 dollar mig and i have to say, im pretty pleased with it. Slag is bad but it’ll run a bead
Hard to really tell but i built a crossbeam and start of a skid that currently just overlaps the factory. It’ll eventually get continued to replace the thinner stuff.
Crossbeam is thicker box tube that i notched for the frame ends to slide into then added the end caps. Shouldve taken more progress pics
Probably build upwards from there too eventually
Also removed the rickity factory roof bars in preparation something more substantial
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Hwy88-Taco
New member
Check out Marlin for lots of upgrades and swaps. They’ve done the engeeniring and have the rep to back it up. They never underbuild anything. What is your end goal with this rig? Daily driver/ weekend warrior? Or dedicated off-road? The reason I ask is related to the Marlin suggestion. They have a transfer case called the “Taco box” that puts two transfer cases back to back lowering your crawl ratio and increasing the torque.
Can’t wait to see your progress. Good luck.
Can’t wait to see your progress. Good luck.
Joelzy
New member
Joelzy's 96 5SPD & 5VZ block-up rebuild
Finally got my Panhard bar correction kit from [MENTION=28464]eimkeith[/MENTION] installed today. Hardest part being the access to weld the front but not too bad even using the new dirt cheap flux mig i picked up.
dont mind the ugly welds
Ahhh so much better
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Finally got my Panhard bar correction kit from [MENTION=28464]eimkeith[/MENTION] installed today. Hardest part being the access to weld the front but not too bad even using the new dirt cheap flux mig i picked up.
dont mind the ugly welds
Ahhh so much better
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Joelzy
New member
Also got my fog light brackets built and installed. Still need to wire but pretty pleased with the turnout using the bumper mount studs.
I still need make small block offs for the inside of the inner lights
[on the fog brackets, i dont have any pics aside from the two i posted. Its a shame because i've had a lot of people ask about them but i cant guarantee mine would fint other people's bumpers as my front end is completely rebuilt and the bumper doesnt exactly fit like factory.
it was a bit of a rush job as the wife had made plans and i didnt want to wait until the following weekend. just used a piece of angle iron straight off the lower bumper stud. drill the hole in it and bolted it on making sure the fog brackets met the underside. One didn't, so had to make an extension for that one but before that i measured the angle and cut a piece of straight 1x to meet the angle iron and the upper bolt. marked the spots for the fogs to drill for mounts, pulled them out, tacked the pieces together in the bumper then pulled them out and welded them the rest of the way. drilled the other holes, painted and installed.
Here is a bad pic with some hopefully helpful sketching to show the layout
the fogs fit in the holes so tight that i was able to bascially build the bracket around them]
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I still need make small block offs for the inside of the inner lights
[on the fog brackets, i dont have any pics aside from the two i posted. Its a shame because i've had a lot of people ask about them but i cant guarantee mine would fint other people's bumpers as my front end is completely rebuilt and the bumper doesnt exactly fit like factory.
it was a bit of a rush job as the wife had made plans and i didnt want to wait until the following weekend. just used a piece of angle iron straight off the lower bumper stud. drill the hole in it and bolted it on making sure the fog brackets met the underside. One didn't, so had to make an extension for that one but before that i measured the angle and cut a piece of straight 1x to meet the angle iron and the upper bolt. marked the spots for the fogs to drill for mounts, pulled them out, tacked the pieces together in the bumper then pulled them out and welded them the rest of the way. drilled the other holes, painted and installed.
Here is a bad pic with some hopefully helpful sketching to show the layout
the fogs fit in the holes so tight that i was able to bascially build the bracket around them]
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