JVC8790
New member
I recently picked up a 2004 4Runner Limited V8 for my new daily so I figured I would start a thread to chronicle its “build” (although I hesitate to truly call it a build). This is going to be my daily and is my entry into the world off of pavement.
My background is largely filled with Volvos. My family had Volvos as I grew up and I have had a few myself and love them. Earlier in 2018 I got bit by the SUV bug after a friend had me pick up an XC90 V8 for him here in Ohio and hold onto it until he arranged shipment back to Maryland. I drove it a bit and realized that I needed to “upgrade” my daily and acquire an SUV of some kind.
After a few months, I fell off the XC90 V8 train as I was starting to find it hard to find exactly what I wanted and inherently, they can be pricey to fix if you don’t buy the right one from the get go.
Right around this time, I made a last minute trip to SEMA with a friend of mine and then detoured home with him for two days to Denver. While in Denver, we took out his Jeep JK into the mountains to explore and ended up getting caught in a rather windy snow storm and had my first experience in offroading.
Side Story: This friend of mine owns a few cars that are rented out on Turo in Denver which include a JK, a Subaru STI and a 5th Gen 4Runner, when I came in town that weekend both the 4Runner and STI were already rented out, otherwise we probably would have taken the STI to Pikes Peak or not gone nearly as far off road in the stockish 5th Gen.
Later that day I sat at the airport and began my search for a new daily. Realizing that the JK had very little creature comforts, I knew a Jeep wasn’t going to be the solution. Then looking into 4Runners from the suggestion of my friend, I started to look at pictures and fell in love with 4th gens.
As usual with car guys, I got home and spent every waking moment looking online and reading forums, browsing Instagram, and searching craigslist for what I wanted in a 4Runner. After a brief chat with a friend who has owned a few 4th Gens in his day, he asked some questions and helped me come up with the list that I wanted as it came out below.
V8 4WD
Not Black Exterior (White preferred, red, blue, or sand acceptable)
Not Tan Interior (Black preferred, gray alright, preference to leather and heated seats)
Under 150k-160k
Priced under $12k out the door.
Frame in alright shape and not rotted through (okay with needing some light work)
I searched for a while, almost gave up, then test drove an Urban Runner priced at $11k, and realized that a V6 might not be that bad of an option. Knowing that my towing needs would be largely limited to a 1-2 place Jet Ski Trailer, and a car trailer once a year at most, I changed my search to include V6’s.
Within a week of test driving that Urban Runner, a friend of mine hit me up since he heard that I was looking for a white 4th Gen V8 and he connected me with a buddy of his who happened to have just the car I was looking for and was willing to sell it as he had planned to sell it anyways in the spring.
His price was fair, I didn’t feel the need to negotiate and the history of the vehicle was good because it was a 2 owner with him being the second owner and also a Toyota Technician.
2004 V8 Limited 4WD
White Exterior
Gray Leather Interior
156k – all fluids recently changed (oil, coolant, trans, t-case, diff)
Slight exhaust manifold crack and power steering whine when cold (neither of which have been that noticeable to me)
Picked it up yesterday and had to give it a quick clean up, here are a few pictures from Day 1!
Completed my first few “mods” this weekend which included LED Lighting throughout the interior from SuperBrightLEDs.com. I went with Natural white to avoid the typically blue hue of LED Interior bulbs. I am really happy with the color on these overall and they’ve got a really good brightness that’s not overwhelming but just perfect in my opinion. Next thing will be to do the Map Light Mod so that the fronts come on when the door is opened the same as the rears.
I also installed LED Reverse and License plate lights in “natural white” too. The Plate lights are perfect in my opinion, and the reverse lights are a tad warmer than the others. Also, I had some difficulty with one of the bulb holders for the reverse bulbs not wanting to make contact in the headlight. I might have to troubleshoot it a bit to see why it’s not working perfectly and occasionally flickers or doesn’t turn on from vibration of driving. (License Plate is from my other car for the time being, still looking at ideas for Vanity Plates for the 4Runner).
Popped in some Nokya Yellow Fog Light bulbs to hold me over until I pick up some Element LED Amber Cannons.
I also made a drive about an hour and a half north of Cincinnati and picked up a white sport hood! Here’s the best pic I have of it on the roof wrapped up from the drive home. It’s got a few more rock chips than my hood has currently so I’m going to address some of those before installation and before I have the whole truck detailed to bring back the shine on this single stage white paint.
No pictures of this stuff at the moment, but my next steps are to install the Pioneer headunit I removed from my Volvo Wagon, as well as the new reverse camera I bought from my friend’s shop here in Cincinnati. I also managed to pick up the tailgate trim from the 4Runner I got the hood from (it was being parted out) so that I could install the reverse camera in it ahead of mounting to the trunk.
Rough plans for this are as follows
- Wire Wheel and Rust Protect Frame
- Pioneer Head unit from my Volvo Wagon (aftermarket Clarion is dated and has some interference issues)
- Back Up Camera (purchased, not installed yet)
- Tacoma TRD Off-road Front Struts (Bilstein 4600)
- FJ Trail Team Rear Springs (already ordered)
- 8” JBL Sub Upgrade with Aftermarket Amp
- Wheel/Tire Package (Possibly 5th Gen TRD Pro, otherwise Rotiform or Fifteen52)
- Projector Retrofit (possibly facelift swap first?)
- LED Tail Lights (06-09)
- Black Carpet installation (gray is a bit gross and I want to do more black stuff in the interior)
My background is largely filled with Volvos. My family had Volvos as I grew up and I have had a few myself and love them. Earlier in 2018 I got bit by the SUV bug after a friend had me pick up an XC90 V8 for him here in Ohio and hold onto it until he arranged shipment back to Maryland. I drove it a bit and realized that I needed to “upgrade” my daily and acquire an SUV of some kind.
After a few months, I fell off the XC90 V8 train as I was starting to find it hard to find exactly what I wanted and inherently, they can be pricey to fix if you don’t buy the right one from the get go.
Right around this time, I made a last minute trip to SEMA with a friend of mine and then detoured home with him for two days to Denver. While in Denver, we took out his Jeep JK into the mountains to explore and ended up getting caught in a rather windy snow storm and had my first experience in offroading.
Side Story: This friend of mine owns a few cars that are rented out on Turo in Denver which include a JK, a Subaru STI and a 5th Gen 4Runner, when I came in town that weekend both the 4Runner and STI were already rented out, otherwise we probably would have taken the STI to Pikes Peak or not gone nearly as far off road in the stockish 5th Gen.
Later that day I sat at the airport and began my search for a new daily. Realizing that the JK had very little creature comforts, I knew a Jeep wasn’t going to be the solution. Then looking into 4Runners from the suggestion of my friend, I started to look at pictures and fell in love with 4th gens.
As usual with car guys, I got home and spent every waking moment looking online and reading forums, browsing Instagram, and searching craigslist for what I wanted in a 4Runner. After a brief chat with a friend who has owned a few 4th Gens in his day, he asked some questions and helped me come up with the list that I wanted as it came out below.
V8 4WD
Not Black Exterior (White preferred, red, blue, or sand acceptable)
Not Tan Interior (Black preferred, gray alright, preference to leather and heated seats)
Under 150k-160k
Priced under $12k out the door.
Frame in alright shape and not rotted through (okay with needing some light work)
I searched for a while, almost gave up, then test drove an Urban Runner priced at $11k, and realized that a V6 might not be that bad of an option. Knowing that my towing needs would be largely limited to a 1-2 place Jet Ski Trailer, and a car trailer once a year at most, I changed my search to include V6’s.
Within a week of test driving that Urban Runner, a friend of mine hit me up since he heard that I was looking for a white 4th Gen V8 and he connected me with a buddy of his who happened to have just the car I was looking for and was willing to sell it as he had planned to sell it anyways in the spring.
His price was fair, I didn’t feel the need to negotiate and the history of the vehicle was good because it was a 2 owner with him being the second owner and also a Toyota Technician.
2004 V8 Limited 4WD
White Exterior
Gray Leather Interior
156k – all fluids recently changed (oil, coolant, trans, t-case, diff)
Slight exhaust manifold crack and power steering whine when cold (neither of which have been that noticeable to me)
Picked it up yesterday and had to give it a quick clean up, here are a few pictures from Day 1!
Completed my first few “mods” this weekend which included LED Lighting throughout the interior from SuperBrightLEDs.com. I went with Natural white to avoid the typically blue hue of LED Interior bulbs. I am really happy with the color on these overall and they’ve got a really good brightness that’s not overwhelming but just perfect in my opinion. Next thing will be to do the Map Light Mod so that the fronts come on when the door is opened the same as the rears.
I also installed LED Reverse and License plate lights in “natural white” too. The Plate lights are perfect in my opinion, and the reverse lights are a tad warmer than the others. Also, I had some difficulty with one of the bulb holders for the reverse bulbs not wanting to make contact in the headlight. I might have to troubleshoot it a bit to see why it’s not working perfectly and occasionally flickers or doesn’t turn on from vibration of driving. (License Plate is from my other car for the time being, still looking at ideas for Vanity Plates for the 4Runner).
Popped in some Nokya Yellow Fog Light bulbs to hold me over until I pick up some Element LED Amber Cannons.
I also made a drive about an hour and a half north of Cincinnati and picked up a white sport hood! Here’s the best pic I have of it on the roof wrapped up from the drive home. It’s got a few more rock chips than my hood has currently so I’m going to address some of those before installation and before I have the whole truck detailed to bring back the shine on this single stage white paint.
No pictures of this stuff at the moment, but my next steps are to install the Pioneer headunit I removed from my Volvo Wagon, as well as the new reverse camera I bought from my friend’s shop here in Cincinnati. I also managed to pick up the tailgate trim from the 4Runner I got the hood from (it was being parted out) so that I could install the reverse camera in it ahead of mounting to the trunk.
Rough plans for this are as follows
- Wire Wheel and Rust Protect Frame
- Pioneer Head unit from my Volvo Wagon (aftermarket Clarion is dated and has some interference issues)
- Back Up Camera (purchased, not installed yet)
- Tacoma TRD Off-road Front Struts (Bilstein 4600)
- FJ Trail Team Rear Springs (already ordered)
- 8” JBL Sub Upgrade with Aftermarket Amp
- Wheel/Tire Package (Possibly 5th Gen TRD Pro, otherwise Rotiform or Fifteen52)
- Projector Retrofit (possibly facelift swap first?)
- LED Tail Lights (06-09)
- Black Carpet installation (gray is a bit gross and I want to do more black stuff in the interior)
