Madmike4390 Build Thread

[mireland4390]

So first off i wanna tell everyone that I am a total newbie to this 4runner game. I just bought my 2004 T4R SR5 V8 2WD in Feb.2011 and have fell in love with it! I have always liked T4R's because of the back window for my dogs but i never realized how awsome they really are. And this forum is just building to my obession lol
When i bought it the previous owner had already put on 15% tint all around, viper alarm system, and wind deflectors on the windows...i have done everything else.


But to get to the point...I am SLOWLY but surely doing things here and there to my 4runner to make it my own. Like i said..I am a newbie still so dont get your hopes up on seeing anything exciting but here is what i have done so far...and yes, there is going to be A LOT more to come so ill keep adding everytime i do something. Hope you guys like :]

1st say Hi to my baby!

 

[mireland4390]

The 1st thing that i wanted to do was buy some floor mats because the previous owner decided to leave me hangin and not keep the mats in it...(i bought it from the stealership). So after doing research and finding out that the weathertechs and husky liners were the most popular but when i saw the price i immediately X'ed them out. I ended up just going to wal-mart and finding some Goodyear All-Weather floor mats for $30! it came with the driver,passenger and 2 little squares for the back. They are no weathertechs or husky's but they do an awsome job of keeping dirt off my floors and are very easy to clean...Goodyear also makes a mat for the whole back seat that goes across the middle and everything i just thought i would try the squares out 1st because no one really sits in my back seats anyways. Like i said...they were $30!!!! and they do the job GREAT. I only had to do small cutting to make the driver side fit perfect around the foot rest on the left side. Here are a couple pics of what they look like....OH...and yes they look like they dont match at all but i have a really sh**ty camera and they were taken in my garage(not the best lighting). it makes my interior look grey but its the tan color so they actually match pretty nicely

 

[mireland4390]

Then i got bored one day at the house and decided to take all my eblems off to give it a little more clean look (plus...if your not a T4R guru you dont know if its a limited, SR5, etc) lol

Just took a fishing leader and slid it behind the emblems which took off most of the sticky back then what was left i just took off with goo-gone...tunred out pretty damn good in my book

 

[mireland4390]

This is actually what made me think that i actually had the right to start a thread now lol
Today I decided to do the grill mod that techmen17 did on his T4R. All it is is gutter guard from home depot($8) and some zip-ties and i cut out strips to fit behind the grill and just tied them to it...sounds kinda sketchy but i made sure it was on there really good so it didnt look like crap. Idk why but for some reason my gutter guard is different than techmen's but i still love it...let me know wat you guys think!

and there will def be more to come with my 4runner so stay tuned...

 

[mireland4390]

^^^^^^sorry for the condition of my bumper....its love bug season here in FLA and you cant keep them damn things off! but dont worry i normally always keep her clean

 

[mireland4390]

so i looked into my grill and found out that im an idiiot and bought insullation fencing so i went back to home depot and bought wat i was supposed to...gutter guard.
and now my grill looks soo sick...i wish i was getting feed back from everyone so im not thinking its cool and it really looks stupid lol

i know its nothing big but id love to hear peoples feedback...heres wat the actual gutter guard looks like

 

[gaterose]

Looks good, I thought about doing something like this this. I even have the gutter guard at home, but since I switched out my headlights for '06 lights I'm working on a newer grill to hide the gaps from changing them.

The other stuff looked alright too. Insulation fencing?

Any other plans?

edit: hope that oil isn't dripping from the 4runner :

 

[Whitebeauty]

keep it up dude...theres so many things u can do...

 

[mireland4390]

haha

i just new someone was gonna say something about the oil...yea i had just done an oil change and had a little spillage so it was dripping out of my skid plate.
trust me...my ride is in tip top shape. my wife gets so annoyed with me sometimes cuz im always trying to do new things with it and keep it perfectly maintained..and of course her not knowing anything is like "its fine the way it is!"

and the insulation fence looked ok from close up you just couldnt really see it from far away so thats mainly why i switched to the gutter gaurd.

you should for sure do it gaterose...if i can do it anyone can and it only took me like an hour and a half if that. btw niiiice ride...i want to get a lift on my soo bad. but im still trying to learn more from all the lift threads on here before i do anything. probably just end up going with the daystar spacers for now then add on to that later...who knows

 

[gaterose]

haha

i just new someone was gonna say something about the oil...

btw niiiice ride...i want to get a lift on my soo bad. but im still trying to learn more from all the lift threads on here before i do anything. probably just end up going with the daystar spacers for now then add on to that later...who knows

Haha I had to do it!

Thanks for the compliment! Yeah there is a ton of info on here about lifting and what kind of lift is best for what needs. It's cheaper to do it right the first time..

I'd recommend waiting until you get what you want though. I have a small spacer and FJ springs, now the bilstein 5100s and FJ springs, and not I'm think about upgrading to the overland warehouse suspension.

Good luck with your choices and keep us posted!

 

[A10MileHusker]

From experience, just get the adjustable Coilovers from the get go. I ran a 3" spacer lift and just installed the COs and you will love them SO much more! I wish I would have just saved up a little longer and bought the Coilovers from the beginning.

But your rig looks good! Love that gutter guard. Did that on my Saab I had awhile back but haven't done the 4R yet. Looks better on darker cars IMO.

Welcome! :hello:

 

[techmen17]

That grill mod came out good man!! Good work

 

[2TreeManor]

I like the insullation wires as well as the gutter for a few reasons. If you do the blacked out headlight mod then your grill will match it better. But for now, the silver is fine. Any particular reason you went with the tan floor mats instead of a black or grey? BTW the debadge looks good and has me trying to convince the SO to allow me to take them off the sides.

 

[mireland4390]

I like the insullation wires as well as the gutter for a few reasons. If you do the blacked out headlight mod then your grill will match it better. But for now, the silver is fine. Any particular reason you went with the tan floor mats instead of a black or grey? BTW the debadge looks good and has me trying to convince the SO to allow me to take them off the sides.

i went with the tan matts cuz it actually matches A LOT better then it looks like it does lol

i have the tan interior and the mats are basically the same tan(maybe a little darker) but it looks way better in person...i wish i had a better pic to show everyone cuz your not the only person that has asked me why i didnt go with black or grey

but i like them so i guess thats all that matters

 

[mireland4390]

From experience, just get the adjustable Coilovers from the get go. I ran a 3" spacer lift and just installed the COs and you will love them SO much more! I wish I would have just saved up a little longer and bought the Coilovers from the beginning.

But your rig looks good! Love that gutter guard. Did that on my Saab I had awhile back but haven't done the 4R yet. Looks better on darker cars IMO.

Welcome! :hello:

i would love a bigger lift then just the spacer but im not educated enough to do that yet. i freakin LOVE your lift and you said get the coilovers but then you have different rear springs as well?

the thing that i dont really understand is if i were to do a bigger lift like say, the coilovers, wat else would i need? if anyhting.

 

[mireland4390]

That grill mod came out good man!! Good work

hey thanks techmen...wouldnt have done it without ya.

hopefully we can start a new trend...if its not one already haha

 

[A10MileHusker]

i would love a bigger lift then just the spacer but im not educated enough to do that yet. i freakin LOVE your lift and you said get the coilovers but then you have different rear springs as well?

the thing that i dont really understand is if i were to do a bigger lift like say, the coilovers, wat else would i need? if anyhting.

Either way you will need to do something to your rear if you do a spacer lift up front or else it will just look goofy with the rear as stock.

Option 1: Spacer up front, Spacer in rear - cheapest way
Option 2: spacer up front, Springs in rear - Cheap but better for off roading
Option 3 Coilovers up front, Springs in rear - more expensive but all around better for off roading.

Also with the CO's up front you can accompany more weight if you ever had future plans for a front bumper. My bumper should be done in a week or so and so I got the 2.5 Overland Warehouse Radflo Coilovers to really help with the weight. The 2.5s are REAL heavy duty and able to hole a ton of weight. With Spacers, if you add the weight of a bumper to the front your front will dip down.

If you dont have plans for any added weight, then I say go Option two. I was SO happy with that and wheeled the spacers hard but just wasn't going to cut it with my future plans.

You can find a TON of information at Toyota120.com. There are some 4Rs there that are truly incredible. Much more than what I'm at!

Thanks for the compliments man! Greatly appreciate it! Always here to answer questions!

Doug

 

[mireland4390]

so the springs in the back...ive seen people us FJ sets...would that give me a lift with a spacer up front or just stonger rear springs...cuz honestly i will prolly never do much off roading(i have 2wd) plus i live in florida which doesnt have any offroading terrain unless i want to go mudding and that just breaks stuff so i will not do that lol

all i want for my set up is to have about a 3" lift front and back...nothing too intense or expensive cuz like i said...VERY minimal offroading.
and no giant bumber for me..just a bull bar with some lights later. so im not worried about anything holding heavy weight..the heaviest things im gonna be hauling are jetskiis/boat or surfboards on top

 

[A10MileHusker]

Ya, im not sure what the FJ springs do. But you can find some info on here about them.

I happen to be selling my Lift if youre interested. I have the front spacer lift fully assembled with coils and shocks and rear coils as well. Pictured on the right. The new COs im running are on the left.

PM if interested

 

[mireland4390]

not really part of the "build" but picked up a d-ring shackle from harbor freight today for $10...will show some pics next time i actually do a mod lol

or if anyone wants to see it