My first car that I actually owned (that wasn't my parents) was a 1994 SR5 I purchased in 2005 when I was 21. I LOVED that car. It had the 3.Slow and saggy rear springs, but it was a sweet dark blue color, leather interior with a sunroof, and a pretty good sound system. Unfortunately the engine went bad, and rather than pay for an engine rebuild I sold it in 2008.
I went through two sporty cars next. First was a 1999 Toyota Celica GT Convertible, cherry red, black leather, manual, with an 8 speaker sound system.
After I tired of fixing that convertible top, I sold the Celica in 2010 and got a 2002 Lexus IS300 sedan. It was pearl white, sunroof, with a two-tone interior black on beige. Fast and sexy, I loved that car. I even drove it to Alaska and back for my summer job. The only drawback was getting stuck in the snow, A LOT; stupid Utah winters.
Pic of the IS300 for fun.
Check out my garage for pics of the other cars if you want.
So this last Feb I started looking for another 4Runner. I narrowed it down to the '99-'02 range for a number of reasons. I wanted something with around 150k miles or less and most importantly
good cup holders (my how I hated my 2nd gen cupholders). I drove a few trucks before I found mine, but when I saw the color I had to have it. Dat Thundercloud Grey.
The truck is a 2001 SR5 with 125k miles when I bought it. It's not in perfect shape but overall it's solid. There's one dent in the tailgate and a few small paint chips. The seats are a little worn, but not too bad. Not a lot of frame rust, although the rear axle needs some TLC.
I don't have any pics of the door actuator replacement, nor the speaker install. Suffice it to say getting the lock mechanism out of the door was a PITA. Speakers were fairly easy, just re-using the stock wiring for now.
EDIT: I'll keep most of this antenna info here, because it may give someone an idea later. I've replaced this antenna with a better one that I fit through the firewall into the cab.
:Original Post:
We're heading down to Moab this weekend for a little camping, hiking, wheeling, so I decided I needed to get my HAM antenna installed. I grabbed all the parts from a local shop in Salt Lake City,
Communication Products check him out if you're in the area and need gear.
I started out my project by trying to locate a good spot to run the huge a** antenna connector through the firewall into the cab. I couldn't see an easy way to do it, so to T4R.org I went.
I decided to try out 4x4runner2002's suggestion of using the grommet below the pax carpet, as I didn't feel comfortable trying to push the antenna connector through the grommet with the main wire harness.
The lip mount is on the hood on the driver's side. I like the antenna up front where I can see it, so I won't break it off on something.
I know it may have more interference up here and if it's too bad I may move it to the tailgate at a later date.
I loosely ziptied the wire to the rear heater lines to keep it away from the exhaust. I'm concerned about getting interference from having the wire so close to the metal lines, but this was the only way I could see to keep the wire away from the cat.
I ran the wire from the grommet under the carpet, into the center console, and out next to the driver seat. (sorry for the blurrycam pics, cellphone camera's not so great sometimes).
I filled the hole I cut in the floor grommet with waterproof caulking to keep out dust and water.
