New member into/ build thread from the beginning.

[momo.75]

WHOA, couple years!! i could not stand it for the month i had this truck!!

Do it, you will NOT regret it. best thing to do is make sure a body shop is open that you plan to take it to for the welding. best suggestion is ask around first for price quotes if you dont have someone lined up to do such a thing for you

btw- feel free to PM me if you need more help.

Yep, i have had my truck for over 10 years now. It was just rocking but it has gotten worse. I had taken it to the dealership and they wanted $800 for a new seat frame and around $250 for installation......i wasn't going to pay that.

Luckily a buddy of mine has a welder. I talked to him about going out to his house an taking my seat out there. Hopefully it works out for this weekend.

 

[gshadow325]

i'm telling you...you will be kicking yourself in the BUTT for not doing this sooner.

4 bolts for the seats, 4 covers covering those bolts, two clips for the seat and it pops out. flip it over and move a seat cover a little bit and you golden

good luck

 

[BOSMECH]

gshadow this is a great write up and congrats on the great deal on your 03.
I also have a 03 from the orig oldman owner is a great truck and I ahve had camaros (lots of tickets) BMW, firebirds, chevy trucks etc. etc. and I just love this T4R, when I first got it I bought it only for reliabilty and I thought it was kind of Japanessylooking but now I love the looks of it and the quality of the build the thing is bullet proof.

 

[Nathana92]

your drving experience will be SOOOOOOO much better!! it was annoying the hell out of me!!

I fixed mine over the weekend, I posed a quick write-up on it. It makes a huge difference. Like huge. I was close to buying Recaro's so that I could actually drive my truck. I'm pretty heavy so all the weight being shifted to the right side of my lower back would make my back knot up something awful. After the weld it's all back to normal and I don't mind driving for more than 30 minutes. I didn't remove the entire seat cushion, just the side plastic. It was a lot easier and I only caught a little bit of the foam on fire.:target:

Nice truck and cool mods BTW!

 

[Adventure Copan]

Since i am limited to 20 pics per post...here is the rest of the post...

Front doors got a 40" LED SMD strip for this effect

Front and rear doors together

Great mods all around sir! Can you give some more details and pics of the LED strips at the bottom of the doors? How did you wire them and how are they secured? Whatever pics and info you can give is appreciated. Thx!

-Daniel Kent

 

[gshadow325]

Great mods all around sir! Can you give some more details and pics of the LED strips at the bottom of the doors? How did you wire them and how are they secured? Whatever pics and info you can give is appreciated. Thx!

-Daniel Kent

wire them up to your existing door lights in each door panel. they already have adhesive double stick tape on them

packaging looks like this



here they are in my wife's mini cooper



here is how it looks stuck onto the bottom of the door


here is another use of these same strip lights, for dome lights in here convertible mini

before


after



here is what these strip lights look like out of the packaging...prepping them for another project

 

[gshadow325]

Yet another DIY from me lol!

I hated the fact that this car only has one 12volt outlet in the passenger area. When you out with one wife and two kids and each of them has a device that needs to be charged one just isnt enough!

was i going to get one of these things?

or this

and have my rig look like this?

I'm a pro, not a best buy/circus city geek squad flunkie

NO WAY!!

So here it is the recipe and receipt!
three casca cig lighter well from your local auto parts store, here in philly its called Pepboys..manny moe and jack




in that top picture in the center is the tool that you need to get. home depot would sell a thing to drill holes just go find the right one. that tool above is a tool i have to drill rear parking sensor holes

Bought three one for each passenger
So started with right rear door.

here are the wires needed for power and ground
green is ground and white is switched 12 volt.

BTW- YOU CAN USE THESE SAME WIRES FOR YOUR POCKET AMBIENT LIGHTING!!! like in the picture below


finished

 

[gshadow325]

passenger front door

before



12 socket drilled in to door panel




Front view
did the front door a little different since the pockets and lower and longer


front door wires to tag into, brown is 12 volts and red is ground


finished and working

 

[gshadow325]

driver rear door

Wireing for driver rear door. white 12 volts, green ground


Finished product


you get the idea....i am so happy i thought of this and wanted to share it with my T4R buddies...actually dont have any yet LOL.

this MOD will stop my kids from fighting in the back seat over the charger.
this MOD will stop my wife from taking the charger from me!!

One happy family!!

 

[gshadow325]

some of you guys wanted to know how the puddle lights were wired in and how they were attached to the car.

they are stuck to the under side of the door


they are wired in parrell to the door light

 

[LTDSC]

i really like that power plug in the door.

 

[gshadow325]

as requested lights from drivers seat. yet it still doesnt do it justice. its one of those things you need to see it to believe it.

HID only 7000k bulbs


Hi beam and HID


Hi beam, hid and rigid


HID and rigid


rigid only

 

[gshadow325]

Another MOD for my runner.

I found the OEM dome light to lacking in the lighting department. So with my trusty solder iron and my LED strip lights i have in stock. I made a custom LED strip to go all the way around the OEM domelight.

Started with another pack of these


Cut it down to make this chain... two 3 led strips, then one 6 led strip, then two 3 led strips. total 5 strips in a chain.


made this so i could have two 3 led strips where each of the old festoon style bulbs were. then the longer 6 led strip went into that empty clear spot that goes from left to right along the front part of the dome light. You will see what i am talking about in the pictures below. made one long chain since i was bored and only had one of those festoon adapters to play with like the thing in the top picture on the bottom with the spring thingy in it.

Here is the dome light . picture taken from back passenger seat


Now from the front driver seat! looks like a UFO lol


Now here is a shot of it off and now you see the bulbs behind the cover? this is the longer 6 led strip.


here is the two 3 led strips from the side


the strips have adhesive back so they stick on and then the cover goes back on!

Real night time shots to follow on a day i remember to take them!

 

[gshadow325]

Little updates on my build/repair thread. all this one week!

Mon
Installed OEM dealer front O2 bank 1 to chase a P0420 code

Tues
Code came back. Ordered/ installed wrong cheapo rear O2 bank one sensor. code came right back on. scanned it and it said running to rich max 128 current 255

Wed
Installed OEM manufacture denso sensor on rear bank one again. code came back on friday. scanned it and it said max 128 current 165
Did the waterpump/tb/acc belt/ tentioners/pulleys ect ect.

Found the water had been leaking. Belt looked good @ 167k but the threads using to hold the two ends of the belt together was starting to shred. kinda like how the seams from leather seats comes apart. So looks like it was OEM never changed before. Not bad for a 167k, but i was on borrowed time. Now i feel much better...peace of mind, money well spent. should be good for another 100k at least

friday
O2 sensor code again.
chasing the thud clunk issue....
so i thought it was the brakes, Nope. But, it needed it anyways. another peace of mind thing.

Bought all four rotors from a supply house near my job for $126 delivered. $36fronts and $27 rears..cutting them would cost $10 each and me bringing it to them...nah new ones less headache.

bought front and rear pads OEM toyota for $110

Clunk, thud still existed...ARRG

Sat:
Ordered new NGK iridium plugs earlier in the week. since i didnt see any service history on plugs being replaced and i had a rich running condition o2 code. changed them out. what a breeze to do.

Scanned the car and didnt get the signature running to rich code i have been getting all month. got max 128 current 62. finally no more lights on the dash.

Got 7 quarts of redline 75w90 to change out the front, and rear diff and trans case. using this guide http://www.toyota-4runner.org/maint...ntial-transfer-case-fluids-pics-included.html

was planning to anyways. didnt have a suck pump, so moved on to my first 4runner oil change. searched this forum for "oil change" and came accross this post
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/139124-slow-down-stop-let-go-brake-thunk.html#post1345436

Immediatly i got side tracked...thats what my car did/does!! drove to autozone to buy a grease gun with a tube of mobile one sythetic grease and a suck pump.

followed this guide to grease the zerks
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/maintenance-detailing/28414-07-v8-4x4-zerk-fitting-pics.html

Went to change the oil and didnt know we have to remove the skid plate. then went to remove the oil filter, coming from 8 years of many variations of volvos...i didnt have the right tool. so i drained the oil, popped a hole in the filter when i tried using channel locks to get it off. it started leaking. EVRYWHERE! i pocked a hole in it and used a screw driver to get it off. made a even bigger mess when i dropped the screw driver into the pan of drained oil. oil EVERYWHERE including face and in the mouth. tasted like conventional oil, LoL.

if you read this far...thanks

Fixed P0420 problem by installing new plugs
Fixed thud thump clunk by greasing the zerk fittings on driveshaft.
fixed oil change problem by buying proper tool for next time!

Gosh i love this forum!! where is the donate button?!?!?!?

 

[Alex T4R]

Nice Build! Where in Philly are u, I'm in NE Philly.

 

[gshadow325]

Nice Build! Where in Philly are u, I'm in NE Philly.

live in delco and work in west philly.

 

[gshadow325]

i feel i finally fixed the dreaded p0420 code. no it wasnt a cat, yes i changed out both pre and after cat sensors. I also installed a Stinger SPP1700 battery too.

Next mod is coming....actually in progress right now LOL, i'm on my lunch break!


You can see the new battery in this picture as well as some noise makers!

 

[zopperman]

Nice mods. Really creative stuff

 

[gshadow325]

had to add this to the build thread

Here is the job in progress...till completion

Pulled all the switches out


Took about 1 hour to file down some square holes for these nice switches to install. three switches.
1 for my always on with ignition Rigid Industries D2 blinding lights
1 for compressor on and off with ignition on
1 for horn over ride, switch off regular horn, switch on.....train horns on blast




In progress mess




Front end all buttoned up, four pretty train horns..music to my ears


Battery area all buttoned up


ViAir 380C Compressor behind passenger headlight


Now I am patting myself on the back for this one. Remote clean filtered air for my air compressor. Now it will work in all weather conditions. Rain, sleet, snow, torrential downpour No problem.



ViAir little 1 gallon tank.


Another shot of the tank and compressor


My three pretty switches!!


Another shot of the compressor from the driver's side


Tank again



Horns again


Impressions with this setup? Compared to my other setups?

Noticed this 1 gallon will burst blast the horn fast for a good 2-3 seconds and die. BUT, this sucker refills lighting fast..like 15-20 seconds, compared to my volvos setup, i can blast for 10-12 seconds but takes 2-3 minutes to refill.

I like this setup better!

Flame suit on....bring on the comments!

 

[LOSTR4]

Takes up some room but damn it works well! I like it. Nicely done!