NorCal 2004 4Runner

[Mad4Rnr]

This is my 2004 4Runner and my first thread here on this forum. I've built a few Yota trucks in my time including a '81 pick-up, a '84 X-tra cab, and a '87 4Runner all of which were capable Rubicon crawlers. Since this truck is my daily driver I will treat it a little different that previous builds to maintain the street-ability and comfort but at the same time increase its' performance.

Let me give you guys a little history on this rig before the modifications start. My wife and I bought it used from the local Toyota dealer over three years ago, it apparently came from Southern California. I think it was a commuter car because it had 46k on the odometer and also was hit in the rear as the tailgate has been painted. The truck has only ever had fluids changed but I did put new tires on it at 55k, nothing special though just stock size Dunlops. It's a V6 - SR5 model and is bone stock but now after 3 years of daily commuting it has 85k miles on it.

Lately its' had a bit of a bouncy ride so I decided to replace the shocks and level the vehicle at the same time. I found some upgraded Bilstein shocks online and some FJ cruiser springs locally off CL, I also picked up a Daystar 1" front spacer kit....

After I went to Harbor Freight for a spring compressor this morning I spent a few hours wrenching today. All said and done I had the front strut assemblies together and ready for install tomorrow morning:

Overall my plans for this truck are to slowly upgrade parts as they wear out or fail. The small lift that I'm doing with the 1" spacer and FJ springs will eventually make room for more aggressive tires. I'm thinking about doing some outfitting and I use to install car stereo's when I was in high school so plans are in the works for a new stereo system.

 

[borgzman]

Is it done??
Pls post some pics

 

[PTY507]

welcome!!! cool ride you have there...

 

[Mad4Rnr]

Thanks guys.

Just finished wrapping up the install on the shocks and springs, here is the front all bolted up:

I forgot to take a picture of the rear shocks and springs but not much to see there anyway. So here is the finished product:

I will take it to get an alignment tomorrow but during a quick test drive today I was really impressed with the ride quality! I also just love the new improved stance but I think I'll have to order up some spidertrax spacers this week.

:beer:-time

 

[Mad4Rnr]

Got the steering aligned this morning and have to say this is a great mod for anyone looking for a little more ride height with a slightly firmer ride and better handling. This should have been how the 4Runner came stock from the factory! I can't find my before measurements but when I do I'll post them, I "think" I ended up with +1.5" in the front and +0.5" lift in the rear.

Pro's:
1) Truck looks level (imagine that!)
2) Cooler running engine (more airflow to lower venting?)
3) Corners better with less body roll (stiffer rear coils?)
4) I'm 6'2" so my visibility is now centered in windshield!
5) Less nose dive when braking (stiffer front coils?)
6) Reduced pulsing in pedal when braking (less stress on front brakes due to less nose dive?)
7) Ride is butter smooth at 65mph (definitely the Bilstein's)

Con's:
1) Lighter steering wheel feel so maybe it's more likely to roll during aggressive maneuvering.
2) Maybe a little lower fuel economy, this is debatable because I've only driven it a couple days but makes sense if there is more air resistance w/nose in the air.
3) I've heard reports of a firm ride below 25mph but I haven't confirmed this yet, maybe the Bilstein's compensate well for the stiffer FJ springs.

 

[the_josh]

Pro's:
2) Cooler running engine (more airflow to lower venting?)

Con's
2) Maybe a little lower fuel economy, this is debatable because I've only driven it a couple days but makes sense if there is more air resistance w/nose in the air.

bahahaHahahahahahshshshshshahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahaha!!!!

More airflow?!?! What happenned, you raised the truck a inch and hit the secret road jet stream?!?! That makes no sense what so ever dude!!!

And a lower fuel economy?!?
All you did was change the shocks and springs, you didn't change the tires!!!!

You definately can't make this stuff up, thanks for the laugh!!

 

[Mad4Rnr]

bahahaHahahahahahshshshshshahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahaha!!!!

More airflow?!?! What happenned, you raised the truck a inch and hit the secret road jet stream?!?! That makes no sense what so ever dude!!!

And a lower fuel economy?!?
All you did was change the shocks and springs, you didn't change the tires!!!!

You definately can't make this stuff up, thanks for the laugh!!

Thanks for the warm welcome!

The water temp gauge seems to be running lower than normal since the lift. Could just be a misjudgment on my part but normally the gauge sits dead center and now after it warms up the gauge sits just below center.

I figured that raising the front end could yield more direct airflow through the radiator, it could be possible that I'm seeing better heat transfer due to slightly more efficient convection.

 

[rdgt4r]

Welcome to the board! Truck looks good now you just need some 255 85's =)
Where in NorCal you at?

 

[Mad4Rnr]

Welcome to the board! Truck looks good now you just need some 255 85's =)
Where in NorCal you at?

Yep new wheels and tires are in the works but need to get some more milage out of the current stockers first or else the wife will be sad at me.

I'm located in Sonoma County, Petaluma to be exact. I grew up in Marin County and went to Chico State to get my Engineering degree. I currently work in Rohnert Park as a Engineering manager.

Where are you from?

 

[rdgt4r]

Yep new wheels and tires are in the works but need to get some more milage out of the current stockers first or else the wife will be sad at me.

I'm located in Sonoma County, Petaluma to be exact. I grew up in Marin County and went to Chico State to get my Engineering degree. I currently work in Rohnert Park as a Engineering manager.

Where are you from?

Nice nice, my Aunt lives in Novato and my cousin goes to UCSF. Im in Redding so pretty far NorCal. Mhmm love the summer heat, you know what I mean if you went to Chico. haha

 

[810moto]

Got the steering aligned this morning and have to say this is a great mod for anyone looking for a little more ride height with a slightly firmer ride and better handling. This should have been how the 4Runner came stock from the factory! I can't find my before measurements but when I do I'll post them, I "think" I ended up with +1.5" in the front and +0.5" lift in the rear.

Pro's:
1) Truck looks level (imagine that!)
2) Cooler running engine (more airflow to lower venting?)
3) Corners better with less body roll (stiffer rear coils?)
4) I'm 6'2" so my visibility is now centered in windshield!
5) Less nose dive when braking (stiffer front coils?)
6) Reduced pulsing in pedal when braking (less stress on front brakes due to less nose dive?)
7) Ride is butter smooth at 65mph (definitely the Bilstein's)

Con's:
1) Lighter steering wheel feel so maybe it's more likely to roll during aggressive maneuvering.
2) Maybe a little lower fuel economy, this is debatable because I've only driven it a couple days but makes sense if there is more air resistance w/nose in the air.
3) I've heard reports of a firm ride below 25mph but I haven't confirmed this yet, maybe the Bilstein's compensate well for the stiffer FJ springs.

Truck looks great! What do you figure you have wrapped up in $$ and labor.

 

[Lexusbstrdchild]

Nice work! harbor freight spring compressors rule lol! Little scary but they get the job done. I like your truck tho

 

[Mad4Rnr]

Truck looks great! What do you figure you have wrapped up in $$ and labor.

Thanks,

As far as parts go the Bilstein shocks were like $290 shipped, the FJ springs were $70 off CL and the 1" Daystar spacers were around $50. Top it off with $60 for an wheel alignment and $35 for the spring compressor.

For labor I spent at least 5-6 hrs on Saturday tearing the front end apart and assembling the struts. Sunday was easily a 4 hour day to assemble the front end and then to do the complete rear end.

All things considered not to bad but I do work slow.

Nice work! harbor freight spring compressors rule lol! Little scary but they get the job done. I like your truck tho

Thanks man, yep, using the the HF spring compressor for the first time was sketchy but for $35 who cares...:wink2:


And check out what I ordered last night....

Clarion NX409 Navigation receiver at Crutchfield.com

:reddance:

 

[Mad4Rnr]

My new Clarion NX409 nav head unit showed up so this morning I tore into the dash to pull the the stock stereo. Here is a picture of the fresh piece of electronic gear after I installed the ISO brackets:

Then I went to town soldering all the joints between the harness and adapter, I also wired up a relay for the bypass, but more on that later...

When I installed the harness I made sure the +12V was direct to the yota harness and then wrapped some foam around the line filter and relay. I also zip tied the GPS antenna to the air duct behind the HU, even though it's not the highest spot in the vehicle this spot seems mostly unobstructed.

Then I cut a slot into to the bezel for the iPod cable, I'm stoked on this HU because it allows full iPod control and you can watch video from the iPod as well

The iPod will live in the pocket:

Unit powered up as expected, I am definitely impressed so far with the menu layout and the touch screen. I'm glad its not a motorized screen and super excited that is has a real volume knob (I like to to crank it sometimes:guitar.

Unfortunately the relay setup that was triggered by the remote didn't work for the video. For a temporary fix I installed a low profile switch to the front bezel next to the iPod cable output.

The bad picture I took doesn't do the video quality justice, both audio and video from this unit are top notch.

The only thing I have left to do is figure out a way to fill the 1/2" gaps on the side unit, too bad the metra dash kit didn't work.

 

[Mad4Rnr]

So, I decided not to go to work today and work on the 4Rnr instead.

First things first I went to my local car audio store and picked up the correct Metra dash kit.

It looks better than not having a dash kit but I think the design is funky and the texture doesn't match well. Someday maybe I may make some custom filler strips...

Next I picked up some plastic polish and hit up the front headlight lens with some elbow grease

BEFORE:

AFTER:

 

[Wild Snapper]

Very nice work man, some of the reponds from people are harsh. I think all the stuff you did looks great.

 

[810moto]

the headlights turned out really nice. I usually wax mine but have never buffed them out with the "headlight" compound.

 

[borgzman]

" I found some upgraded Bilstein shocks online"

Hi Mad4Rnr, what do you mean by "upgraded bilstein shocks" ?
Aren't those the F4-BE5-C513-HO (FRONT) and F4-BE5-C514-HO (REAR) ?

I'm confused because my installer ordered me F4-BE5-2451-HO for the rear. Checked it in Bilstein website, its for 2002 down 4Runner, I still have to confirm him if they are they same shock w/ different part number, in w/c I doubt because 3rd gens are very different.

 

[Mad4Rnr]

Hi Mad4Rnr, what do you mean by "upgraded bilstein shocks" ?
Aren't those the F4-BE5-C513-HO (FRONT) and F4-BE5-C514-HO (REAR) ?

I'm confused because my installer ordered me F4-BE5-2451-HO for the rear. Checked it in Bilstein website, its for 2002 down 4Runner, I still have to confirm him if they are they same shock w/ different part number, in w/c I doubt because 3rd gens are very different.

Yes, those are the p/n's I installed.

If you are not installing a lift in the rear I'm pretty sure you want the C514's.

I don't remember if there was an alternate p/n on the box when they arrived.

 

[borgzman]

Thanks

He changed it to F4-BE5-C514(Rear).

No lift in the rear, so I choose the bilstein 46 series - more comfy than the 51s, while I'll have the adjustables in fronts as leveling front lift. I really like the stance of your vehicle. I am about to go same route, but 4wheel parts said that ordering daystar will take time(unless through ebay and other outlet).