Rich's 2006 V6 SR5 4WD

[telum01]

I haven't been a huge fan of blacked out headlights on 4th gens until I came across the "flat soft iron" spray @jsmith21 used on his. I went back to one of the pics showing my headlights and now I hate the chrome! So I'll be swinging by Home Depot on my way out of work to get some spray so I can do this sometime this week. If the "soft iron" spray doesn't do it, I'm hoping I can find a spray that matches the gunmetal on my wheels so I can use it as an accent color around the vehicle.

Also, I just got off the phone with The Retrofit Source. I ordered some Black Series lenses, Morimoto XB angel eyes, and a couple other little things. One damn pic from jsmith's build thread and I've got a whole new project on my hands...

 

[telum01]

The stuff for my headlights arrived yesterday evening, but I spent today installing my seat warmers instead. I already have leather seats - taking them apart I think they might actually be retrofitted OEM skins (I knew the original owner had them done, I just didn't know where he got them). The job wasn't terribly difficult, just time-consuming and somewhat tedious. All in all, it took me 5.5 hours to install warmers in both front seats, including both back and bottom heating elements, and to mount the switches. I've never done this before so the first seat took forever. The second seat was an hour and a half from taking it out of the truck to putting it back in. So if I were to do the job again, I could cut it down from 5.5 hours to 3.5-4 hours.

The lighting in the pic makes it look pretty bad, but it person the switch mounting looks very clean.

The only thing I have left to do is hook up the power and ground wires for each seat. That wouldn't take long at all, but as I was getting ready to do it, I decided to wait. I've already started ordering things for a dual battery setup, so I'll be waiting until that's ready so I can hook the seat warmers up to the second battery.

It's supposed to rain tomorrow so I'll probably wait to do my headlights until Monday. But I've also gotta take my Aston to get its new wheels mounted up on Monday, so we'll see how everything plays out. If I don't do my 4Runner headlights tomorrow, I'll try to get the energy to change the thermostat and brake pads on my Aston. Too much to do, too little time!

 

[telum01]

My T-Max dual battery kit arrived today! I'm waiting for my battery box to show up, though, so I won't be installing it until this weekend.

Big thing for today... new wheels are finally on the Aston!

 

[telum01]

Spent the whole evening working on my garage itself - cleaning it, painting the walls, junking junk, funking funk. Snapped a couple shots while I was at it :naughty:

New wheels on both the rides

 

[Maka4runner]

very nice! love the wheel and tire setup

 

[telum01]

Disappear from the face of the earth for a few months and all my picture links break. Guess I've got some catching up and repairs to do...

 

[telum01]

Some quick things off the top of my head...

Still LOVE the setup of my T4R, but I wouldn't mind getting back into some light modding. Looking at a set of rock sliders to replace the side steps. Would like to swap out the 152k+ mile OEM shocks for some newer, betterer ones.

The brakes are bonkers, it's scary how hard this thing can stop.

The wheels and tires look amazing every time I glance at it, and the tires are seriously impressive for their performance especially given the price.

NEED a mount for my battery box to mount it in the engine bay. Local preferred. Ready and willing to exchange sexual favors.

Very willing.

...

...I'm so lonely.

I've got a new tune on the Aston, it's running very well and is a little bit quicker now. I've got a set of headers on the way, that should help. The most I'll get out of this engine is 430-440 hp (440 hp is a tad optimistic but it's possible). Not bad for a 4.3L N/A V8.

Now starting to put it through a weight-loss program. I've already dropped 55 lbs (haven't weighed the new wheels and tires, so that may be a little off in either direction). Looking for a lightweight battery and seats, which should get me a good 60+ lbs weight savings. These cars are porkers for their size, so weight reduction definitely helps.

 

[telum01]

White Knuckle rock sliders are on! Driver's side was a bit of a pain but passenger side went on easily. Love the fitment! And there's just enough space for a toe hold to use as a step along the front half, and the kickout is an easy step.