michael833
New member
is that surfside? it can't be galveston... it's too pretty.
SQ.MD's Build Thread...OOH WAH AH AH AH
- Thread starter SQ.MD
- Start date
SQ.MD
New member
well to be honest, once the road became sand, there was like 7-8 inches of loose sand right at that transition. I was not aware of this and was going like 5 mph. Exactly when all wheels were on/in the sand, the 4runner stopped moving and the rear wheels began spinning when I accelerated. I panicked a little but then remembered that I should try to rock the car back and forth a little to gain traction (stepping on the accelerate while in reverse and releasing intermittently). Two of my friends jumped out and wanted to push but I was stubborn and wanted to do it on my own. Within a few seconds, I was able to reverse back onto the actual road. This time, I made that road-sand transition at 20-30 mph and I flew by that 40-50 foot section of loose sand. Once I got closer to the beach, the sand was more compact and there was no problem at all (speed wasn't an issue). I hope that answers your question? haha sorry for the novel.
*edit: also note my tires are rubbish!
thanks bro! and yes, they are OEM 99 headlights so they are glass. I am going to bake tomorrow after work! yours is coming along rather nicely, really unique with that led lighting on the side. Looking forward to seeing the final product. Oh and btw, do you think you can show/write up a little more detailed part on your thread when you do the wiring? like where you connected the highbeam solenoid wires and which wires you connected the HID wires to? (since there are basically four wires leaving the factory bulb housing)
SQ.MD
New member
haha I KNOW RIGHT!! but it is definitely Galveston. Exit 61st, head toward sea wall and make a right at the sea wall. Go down about ~9-12 miles and make a left onto "beach access" sign right before you hit the toll bridge
it was my first time here at this location and I think this is where I'll be going from now on!
GottaBeTRD
New member
thanks man! yeah ill snap the pics today. i better be done or its gonna be an interesting week without a car lol!
SQ.MD
New member
thanks for the pictures man, I'm definitely going to keep your thread open on my phone when doing mine. I need to start...haven't done s**T!
SQ.MD
New member
Also, since I'm attempting to improve my gas mileage, I'm trying to see if certain things make a difference. For this last tank, I averaged 22-23 mpg. This consisted of normal driving (wasn't taking it easy or pushing it hard) with the A/C on 25% of the time and with about 70% highway miles and 30% road/street miles. I shall attempt to next use the ECT power button only when on the highways and see if this makes a major difference. Later gators
BrianSD_42
New member
Re: gas mileage
Take off your roof rack and recalculate the mileage.
Take off your roof rack and recalculate the mileage.
SQ.MD
New member
Re: gas mileage
Take off your roof rack and recalculate the mileage.
haha I know. That will be one my next methods. It will definitely improve the mpgs but I just love the roof rack! another battle with practicality vs. SH** that looks NICE!
...are you kidding in the sense that 4runners have horrible gas mileage thus "what is" the fact?
or are you serious?
PalmettoRunner
New member
Sweet beach pictures, love the 4th from the bottom!
SQ.MD
New member
thanks man! that is my current wallpaper :thumb3:
Also, quick update, started my retrofit and things are coming along nicely!
random cellphone shot in the middle of everything
<a href="http://s77.photobucket.com/albums/j67/saadqasim/?action=view¤t=IMG_20110318_124151.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j67/saadqasim/IMG_20110318_124151.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
GottaBeTRD
New member
cool man! hows the retrofit coming along?
SQ.MD
New member
I want to shoot myself :gun4: !!!
I've been doing this for about 3-4 days now (approx. 2-4 hours each day) and boy am I fed up with this task. It is so freaking difficult lining up the cutoff and making sure everything is perfect before you seal up the freaking gateway to hell (headlight assembly). I painted the headlights, aligned them, and did the shrouds already but then yesterday received my LEDs. So I basically decided to mount them on the shroud. It seemed like a unique idea at first but now I don't like it. Who knows...it might grow on me. But anyway, so I have to paint the headlights again because they look horrendous now from all the projector mounting and then JB weld/silicon the openings. Finally finish by baking the lens and I'll be done. By the rate I am going, this should be done in the next 2 months...if I don't go crazy
another random shot after some paint
<a href="http://s77.photobucket.com/albums/j67/saadqasim/?action=view¤t=IMG_20110318_160448.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j67/saadqasim/IMG_20110318_160448.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
GottaBeTRD
New member
haha i know exactly how that feels!
but dang man that sucks to hear that. what ever you do, dont give up! your taking on a harder retrofit and soon people will be drooling. Im excited to see the finished product.
By the Way what kind of LEDs did you go with? i dont think you can do this unless you cut your shroud but some people have done this with Gatling shroud i thought it looked pretty cool kinda looks like Iron Man
i like the color of your headlights though is that a high temp paint? and yeah i think you would have more difficulty aligning those things. that gives me a headache even thinking about it! it sounds like your making progress though. Belive me when your done and you see the awesome light output you will be grateful you did it. for me it took a few days but now im ecstatic that i have these. driving at night is fun again!
but dang man that sucks to hear that. what ever you do, dont give up! your taking on a harder retrofit and soon people will be drooling. Im excited to see the finished product.
By the Way what kind of LEDs did you go with? i dont think you can do this unless you cut your shroud but some people have done this with Gatling shroud i thought it looked pretty cool kinda looks like Iron Man
i like the color of your headlights though is that a high temp paint? and yeah i think you would have more difficulty aligning those things. that gives me a headache even thinking about it! it sounds like your making progress though. Belive me when your done and you see the awesome light output you will be grateful you did it. for me it took a few days but now im ecstatic that i have these. driving at night is fun again!
SQ.MD
New member
haha i know exactly how that feels!
but dang man that sucks to hear that. what ever you do, dont give up! your taking on a harder retrofit and soon people will be drooling. Im excited to see the finished product.
By the Way what kind of LEDs did you go with? i dont think you can do this unless you cut your shroud but some people have done this with Gatling shroud i thought it looked pretty cool kinda looks like Iron Man
i like the color of your headlights though is that a high temp paint? and yeah i think you would have more difficulty aligning those things. that gives me a headache even thinking about it! it sounds like your making progress though. Belive me when your done and you see the awesome light output you will be grateful you did it. for me it took a few days but now im ecstatic that i have these. driving at night is fun again!
I went with SMT LEDs from JDMtoys.com. I have similar ones on my 08 camry on the bottom of the headlight so I figured I'd go with a trusted seller. But the way I have them mounted around the shroud looks really ghetto. I might just redo the entire damn shroud. Worst part is, I already used JB weld to keep it in place because the strip was so flexible it's adhesive wasn't working. I guess I'll wait for JB weld to cure for 24 hours and then just sand that sucker down. I might place the LEDs inside the shroud and see how that looks (make some oval holes kinda like the picture you posted).
*edit: didn't see your comment below the picture. Well, sorta. The reflective housing is actually caliper paint but it paints really bad. I might just go with some regular wheel paint because I don't think the housing will get SUPER hot since all the light is projected away (see what I did there? lol ). The gray/silver metallic on the side of the headlights is actually wheel paint which I used to paint my grill when I did the satoshi mod (should match pretty well).
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GottaBeTRD
New member
thats cool man! gosh its exciting to see the finished product!
i was going to paint mine too but I didn't want to chance the paint pealing. i read somehwere that the housing doesn't get over 200 degrees. the shroud gets a little warmer i think but still thats not too bad. with the part you taped off are you leaving that chrome?
do you go to HIDplanet at all? i got a lot of helpful info there. a lot of the guys walked me through it in the Newbie thread. it made it real nice!
Post a pic of where you put the LEDs you should get some of the guys opinions here before you start over. have you already tried to see what they look like with them on?
i was going to paint mine too but I didn't want to chance the paint pealing. i read somehwere that the housing doesn't get over 200 degrees. the shroud gets a little warmer i think but still thats not too bad. with the part you taped off are you leaving that chrome?
do you go to HIDplanet at all? i got a lot of helpful info there. a lot of the guys walked me through it in the Newbie thread. it made it real nice!
Post a pic of where you put the LEDs you should get some of the guys opinions here before you start over. have you already tried to see what they look like with them on?
PalmettoRunner
New member
Just keep at it man... as TRD stated I'm sure it will be well worth it when finished. I'm so sick of the horrible lighting on my runner, even with upgraded bulbs my night vision is horrible. This will definitely be the next major mod after the lift for me... although you guys have me not looking forward to the process!
SQ.MD
New member
yeah, I figured I might as well paint the headlights since I'm already in there. And no, nothing will be chrome on the headlight. The sides will be grayish/silver (color of my 4runner) and the inside reflective housing will be flat black/satin. And yeah, I've been to HID planet...alot of helpful advice there for sure.
lol don't let my pessimistic attitude freak you out...the job is BAD...but the goal is certainly attainable. I should be done tomorrow (hopefully) so you guys should see the finished product then!
Also, when you do yours, you'll have two active members who could definitely help you. I got alot of advice from TRD so don't worry! We gotchuuuuu covered
GottaBeTRD
New member
sweet man! im excited to see them! are you going to get them mounted too?
gosh im having a problem with my driver side headlight. its not solid against the black alignment shroud for some reason. I can get it solid if I align it way down but then it throws everything off as far as the cutoff line sighhhhh! i may just find something to stick in there so weird im baffled?
anyway sorry bout my rant... looking forward to seeing it!
gosh im having a problem with my driver side headlight. its not solid against the black alignment shroud for some reason. I can get it solid if I align it way down but then it throws everything off as far as the cutoff line sighhhhh! i may just find something to stick in there so weird im baffled?
anyway sorry bout my rant... looking forward to seeing it!
SQ.MD
New member
that is very interesting...you sure you got all three bolts (two from the adjuster knobs and one short permanent one) and the spring installed correctly? If so, I would definitely use something to stop the vibration/movement. Maybe something with some give like rubber or styrofoam padding?
And yeah, they should be mounted tomorrow. I just finished the shrouds now (decided to place LEDs inside the shroud with some oval like cut outs) and will put the glass back on. I am scarred to use my oven so I might just see if my girlfriends blow dryer will work LOL (I don't know anyone with a heat gun). The silicone around the glass does seem like some minor heat should do the trick but we shall see tomorrow. If not, will most likely use the hair dryer with a combination of low oven temp.
random shots since cellphone automatically uploads to photobucket:
backside of shroud
<a href="http://s77.photobucket.com/albums/j67/saadqasim/?action=view¤t=IMG_20110323_000656.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j67/saadqasim/IMG_20110323_000656.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
shroud all aluminum foil taped up to reflect LED light
<a href="http://s77.photobucket.com/albums/j67/saadqasim/?action=view¤t=IMG_20110323_014141.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j67/saadqasim/IMG_20110323_014141.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
shroud with LED placed inside (RTV silicone is one messy SOB)
<a href="http://s77.photobucket.com/albums/j67/saadqasim/?action=view¤t=IMG_20110323_022643.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j67/saadqasim/IMG_20110323_022643.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
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