Summer of mods

[94yotarunner]

Here's my summer of mods. I bought the car in NJ in March, went to school for the rest of the college year, and then drove down to TX for the summer. (Family lives in Houston) I then proceeded to start my personal touches to the car, my little things, you know. My dad and I had also planned to fix anything needed and a lot of things not needed just to have a great car for the next 10 years. In a way we were thinking: If we sell the car in three years and make the repairs and such in two years, its a waste of the money because I don't get to use any of it.

So basically we went through the whole timing belt change, front axels, belts, hoses, filters, light bulbs, tires, brakes, etc.

This Sunday I'm off to PSU (Pennsylvania) to start up my junior year. This is the end result of our work. (sorry for the numerous posts and not just linking but I don't have a site and I'd rather not deal with making a quick chité one to just link them. )

This is the car when I bought it.

 

[94yotarunner]

Here come the pics

Alright. Our first stop will be the Hella 500s. Install took about 3-4 hours for me and my non electrical father. We took it easy, made sure everything was right. Instead of connecting from the lowbeams we decided to connect from the corner lights, just in case I ever feel the need to use the lights without the lowbeams/highbeams. Also, there were less wires. (Again, a non electrical family). We mounted them straight on the brush guard as it had an attachable surface for fog lights. I know, they're driving lights and they should be high bla bla, but I like the look and they're extremely capable there as well. I can nearly triple ney quadruple my normal visibility with them. I don't see how much more I could get from a higher mount.

 

[94yotarunner]

Another angle of the Hella 500s.

 

[94yotarunner]

This is the switch mounted on the dashboard. I don't know if you can notice or not in the pic but I accidently scratched it up a bit, I'll touch that up later. Despite that, it looks good I think though.

 

[94yotarunner]

Ofcourse, some might say: "Those are stupid mods. I just put in a supercharger bla bla bla". I'm a college student on a poor man's budget. These cosmetic and somewhat functional mods are all I got. lol.

With that said, this is my sunroof deflector. Its simple, helps the airflow when the sunroofs down, less noise, no rain gets in, and cheap. It also looks good I think, it makes the roof level out in your eyes view (since its got two racks behind and nothing upfront). Nothing could be easier than the install. Pull the 2 sided tape and attach. (Clean surface before ofcourse)

 

[94yotarunner]

Then on the seventh day, the window tint came. I got 20% in the front windows, (none of the windshield) and 5% on every other window. (legal in TX too) It looks great with the factory reflective tint I think but for driving, I would have probably taken the back windows up a notch (10-15%). I just wanted to hide the sub in the back because I'm parked on the street up in college all year long.

 

[94yotarunner]

This is a 5% window.

 

[94yotarunner]

This is a front window at 20%.

 

[94yotarunner]

Let There Be Light. Or no light rather.

I've tried everything to see inside the back to see my sub and its impossible. The factory glare hides it all. I tried with a flash light at night, during the day, I tried cupping my hands and looking, and nothing. And I know where it is. So I'm calm about leaving my car outside for the year because everything seems well hidden.

 

[94yotarunner]

Then came the rusted old towing package. I can't find a good before pic so you won't do the whole, "Woaaaa" in between the before and after pics, but you can imagine. I bought a sander, a drill extension to sand as well, primer and paint. Some hard elbow extensions later this was the result. I've yet to paint it but you can see it looks good.

 

[94yotarunner]

Then came the tires. I had Pirelli Scorpions before hand, but they were bald. Balder than a baby's ass. Well... not that bald. Every corner was a shriek, which seemed fun the first 1 1/2 times, and then got old. "My cars so fast and agile I'm shrieking!" not really. When I knew it was the last day with them and it was raining I had the funnest day drifting, LOL. I really outdid myself and my old Chrysler neon (when it rained as well).

These are the AT REVOS. Go back to my first HELLA pic and you can see the sick tread they have. Gotta love the tire but hate the price.

 

[94yotarunner]

And last but most certainly not least, the t4r sticker.

I remember people saying they sped out in front of cars to wave and/or show the sticker. I on the other hand will do anything to see a fellow sticker bearer. I have no intention of showing off mine persay. Still haven't seen one . lol

It seems to helps with aerodynamics and traction for sure.

 

[94yotarunner]

So this is my car. I don't have a flashy car, no bling bling, but it will do and do well ofcourse. I couldn't be happier with my first car that I managed to afford. Worst case it'll be my boat truck for the next ten-fifteen years.

 

[94yotarunner]

Almost forgot... the sound system. All wrapped up in 1 quick pic.

The specs are in my sig ofcourse.

 

[94yotarunner]

I'm off Sunday... nearly 2k miles and with a full car. 8 hour shifts of driving until my dad and I are done. Gbye texas.

 

[lojeff]

Job well done. I love the lights and the tires. As for the tint, I love that too but I wouldn't head back to NJ anytime soon with that. If our "friendly" state troopers see a Texas plate with mirror tint, your in for a ticket, no doubt about it!!!!

Nice truck!!!

 

[mikes4runner]

Looks good:thumb: I love the 2nd gen. wonder why that is......

Oh well don't worry about the blah,blah get a supercharger there is not one for our 3.0L so don't sweat it just enjoy your work she looks good.

 

[94yotarunner]

Job well done. I love the lights and the tires. As for the tint, I love that too but I wouldn't head back to NJ anytime soon with that. If our "friendly" state troopers see a Texas plate with mirror tint, your in for a ticket, no doubt about it!!!!

Nice truck!!!

LOL, thats exactly the state I'm going through to get to NY in a couple weeks. They shouldn't ticket me if I'm just going through though. Its not really mirrored tints, its just a factory glare.

*childs voice* I dun wanna ticket, I dun want it! :sobbing:

Looks good I love the 2nd gen. wonder why that is......

Oh well don't worry about the blah,blah get a supercharger there is not one for our 3.0L so don't sweat it just enjoy your work she looks good.

Thanks. About the Hella light and the way I wired it, thanks. I didn't know that. Good thing to know!

 

[mikes4runner]

Job well done. I love the lights and the tires. As for the tint, I love that too but I wouldn't head back to NJ anytime soon with that. If our "friendly" state troopers see a Texas plate with mirror tint, your in for a ticket, no doubt about it!!!!

Nice truck!!!

Yes and don't let them find out you wired those Hellas to the park lights or they will bend you over. by law they should be wired to the high beams. But then again I wired my Hella 550's to the park lights too.

 

[lojeff]

They shouldn't ticket me if I'm just going through though.


That's really funny. You must not have been living in NJ when you got your 4runner.

The good govenor promised not to raise taxes. He keep his work, sort of.....registration,title,moving violations, parking tickets, beach access fees are all up. Out of state drivers that don't know NJ laws are the state trooper's cash cow.

Example. Beach Access to IBSP 2003 =$120......2004=$195