Supercharged 98 LTD TacoRunner

[I'mStock]

Update!

Soooo I reused my old hood latch, thought it would be fine. Bolted it up, shut the hood and was able to unload the front suspension by picking up on the hood. Turns out it was faulty, I guess from the accident? After this happened I pulled it off and tested it with a screwdriver, it "locks" but if I really yank on it, it would pop open...

Looks like I'll be getting a new hood painted when I take the bumpers in for paint.

:redface:

 

[dgoll75]

What a bummer bro. I have done stuff like that too. Cruising right along on a project then...DOH. As the saying goes, SHI* HAPPENS. :doh:

 

[I'mStock]

My Girlfriend and I were safe (We were doing 75, next to a semi on I10) and we limped it on service roads the ~10 miles home so it could have been much, MUCH worse.

Lost a little momentum with the excitement for the completed truck but thank god it's tax season, right.

 

[txbonds]

You an me both!

I'm bummed that the 96-98 bumpers use different mounts than the 98-02... I was hoping modding one bracket or the other would be an option but front the quick peek I took I'm probably gonna be netter of fabbing new ones, which just pushes 100% completion out even further.

It's hard to find time to work on anything with a 6 week old.

I went through this same thing. On my CBI front bumper it was modded after CBI's 2000 4runner which has the different front frame ends. When I got the bumper, it obviously wouldn't fit as the 96-98 runners don't have that large plate on the end of the frame. CBI came up with a solution to send me some plates to weld up which my Dad helped me by welding them to the frame.

However, with enough time I think you could create a can style mount adapter that bolted on similarly to the way ARB does it on some trucks (my old land rover for example). Would still require some welding on someones part but seems like a solution could be made to recreate that plate by bolting on a pre made adapter.

Good luck and sorry to hear about your accident. Glad you guys were okay.

 

[I'mStock]

So I mocked up my Limited flares, only one clip hole lines up.

I'm not sure how yet, but I will be keeping them. I have a feeling I'm plastic welding bolts to the flares and drilling new holes into the fenders...

Got another hood.... :sing:

Took the hood and sport bumper in for paint and then rode around in the desert.

Installed the new hood and mocked up the front bumper. I was excited to find an easy how-to for modding he 99-02 bumper mounts to work on a 96-98 truck by doing nothing but drilling an additional hole, only to find out that my stock mounting point is pretty tweaked from the accident... I'm gonna tray and straighten it back out but I'm not sure how that will work out.

Also, the paint shop couldn't find the color code for my Limited cladding so they painted the bumper flare extensions body color. I was upset at first but I think they accidentally solidified me going monochrome. I'll take them my from flares after figuring out how to mount them and subsequently take them the rest of the cladding and my rear bumper.

:trophy:

 

[I'mStock]

F-F-F-FAKE OUT!

Everything is on and for the most part, done. There's still a lot of final adjustments to make to try and get everything to align better but because I went with 3rd party panels, I'm not sure how much better it will actually get.

I fear getting the Limited flares are gonna be the hardest part of all this.

 

[I'mStock]

Piece by piece it's coming together, knocked out a flare Saturday (I only had one with me.)

I contemplated how to do this for a long while.. I really wanted to utilize factory clips but with the mounting points for Tacomas and 4Runners being so different, it just wasn't realistically gonna happen. I ended up going with plan B; Bolts.

First, I epoxied the bolts in to the OEM clip locations:

Then I masked off the truck and marked where the new holes needed to be drilled:

Holes drilled, flares mocked up:

As you can tell, the paint shop messed up on the bumper flare extensions by painting them body color. I'm torn as to what I want to do next... They said they'd fix it for free but then I'd have perfect looking extensions and sun faded flares front and back. I've thought about pulling all of the host cladding off and having them respray it silver but I can't shake wanting to have them just spray it all body color when I have spray the rear bumper... Decisions, decisions. I think it would look nice monochrome.

Anyways, I've still got some adjusting to do to the front bumper mounts, the holes need to be hogged out so it can come back a 1/2 inch or so...

Here's how it sits. I'll knock out the passenger side flare this week and continue thinking about the cladding colors....

 

[WRWhit93]

Nice.
Turned out really well, I like the look of it!

 

[I'mStock]

Found a great local deal on some 285/75 Dynapros, traded my wheels and tires for his wheels and tires plus a little cash on my end, obviously...

Truck is nearing "completion" in my eyes. Of course I want to lift it, get some metal bumpers on it, add some lights and all that other stuff but I consider "phase 1" a success and I can step back and be happy with it. Now I can spend some time and money on my track car.

:tea:

 

[madbomber08]

Omygsh! A tacoma converted to a 4runner! I know by the wheels. Those are Tacoma wheels. How?!?!?!?!?

 

[I'mStock]

Uhhhhhhhh

 

[awpsome]

LOL... can you say your fffaaakkeee outt again?

 

[I'mStock]

I can't tell if he's serious but no, it's not a Tacoma.

 

[NateMob]

Im in Alamogordo, if you are ever in the area let me know. We have some great trails over here, ive been on quite a few of the Cruces trails also.

You wouldnt be interested in a CBI Hybrid front bumper would you? Powdercoated silver already.

 

[I'mStock]

Im in Alamogordo, if you are ever in the area let me know. We have some great trails over here, ive been on quite a few of the Cruces trails also.

You wouldnt be interested in a CBI Hybrid front bumper would you? Powdercoated silver already.

I'd love to make it up that way some day. 3mo old son makes long trips kinda iffy though, maybe later this year...

I wasn't, and I just got done talking about not spending money on this thing but I'm a sucker so, what were you looking to get? PM me...

 

[madbomber08]

I can't tell if he's serious but no, it's not a Tacoma.

Lol, I'm just bustin your chops man. The conversion looks really clean, like it's almost meant to be there. I'd like to see a TacoRunner in real life. I bet you could trick quite a few people with it having a Taco front end, especially girls!

I looked through your build thread and when I read the part about the bent hood due to the faulty latch I was like, huh? How does a hood get bent due to a faulty latch?

 

[I'mStock]

When a latch fails on the interstate at 75mph then the hood isn't really obligated to remain shut so it will instead smash you in your windshield destroying not only your windshield but usually itself in the process.

 

[I'mStock]

Tiny, tiny, small updates just to update.

Matched the front and rear finally. Not sure why I waited on this for so long, it's AMAZING.

Also, after dragging ass forever, mounted the front flares, still need to adjust the bumper brackets (read: drill bigger holes) so I can push the bumper back about 1/2".

That's it... Currently piecing together a lift. :snacker:

 

[I'mStock]

So I lifted it. I'm told the springs I got are 7.5 wraps but I feel like they might be 8s? I don't know...

Anyways, LC coils, FJ80 rear stuts and 2.5" front spacers (temp.) I'm not in love with the rear, it's a little high for my taste. I'm pretty sure it needs to come down an inch or so but we'll see.

Sorry for the shitty pics.

 

[NateMob]

The back is a little high, but still looks good! Did you remove the big cone bumpstop when you put in the rear coils? If so you could pull those out and instantly drop the rear almost half an inch. It's not really needed with taller coils.

I hope to see this thing in person one of these days. How's the little guy doing?