Tank_7's Build

[tank_7]

Decided to make one of these things.

I'll try and keep it short and sweet (yeah right) so if anyone has any questions about something I didn't cover feel free to PM me or reply in the thread.

This is my first 4runner but not my first Toyota. Back in high school I had a 99 Tacoma with the TRD S/C, diff lock and Fox C/O's. I had no idea what I had at the time and now kick myself around for ever selling it. But hey I've had like 15 vehicles since I've turned 16. Everything from Civic's, 240sx's, had a few Jeeps. So it was always just "on to the next". I've since matured slightly and enjoy settling down with a vehicle and truly trying to make it my own.

So I had been looking for a 4R for roughly 3-4 months starting in July 2013. 2 months almost religiously. I considered a few 2nd gens but I knew I wanted a 3rd. I spent a lot of time researching about what to look for and the options I wanted. One day a salesman (who is also my neighbor) at my work came by and we were talking 4runners and what not, and I knew he had one, but he always said it was his baby, blah blah. Then one day he came by and gave me some news. It seemed my patience had payed off. He said he was looking to sell it, but...there was a big BUT, it recently started misfiring. He said his wife was getting aggravated for "dumping so much money into it recently" so she was more or less telling him to get rid of it.

I went home and instantly got to researching and came to the conclusion that its more than likely an injector issue given its past maintenance history. So I took a chance and told him deal.

Anyways enough with the boring stuff. Here's a timeline of some pictures since I got it back in October 2013.

Sorry these will be a collection of cellphone pictures, point and shoot, and some off my 60D.

1999 Toyota 4Runner Limited
165K Auto. Non E-Lock​

First night I bought it. Basically stock minus a cheesy Rough Country "3 inch" lift and a toytec diff drop were the only aftermarket parts.

Running boards off ASAP!

Finally some meats
285/75 Goodyear Wrangler MT/R Kevlar

Mounted up with some 1.25" SpiderTrax spacers on the front to clear UCA

Went out to do some mild wheeling at Camp Gruber ORV Park but it was mainly a pit stop while on the way to camp at Greenleaf state park for the weekend.

Also notice the lack of flares up front. Yeah I thought I had trimmed enough off but not quite. I lost the drivers side on the highway one night prior and then lost the passenger side that day. Thankfully I was able to recover the passenger side. I had to source another limited flare at a junkyard a few weeks later. So moral of the story...when you think you have trimmed and pounded enough. Trim and pound just a lil bit more.

It actually snowed a little bit here in Oklahoma so I went out and got a little snow wheeling in. I love love love the multi-mode on the roads when its like that. Definitely a +1 over my Jeeps.

Okay here are some more recent photos. This was actually kind of like a "review" if you could of the Rough Country lift for the 3rd gen runners. If you're not familiar with their kit its consists of 3" coil springs and Premium N2.0 shocks for the rear and then a 3" spacer for the front.

I couldn't really get the front to articulate much. For one I'm new to the whole IFS and also I'm sure it was just due to how I was approaching the mound but either way. The rear seems to stuff alright, I still had room to go before the bumps too, but the front obviously...its just a spacer so don't expect too much.

Here are just some normal shots from that same day. Oh yeah I also acquired a roof rack if you didn't catch that. I figured once camping season comes back around I could use it. ..and it looks pretty sweet.

Seeing as how I really really hated the thought of front spacers. I went ahead and ordered these guys from ToyTec.

Installed

Cranked!

So with that all sorted out...the girlfriend and I took a day trip out to Disney ORV Park today and played on some rocks to test out the new C/O's. Man I can't describe how huge of a difference these are compared to spacers. It's night and day. Now what sucks is I can tell how crappy the RC springs and shocks ride in the rear. So adding that to the to-do list. These are mainly poser shots due to me still getting used to the vehicle and its abilities. IFS is a little different compared to the solid axle Jeeps I'm used to.

And I suppose to put a face to these words, here's one of me goofin

Seeing as how I don't have photos of everything I've done to it so far, here is a mod list.

Engine
Airaid ISR w/ highflow filter
Deckplate mod
Intake elbow removed

Suspension / Tires / Wheels
Bilstein 5100 ToyTec Coilovers (F)
Rough Country N2.0 Shocks/Springs (R)
285/75 Goodyear Wrangler MT/R Kevlar
SpriderTrax 1.25" Spacers (F)

Exterior
Curt Rack w/ Extension

Lighting
Hella Optilux Fog light bulbs

Interior
Led dome lights
Highlander Front floor mats
Rear Cargo mat​

So that's it, pretty simple at the moment. I'll update as I go!

 

[BrianSD_42]

subscribed!

Nice truck.

BTW I had those same 1.25" spacers, same 5-star factory wheels, same diameter tire 285x75x16. I had noticible but minor rubbing in the front. It was nothing too major and seemed fine on the trails until I was going about 30-ish and near-bottomed out the front end. My 285s bent my front drivers side fender. In this would happen to any truck with those wheels, backspacing and limited flares. The easiest solution is to lose the wheel spacers. As an alternative you could just never land it hard on the front end (yeah right) ..... Bigger bumpstops is yet another way to minimize the damage I experienced.

 

[1blink]

subscribed!

Nice truck.

BTW I had those same 1.25" spacers, same 5-star factory wheels, same diameter tire 285x75x16.

I knew what your reply would consist of as soon as I saw the photo with the missing flare haha

 

[tank_7]

Yeah Brian I could definitely see that. I've trimmed A LOT off these flares. So far it seems that I've eliminated rubbing on the plastic flare and I removed the drivers side fender liner and trimmed a lot off the passenger side. I haven't ever had it touch the actual metal of the fender. Even after today. But honestly I was so close to pulling all the (remaining) flares at the time of loosing both the fronts and the side cladding and going with a dark gray Durabak bed liner. Keeping the same lines as the two tone plastics. If the flares give me more issues in the future I still may do that because honestly the limited definitely wasn't my first choice of models but hey...at the time beggars couldn't be choosers.

 

[tank_7]

Little update. The other night I decided to semi debadge the lift-gate / sides where the limited badges were.

Supplies used. Heat gun. Plastic scraper thing. And some alcohol wipes.

During

Finished. Still debating on what to do with the toyota logo and the text badges. I like the text because it's kind of oldschool so I'm going to try and recycle it somehow. Plastidip gunmetal is definitely on the list for those as well. Hold looks hideous on this thing.

Sides for good measure.

Also. Ordered some LED headlights from VLED. After reading [MENTION=105038]bubbaleenc[/MENTION] 's very very informative review I decided to give them a shot. Honestly I'm not going to spend the money for retrofits. I accepted that because it's a little ridiculous. But I didn't want the typical HID in a halogen housing. So these seem like they will be a great in between for myself. I'll keep everyone updated about how I like them. Should be in tomorrow.

 

[JohnBill53]

looks like a great start man glad to see another okie

 

[bubbaleenc]

Thanks for the mention! I'm glad the review has been helpful.

 

[t4rwildlife]

This thing looks great! Keep it up.

 

[Illicitdream]

Awesome Ride! I love the de-badged look. Clean, Clean, Clean!

 

[tank_7]

Thanks guys! Here's what I've been working on lately. Reason I haven't been able to update like I want!

 

[tank_7]

Okay so it has taken me a little bit to update because I was too busy enjoying the awesome weather this weekend. But since it's back down into the 20's today I suppose I'll get back to the grind on here.

I got the VLEDs 2000LM headlights in last Friday. So I'll give a little review on them.

Here is what they looked like when received. Packaged well, seem to be quality pieces.

I've installed multiple HID units and replaced the typical headlight. These really weren't that much different. Before installation I went ahead and removed my air box and disconnected the ground on the battery and moved it over to give me more room and save headaches. Since they have the heat sink my OEM dust boots would not fit (unlike some other cookie cutter HID units, sometimes you can squeeze them through the boot) But I will be trying to figure out a way to fab up a replacement. The only problems I had on the initial install (before actually putting power to them) were one of the connectors was a little tricky to install. One side had a 4 pin layout with females on the other end, being their size you had to be pretty accurate when connecting them or else they would bend. The only other problem I had during install was the spring loaded clip was a bit of a pain to get over the head sink and locked down. Other than that it's straight forward and smooth sailing.

Okay now. Once installed I went to turn them on and was surprised to find out that my fog lights no longer worked. In fact when I tried to turn them on and off the switch actually turned the brights on and off. I have next to zero knowledge of wiring and electrical bits so I was stumped. The normal way of turning the brights on was working normally as well. So I'm really not sure the reason of this. (Maybe someone can chime in here?)

So instead of trying to put too much thought into it I just did the easiest thing that I knew would work and that was to do the fog light mod and completely bypass power from the headlights. So with that completed they were back to functioning like normal. The switch on the stalk operated like it should again.

Side Note: I did check [MENTION=105038]bubbaleenc[/MENTION] 's thread and he had previously done the fog light mod before installation. So I'm not sure if he would have encountered this problem.

I'm not sure if people with HID's have this problem or not but if anyone is looking into LED headlights then I would imagine you would have to do the fog light mod as well. (which isn't like its a bad thing, I like having the option of when I want to run the fogs)

Other than those issues I'm overall happy with them! The high beams definitely don't seem like they are much to brag about, but I plan on adding a light bar in the very near future, so to me that isn't a big deal. The color is spot on, I love the pure pure white look. Of course my phone doesn't actually capture that, but here are a few pictures for the moment!

 

[Mr. B]

Yessuh! Nice build bro.
Loving the duece40 as well. Whats the specs? And is that CCWs?..

 

[bubbaleenc]

But I will be trying to figure out a way to fab up a replacement.

I haven't replaced my dust boots yet. I have driven through the sand and on gravel roads with no issues so far. I've also taken the rig through a carwash without any fogging. I will still put in something to replace the boots when I get around to it though.

The only problems I had on the initial install (before actually putting power to them) were one of the connectors was a little tricky to install. One side had a 4 pin layout with females on the other end, being their size you had to be pretty accurate when connecting them or else they would bend.

Mine were tight at first too, but after connecting then disconnecting a couple times before installation they were good to go... I do this intuitively and prolly should have mentioned this.

The only other problem I had during install was the spring loaded clip was a bit of a pain to get over the head sink and locked down.

Ditto here... I totes should have mentioned this!

So instead of trying to put too much thought into it I just did the easiest thing that I knew would work and that was to do the fog light mod and completely bypass power from the headlights. So with that completed they were back to functioning like normal. The switch on the stalk operated like it should again.

I'll be darned... I'll have to dig through schematics to see why that happened. I didn't even think about my foglight mod preventing / changing anything about my install. Good catch!

High beams are more impressive on completely rural roads in my experience. In the mixed light of suburbia they are anything but exciting!

 

[tank_7]

Yessuh! Nice build bro.
Loving the duece40 as well. Whats the specs? And is that CCWs?..

Thanks man! Its my buddies s14, in the progress of swapping the s14 SR into it and converting auto to manual. He's the brains behind it I just add some friendly advice here and there. Ha. S14 SR with a fresh head and basic bolt ons for the moment. Typical suspension work. Unfortunately not CCW's. They're the XXR version.

 

[Mr. B]

Thanks man! Its my buddies s14, in the progress of swapping the s14 SR into it and converting auto to manual. He's the brains behind it I just add some friendly advice here and there. Ha. S14 SR with a fresh head and basic bolt ons for the moment. Typical suspension work. Unfortunately not CCW's. They're the XXR version.

Ahhh right on! One of my friends has a white s14 and did his SR swap a few years back. Earlier in the year he fcked up the head, rocker arms failed, timing chain snapped...tell your friend to buy rocker arm stoppers now, we found out thats a common problem and weakpoint in the SR.

Really digging the VLEDs, not many guys run them here so you've peaked some of my curiosity lol