zacattack20's Matte Blue ‘98 to '02 Sport Edition - Not the normal build thread

[zacattack20]

A while ago I noticed the bracket that attaches the sway bar to the truck had broken.

I called Addco and they shipped me a new bracket for just the shipping cost. Ok cool. Shipping was $16! A little outrageous shipping charge for this bracket as I was expecting it within a couple days for that price but it took over a week. Anyway. I went to replace the bracket and nothing I did would allow me to get the bracket to attach and have both end links attach. So I had to just attach the brackets and one end link and drive it like that until I could get new end links. The ones I had weren't long enough which I have no idea how I got them installed to begin with if they weren't long enough.

I was planning on building my own end links but ended up just buying some from MStudt.
Sway Bar Links - Eugene, OR - Toyota 4Runner Forum - Largest 4Runner Forum


I got front and rears. They look great and are easily adjustable. I had noticed a more floaty feeling while driving before I had noticed the bracket had broken. Now that I had everything fixed and new end links in, the truck is obviously handling a lot better.

 

[zacattack20]

Did a few things with the instrument cluster.

I had painted the black trim piece inside the instrument cluster a gloss black before with some other paint and then when I redid my interior black I decided to spray it with the SEM paint. Well that didn't work too well and made it bubbly and crappy looking.

Then my trip meter broke and would just stay at zeros. I got an instrument cluster and swapped the trip meter and then painted the trim piece.

A little plastic tab had broken off that was keeping the trip constantly reset. I realize that it was probably due to the cluster lens that I put on. I purchased a new lens for a 99-02 cluster because it was $30 cheaper. The hole for the trip reset button is slightly farther to one side compared to the 96-98. It fits but puts a little pressure on the reset button which seems to have put stress on this little plastic tab and finally after resetting the trip enough times, it snapped.

After a few minutes of unsuccessfully trying to take apart the odometer to get to this piece, I came to realize the whole trip meter thing can be slid apart from the odometer by some tabs on each side. That made it a lot easier.

 

[zacattack20]

I've been having issues with LED's in my instrument cluster. I've had two sets, superbrightleds and vleds, go out on me this year. This is first time I've had any issues with LED's from vleds. I wasn't too happy with the color of the vleds anyway, they were supposed to be 6k white but were too yellow. I ended up getting some new ones from ebay for $20. They are labeled as 8k white and are actually the best looking LED's I have put in.

2pcs HID 8K Style White 168 2825 194 5-SMD LED Parking City Lights Sidemarker,1H

1998 4Runners are the only ones that have the PRND2L below the tachometer.
96-97 didn't have any indicators and then 99-02 it was moved below the speedometer but with a replaceable bulb behind it so it was easier to change color. 98's have LED's that are soldered onto a circuit board which are green.

These bugged me considering I have everything blue and white. I finally swapped them out with some rectangular shaped LED's from eBay. I bought a 100pk of blue LED's for $11. You can find them a lot cheaper from China but I didn't want to wait for the shipping from China so I bought these from the only person I could find in the United States. I left the R orange and just swapped the green ones for blue.

100x Blue 2x5x7mm Rectangular Flat Top LED Diffused mcd Light RC Arduino Pi USA | eBay

 

[zacattack20]

When I reupholstered the door panels I used just one layer of vinyl over some foam. Looked ok but had the intention of adding real leather inserts. I bought a black leather hide off ebay for $45. It was enough to do the inserts on all 4 door panels as well as the arm rests. I still have about half left.


Black Upholstery Leather Cow Hide BK21 Auto Car Automotive | eBay


The vinyl I had used before was rather thick and I couldn't get in the crease of the door panel nicely. So since I was adding these inserts I was able to fix that. I cut with a razor blade along the crease and was then able to shove the vinyl into the crease. Then when I added the leather insert I was able to cover what I had cut and push the leather into the crease. To finish it off I purchased some acrylic rods to line the crease.


5 Clear Acrylic Plexiglass Lucite Rod 1 8? 125" Diameter 36? Long Free SHIP | eBay


I used a heat gun to bend the rod to the shape of the crease and then painted in black. To hold it in I poked a few holes in the crease (that are hidden by the rod) and then tied the rod down using fishing line. It's not even noticeable unless you really get close to it.

 

[Justin727]

Looks great!!!!

 

[zacattack20]

Looks great!!!!

Thank you.

 

[infamousRNR]

subscribed'

 

[zacattack20]

Great build...plenty of well done mods!!

Thank you random internet bot for selecting my thread to copy someone else's comment.

 

[zacattack20]

Minor update.
Will have very large update at the end of the month when I have time.

I had replaced my hatch struts with some Monroe ones a while ago. I had read reviews and for like $20 total I thought they would do the job. Well they sucked. They went up most of the way but I had to still push it up about another foot so I could get under it. I figured it was do to the sound deadening I had in the hatch. They were also really loud and sounded like shit, like nails on a chalkboard.

I decided to buy new StrongArm ones. I got them from Amazon for less than $20 each. Went up a couple dollars since I bought them.

Amazon.com: StrongArm 4286 Toyota 4Runner Liftgate Lift Support 1996-02, Pack of 1: Automotive

I had seen a thread awhile back that had posted about a fix for the upper bushings, nylon spacers from Lowes. Its a pack of 2, you only need one. Just cut it in half, one for each side.

Shop The Hillman Group 2-Count Standard (SAE) Flat Washers at Lowes.com

The new struts work perfectly. They go up quickly and then the last foot or so they go up nice and slow.


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I also needed some E.O. stickers to pass smog. I called Airaid, an actual person picked up right away and was very helpful and they sent me one for free. I have read about the TRD supercharger one and apparently no one has been able to get one from the dealer. I decided to just make one myself using some Avery labels. It looks decent enough.

 

[TimShields]

I also needed some E.O. stickers to pass smog. I called Airaid, an actual person picked up right away and was very helpful and they sent me one for free. I have read about the TRD supercharger one and apparently no one has been able to get one from the dealer. I decided to just make one myself using some Avery labels. It looks decent enough.

<a href="http://s1350.photobucket.com/user/zacforsale/media/CA5D814B-632B-4AD2-BA45-6E9608F6346C_zps712ctmyx.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1350.photobucket.com/albums/p779/zacforsale/CA5D814B-632B-4AD2-BA45-6E9608F6346C_zps712ctmyx.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo CA5D814B-632B-4AD2-BA45-6E9608F6346C_zps712ctmyx.jpg"/></a>

That is the greatest thing I've seen haha. I'm so glad I don't have to get smog tested. I live in coconino county in arizona. You can straight pipe a diesel for all they care here. Great build thread man. Love the completely black look. Subscribed so I can continue to watch this black beauty grow.

 

[zacattack20]

That is the greatest thing I've seen haha. I'm so glad I don't have to get smog tested. I live in coconino county in arizona. You can straight pipe a diesel for all they care here. Great build thread man. Love the completely black look. Subscribed so I can continue to watch this black beauty grow.

Thank you.

And yeah smog checks suck. You practically can't do anything in california without it being illegal. It's stupid because all you have to do is swap parts for the check and then swap it back. I had to swap out my airaid with the stock pipe last smog check because I didn't have the sticker.

 

[zacattack20]

I originally had '99+ aftermarket clear corners but when I did my first retrofit, I tried something different with some OEM Japanese clear corners that don't have the reflector. So I sold the old ones. They didn't come out as good as I had hoped and then I straight ****ed them up when trying to fix them. Something has happened with the '99 and up clear corners over the past little while and they are hard to come by. So I bought some '96-'98 clear corners and sprayed them black with VHT Nite Shades. I hate the look but it was better than the different looking clear corners.

The only way you can find '99-'02 clear corners now seems to be to buy them with the blinker clear corners. Even then I only saw one posting on eBay and they only had 2 left in stock. One now that I bought a set.

1999 2001 Toyota 4Runner 4 Runner 4pcs Clear Corner Lights Bumper Signal Combo | eBay

So I had to pay $80 just so I could get the clear corners. Instead of them being around $40 before.

I came across a headlight thread where [MENTION=100116]D Farms[/MENTION] mentioned how he blacked out his corners without opening them using cleaner.

This BY FAR is the best way to do it. The clear corners are a major ***** to get apart and when you put them back together, there is a good chance they still wont be perfect. Here is a youtube video showing how easy it is using the cleaner. It takes just a few minutes.


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Just pour some cleaner into the light, let it sit as well as shake it around a little and within a few minutes it will come off, then just wash it out. It you have an air compressor, blow air through it as well as a wet/dry vac you can vacuum it out.

Comparing the chrome vs the finished one

Comparing vs the Nite Shade

 

[D Farms]

I just used lye that i had left over from... a project.

 

[SKRS2]

They didn't come out as good as I had hoped and then I straight ****ed them up when trying to fix them.

I wish I had seen this before...

 

[zacattack20]

I just used lye that i had left over from... a project.

Haha ok "a project". No need to incriminate yourself. Haha.

The cleaner I used worked really well. Thanks for the idea tbough.

 

[zacattack20]

I wish I had seen this before...

Ha. Yeah mine were slightly deformed the first time from the top but not too noticeable. But then when I tried to take them apart again to fix the lights, I walked away from the oven and left them in too long and melted the shit out of one. Not too happy about that, especially because they were rather expensive.

I would never try to take these apart again.

 

[D Farms]

yeah i got them apart ok, but i melted the original ones trying to put them back together. the key to getting them apart is setting the oven to 275. then turn it off and put them in for 10 minutes. then pry them apart without deforming the backing piece. I did get mine apart and ended up putting a nice set of leds with diffusers in.

 

[fourfive]

Just looked through your build thread but holy shi* man, you did an incredible job with your interior...well done!

 

[zacattack20]

yeah i got them apart ok, but i melted the original ones trying to put them back together. the key to getting them apart is setting the oven to 275. then turn it off and put them in for 10 minutes. then pry them apart without deforming the backing piece. I did get mine apart and ended up putting a nice set of leds with diffusers in.

Yeah I saw what you have done. They look good.

Just looked through your build thread but holy shi* man, you did an incredible job with your interior...well done!

Thank you.

 

[zacattack20]

Night time view of the light without the chrome. Still plenty bright enough.