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

[zacattack20]

Hey man sweet build! I'm impressed with how much stuff you just take apart and put back together... Multiple times. How's the paint job holding up? Any issues at this point worth noting?

Thank you. And yeah tell me about it. Haha. There isnt a part of the truck I haven't touched or removed, over and over. I wish I had the time and money to do everything I wanted at once without having to put stuff back together to take it apart again.

And which paint job, my exterior or interior? I have issues with both. I'm happy that the truck exterior is black but almost 4 years out in the sun with no garage has made it not as pretty as it once was and no real way to fix it. The hood and roof are faded worse than the rest, still looks good from a distance. It's made me consider vinyl wrapping it, and I'm pretty sure I will when I get the money, also just because I'm in a mood for a color change as well.

As for the interior, I'm happy as well that it's black but as I expected it's not like it was going to be scratch proof but it's pretty durable. I can, and have fixed little spots with a Q-tip. Defintely something that makes me be careful with, not something I would recommend for someone that really beats on their truck.

 

[CenCalifoothill15]

Looks really GOOD! I'd love to have black interior...

awesome build-

 

[zacattack20]

Looks really GOOD! I'd love to have black interior...

awesome build-

Thank you.

Yeah I wish toyota had just made a black interior. It was a lot of work. I hate both the brown and bluish gray interiors. I would have been ok if I had the gray interior of like an '02, maybe just swapped in some black carpet and black seats.

 

[merlin12]

how is the carpet holding up?

how is that black carpet holding up for you? i was thinking of blacking out the inside of my 4runner and was wondering how it held up and where you got it if you still like it.

 

[Brilliant]

Amazing work on the interior. Looks killer

 

[t4r4life]

Awesome job buddy! looks great, im super jelly now haha

 

[zacattack20]

how is that black carpet holding up for you? i was thinking of blacking out the inside of my 4runner and was wondering how it held up and where you got it if you still like it.

I have no issues whatsoever with the carpet, it's held up great. I got it from stockinteriors.com for $400+. I got the front passenger area, cargo area, floor mats, and got the mass backing put on which made it a little more expensive. Also look for a coupon code to save some money.

Amazing work on the interior. Looks killer

Thank you. Took a lot of work.

Awesome job buddy! looks great, im super jelly now haha

Thank you. Definitely wouldn't recommend it to a real off-roader like your self that beats up your truck, it probably wouldn't hold up too well. Most of you guys would rather spend the money I spent on it on something to make the truck more off-road capable.

 

[airmax233]

Nice build sir! Your interior is on point lol I am just curios on how you removed your whole dash without triggering the passenger airbag?

 

[zacattack20]

Nice build sir! Your interior is on point lol I am just curios on how you removed your whole dash without triggering the passenger airbag?

Thank you.

And the same way you would remove the steering wheel airbag, disconnect the negative terminal of the battery and let it sit for a few minutes for the system to discharge, then unplug the airbag and remove.

 

[airmax233]

Thank you.

And the same way you would remove the steering wheel airbag, disconnect the negative terminal of the battery and let it sit for a few minutes for the system to discharge, then unplug the airbag and remove.

I see and then you just put it back like nothing ever happened right?

 

[zacattack20]

I see and then you just put it back like nothing ever happened right?

Yeah. Are you needing to remove yours or are you just curious?

 

[airmax233]

Yeah. Are you needing to remove yours or are you just curious?

Well a little bit of both I wanted to replace mine since the leather is cracked and if I can find one in a good deal then am all in lol

 

[zacattack20]

Well a little bit of both I wanted to replace mine since the leather is cracked and if I can find one in a good deal then am all in lol

Alright. Yeah just do what I said, nothing to be worried about. Just don't do anything stupid. Haha. If you want, for safety, just avoid being in front of it while removing and installing just in case it blows. Also when you take it out, place it up so that if somehow it gets some static charge and it blows, the airbag will just blow upwards and not down and then go flying up in the air.

 

[airmax233]

Okay got it so just remove the whole dash and under is the airbag compressed like in a pillow shaped or something right? And just carefully set it on the side face up.

 

[zacattack20]

Okay got it so just remove the whole dash and under is the airbag compressed like in a pillow shaped or something right? And just carefully set it on the side face up.

The airbag is bolted to the back of the dash when you remove it. The piece that you are able to see from the outside is just a cover. It's encased in metal so you don't actually see any part of the airbag.

To remove the dash, first disconnect the negative terminal of the battery. Then start removing stuff. By the time you get to the airbag the system would have discharged enough. Remove the piece under the steering wheel, there are 4 10mm bolts. Unscrew the trim around the instrument cluster - 4 Phillips screws, then unplug the dimmer switch and remove the trim. Then remove the instrument cluster - 4 Phillips screws and unplug the plugs in the back and remove.

Then move to the radio cluster trim, depends on what model you have but for mine I remove the A/C control knobs and face and there are 2 Phillips screws behind there. Then remove the cup holder trim piece first and then shifter surround piece, they just clip in so just pull up. Then pull the the radio surround trim piece off and unplug any connectors like the clock and hazard switch. Then remove your radio, 4 screws and connectors. Then unscrew the A/C control box and just leave there.

Move to the passengers side and remove the glove box, a couple screws on the bottom and then lift out. Then there are a couple 10mm bolts to remove the cross bar that the glove box attaches to, and then some 10mm bolts where the glove box light is. Pop the glove box light out and disconnect. Then pull that trim piece down and there is an airbag connector attached to it that you need to disconnect.

Then you need to find the nuts for the dash. I don't remember how many there were. And after you remove those then just try to finagle it out. The airbag is then attached to the back with a few bolts, just unbolt and transfer to the new dash. I think that's about it but I might have missed a couple things. Getting mine out was a lot easier than getting it in. The steering wheel seemed to get in the way more when I put it in. Just do the reverse to put it back back together.

 

[airmax233]

The airbag is bolted to the back of the dash when you remove it. The piece that you are able to see from the outside is just a cover. It's encased in metal so you don't actually see any part of the airbag.

To remove the dash, first disconnect the negative terminal of the battery. Then start removing stuff. By the time you get to the airbag the system would have discharged enough. Remove the piece under the steering wheel, there are 4 10mm bolts. Unscrew the trim around the instrument cluster - 4 Phillips screws, then unplug the dimmer switch and remove the trim. Then remove the instrument cluster - 4 Phillips screws and unplug the plugs in the back and remove.

Then move to the radio cluster trim, depends on what model you have but for mine I remove the A/C control knobs and face and there are 2 Phillips screws behind there. Then remove the cup holder trim piece first and then shifter surround piece, they just clip in so just pull up. Then pull the the radio surround trim piece off and unplug any connectors like the clock and hazard switch. Then remove your radio, 4 screws and connectors. Then unscrew the A/C control box and just leave there.

Move to the passengers side and remove the glove box, a couple screws on the bottom and then lift out. Then there are a couple 10mm bolts to remove the cross bar that the glove box attaches to, and then some 10mm bolts where the glove box light is. Pop the glove box light out and disconnect. Then pull that trim piece down and there is an airbag connector attached to it that you need to disconnect.

Then you need to find the nuts for the dash. I don't remember how many there were. And after you remove those then just try to finagle it out. The airbag is then attached to the back with a few bolts, just unbolt and transfer to the new dash. I think that's about it but I might have missed a couple things. Getting mine out was a lot easier than getting it in. The steering wheel seemed to get in the way more when I put it in. Just do the reverse to put it back back together.

Awesome! Couldn't ask for more.. Thanks

 

[zacattack20]

Awesome! Couldn't ask for more.. Thanks

No problem.

 

[fightman80]

I just read through your entire build thread man.... you've done a ton of work to this rig! Nice work man!

Gonna be saving this to my favorites... you've got a couple of mods I might just add to my old girl!

 

[zacattack20]

I just read through your entire build thread man.... you've done a ton of work to this rig! Nice work man!

Gonna be saving this to my favorites... you've got a couple of mods I might just add to my old girl!

Thank you.

 

[zacattack20]

I sold my old projector headlights and decided to make some new ones. I really wanted the square shaped projectors as I feel they match the shapes and lines of the 4Runner better.

I kept my same bulbs and ballasts and just built new headlights.
TYC Headlights - CarID - they had them for $70 for both
Bi-Xenon Morimoto Mini D2S 3.0 X-Lens - The Retrofit Source
Apollo 1.0 Square Shrouds - The Retrofit Source
LED Switchback tubes - eBay

I already posted a couple pictures in the what did you do to your 3rd gen today thread but was waiting to update my build thread until I had them complete.


You have to grind down the inside of the back of the headlight to get the nut to go down far enough so that you can screw the bulb holder on as well.

Painted the headlights a satin black

And the shrouds a glossy black but once put together you can't tell a difference.

I bought these LED tubes from eBay to form the halo. I purchased from these guys because they said it shipped from Irvine which is less than 20 miles from me, and the tracking said they printed the shipping label in Irvine, but ended up being shipped from New York, so it took a few more days to get them. A little annoyed by that it said Irvine but shipped from New York.
2X 30cm Tube Style Switchback Headlight LED Strip DRL Light for Audi White Amber | eBay

They came in 30 cm and 45 cm. 45 cm was too long and I wasn't sure if they could be cut. 30 cm was too short that it didn't go all the way around. It wasn't long enough to show in the bottom hole so I just taped the top hole closed so that the light is just on the sides. I epoxied the tube in and then used electrical tape and foil tape that I painted black to keep it in and forcing all the light through the front holes.

Put together.

DRL Halo

Blinker Halo

I just wired them up yesterday.

DRL halo is fine but like everything else in life, nothing ever works out easy or as you expect. When I switch on the blinkers the halo just stays orange but doesn't blink. There is a circuit board that goes between the light and the car to tell the white light to switch off and the orange to turn on. If I wire it with out the circuit, then the white stays on, and the orange blinks over it and isn't visible. If I wire up the orange power wire to the blinker power wire from the truck then it blinks so its something with the circuit board. I think I am going to have to bypass the circuit board for just the orange blinker wire. I will run the orange halo directly to the blinker around the circuit board and leave the white through the circuit board so that when I flip the blinker the white will turn off and then it will make the orange blink.

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