NYChopshop's 1994 4Runner Build-Up Thread

[NYChopshop]

Here is the 4runner I picked up off of craigslist: 1994 5-speed with the 3.slow, 4x4 IFS. Came with 2" ball joint spacers up front and 2" OME HD lift springs in the rear and rancho shocks. Not to mention a magnaflow exhaust (well, it looks like a custom bent jobber with a magnaflow muffler - I probably am going to have to redo part of it for a spare tire - but more on that later). The previous owner also had the genius idea of putting crap PVC piping in place of part of the intake, so thats gotta be swapped out... The way it was set up forces the valve cover breather hose to bend before getting to the intake. I got a longer hose and put a few hose clamps in the middle area to keep it from bending, but thats just a band-aid. I just purchased a S&B intake, which got here incomplete, so I'm waiting on the last few pieces for that. The intake looks great, but I'm not planning on putting this truck in the middle of a river, so I dont need a snorkel. I also don't have any SAS plans for this truck for east coast trails that require solid axles, I have a K5 blazer back home on NY for that. I'm out here in southern california and I plan on putting the total chaos gen II caddy kit on the front end. In the short term I'm planning on retrofitting a 90-91 front bumper and tire carrier to my truck, the bumper on mine is in pretty rough shape and I want to remove the lower half of the bumper for clearance sooner rather than later. also coming up is an order to sonoran steal for their bumper insert and bulletproof IFS brace. If this sucker is getting air, their brace is a must. When I finally gather all the coin for doing the total chaos kit, I'll also be doing a rear axle swap for a Rock Assault rear housing because its a clean slate from which to build a suspension and I can order an axle 2" wider (to match the longer T100 axles the TC front end uses) and ready to accept the toyota electric locker I'm trolling the internet for. More to come!

This ad is not displayed to registered members. Register your free account today and become a member on Yotatech!

[NYChopshop]

I have an under-bed tire on my 'runner. I wanted to know if I can fit a 33" tire under there. I have a 31x10.5r15 under there now. 33x12.5 if possible, but I'd be willing to get an off-sized spare to get me off the trail, like a 33x10.5. It looks to me like it should all fit. my 'custom' exhaust looks like its less than an inch from my spare as it is. I was going to do the retrofit for the stock 90-91 swing out carrier anyway, so if it wont fit its not the end of the world, I'll just have a spot to relocate my stupidly placed gas tank. If it WILL fit, I'll have my welder buddy fab up some mounts onto the stock carrier for my hi-lift jack and a pair of jerry cans, depending on weight limits and keep the spare under the butt of my runner. Also, has anyone done the rear swing out conversion? Do I need the old tailgate as well? Where is the locking latch?

I also have a pair of stupid electrical gremlins that are chapping my ass. I did just get the 1994 factory repair manuals, and I am in the process of looking into both issues, one being my temp gauge only working very intermittently, and the other being my reverse lights wont light up. I suppose the reverse light could be the switch (in the transmission shift assembly?) or a fuse. I checked the bulbs already. The temp gauge doesnt work 90% of the time and then every now and again it jumps up to the normal temp range. I assume thats a lose electrical connection somewhere, because I would think if the gauge itself is shot it wouldnt work at all. I also figure the same about the temp sending unit - if its shot its shot. Both of these things arent too serious, but if anyone has had the same problems and fixed them, let me know. With these toys it seems if I'll have the problem 1000 other people on yotatech have already had the same one.

Happy wheelin!

[NYChopshop]

'lectrical gremlin 1: toast! My valve cover gasket was leaking, so when the mechanic pulled the intake manifold to do the job, I had him replace the silly little temperature sending unit. Damn thing is about the size of a piece of the internals of a clicking pen, but proved to be the weak link in the most important gauge on my cluster! I recommend that if you take the intake manifold off for ANY reason, replace this little $40 bugger before it gets a chance to leave you stranded from an overheat you shoulda seen coming!

[flatland4runner]

Yeah, you'll need the whole tailgate for the swing out. As well as the reinforced 1/4 panels. The latch is on the swinging arm itself it's a pull type thing. I can take some pictures for you if you like (during the day). You can easily mount a high lift on your carrier but as for the gas cans;they may block your reverse lights

[NYChopshop]

I dont care in the least about blocking those reverse lights. I am looking at a set of tail lights from ebay.co.uk (even though they are like $130 shipped) for the 'hilux surf' of the same year that have reverse lamps built in, so I'd be moving the lights (or splicing in and upping the fuse) anyway. I'm not entirely sure about the swing out tire carrier conversion anymore, because I realized that it wont fit with the marlin crawler rear bumper I fully intend to purchase and install. I'll probably just man up and cough up the money to have someone fab up a can carrier and weld it to that bumper when I get it.

[NYChopshop]

got my xterrains and intake installed. woo hoo.

[Tofer]

sweet rig!

[NYChopshop]

The install for this was a little bit of a pain because of the air flow sensor. I had to tear out the intake (previous owner had put a cheapo pvc pipe between the MAF sensor and the intake manifold doing all of nothing for the truck) and remove the sensor. I then installed the sensor in the S&B intake box, bolted that in, and replaced all the hoses. Everything I need was installed - okay thats a lie, my box shipped a few parts short, but it SHOULD have. The problem was quickly rectified by the intake company, so no harm no foul. All of the hose extensions and even a zip tie. The best part of this intake is that it removes the stupid restrictive airbox and the matching cold air baffle that directs what little cold air the 3.slow already gets. This intake sounds great. Adds a whole new level of ballsy grunt on the throttle, and I get 3mpg improvement over the stock filthy filter. I got 16, I now get 19. LA traffic ridden highway miles. I can feel some real world horsepower, but I really feel that my truck can actually breathe at highway speed and at RPMs over 3k which felt restricted before. I highly recommend this specific intake to anyone with this engine due to our stupidly designed air flow sensor which must be retained in order to use an intake like this.

[NYChopshop]

More pics of the installed intake

[NYChopshop]

This is the idiot tube made of pvc the previous owner seemed to think would improve performance by a billion times im sure. Also removed was the stupid OEM baffle that restricts the air going in to the nice fat new intake hole in the S&B airbox. The S&B filter is an oiled element but unlike K&N's elemets, its has a very fine particulate filtering capability. The problem with K&Ns are that the filters allow big chunks of dust etc into the combustion chamber, damaging everything moving, especially things like piston rings. S&B explains all about the particle filtering as well as providing downloadable pdf files with the installation instructions. Good thing too, as they dont include instructions with their kits!

http://www.sbfilters.com/


EDIT: Over the last better part of a year I have learned that my so-called 'idiot intake' was the ISR mod. It seemed pretty crappy to me at the time, but seeing the resonator box that was there from the factory, I assume it did a world of good. I can now say, however, that the S&B intake rocks the ISR mod in just about every way but price!

[NYChopshop]

I'm thinking about hacking one side of a marlin crawler rear bumper in order to fit my 4runner and still do the OEM swing-out tire carrier mount. Any opinions?

[BoostinChick]

That S&B Kit is $200 though...is it worth it when I could spend a little more and buy headers or something really worthy of HP upgrades?

It literally just looks like it plugs into the stock intake you are only replacing the box/elbow piece and the actual filter box.

[BoostinChick]

Originally Posted by NYChopshop

I have an under-bed tire on my 'runner. I wanted to know if I can fit a 33" tire under there. I have a 31x10.5r15 under there now. 33x12.5 if possible, but I'd be willing to get an off-sized spare to get me off the trail, like a 33x10.5. It looks to me like it should all fit.

Do a quick search on here to get the very technical answer but basically....

33X12.5 will rub
33X10.5 will fit and not rub

Depending on the gearing the truck came with (check your door jam) possible recommendation of re-gearing.

[a4runnerfreak]

He was talking if a 33" tire would fit under the Runner, BoostinChicky. Ya know,where his spare tire is...... lol

[NYChopshop]

In regards to the air filter, I'd say that because of the considerations of the cold air routing, the hose rerouting, and the way the 3.0l air flow sensor is designed, its totally worth the money in my opinion. I have a magnaflow-based exhaust (sure aint mandrel bent, but it works and sounds alright) that came with my truck, but nothing has given me more real-world-skinny-pedal feel than the intake. It really gives more power - in my particular instance - in the mid-range of RPM, from 2-5k ish, I don't quite remember without seeing the tach in front of me. It also sounds great, not too loud but it deepens the whole shebang! From a 'hmmmmmmmmm' to a 'whooaaaaaaaaaa'. Also, with your catback exhaust this really should help your truck in particular feel and sound better. I dont have a ton of disposable income (why else would a $2000 vehicle be my daily driver?) but I would buy this intake again at $185 shipped any day of the week and twice on sunday. I also have to pass california emissions. My buddy who lives in philly has a 5.0 mustang and tells me about how lax it can be on smog out there, but putting headers on my engine would cost a bunch, take more time, probably effect more greatly my smog emissions than the intake, and so far as I understand, not necessarily correct one of the more severe weakpoints of the vehicle. The 3.0 can be harmed more than helped by dropping the backpressure in the exhaust too low, and my cat-back (maybe even a hi-flow cat, its new... I cant tell) exhaust does a good enough job at helping the engine breathe on the back end.

I should also add that the best parts of the intake are what they remove or eliminate vs what they add. They do give you a larger surface area of air filter because of the shape, but they also eliminate the front air baffle (the stupid 3" hole all the air has to come through to get into the airbox!?) and the matching hole on the airbox, and the stupid secondary filter for the breather hose is also gone. The air horn is upgraded because it needed to be, but the stock accordion piece that goes from the throttle body to the air horn is as good as it needs to be and isnt a weakpoint of the system. The real part that they can't fix is the fact that the air flow sensor is a stupidly small and restrictive size. The air intake has been designed around making the system work as well as possible with that piece.

All I can really tell you about the intake that can really speak for the effects is my opinion on the real world feel, and my gas mileage improvement. The 2-3 mpg on the highway will buy back the intake in shorter and shorter order every day. When I got my RPMs over 2k before I did the intake, my truck felt held back, really like it was restricted somewhere. It had me worried that there was a problem. I'm sure my dirty paper filter didnt help the situation, but when I went from fairly dirty paper to the new intake, that problem and sensation totally went away.

Also, I just got spanking new 31s for the meantime, I cant bare upping the tire size without regearing. When that time finally comes, I'll probably go 33x10.5. I recently checked my doorjamb and the sticker didnt have 31x10.5r15 as my tire size, so I feel like mine came with the 4-spares option, but my spare is a 31 and looks stock. What do I know. I'll check with my toyota dealer when I make sure my truck isnt still effected by the steering shaft recall and see what my gear ratio was from the factory.

[BoostinChick]

Makes sense thanks for the clarification. I checked the instructions .pdf here:
http://www.sbfilters.com/pdf/install...06%20REV-B.pdf

This explains a lot of my questions about the install. The only thing that would be different in my case are the two OE vac lines, the one to the pair reed valve. Since my EGR is blocked off I just capped it. My guess is I would just not put the 90 degree barb in (shown in step 16)?

[NYChopshop]

Originally Posted by BoostinChick

Makes sense thanks for the clarification. I checked the instructions .pdf here:
http://www.sbfilters.com/pdf/install...06%20REV-B.pdf

This explains a lot of my questions about the install. The only thing that would be different in my case are the two OE vac lines, the one to the pair reed valve. Since my EGR is blocked off I just capped it. My guess is I would just not put the 90 degree barb in (shown in step 16)?

I'd either block off the elbow (under the air flow sensor behind the filter, right?) or use it to run a breather hose to like the axle or somesuch. Put the barb in for sure, from there you can just cap it or run something else to it. Since the airbox is plastic, I wouldnt want to damage it putting in something like a metal bolt to block the hole in case its not the same thread pattern. Plus, you never know when you're going to add another widget or gizmo under your hood that needs a breather!

[NYChopshop]

I got myself a genuine toyota shift knob. My old crappo stock one was ratty and torn.



The leather had apparently begun to decompose and felt weird to hold on to for long periods of time.



So I got myself the TRD one, and couldnt be happier! Screwed right on!



It's a bit heavier than the stock knob, and I feel a very slight difference in the firmness of the shifting. Hell, I just like the way it feels!



Same shift pattern as any 4runner I've ever seen.



Bright california sun light makes the shiny black leather look more like the plastic gray transfer case knob (which will be swapped out when the transfer case is divorced).

[Tubbyfatty]

whered you get that knob? From the dealer? How much was it? It looks great.

[NYChopshop]

Originally Posted by Tubbyfatty

whered you get that knob? From the dealer? How much was it? It looks great.

Its toyota part #PTR04-00000-05
It comes on everything, even a factory option on the scion! (leaves vague possibility of a junkyard find)
MSRP $75 or so, I got mine on ebay for $70 shipped. You can find it anywhere, just look for TRD shift knob. My buddy was looking for a used scion Xb as a city car and hes a computer-mowron so I was helping him. I came across one with the exact shift knob on it a few years old and the leather on the knob had been damaged on the top right portion. When I contacted the seller about the car I found out it was a girl, and as my girlfriend wears many rings on her fingers that wind up taking chunks out of me on occasion, I asked her if she drives the car with rings on her hands. She said she never thought about it but wears a lot of rings. I suppose that wouldn't be much of a problem for the majority of yotatech members, even the girlie ones - we're too busy gettin our hands muddy and oily to adorn them with precious trinkets! Imagine grounding out your battery via a wedding ring. ouch. Anyway, I digress.

[NYChopshop]

So, this past weekend, brought about by the death of Circuit City and their wholesale liquidation, I got myself two subs, a box and an amplifier. I got the dual 12" MTX Terminator subs in a box with the matching monoblock amp for the ballpark of $200. I already had purchased a Kenwood Excelon KDC-X592 in December, and had soldered together the wiring harnesses.


Here's the rats nest. I'm a little compulsive, that whole roll on the left is the amplifier power-on signal wire, aka 'remote' wire.


This is my kenwood head unit. It has everything I was looking for in a simple and durable head unit as best as I could formulate: it has 3 sets of RCA outputs, all hard mounted into the chassis of the head unit, it has a 3.5mm female socket (a headphone plug style also recessed into the chassis) for aux-in, it does NOT have a motorized face to break on me, and the internal amplifier can be turned off if and when I opt for a 4-channel amplifier to power my speakers.


The head unit also comes with this USB wire hard mounted into the back of the chassis. It has a bracket and two screws if hole cutting and permanent mounting is your thing. I just (temporarily at least) ran the usb cable into the hole in the top of my glove box that seemed to be begging for it.


Here is the box loaded with 2 subs. I got it at a very deep discount. It was their last one and was the floor model. I saw nothing wrong with it, and I had the overworked guy on the floor switch the system to the subs to hear them romp. Of course, it was an amplifier 10 times more powerful than the one I got with it, but hey. Sounded very nice.


Matching terminator amp. Does the job. Active fan cooling. I screwed it to the back of one of the rear seats. Good enough for me for now. I can therefore keep my paper towels, spare windshield wipers, and other unwieldy items tucked behind the sub box under the amp. Still gotta mount my hi-lift somewhere.

I'll post pictures of the cleaned up trunk when I get some daylight. I had all my tools out and crap everywhere when I finished the job and cleaned up after myself after dark. I will say, the Kenwood software isn't very intuitive, and takes some getting used to. Getting down to two knobs and about four buttons (excluding the full-function remote control thats a godsend!) makes for a clean looking stereo but everything you would normally do to get a result out of a stereo (change channels, go AM/FM, whatever) is totally wrong in terms of the kenwood. I'll get a hang of it and shut my griping mouth soon enough. Sounds great, tho, and I tuned it considerably with the help of the manual.

[NYChopshop]

Ripping the guts out! Damn dash board! obviously, my dash has been taken apart before, half of the screws necessary for taking the parts off were missing. I'll have to see about that. I also found out why my passenger side dashboard speaker wasnt working - the idiot hadn't plugged the speaker clip back in. there's a pair of speakers I don't have to buy immediately as yet!


Good riddance, stupid stock tape deck!


Here is where I ran the power wire for the amp through the firewall. I cut a small slit in the rubber grommet and ran the wire through. I guarantee it will never arc out there.


I wasnt intending on swapping in the new stereo that day, but I had to take the dash apart to see where the power wire was coming through the firewall. Right between the AC components in the back of the dash. Pain in the ass without taking everything out.


Here is a zoomed in view of where the rubber grommet comes through behind the dash. You can see the AC component (or heat - whatever) with the plastic grill on it in the corner. My power wire is the blue one in the shadows. Impossible to get out of the back there without pulling the glove box out.


Ran the wires all under the carpet by the door on the passenger side. Turns out there is a plastic channel with a bunch of wires there already. I didn't use it, couldn't see a way in easily. I just ran the wires inside of that under the carpet. Power, remote, and stereo RCAs. Here is where I mounted the amp. Screwed it into the back of the rear passenger side seat. I actually used the passenger side seat mounting bolt to ground out this tiny 250 watt amp. I scuffed the paint off the base of the bolt and put the ring terminal straight on there. Works great.

[Tubbyfatty]

Sweet buy on the subs! I have 2 10'' JBLs in a ported box thats powered by a kicker mono block.

[NYChopshop]

I may keep the amp to power a pair of 6" JL audio subs to put in the trunk stock speaker locations. I want to snip out the overhead tweeters and put component sets in the doors in the rear leaving the trunk for bass. I could get a bigger amp first now and use it on the subs and box I do have, allowing me to save up for the big momma of the whole deal: the JL 13w7 with matching box (drool at will):

However, thats like a grand I dont got on bass I can get by with now. My next purchase will probably be a set of 4" component MB quart speakers for the dashboard (tweeters mounted on the pillars or doors, havn't decided) stock locations. I've decided on the MB quarts because you can ADD a 6" component driver to up the wattage and midbass up front. I'd be putting the components in the lower front corners of the front doors in angled spacers (to allow window usage!), moving the map pocket to the rear of the door and it will still fit! I can get the 6" component add on, the rear door components, a 4-channel JL audio 400/4 amp and the 2 JL audio subs for the trunk for $600 or $700 or so when the time comes and really up my stereo all in one go. Then again, I'd need to get a big fat sub amp to keep up with that, I love the JL 1000/1 v2s, and a capacitor or two, some expensive wiring doo-hickies... I guess that'll really set me back significantly.

EDIT:
I think I've tweaked, and will continue to tweak, the plan I have for the stereo. I have a thread that I started looking for specific information about 2nd gen 4runner and 3rd gen pickup stereo installs: http://www.yotatech.com/f116/2nd-gen.../#post51187580
I also did a lot of gum-flapping on the 'proper' place for stereo talk, in a board about off-road audio so to speak. What to do about CD players always breaking and so on. http://www.yotatech.com/f96/off-road...eivers-184615/

[NYChopshop]

Oh, if someone happens to have a 2nd gen parts truck sitting around and you happen to read this thread with any detail (for some reason!?) please contact me. I find crap that former owners have left out of my truck for all kinds of dumb reasons. See idiot intake above. Apparently the last owner couldn't figure out where to hide the alarm box, so he REMOVED the air duct that goes under the dashboard right under over the driver's legs to give air to the far drivers side vents. Now when I turn on my AC, my legs freeze. A stupid problem to have, but a problem nonetheless. I could buy interior bolts and screws by the POUND, just send me all of them! Secretly broken trim pieces hanging on by a thread, body parts (if you have a green 4runner in southern california, please! I need a door!), a tailgate and bits for a swing out tire mod, the list goes on neverending! I'm sure there are better places to post my needs, but I try to contain my madness as best as possible. OOH! forgot to mention I need a front bumper from a 90-91 4runner with end caps and mounting brackets, even the bumper lights and wire harnesses if you gottem. I want to ditch my lower valance and I think it looks funny on 92+ 2nd gens (don't hurt me).