B4Runner

Yeah, I just don't know which one would be more efficient and workable.

Hey, I'm hitting the junk yard right now. I could only find an address for the one on E Muscat. I'll see what I can find for you.

I also picked my dad up in town yesterday because he can't drive due to meds atm. I pulled up at CVS right behind your wife and son and your wife said to son, "Look, it's a car just like Daddy's." I recognized them from your FB.

Mountain Cop

"Son"'s name is Emmeline, lol. What were they driving?

snowhite

Ya spliced into the wrong wire the first time but got it the second time.its not difficult other than that your tank needs to be close to empty to make the job easier.

Mountain Cop

Sno- I was talking about from the thief's perspective. I'm pretty sure I could figure out a clutch safety switch and bypass it faster than I could figure out why my new stolen truck just died a hundred yards from where I stole it.

snowhite

O ya my bad LOL. The thief never even got mine to move an inch. O on another note when the switch is going it fooled me that it was my fuel pump or fuel filter for a month.

B4Runner

Hey MC, I'm at Best Buys in Fres gettin a comp for my bro.

Went to a Pick-N-Pull. Got my stuff and got your e-fan. Yesterday through Monday is a "50% off all parts" day, ftw!!

Mountain Cop

Outstanding! Thanks! Text me when you get a chance, I'll meet up with you and fork over some cash. I work tonight, but I'll be in the O-town briefly tomorrow, or I might be able to meet you on your way up the hill.

B4Runner

While at the Pick-N-Pull, for my truck, I grabbed the high & low horns ($2.50/ea.) from an 84 Chevy truck and a wiper arm from a 2nd gen Toy truck. I started the two projects, one mod, one repair, last night. When I found myself at a loss of a relay last night, I swapped over the wiper, which took but a few minutes. Spent all today getting ready to pack for the lake and then boating, so I finished up the project when we got home. And yes, I was still out at 1:00 AM last night and tonight working on the horns.

My night-time work area.


New wiper arm. It has a tiny section of surface rust. I had to swap over the blade holder from the old arm. On the new arm, the blade was not able to rotate like on the old arm.


Location of high-pitched horn.



Location of low-pitched horn. (The mounting brackets had to be straightened to fit. Either horn will fit behind the grill.)


And then we all know the mysteries of constant hot and switched grounding. So here is the relay I installed.




I feel good and optimistic about my Runner again. I easily and relatively quickly completed a time-consuming mod that I'm really proud of and excited about. And I have my second wiper back, so it feels complete again. Ahh, the feeling I got when I heard that old Chevy horn blare from behind the wheel.

B4Runner

This is going to probably one of the craziest things you've heard, but my next investment into my truck is going to be a 1996 Mitsubishi Eclipse.

My mom's coworker, who has become a family friend over the years, has a son is selling his Eclipse for $350 for quick and easy college money. Apparently, the only thing wrong with the car is that the head is completely off. So, I'm just waiting for my next paycheck to come in on the 20th so I can grab just a tiny bit of that to grab it. (Have you ever had the anxious feeling of being only a few bucks away from something? With what I have in savings, I'm about $30 away.) But anyways, by spending $350 (that's currently saved for the Runner) on a '96 Eclipse, can you imagine how much I'll in return and be able to make to put towards the Runner by parting it out? Yeah, I'm excited.

EDIT: I need to learn to deposit my paychecks. Just found an extra $70 bucks, so I am now at my $350. Our friend (the husband) is going to get me a trailer from work as soon as he can and then the car is over here.

B4Runner

Well, I'm about to slaughter you guys with photos. Last night was my first break, but the past three nights, I was out working on my truck from 8pm-1am, and until 4am on that middle night.

Mods:
-Always hot stock cigarette lighter.
-Installed an (always hot) cigarette lighter behind driver's door.
-Installed a light behind passenger's door.
-Cleaned up wiring behind HU and relocated iPod cable.
-Installed ammo can as center console.
-Installed an AM/FM antenna.
-Relayed my KC's to put them on new switch.
-Installed fuel cut-off switch.
-Reinstalled the carpet.

There wasn't really a way to show the modified stock cig lighter. Just ran a wire from the batter to the lighter. And for the rear lighter, I just soldered it onto the new wire for the front lighter.


I was tired of having the iPod in the glove box. It was nice at first, but I soon realized it was greatly inconvenient for me. So, I moved the wire, along with other clean up that I didn't take pictures of, to one of the switch holes. Now, the iPod can extend all the way to the rear so that a passenger in the rear can control it. It's also nice to put the chair back and relax while waiting for someone and be able to control it without hassle. And when I want it back to normal, all the extra wire just shoves back in there above the CB.


This light came out of the truck of the eclipse. To make the cut for the cig lighter and the light, I just eyeballed the measurements. I was a tad bit off with the light, so I just had to cut out a piece of the metal. But then to wire it, I just stole the hot wire for the courtesy light on the cruise-control switch. So that new light in back stays on for about 10 seconds after the door closes and then dims out. I never utilized that tiny light anyways; it was a joke.



And the mod that I'm most psyched about is my ammo can center console. Bought a huge can off my friends dad for $20 bucks, and then spend a few extra bucks on hardware to secure the back latch and then to install a u-bolt on the front. This thing is dope. I bought extra hardware to mount the can to the body, but then I realized that since I have an SR5 Runner, I could use the old mounting bolts that were used for the rear heater. Again, I basically eyeballed my measurements, so one bolt didn’t line up. But even with the two, the thing is nice and secure. As soon as I get to town, I’ll get a master lock for it. I just put my old pad-lock for my gym locker on it for the mean-time, just to get the “finished” success feeling.





The antenna is another thing that came off the Eclipse. It almost fit in the fender in the stock hole, but it was just a bit too angled. I didn’t feel like making another hole, and I only have drill bits up to 3/8”, so I mounted it to the roll-bar. When it comes time to put the top back on, I’ll have to rethink the location. I’ve already been pretty keen on just drilling a small hole in the side of the fender and putting a grommet in so that the coax can go through the fender and I’ll just mount the antenna on the top where I already have existing bolts for the mounts of a Yakima rack that once must have been on the truck. And then I just have some extra wire wrapped around it to keep it secure and not all bouncing around because its mounting bracket it extremely flimsy. And then I ran the extension coax cable to the stock connection for the stock antenna. I could have easily routed it to the radio, but I didn’t want to have the extra mess. And, I love the way it looks.








And to clean up some wiring and complete a whole other mod, I got rid of the deck light switch controlling the KC’s. I bought three switches that were going to go next to the clutch cancel button, but that idea kinda fell apart when the plastic became too thick to manage. So now I’m stuck with the mess you see. I think I’ll just get some basic toggle switches instead now so I can just drill one big, circular hole for each switch. But as for the relay for the KC’s, it’s basically in the same position as the horn relay, but on the driver’s side.



And then fuel cut-off switch and the carpet installation. The fuel switch is pretty straight forward and works 100% effectively. It’s hidden in a secret location. I had to cut two wires in the harness with the truck running before I figured out which wire was to the fuel pump. Nothing a little solder can’t fix.

Last but not least, the carpet. I couldn’t get the tar crap off the floor, so I just put the carpet back in. I’m not gonna lie, it does feel a lot cozier in there with it. I feel like a lost a few hp, but it was well worth the positive emotions.

EDIT: Can't ever write a huge post without forgetting something. There is a guy just a few minutes away from me who is building a Runner. I stopped by to ask him about the slight possibility of swapping doors if he was gonna cut his up. He isn't, but he told me he has a but who has several sets of doors. He told me he would get me a set and then check back with him in a week. I have some nice plans for these doors. It's gonna be fun. I want to tell you right now, but that would spoil the fun. Only MC could possibly know what I mean.

Mountain Cop

You know, the FM antenna goes directly to the back of the stereo. You should be able to just route it under the carpet down the tunnel or one of the sides. It would be clean and simple, and wouldn't catch on branches.

You got a lot done! Nice work.

B4Runner

Lol, I know MC. I had enough coax to do that too, but then I would have had the extra (stock) coax just sitting there creating a mess, so I went the route I did. But I never thought about the fender coax catching on anything. I'll just be happy go luck until something happens I guess.

B4Runner

Didn't see that part. Lol. Thanks!

I like to do stuff, even if it's really nothing, when it costs me nothing. The cig lighter, light, and antenna all came off the Eclipse, and so did the dome light that I plan to put on the rear wiper cover once it's time to put the top back on. Or I might get a light like RMA; not sure yet.

Also, got my aux. reverse lights wired up to their own switch last night.

B4Runner

I think the rear panels are going to go back in. Now that I have the my locking ammo can, no need to lock anything up in back. I keep my oil, stock light, Chilton manual, knife, funnel, electrical life savers, and a few other things in the ammo can. All that I'd leave in back is my jack (which hasnt been in there since I don't carry my spare on me) and my road-side emergency kit (which has been back there without the panels, perfectly visible, since the day I took the panels out). So yeah, I think they will go back in. I'll probably throw in another cig lighter on the passenger side and then install my 6" speakers.

On another note, I was just now doing some research on body lifts. I found a great deal on lifts at my4by.com. They want $89 for a 2" lift and $99 for a 3". The kit includes everything. As far as my research goes, I saw that I will have to modify my air intake. And input from another member tells me that I will need a steering column extension.

Any comments or inputs on the above? Thanks.

Mountain Cop

The stock panels are perfectly sufficient when locking isn't a priority.

As far as the body lift goes, there are some that love them, and there are some that hate them. I am not a fan, personally. In my opinion, they accomplish nothing that can't be accomplished better a different way (with a bit more work).

If you DO want a BL, check out 4crawler. He is active on YT, and has some good deals.

B4Runner

I agree, I'm not a fan of them either. But I kinda broke down on the cheap and easy lift that will eventually be needed for tires. Though, I realized that I need that body lift money for something else, so that idea is out for the moment.

And just a few minutes ago, I bought myself a loud PA speaker off eBay. $8 shipped, baby. Piece of crap? Hell yeah. I guess we will see for sure when it gets here.

B4Runner

We just had a friend build a custom tow package on the front of the Chevy today. In order to do so, he had to remove the stock tow hooks. Yup, that's my next mod. I'm glad I forgot to pull some when I was last at the junk yard, because now I get a free set.

AZkid

you have the same setup as mine, uniden and radio, same exact thing i had, except i had my uniden on bottom so it sat flush with the face. looking goo dthough.

B4Runner

Are you talking about my deck and CB? The deck is a Pioneer and my CB is a Cobra. The CB is so long that it won't sit flush, it pops out that far. I had to have it on top, otherwise my stick would hit it.

B4Runner

While running Squaw, I noticed that Snowhite's Runner had a nice little touch to it. It has an adhesive simulated wood-grain paneling across the dash on at the level of clutch cancel button. As soon as I saw that, I figured out an easy fix to the mess I created with the drill holes next to my clutch cancel button and to the switches just hanging there.

As I said before, I'm going to be getting some completely manual doors, witch will eliminate my need for the mirror switch. At the same time, I'm going to remove my cruise control switch because I find cruise control to be unsafe. I will then get some of that adhesive paneling like Snow has (probably in a grey leopard pattern, though) and apply it like his, covering the wholes where the two large switches used to be. I can then easily make holes in the thin paneling for my switches, and it covers up the mess I made.