Cheetahboy

Hi,

I recently purchased a 1991 Runner and I was wondering what I can do to make it more efficient -e.g. more power,better milage etc. Will a K+N airfilter or a wider exhaust make alot of difference?

My dash only has a faint green glow at night and I wish it was brighter. I notced all the threads about upgrading the dash to indiglo or whatever, would it be possible just to replace the dash bulbs with HID bulbs? I would go with the Indiglo needles but my needles don't seem to have any color left on them and they look all faded.

As well, the truck has the stock 15" wheels with the factory upgraded BFG truck tires. I don't like the flat ride of the 10.5 truck tires and was going to change them for regular tires. What size should I use that would give me better response and handling? Other Runners use 225/75/15. I seldom use the vehicle off road and I don't want the ties to look too small for the wheel wells, any suggestions?

UKMyers

Cheetah welcome to the Forum! If you get a K&N filter and a Catback exhaust you will notice a pretty good boost in performance but nothing to write home about. I have done both of these to my 94 and am thoroughly satisfied! As far as running 225's I hated them. Mine had them on it when I bought it before I upgraded to 31X10.5's. They will give you some more pep but my truck felt like it wanted to tip over on every corner. The handling was crummy with them. I could NOT believe how much more stable the truck became after going with the bigger tires. BTW I also upgraded to 15X8" wheels at the same time which probably contributed a little bit. As far as the dash goes I am not sure if you can replace the bulbs or not but I will tell you my indiglo gauges light up the entire cab at night if you turn them real bright. Click here for my write up it's not hard. You'll already have it all apart to upgrade the bulbs... Hope this helps you out! Enjoy your Runner!

jx94148

Is your Runner a V6 or 4 banger? In either case a 2.25 exhaust will help. I have a K&N filter but would not recomend it, They do let in more dirt than a Genuine Toy filter and sometimes K&Ns have too much oil on them which can be sucked in and foul up your electronic widgets and gismos that make up the EFI system.

For efficientcy 225/75 tires are your best bet but they are only 27 inches and will look a little small in the wheel wells. Maybe 30x9.5 tires would be best, not too big or heavy, not tiny 27s. And keep the pressure high to minimize rolling resistance and road friction.

Cheetahboy

The gauge mod is great and looks easy to do. I would do it except that the gauges are in MPH, we are KPH. :chicken:

I don't know what width of rims I have. Using the stock foctory alloy rims, what size of tire would you reccomnd?

Thanks for your help.

jx94148

Your wheels are either 15x6 JJ if you have a non SR5 model or 15x7 JJ if you have an SR5. It will be written somewhere on the inside of the wheel. I think the best tire for what you want is 30x9.5x15.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Hello Cheetah, and welcome to the forums.
For a boost in power, you might want to check the Tech section and look for Blu's (the other Corey, not me ) write-up on the Dr. Z intake mod.

It seems this intake mod works great on the 3.4 V6, and the older 3.0 V6s.

As for an exhaust, most are running a 2.25" pipe from the cat back with a good muffler.

Check out my website listed below for some mod ideas in the mods section, and also look for the Exhaust section in the table of contents on my site.

I added two fresh vids yesterday of last Saturdays outing of my setup.

Robinhood150

Hmm...sorry, but gotta rule this out...did you try to adjust the brightness with the knob to the left of the steering wheel?

Steve

Cheetahboy

I tried the brightness knob, and it looks like all the bulbs are working, but the dash still sems dim at night. I quess I am used to bright dash lights from my previous cars. I was wondering if it was possible to just upgrade the bulbs to something brighter (any suggestions?) like HID and buying new speedo needles to replace my faded ones. I am hoping the speedo needles just pop off and can easily be replaced.

I am going to check out the suggested tires sizes this weekend to see how they might look. The tires I have feel flat and the truck seems tippy. This is a great forum, being a truck rookie I appreciate your opinions.