Nice trip and stories, Cory! But looks like you're awfully close to tideline?
Once I was driving and a gentleman in a sedan drives alongside me holding a piece of paper where he scribbled, "Selling the 4Runner?" I wish my cousin who was with me had camera ready; that would have made a classic shot.
Cheers!

 

good to hear lol heck i just put a 20 inch LED light bar on my grill guard its been so nasty up here i love my 88 shes gotten around where some newer stuff has gotten stuck

 

Sounds good Tony!

Ray - yes we are close to the high tide line, only problem was there was not much beach, what you see in the picture is pretty much it. Behind our tents is kindof scrubby swampy ground and we did not want to put our tents on it. We were a bit worried that it might come up close to our tents, so we ended up making a little sand wall in front of our tents as a precaution, but in the end the tide only came up to about that first seaweed line in the picture. I woke up a few times and looked out the door in the middle of the night just to make sure!

That sign thing is great, definitely would have been a great picture to have.

Cyberhorn - hey, been a while. Yeah gotta love the classic rugged look of these first gens. I'll have to check your build thread, got any pics of that light bar?

 

yep just posted them

 

Looking under the hood the other day, I noticed my air suction or PAIR valve was unhooked. No surprise, it's been unhooked since I bought the truck, so I started reading the FSM section about it, and apparently it reduces Hydrocarbon and CO emissions. I mostly drive the 4Runner with the sides rolled up on the softtop, but occasionally I put the sides down if it's chilly here (low 60s hah) and with the sides down and rear window you can smell the exhaust being pulled into the truck. Anyway, all that to say that I hooked the air suction system back up. No idea yet if it has made a difference in the exhaust smell.

Also did a touch up of my alignment. After I painted all 4 rims, I rotated the tires, and after all that, it seemed like my steering wheel was a touch off center. So last night I pulled out the string to check the toe. Just by looking, I could kindof see the drivers front wheel seemed a bit off, so I checked the passenger wheel first, and it had about 5mm of toe in. Checked the driver's side and it had about 10mm. So I loosened up the tie rod adjuster sleeve and cranked it out until I had more like 5mm on the drivers side. I haven't been out of the garage yet with it, so I'm not sure yet if that corrected it, but I believe it will.

 

never seen an alignment done like that but it looks ingenious, details?

 

Definitely not genius, lots of people do it but I'll give my quick and dirty method just in case something is different.

To set the toe, you need a reference off the rear axle. So to get that reference, you use the string and you make it parallel with the rear wheel and once it is parallel, you can go to the front rim and measure front of rim to string and rear of rim to string, the front of rim to string reading should be MORE than the rear of rim to string indicating that the wheel is toe'd in, the amount of toe is the difference in the 2 readings, the specs seem to be something like max of 3mm (Note that I said 5mm above, so I did go back and adjust it to be under 3mm max).

So here's how to get that string reference
1. You need a string long enough to stretch from behind rear wheel to past front wheel. I tie one end of the string to a spring clamp, those cheap $1 clamps from HD. Then I clip the clamp onto the leaf spring just behind the rear wheel.
2. You need a board to act as a spacer against the rear wheel because the front track is wider than the rear. So I use a 1"x6" and stand it up as pictured against the rear tire. Bring the string around the rear tire and kind of position it such that it will pass right through the center of the rear hub as you start walking it toward the front of the truck.
3. You need a fairly heavy object tall enough to keep the string in vertical position (through hub center of wheel). I have one of those big old school bathroom scales. I tie the string around the neck of the scale and move the scale to an approx position.
4. Now go to rear wheel and measure rear of rear rim to string and front of rear rim to string. You are trying to get the string parallel, so you want the readings to be same, go move the big object and re-measure and keep doing it until you get it parallel.
5. Now just go to front and do same, but shoot for a toe in of under 3mm. Adjust the tie rod sleeve to get there. I usually do an intial adjustment, drive the truck and then come back and check it.

For camber you just need a big carpenter's square. I'm basically at 0 camber, truck drives nicely.

 

Got some interior updates in the works. Some SR5 door panels I bought just arrived. This is a busy weekend, so I'm going to clean them up but I won't install them until I get some time to clean the door guts and put the peel n seal inside


And also here's a sneak peak of something I'm working on:

 

Cory those door panels look like an old leather. Very cool. The console idea is something we all need. I hate not having cup holders. Have a good weekend!

 

i suggest resolve carpet cleaner to do that part of the door panels an good catch on them they look good

 

Tony - Yeah, the SR5 panels are a bit nicer. We had to drive up to Orlando this weekend, so I did not get any time to work on these. The console is a 40mm ammo can, and I knew I had to have a cupholder. I have some more work to do on the console, grind all those crappy welds and put some finishing touches on the metalwork, plus paint. I'll get some more pictures of it as I progress.

Thanks Dragon, I could not find the carpet cleaner in our laundry room, so I used stain remover spray N wash. Then I scrubbed it with a brush and I put water in a spray bottle and rinsed. I was trying to not wet the backer boards as much as possible, one of them has a few places where the backer board has broken. I'm going to repair it a little before installing. Anyway, they look and smell better. I might do it all over again once they completely dry and I see what they look like.

 

I like the cloth panels so much better then the vinyl. Great score on them.

 

Nice to have welding capability!
I liked this plastic ammo box from Bass Pro Shops, because the lid has a little compartment to allow easy/quick access to reading glasses, sunglasses and a pen. Unfortunately, it's about an inch too fat to fit between the seats.
Cory, You may also want to try Fast Orange hand cleaner for hard-to-remove stains on that.

 

I have got to start kicking into high gear on some things. Naturally I'm just slow at doing any project, lots of thinking and research and not much action. So last night after kids went to bed, I worked on getting 1 sr5 door panel installed.

Took off old panel, cleaned inside door...I was surprised to see the vapor barrier was still there and intact.


So I peeled plastic back as little as possible and installed tite seal. I got prob 90 percent coverage, there were a few spots in upper corners I just could not reach.


And finally installed the new panel. Had to use plastic clips from old panel, but install was easy. I think they look great and the door has a little meatier sound when it closes now I guess because it is heavier with insulation.



I taped the vapor barrier back down with some 3m double sided tape and I covered the speaker hole in door with a piece of yard waste garbage bag.

Hopefully I'll get to drivers side this weekend. Still need to finish center console, weld floor holes, order vinyl floor, fix AC...and more.

 

Looks good man! Do you need a bezel for the front handle? I have some, not sure if they are grey tho

 

Tony - very kind of you, and sharp eye. I actually have that bezel, but I'm going to swap it over to the drivers side because that top edge gets beat up, so it was not on for the picture. I saw pics of your day job restorations, some great work you've done.

 

Your panel cleaned up well and looks good. Great job on the swap!!

 

Absolutely perfect weather down here in S. Fl. We loaded up the bikes and took the kids to a trail into the Everglades not far from the house. Saw some gators, kids got a kick out of it.

 

Sounds like a great day Cory. We were down your way today at the casino west of okechobee. My 80 isn't done yet so we had to take my wife's car. Soon tho, soon. I'd like to do a weekend camp and kayak down there soon.

 

nice work on the doors cory, i have those panels in mine and love them. Thanks for the info on the alignment, i'll give it a try here soon.