hoghead420

Hello, I'm new on here. I'm into modifying things and am very happy there's a place where I'm not alone. I've read lots of threads, got a lot of great ideas. Some of the guys on here should design toyotas full time. First off, sorry if I posted in the wrong place, like I said I'm new to this fancy internet thing .. so feel free to move my thread if needed. Thanks. Ok , I grabed a 98 4runner that has 170,000 miles, I had a toyota sienna xle, nice van, but still a van ; ) my toyota badges were flakey and turning green. I didn't like that so I looked on here, found out how to take em off , and did. I sanded , primed , and painted them black and a ton of clear. I like em. Still need to go back on. But its freezing cold in columbus, and I need to do more work on my rear gate before they go on. I'm going to get a dent out and repaint white. Then re install the badges. So I have time to kill and I removed the grill, added a little mesh behind the grill and now need to reinstall. Its not as cool as the schotki mod " sorry I know its spelled wrong " but I didn't feel like getting that involved in the grill right now " definitely in the future " now I need to find a rear windshield arm, used parts are hard to find around here. Well just adding my little bit . I love the 4runner , the back window is the best thing ever. Mine is a 98 sr5 automatic , no rear locker : ( , I'm planing on doing the deckplate mod, isr mod , cup holder mod " who puts the cup holder above everything? " I'm going to put the rino liner in a can on the lower part of the truck , rear and front bumpers. And many more mods to come I'm sure. I can't seem to upload picts? Keeps crashing. Damn you android!

hoghead420

Guess picts are working? Weird.

98 Black SR5

Can you share the thread for R+R all the badges. Very interested in doing this.

bone collector

The badges look very nice. Welcome to YT!! get a photobucket account and upload all the photos to it (its free) then copy the img code to here when you want to post a picture. Keep up the good work!

hoghead420

Hey guys, thanks I like em a lot better. I'm not sure how to repost this but feel free to share/repost it. Ill get a photobucket account , thanks for the heads up. Yea the badges were just sanded , primed with a rattle can , and painted with gloss black , then cleared 100 times give or take .. they seem pretty bulletproof . I wasn't into the plastidip, it costs as much as all the cans I bought, with not so permanent results. The clear coat is the key for a lifetime of use.

hatda02

I'm only a couple of hours from you near PGH and there is a local yard that has a front end smashed 4R. The guy is super reasonable on prices. If the weather would ever break I need to stop by for a few things that Toy of Dallas can't seem to get fast. If I make it I'll look for that rear arm for you. I'm 99.9% sure it is there. I'm the only one who has picked apart that 4R and the rear end was perfect.

hoghead420

Man that would be awesome, I really like these forums, everyone is nice and cool. Kinda like when your in trouble on a motorcycle, everyone else on a bike no matter how nice or how beat down the bike is will stop to help another biker out. I always thought that was the coolest thing.
I'm getting ready to take out the power antenna and hook up the other one built into the side glass in the rear. Any ideas on what to stick in the power antenna hole that's left over, I was thinking cheap. Or just unplugging the power part and stick a whip antenna in the broken off hole. Mine is broken off . Driving me nuts . Maybe someone knows something about it, seems like a comon problem. Id like to remove it and stick a rubber filler piece in it? Idk yet. I'm game for ideas .. thanks everybody.

98SR54RUNNER

iTrader: (1)

Welcome to YotaTech! Yeah, everybody here is good people. I've been saved with some timely advice more than once by the good folks on YT. If you're into the Yotas, you found the right place!

Nice work on the emblems! That looks like it's going to end up really cool. Upload more pics of your rig, and certainly the complete job when you get done.

There are endless writeups and mods to satisfy nearly everything you could imagine. You're in for some fun now! Looking forward to seeing the finished product!

As far as the antenna goes, I guess you found the thread with the writeup on how to combine the front and rear antennas. In that same thread, a bunch of people show how they put a simple switch on the front antenna and keep it down most of the time. I recently replaced my bent antenna with a cheapy Ebay one for like $18 bucks. It was very easy to remove the old one and install the new one since none of the teeth were broken off on my old one. You could go that route, replace it, and throw a simple switch on it. It works well!

Also, there's a writeup around here for the "Tacoma whip antenna mod" or something like that. Just like it sounds, people have gotten OEM whip antennas from Tacomas to replace the retracting stock antenna. Either way seems like good options. I personally enjoy having the control over the antenna and being able to keep it down all the time. I think it's a cleaner look without the antenna up.

hoghead420

Good ideas, all of them. I have power control thru the aftermarket pioneer stereo. I took the face off and kicked the key forward and the antenna did nothing. I was going to unhook the power antenna wire on the back so it doesn't burn the motor up, and sound horrable. I haven't looked at the wires behind the deck because, I'm nervous that they murdered the harness. No idea if they did or not. Yet. So do you have to use both antennas for the mod to work, because I was going to just get an adapter like in the old gm cars, and use the rear window antenna, eliminating the front ? I could be wrong, I haven't looked at it yet. My raido stations suck in comparison to my old cars oem toyota raidio. Pioneer makes a good super tuner product, I've never had issues with other decks. Just in my runner. I still need to look into the mod some more.

So my crazy brain at work is thinking the wood trim in the truck is beat down. I've seen people remove it in threads , I also heard about a guy that took his off and soaked them for a day, easily peeled off the top plastic. Then restained them. And a ton of clear lol. So anyone else try this? I was going to wait for a decent day and take a hair dryer to it and try to re do it. I have a nice black stain I was thinking about using . Just remember I'm poor and cheap is how I roll. Thanks again for input.

hoghead420

Grill , actually looks good in person. The pict sucks, too dark out. Lots of work to do, herculiner coming soon.

hoghead420

Whoops forgot to attach it . Did the same mesh on my bike last year. You just can't see it, ill take better picts soon

98SR54RUNNER

iTrader: (1)

Nice work, grill with emblem looks pretty slick.

As to your questions about the antenna mod, the mod is actually to do the following: take the rear antenna lead and put larger adapter on it (to make it the same size as front antenna lead), then put both front and rear antenna leads into a y-adapter and plug other end into head unit, connecting both antennas to the head unit. With this setup, most have added a switch to manually control the front antenna, and just leave it down most of the time.

Here's the thread with the writeup:
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/g...stereo-193751/

You'll see in that thread, that to put a manual switch on the antenna, you tap the blue wire coming from the rear of the head unit. Your idea of nixing the front antenna and just using the rear might work, but I don't know that anybody's tried it.

As far as the woodgrain goes, it's a pain in the rear, but if/when you do replace it, it makes a huge difference in terms of visual appeal. If you search around on Ebay, you'll find a bunch of kits there and more through other online retailers. I re-did my woodgrain with a kit from Ebay that was around $120. It was a very tedious job and took me a few hours with the hair dryer, tools, and solvents to get all the old stuff out and the old glue off. After that, it's a breeze putting the new stuff on, and it looks great as soon as you're done.

Since we're on that topic, about two years after I re-did my woodgrain, I ended up peeling it off the center dash bezel, sanding it all down, and painting it black again. The aftermarket woodgrain just didn't stand up very well, and didn't look that good after some time of use. The door handles, vents, and other small trim pieces are still in place and look good, but I ended up going all black on the dash bezel, and I think it looks better, much cleaner.

Anyway, keep us updated, and best of luck to ya!

hoghead420

Hey thanks, I have a lot of work to do to her before summer is here. Id like to be done around then. Yea I'm going to try and ditch the front antenna if it works well enough with the rear. I'm in a big city with normally great reception. If its better than what I have ill definitely use the rear, maybe put a cool little fin plastic antenna over the hole where I take the front out. Like a tiny gps type, just big ento cover the hole and silicone it down for water protection. That's my latest thought. I've also noticed that the tuning on the pioneer is just difficult to do. Its just a weird deck. Came with it. I'm going to save money and get an avic with nav. Double din. Lots on Craigslist for around 200 - 300 . Id love an oem nav toyota unit, but seems like toyota didn't really start putting them in almost all the new rides till like 08 09 . Plus junkyards want a small fortune for one, then you gotta wire it up all crazy. Seems like too much, when an avic or aftermarket will do the same or more for cheap. And they mostly have Bluetooth.
Soon as it warms up just a little I'm going to be back to working on the runner, its seriously just too cold with no garage. I put the grill back on and it was freezing. Next is to fix / try to remove a dent in the rear, bondo the imperfections, then tape off everything / back window, and prime and paint it with an automotive based spray can " I ve only sprayed auto paint once or twice before " and don't have an hvlp, and used rust~oleum automotive spray cans before with amazing results. Looks exactly like an auto finish . It blew me away. I'm still looking for a good spray can of super glossy clear, no luck yet. If anyone knows of one, id try it. If it was a side panel id take it somewhere, but being just the rear, I can do that easily with a rattle can. I'll take picts and share with the class. I'm probably going to do the hurculiner the same day, above my running boards its getting rusty, I want to eliminate all the rust along the bottom. I'm going to tape off the doors above the factory "ryno coating " ? Not sure what its called. Down low, then use the hurculiner after sanding it all down to bare metal, or as close as I can get , prime it a couple of times, and hurculine the bumpers, plastic side flares, above the running boards, the rear bumper and if the running boards look funny, do them too, and clear coat it for uv. I'm hoping that will take care of the painting untill I do the rims gun metal gray, or whatever goes with everything . So busy next week, ill take before and during picts . But that's the game plan, then I can finally put my badges back on.

O yea, I'm a painter by trade, I paint houses, but I've done a little auto in the past. Hope I didn't bore you guys to death. Just wanna get the truck looking good, and any advice is always appreciated.

Lol couple questions like always, what's up with the empty tweeters on the doors? Or has mine been taken out, was it an option? I have the speaker holes. I thought they were there till I saw white paint behind one ? I'm going to get aftermarkets anyway, it just seemed weird they were empty. Well ill put some picts up soon, take it easy.

hoghead420

So I just installed a sony xav 60 double din dvd in the 4runner , one word, PIMP. Lots of cool features, nice sound, great picture quality when watching movies, ipod control. Pretty sweet. I found out that the rear window antenna will work alone with the head units. Needed an adaptor, it was 8.99 at wallyworld, it had all the different antennas ( dodge, gm, toyota, vw and a couple others) and went to a standard antenna witch went into the deck. Easy as pie. I was a little nervous it might be cellular from way-back-when because of the funny end, but it worked flawlessly. So I no longer have to hear the broken power antenna. Edit : i heard the antenna today , i think i just didnt hear it because of the new raidio , have to find another route to figure it out . o crazy every time I get in or out. ; ) and used just the rear antenna. Couldn't be happier . My electrician buddy said if you combine two antennas , it might degrade the reception because of something about needing 75 ohm

hoghead420

Whoops hit send, my bad. 75 Ohms , said hooking up 2 would change the ohms and it might be worse. Idk. That's what he said, but I can tell ya, the rear alone works great. Now to get rid of the broken off antenna in the front , I'm going to take it out and try to find a black "plug" of some sorts to cover it. Can't wait to get rid of that eye sore. Maybe my install experience will help someone out that was in the same spot with a crappy no reception, noisy , broken off power antenna. Imo they should of used the window antenna from the factory .

hoghead420

hatda02

If you are going to do some bondo work on other parts you can consider "removing" the front antenna location altogether. On my 87 P/U the antenna got messed up and did not work properly. I went to radio shack and bought a new one and ran it inside the truck and behind the panel and trim that was right behind the pass. door. I pulled the fender, removed the factory antenna assembly, worked a little magic with the hole and put a panel behind it, put a couple thin coats of bondo in/around the hole and sanded it even with the fender. I put a couple coats of high build primer and then painted and you could never tell an antenna was there. Just something for you to consider.

Are you still in the need of that rear wiper? It looks like we are going to see 40's this weekend and I need a couple of things from that wrecked truck. I'll grab it if you need. PM me if you want.

98SR54RUNNER

iTrader: (1)

Looks pretty slick man! I like the kind you have with the volume knob like that. I really want an in-dash for mine, but I've always put off getting one.

Now you gotta do something about that woodgrain trim. You should take off that center bezel and peel off the trim. If you can't get some of the glue off or scrape it a little bit, just sand it down some and get some plastic paint and paint it black again. I did this with mine a couple years after I put new woodgrain off ebay on it. I had some knicks in it, and bondoed them and sanded it all nice, it looked perfect after paint, and it's such an easy small piece to sand/paint. It looks nice and clean with the all black too. Yours wood look awesome with that sleek in-dash. Consider doing that instead of buying new woodgran, cheaper and simpler/sleeker.

hoghead420

Both you guys read my mind , yea, I want to remove the front antenna. Its ugly, flakey gold , discolored. I was thinking the same thing, remove and bondo. You had a great idea putting a panel in first underneath , then floating out with mud, I was thinking about taping off around the area, fill and paint it. Keeping it small rather than spraying the whole panel. I think it would be bearly noticeable witch is cool with me. The trucks not perfect. But I want it to look good. I was super happy when I read about the 2nd antenna in the rear window. Yea I definitely need that little arm for the rear window , it just crumbled when I took it off. When I start to paint I'm going to remove the rest of it prior to painting. Ill tell ya this weather is killing my working on the truck.
Also yea I've been thinking about removing the faux wood package, I think it would be nice if it was in good shape. But mines hit in the mouth. The fourms say its a long day of work , so I'm waiting till its a little warmer. But I definitely want it gone, I've seen picts of runners without it and I almost think they look better. So again just waiting for this weather to get a little nicer.
By spring id like to have the dash wood removed, the rear tailgate painted, wheels painted flat black, and the antenna gone, and I wanna take rhyno liner an do the bottom of the truck and bumpers . She's getting a little rusty on the bottom of the doors, funny thing is , the rust is only on the factory underliner? Weird. But cool because I wont need to do all the doors, just to the factory door underliner, fender flares, front and rear bumper, front bumper is rusty and has a small hole in it , the rear could clean up. Not sure if I should just replace the front, or do em black liner? Whatever is cheaper to do lol. I think by spring ill have a pretty cool looking truck.
I saw a runner the other day that had plastic pannels on the bottom of the doors, might try and find as set of them. They would cover the rusty doors up real nice. Id kill the rust before I install the pannels. Still up in the air on the pannels. I need to go to a junkyard and see what's there. Thanks for the comments, and advice. Ill definitely consider all my different options. Will update when it gets warmer and I can get some stuff done.

hoghead420

Removed the wood grain dash kit : )
Items used
1 . Hair dryer
2 . Wallet sized gas perks card at local gas station
3 . Wd-40 and rag
4 . Armorall or similar and a new rag

Turned the truck on and let it heat up, its still in the mid 30°s right now outside. Kinda angled the vents to get the plastic hot-ish . Used a hair dryer to heat the area I was working on , I used a free plastic wallet sized gas perks card and worked it underneath the corners and pushed it as far as I could. Reheat and do again. It left small amounts of residue behind. After all the plastic-wood was off I killed the engine and was warm enough and started to remove the residue. Thanks to another post I used their suggestion , got a towel soaked a small corner area with wd-40. Placed it on the thick areas of goo and let it saturate the foam goo. I found getting it wet, waiting a minute and using a dry area of the towel to rub stubborn areas worked the best. The rest is elbow grease and time, when all is removed, use your armorall or whatever to shine it up. I lucked out and don't need to paint mine, I think because I used a thin, flexible gas rewards card. So I didn't really scratch it up.
I like it a lot better, and it didn't cost me a thing. So win, win.
I made a photobucket account and have started uploading picts there. I keep getting an upload error on yodatech. So let me know what ya think.

http://m223.photobucket.com/albums/h...er%20interior/