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Another mod done, I've replaced all the exterior lights with LED bulbs except for the brake lights. For some reason, those turned the brake lights on when I turned on the driving lights. And when I stepped on the brake, the brake lights were already lit so they basically weren't working. Dunno what the deal there is. We popped the stock dual filament bulbs back in for now. Also had the turbo blinker, so I got an led flasher relay. Unfortunately toyota uses a stupid design for the flasher relay from the factory. Fortunately some speaker wire, some spades clips, and some heat shrink and I had an "adapter harness". Hahahaha. Hey, it works, that's what matters. Light output is amazing, especially from the back up lights. I still have to change over the interior lights, but for now, I'm happy. Only other issue we ran into was the passenger turn signal gasket being nonexistent and the entire socket and bulb being corroded to the point where the light no longer works. I'm thinking this could be a part of the issue I've been having with the wiring and lights on this truck.
so, I need to order new turn signal housing and since I'm doing that, I might as well upgrade to clear lenses too, it kinda fit the white and black aesthetic of the truck. On the hunt for clear tail light lenses too if anyone knows of a place, let me know!
much has happened in the past few months so a little update is due.
for starters, around late may, Doomy was taking our oldest kid to do a drive through promotion for 8th grade at her school. while in line and at low speed thank god, the master cylinder failed and Doomy ended up rear-ending a truck in front of her. luckily she caught the guys hitch with the push bar and saved both vehicles from damage, but it did put a nasty dent in the push bar. Got the runner towed home and ended up replacing the master cylinder. even through the fluid looked okay, there was so much burnt material/dirt chunks down in the bottom of the reservoir that i think it just wiped the seals in the MC. While it was being backed off the tow truck, i noticed another issue. We had noticed the steering getting a little loose after the front end rebuild. I just assumed that it was due to the parts wearing in a little and the slight wandering being due to the process. unfortunately what i saw said otherwise. The idler arm decided that the joint that bolts to the steering relay rod shouldn't be solid anymore. this in turn allowed the whole arm assembly to move about with gusto! so much that the arm was contacting the frame. luckily my local auto parts store had an idler in stock and i was able to swap it out quickly. Also ended up getting a sweet piece of hardware out of the situation. @BigBluePile took pity on me and sold me his old Downey Idler Arm Brace for a steal of a deal. That has not been installed yet because life has been busy, but its waiting.
Shortly after the no brakes incident, the throttle cable decided that it didn't want to play nice anymore. The plastic sheath where it goes through the firewall had broken causing the cable to bend at a sharp 90* right there and it frayed the cable enough to cause the throttle to stick...wide open...through the brakes. Luckily I was driving this time. I was able to get it shifted into neutral and then shut it off and coasted to the shoulder. Another trip on the tow truck home and another trip to the dealership for this part and then back home to install and she's working again...except for the fact that now the damn automatic transmission wont kick down gears when accelerating. It shifts into OD by 40mph and refuses to downshift. so we've been having to turn off OD until it gets rolling up to about 50-55, then kick OD back in. SUPER ANNOYING. So, I've come up with a great plan. I'm getting rid of that POS. Not the truck, just the transmission. Found a guy on a FB group that was parting out a 4runner and sold me the MC, Slave, pedal assembly, Fly wheel, Clutch, Pressure Plate, TOB, Trans/Xfer, Shifters, Rubber shifter covers, and drive shafts for $500. I'm going to put a larger late style flywheel and clutch in it and throw it all in. Its only a top shift W56B, but it'll do just fine, i think, and will match the 4.88s/33s better than A340H. Just waiting on it to be brought home from Idaho.
Other notable purchases waiting to be installed are a set of seats from a 2013 GTI. They have super tall side bolsters that im pretty sure are gonna go right up my butt as i try to get in and out of the truck, but should be waaay more comfy while driving it. Also got a new set of calipers and Extended braided steel brake lines, and lined up a set of Stubbs HDSKO sliders from the same guy i got the LT from. Just need to go to Pismo to pick those up. For those that do not know, the Stubbs Welding HDSKO sliders are from the now closed Stubbs Welding company. They are DOM tubing that's been reinforced internally with another DOM tube. They are heavy, but can take ALL the abuse that id ever be able to throw at them.
Still waiting to install all the things. Its been hectic at work, hot here in Cali(was 112* the other day), and Doomy and i have also been in the process of buying a house out in Amarillo TX. That's been a fun experience buying a home in a state halfway across the country when you've never seen it before.
Updating from work, so i cant upload pics from here. I will do so when i get home.
Wow, busy and crazy stuff happening your way! Glad your 4Runner and friend didn't suffer bad damage. New-to-you seats are nice, congrats on the Stubbs, on getting all the go-bits, seems like a really good deal for all you're getting.
Amarillo is one diesel tank away from us with the jetta wagon....you're alllmost in our neck of the woods.
Troy congrats on buying a house. At least you will already be use to it being hot. Whenever i visit my daughter in Austin we try to go before it gets too hot
Wow, busy and crazy stuff happening your way! Glad your 4Runner and friend didn't suffer bad damage. New-to-you seats are nice, congrats on the Stubbs, on getting all the go-bits, seems like a really good deal for all you're getting.
Amarillo is one diesel tank away from us with the jetta wagon....you're alllmost in our neck of the woods.
Thanks Hab! Its been a bit of work, but we are slowly getting there. i mean, its been almost a decade working on this thing. feels nice to be making forward progress again. Diesel jetta, eh? hmmm...sounds perfect for a tdi swap...
Originally Posted by dropzone
Troy congrats on buying a house. At least you will already be use to it being hot. Whenever i visit my daughter in Austin we try to go before it gets too hot
Thank you, Rob! Luckily, im kinda used to the heat. Amarillo, however, is up in the panhandle and their weather is very similar to the valley, here in commiefornia. Its actually a few degrees cooler on average there. and because its so far north, humidity is real low.
Yummy brake fluid.
Chunky crap in the MC. No wonder it failed.
Idler arm looking weird.
Whoopsie daisy
Yyyeeeaaaaa...fun stuff.
Second time in 2 weeks. Thank God for roadside through my insurance!
Gti seats. I dig the plaid.
Quick pic of the trans from the seller. And then what it looks like now that my brother in law got a hold of it. He's a bit OCD about cleaning things. 😂
Finally got the keys! What a terrifying adventure!
Top less 4th of july with the whole family.
Gotta love when the tops off.
Last edited by space-junk; Jul 13, 2021 at 05:02 PM.
Whoa there, speedracer. Are you saying you're not excited about the house?
Homes are fun! 11-12k was just spent on my air conditioning!
yeeeaaa... im not looking forward to that kind of stuff. luckily, the roof was replaced with a hail proof roof back in 2013 and the electrical/gas/plumbing was all upgraded in 2006. The only other upgrades would be the forced heat and AV which are from the early 80's, but still working great.
Thanks Hab! Its been a bit of work, but we are slowly getting there. i mean, its been almost a decade working on this thing. feels nice to be making forward progress again. Diesel jetta, eh? hmmm...sounds perfect for a tdi swap...
Thank you, Rob! Luckily, im kinda used to the heat. Amarillo, however, is up in the panhandle and their weather is very similar to the valley, here in commiefornia. Its actually a few degrees cooler on average there. and because its so far north, humidity is real low.
is it on a different power grid than the rest of the state? hope so...having the natural gas wells freeze in February made my daughter thinking about moving back from the PNW. Her house got down into the 30's during the freeze
Took delivery of the transmission the other day. My brother-in-law's mom brought it back for us from her visit up to Idaho. the day AFTER, my 1200lb Marlin clutch kit, HD pressure plate bolts, and heavy duty Flywheel came in. I still need to order new rubber boots to cover the shifters since they're old and ripped, and I'm going to bypass the hard/soft clutch line between the MC and slave and just have a braided steel hydraulic line made up. i don't want to fight getting the lines ran, so that'll help a bunch.
Also did my research, and i think I've got the wiring figured out as well. Im going to connect the NSS wires to the CSS on the pedal set. That way it'll trick the NSS into thinking its in park while starting only and itll keep, for instance, my kids from accidentally starting the truck in gear. It will also make it easy to install a Clutch Start Cancel switch in the future. The reverse lights wire into the same plug/harness, so that should be easy enough. I jsut need to track down the $WD wire in the body harness so i can wire that in to work when you put it in 4wd.
Sooooo close i can taste it. we are tired of having to manually shift this pile of junk. hahaha. Also, because we have an automatic radiator, im planning on getting an thread on oil filter cooler adapter and running the lines to the stock trans cooler in the radiator. seems like a no brainer to me instead of keeping it capped off and not used.
As always, advice is appreciated! especially when it comes to wiring. (looking at you @RAD4Runner )
You may want to do some more research on running the engine oil to the radiator. The auto trans cooler lines are under much lower pressure, on the return side of the flow. The oil pressure at the oil filter gets up into the 60 PSI range or more depending on temperature and RPM. You don't want to rupture the radiator and lose all your oil. Extra fittings and hoses on the engine oil side are something I always think twice about. Also, it won't really gain you any cooling because it's just transferring heat into the engine coolant which is basically the same temperature.
You may want to do some more research on running the engine oil to the radiator. The auto trans cooler lines are under much lower pressure, on the return side of the flow. The oil pressure at the oil filter gets up into the 60 PSI range or more depending on temperature and RPM. You don't want to rupture the radiator and lose all your oil. Extra fittings and hoses on the engine oil side are something I always think twice about. Also, it won't really gain you any cooling because it's just transferring heat into the engine coolant which is basically the same temperature.
You could run a power steering cooler to those lines, if you wanted to.
... especially when it comes to wiring. (looking at you @RAD4Runner )
Pls refresh my memory. U used to have auto and now have stick? I'll hav to look at schematic to see what we cud do. However, isn't the NSS built into the transmission? Or are u thinking of wiring the harness part of it to a kill-switch?
You may want to do some more research on running the engine oil to the radiator. The auto trans cooler lines are under much lower pressure, on the return side of the flow. The oil pressure at the oil filter gets up into the 60 PSI range or more depending on temperature and RPM. You don't want to rupture the radiator and lose all your oil. Extra fittings and hoses on the engine oil side are something I always think twice about. Also, it won't really gain you any cooling because it's just transferring heat into the engine coolant which is basically the same temperature.
Sharp thinking! hmm. maybe ill repurpose my Derale external trans cooler to do oil cooling duties.
Originally Posted by MaK92-4RnR
You could run a power steering cooler to those lines, if you wanted to.
Possibly, but ive never heard of a toyota having PS overheating issues.
Originally Posted by RAD4Runner
Pls refresh my memory. U used to have auto and now have stick? I'll hav to look at schematic to see what we cud do. However, isn't the NSS built into the transmission? Or are u thinking of wiring the harness part of it to a kill-switch?
About to start the swap, Rad. Ive decided to run the Neutral Safety Switch and tie it into the factory Clutch Start Cancel switch on the pedal assembly. should only be the Blk and Blk/Ylw wires. Reverse lights wire in through that same connector, so thats not biggie. My main issue is that i dont know where to tie in the manual trans 4WD indicator wiring to the Automatic body harness. All the research ive done and it seems that most people ignore this step for the sake of simplicity, but since its for my wife, i want id done right...ish.
Apr 10, 2021 | 10:45 AM
