Ed that's the same thing I was thinking. I'm Afraid it may cost too much for the metal diamond plating which is why I'd like to try to find some replacement plastic pieces instead to keep that stock look.

 

Ha, ha, thanks man!

 

Thanks Mark. Ill have to check out RBX's build. My cargo panels are intact, I just noticed they seem brittle and faded, and definately need repainted. I like the looks of the diamond plate panels, but is something I would do way down the road. Ill have to look into the composite diamond plate, I don't think I've seen that.

I hear ya, cost is always an issue, especially when there are always things that take higher priority on the "to do" list, lol.

 

Yeah, it's like a Rubbery Plastic stuff, Ed.... I saw it in a guys truck once... and at Pep-Boys not a couple years ago. Never was looking for it, etc., so I can't tell you where to get it, etc. But I've seen it on Doors, too...

I'm just dead set against adding more weight than I need to, ya know? When I camp I take HEAVY loads, and intending to get some armor done..... I gotta watch it! haha... RB has a 3.0, so it's probably less concern as, while they're not rockets, they have a lil more HP and towing ability, .......I suppose. But then, RB is doing a 1KZTD(?) Swap..... he could ADD MORE weight and it's not REALLY going to kill him, ya know? Yeah, I VERY MUCH admire the work he's done on panels, interior stuff's... Much like Terry, he's ambitious, just takes a different angle on it in that he's not so caring about the 'staying stock' factor, from WICSee.

I can't wait for some video of you climbing stuff and "WWERRRRRRRRRT-WAAAAAAAAAHT"ing over the hills at the top of the climb, etc., ED! LOVE watching RMA's videos' with his 1UZ's tearing it up and that throaty sound in these... It's almost hard to get used to at first(not in a way that I don't like it... I'm just SO USED TO THE MILDLY THROATY SEWING MACHINE FACTOR! HAHAHA).

Keep kickin rump!

 

Thanks Mark. Ill probably keep my stock panels, just clean up and repaint them. I'm not feeling very ambitious on the interior at the moment, lol. I'll try to at least get some flex pics up this week. I should have the shock hoops and extended brakelines done in the next couple days, so then Ill be able to at least flex this thing out, might be a little while on the hill climb videos though, lol!

 

PS> Looks similar to this, Ed/Richard.....

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Organized-...-Pack/15529203

But it's more of a 'FIRM' yet slightly pliable stuff than this. HOWEVER, this stuff would work GREAT on top of 3/8 Ply to help dampen vibration and look good! Could even probably find it, SOMEWHERE, in Gray(tan in your case, Ed).... Not sure. At Walmart, they have diamond plate that's around 70$ for 2- 16x48" sheet of Diamond Plating. Not sure 16" is tall enough in the rear... I just can't picture it...... but here.....

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Alligator-...8-in./17668199

Not a HUGE fan of that... but it grows on me each year, that look(IN SOME RIGS.... ) .... I still like the wood/carpet idea, or maybe even that HD foam diamond plate stuff laid over the wood...... I can cut out either one easy, etc. But anyway, I'm looking forward to whatever you eventually slap in there, Ed, Richard.

 

Yea i love what RBX did on his interior. i had originally wanted to do that concield subwoofers in the door panels somehow the way he did. Then after checking out his thread i finally seen how its possible for me to do. I'll get to it eventually. like you(Ed) said there is always more important things to do on the to do list. and that is soooo true for me lol

Mark thos diamond plating sheets dont look half bad i wouldnt mind doing trying soemthing similar to that out. i'd need to get the correct measurments on everything before ordering to make sure it'll fit.

 

Got my shock hoops finished the other day. I still need to lengthen my brake lines front and back.


^made a new shock tab/bracket for the driverside


^this is how the shocks look now, they angle slightly outward at the top now




^made a battery hold down awhile back

 

wow nice job! how much uptravel do you have on your shocks?

 

Damn that battery hold down thing came out clean. Almost looks like it came with the truck. Michel better then the job I did with mine lol

 

Thanks man, I had 2-1/2" of uptravel before, now I have 5"... I still need to get some bumpstops and set those up, ill probably get the brakelines extended today, & maybe post up some flex poser pics, lol.

 

Thanks Richard. Im pretty happy with how it turned out. Like I mentioned above, Im going to work on my brakelines today, I also need to adjust/ fix my throttle cable. I was driving on the freeway yesterday and noticed I only have about half throttle on the gas pedal (which could be a good thing since I had to be doing around 85 MPH, lol) Other than that the truck has been driving and handleing good, no vibrations or issues so far.

 

Wow, man.... always a great post to see with you fab guys! hahaa... I just repair broken stuff... not near as exciting hahaha........

Son, ya done good! lol.

VIDEO OF 85MPH ON FREEWAY AT HALF THROTTLE, ASAP, STAT, POR FAVOR?

"Now available; Custom Speed Limiter made by ED, called, "The Kinky Linkage!" " hehe

 

Thanks Chef,...lol, that "kinky linkage" speed limiter thing cracked me up!!! It was a good thing I wasn't drinking anything at the time, cuz I know it would have shot out my nose, lol!!! Hey, Mark, I know you do more than "repair broken stuff" some of the gremlins you've had to conquer would have intimidated me!!!

 

Well I finally lengthened my brake hoses today on the cheap. Some of you might not have heard of this mod, so I'll explain what I did. Aftermarket longer brakelines are expensive, (i think TG sell theirs for around $70) so what I did is I bought 2 rear soft lines (i already had one off my parts truck) that have one female end and one male end (that threads onto the "T" fitting on the rearend) and I threaded the new line to the existing brake hoses on both front brakes and the rear one.


^Here's a pic of the male end of the brake hose threaded into the existing brake hose.


^I also made a longer bracket for the load sensing proportioning valve mechanism that's bolted to the rearend, to raise it back up about 4"....you can kinda make out the new brake hose in the back ground.The hardest part of this was trying to find an auto parts store that had the lines in stock. I found one places that had one, and I had to order the other one. Total cost $25. The other thing I like is if you blow out a section of hose out on the trail, you could just remove that section of hose, bleed the brakes and make it back home. Its like carring 3 spares, lol.

 

Glad to hear the Runner's treating you well. Good idea with the brake lines, dual purpose! Haha, handy way to store spares...

 

Got caught up on what you got done. Your shock hoops and battery hold down turned out nice. I think it will work better then the factory hold down. I liked the way you were able to save a few dollars on the brake line extentions and it would be an easier trail fix. Great job on those ideas.

 

Thanks ROCKGUY, Yeah I'm pretty happy with it so far, both the performance and handling characteristics are better than I thought they'd be. I still have a few little things to finish, I started making a mounting bracket for my remote mounted oil filter, I need to finish that. I also need to get some double pulleys for the crank and waterpump so that I can run my power steering pump, I really miss having power steering!

Thanks for the compliments Terry! I finally got my rear seatbelts mounted to the rollbar, so now my two kids can ride back there in their car seats. They got their first ride in it with the top off the other day, and really enjoyed it, I think they had smiles on their faces the whole trip! Lol. I'm starting to feel more confident in the runner's reliability now. Our house is in the process of selling, and my wife and I are planning to take a trip back up to the area where my parents live,(looking to possibly move up there). When we do, I plan on taking the 4 runner up loaded with stuff, and leave it at my parents house, so then we'll have one less vehicle to take up when we do move.

 

Hey Ed. Ive posted some interior pics of my brown interior on my thread. I know you've been humming and hawing about the brown and I hope that I can persuade you that the stock brown interior can be made to look pretty sharp.

Here's a pic of the front.

 

Hey Travis, I'm really interested to see your interior, not sure if your pic/link worked?!?! I checked your build thread also, and didn't see any pics there either, I'm really interested to see your LED lights also!

**EDIT** picture link has been fixed!!! Nice work on the interior, I like the black accents!