got my tailgate cover done last night and also painted the plastic trim with the sem paint. turned out really well, thanks for all the advice!

 

Any pics?

 

I don't want to thread-jack stanz thread will all my crap haha
you can see it on my build thread, just click the yellow link in my signature.

 

**having trouble with images. will try to repair at a later date**

Late addition, I installed new OME Dakar leaf springs about 6 weeks ago. I'm just getting around to posting the pics...

New leafs ready to go in:
IMG_1617[1] | Flickr - Photo Sharing! IMG_1617[1] | Flickr - Photo Sharing! by stanz001, on Flickr


I had my buddy at District Fabrication make me new shackles. I wanted go more stout than stock but didn't want any additional lift. I couldn't find any stock height shackles on the market that were uprades. We used the yellow OME poly bushings. These turned out awesome (stock shackle on bottom):
IMG_1620[1] | Flickr - Photo Sharing! IMG_1620[1] | Flickr - Photo Sharing! by stanz001, on Flickr


One spring installed:
IMG_1621[1] | Flickr - Photo Sharing! IMG_1621[1] | Flickr - Photo Sharing! by stanz001, on Flickr

I used greaseable bolts throughout, even in the front hangers:
IMG_1624[1] | Flickr - Photo Sharing! IMG_1624[1] | Flickr - Photo Sharing! by stanz001, on Flickr

IMG_1625[1] | Flickr - Photo Sharing! IMG_1625[1] | Flickr - Photo Sharing! by stanz001, on Flickr

Final ride height:
IMG_1623[1] | Flickr - Photo Sharing! IMG_1623[1] | Flickr - Photo Sharing! by stanz001, on Flickr

 

looks good stan! i hear great things about OME. wish mine sat that low

 

Been a little while since the last post. Just wanted to say Stanz, that's a proper Runner you've got there. Nice job!

 

My latest repair: replace high beam switch, hazard switch and ignition lock cylinder (finally all one key all the way around!).


http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/9946515013/, on Flickr

 

Thought I'd also share that I've been thoroughly enjoying the 4Runner this summer! It's been super reliable and I got the opportunity recently to explore the great outdoors in it, even camping in the bed with an air mattress. I must say that the rear window and cargo light switches I added to the bed made camping in the back a dream!

Ready for the road:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/9946541313/http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/9946541313/]IMG_2508[1][/url, on Flickr

I love Oregon:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/9946466834/IMG_2534[1] by stanz001, on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/9946556833/http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/9946556833/]IMG_2532[1][/url, on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/9946432335/http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/9946432335/]IMG_2519[1][/url, on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/9946454804/http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/9946454804/]IMG_2514[1][/url, on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/9946451774/http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/9946451774/]IMG_2513[1][/url, on Flickr

 

First step in prepping for the FJ Cruiser power mirror upgrade -- they'll have electric defrost and PIAA fog lights installed. Here's the rocker switch install for the mirror fog lights.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/9946399755/http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/9946399755/]IMG_2811[1][/url, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/9946523373/http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/9946523373/]IMG_2816[1][/url, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/9946523373/http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/9946523373/]IMG_2816[1][/url, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/9946423256/http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/9946423256/]IMG_2828[1][/url, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/9946532763/http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/9946532763/]IMG_2830[1][/url, on Flickr

 

GREAT mods going on, once again!

I'm loving the interior LED lighting is well... And especially loving the insulation throughout, along with the sound deadening . It really makes for comfortable camping.

Great pictures man, I've always wanted to head up to Oregon and get lost for about a month... Eastern Oregon, where you can really really really get lost! Lol.

Thanks for always having input to share. I appreciate it much!

 

I love your truck!
Did you change around the key so it wasn't easy to break in? I read on another forum that in the Pac northwest a lot of toyota trucks get stolen

 

the FJC mirror light isnt a fog light?

 

No, the FJC mirrors come factory with a marker light. More to come on that mod shortly.

 

Some more of my summer mods:

I extended the differential breathers, adding two motorcycle motor breathers under the hood.




I learned through multiple threads that the diff threads are European spec and not NPT. The cheapest and easier route to add barbs for running hoses was to go with a Nissan Part:


My other big $ummer mod was to replace the entire A/C system. I gave in to having a shop do this one for me. I instructed them to replace everything from the dash button to the core support with all new parts. I wanted nothing to fail a week or 6 months from now. The did a great job and had custom hoses made since the factory hoses are obsolete. I've now got good as new R134 A/C. But damn was it spendy - $2k!!!:

 

Ouch! .... But, I think 2000 dollars, as painful as it probably was, is a pretty good deal, considering all you had done? I didn't have the time at one point to help my mom, and it was blistering hot, so I had to take it to a guy I trust... He's really honest and even giving a good deal, just the compressor, condenser and dryer alone with labor were nearly 1600 bucks.

Must be colder than a witches %#& in winter with a brass bra on in there! Hahaha. Sounds like you're hundred percent pleased, that's great.

What brand compressor if you don't mind me asking?

PS: I got quite a few of those properly threaded doohickeys/ vacuum ports for the breather mod extensions at the pick your parts. I found that on late 80's Corollas and even later model pretty much any Toyota, most of them have some good ones with large opening on the flare side, and some even have an elbow, which I found useful especially when fitting under the IFS truck oil pans...

 

Guys I've been quiet for a while because the 4Runner's been running great and it's been a year of turn the key and go for the most part.

This weekend I replaced the starter. What a PITA! Would be a lot easier if I had hands the size of a child with the reach of an NBA player. After some careful balancing and reaching from above and countless ratchet extensions. I succeeded.


[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/11508524705/]

The only catch was that the starter turned out not to be my issue... I was having an intermittent issue when I'd only get a relay click in the dash upon turning the key and no crank whatsoever. Sometimes I would go a week without issue and other times it would take 10 tries to get it to crank, and once it did, it cranked strong and fired right up. Chatting with my local parts guys, they were sure it was the solenoid.

I know that rebuilt starters have a bad reputation, but I opted for a NAPA rebuilt as it was the weekend and problem seemed to picking up in frequency a lot this weekend and there were no immediate sources for new on a Sunday.

So after all the swearing and knuckle scraping, the first turn of the key yielded a simple CLICK and no crank!!! [Insert major expletives here!].

I then retraced everything electrical and found that the custom starter lead cable that I made coming off the battery was just a little loose on the clamp at the positive terminal. I tightened it up and have been running in and out of stores all day and am feeling pretty good that I nailed the issue. Oh well, money I didn't need to spend right before holiday.

This also comes just as I was hit with another unexpected annoyance. I was on the highway last weekend and I developed an exhaust leak at the manifold once again. I assumed it was a cracked manifold and didn't have the tools on me to remove the heat shield. So I ordered LC Engineering's long tube headers.


[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/11508546954/]

I got home, removed the shield and discovered that the cause of the leak is the stud (actually it was a bolt this time) closest to the firewall fell out once again. When I first replaced the manifold the head was stripped in the head. My friend tapped it to 7/16 and used a bolt. Apparently that bolt loosened up after over a year of driving with it and fell out. Perhaps if it was a stud it would not have caused an issue.

I figured since I need to dig in again, I might as well upgrade to these headers. I have no time with work and the holidays to do this project myself (and I don't have a tube bender to line up the exhaust) so I'm turning over the keys tomorrow to a local exhaust shop and giving them a Magnaflow stainless cat to put on behind it. I will have now replaced the entire exhaust - head to tailpipe over the past two years.

One thing I'm curious about is whether I'll need to move to a 4 wire heated O2 sensor. LC moves the sensor downstream right in front of the cat. There are mixed messages online about this tripping the CEL without a heated sensor. Stay tuned.

 

I almost forgot about my other project in the works... my buddy Mike at District Fabrication is making me a set of custom sliders. We're going to install them after the holiday.

 

I had a Lil problem with the stock o2 getting lazy, and from day one the NoX was high. I ended up going back to a ported stock but never did mess with the 4wire. I think a few have done it right, and yet others have done a weld on an o2 bung trick where they added it in between 2 & 3 runners(plugging LCE's o2 location up).

Look forward to reading up on whatever you do. It's a sexy header! Congratz on that and the problem free year!

PS: NICE SLIDERS! He did them longer than Normal for ya eh? Very nice work!

 

I got the LCE header installed the other week. While I was at it, I upgraded to a heated 4-wire O2 sensor to mitigate the CEL coming on and also threw in a new Magnaflow Cat.

I'm very pleased with the power gain. The 4Runner has never run better and swapping out the cat got rid of the intermittent exhaust hiccup that I had.

Here are some pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/12114206883/
Custom weatherproof 4-wire O2 sensor harness I made using the harness connector I purchased from chasebays.com:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/12113901355/

O2 Sensor Installed (Denso 234-4052):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/12114216613/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/12113920095/
Harness wiring. I used a relay to trigger switched power:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/12114568996/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/12114322204/
New cat:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/12114577506/

 

Tonight's upgrade: 4th Gen 4Runner sun visors with lighted mirrors:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/72188695@N05/12402894383/