You have a lot better selection then what we do here in the midwest. When I was in California, the salvages yards had some really clean trucks and big selection. I envy you guys out there.

I have read about the intake/battery swaps. One day might get around to it. Let us know if you see a difference.

 

i changed the air filter already but i should put the old one in so i can give you a differance with the swap.

 

my battery/intake swap is almost done. see thread. but i got to say i have a lot better throttle response. i did change the filter like stated above. so when i get this one on the road i will put the k&n filter back in and tell you how much of a differance the swap made. then i will put my stock filter back in

 

looks like i have someone buying a gas tank skid plate i got of the wrecked 85 i had got in the past. selling it for 40. i will probably use tht to buy u-joints for the berry. then i have to fix the exhuast leak and the mis fire. then do something about the powersteering whinning all the time. may put a differant type of fluid in it.


took the top off the berry a few days ago and i just got to say i love summer. it is so nice to be able to drive around topless and enjoy the weather.

 

when it rained some of my flat black paint faded on my grill. so it had grey spots, so i painted it again along with some clear but the clear was a gloss and now my grill is like a gloss black but it actually looks really good.

also got the quick release hinges done on the passenger side. took a while because we thought the door wasnt lining up with the fender like the hinges were not in the right spot. since i had to cut them some to make their bolt holes wider. but then we ended up giving up and went to put the regular door on and we had the same problem.

found out the passenger fendergot pushed in sume when putting the half door on. since the fender has been tweaked since i got the truck, the PO hit something and pushed in in from the side. so we fixed tht and were able to get both doors to line up.
now tomarrow we may weld the doors up sum. but i have no garuntees.

 

just checked out your intake swap man that looks realy good and was somthing I was thinking of doing down the road. sounds like your making good progress on other things as well goo job man.

 

thanks, i actualyly need to update the swap thread it is done.

 

got some stuff done today.

decided to do something with my rusted windshield wiper arms
before:

after:

put 4 coats of paint on them. we will see how long the look good haha.

and one of the grill sinnce i mentioned it yesterday:


now onto something for the 4runner guys.
the weather is been getting nice here, so i took the top off the berry, however it still gets kinda chilly at night with out the top on. now we can roll our windows up but going down the road the air goes over the roof and attacks you from behind. so i decided to make something to fix tht.

the piece of aluminium square stock tht i found and decided to keep for anything i could think of:

i then cut it into 3 pieces and drilled some holes:



i then gott some more of tht mesh i was using for my soft top and doubled it up and sewed it togetether with horizontal lines every5 or so inches.

here is the extra trimmed off:


saftey pinning the extra over the bars to cover them up:


after a couple hrs of sewing and a few broken sewing machine needles it was all done:


took it on the highway and got up to 60mph and no wind hit me. you can feel a little bit go through the mesh but only when you put your hand up to it. i also feel wind from under it between the 2 seats but nothing a jacket or long sleeve cant fix.

also while driving it around for the 5 mins i turned the heater on, by the time i stopped my heater was just getting warm but the whole cab area was way warmer then before the cap.

and the reason i made it with 3 small pieces of square stock instead of one large hope. is because all i have to do is remove 8 bolts and i can fold it all up and fit it in the rear storage compartments

so tht is my Cab Cap, what do you all think?

 

like it good idea twisted.

 

thanks

 

something to think about later on:

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showt...t=90517&page=4

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=132841

 

I been checking in on your swap. Something I plan on doing down the road. Also think I will do the GM alternator swap. These alternator seem like they put out just enough to run things.

That mesh thing was a good idea. Making it foldable and less storage space will make things nice. Later on when I get the 99 other tings done. i want to try to come up with something out of the mesh for a bikini top. Great job.

 

I've said it before but I really love the look of the blacked out grill, especially on lighter painted runners. I was wondering why you made the cap bracket in three pieces till your more recent post- makes perfect sense if you can fold it up and looks really good after you fine tuned it. Would be interesting to see if I could make one like yours only water proof because that's way easier to store than a full soft top - If I end up going with the bedliner in the back, I mean. Keep it up Twisted: lots of good stuff here!

 

it wouldnt be to hard to make one water proof. the only differance is, i think you would have to make the hoop around the cab one peice to make it a thight fit all the way around. then you would have to find a way to seal the bottom. it wouldnt be super hard but more work would be involved, you either have to make a lot of fance brakets to make it fir in runner or modify your runner so it fits.

the only reason i havent modified my runner when doing things like this is because i have the 2 and want it to work on both

 

driving home today the exhaust broke right where it bends under the cab by the front tire. completely off. so now i have something tht i got to do before i can drive it.

it sounds like a rice rocket but a little louder. its basically open manifold.

will try to take pictures tomarrow if i remember.

 

Would that be the pipe that comes right out of the manifold? Cause if so, I've had the same issue...many times. I believe I'm on "Y" pipe number three, and custom welded "Y" pipe number two. Something about the angle, or the exhaust hangers just puts some kind of pressure in the right spot to cause the pipe to wear out and break in half. Although my most recent pipe has been doing good so fare cause I had my fabricator buddy weld the crap out of it. It seems the stock pipes are just weak RIGHT in that area.

 

yea its a the bend right after the Y comes together. i think one of the reasons is tht i never re-installed the mounting bracket tht comes off the bell housing, when i was switching cats inbetween the 2 trucks. but i think tht is a weak spot on toyotas tht spot has been cracked on both my runners before.

 

Those "Y"s areas are a pain. That is the reason I go with headers when I have too. That can open a whole set of new problems. Trying to get a good seal at the head can be difficult. About the best I have found for that is a Toyota gasket.

Another area is the exhaust bolts wont stay in the manifold. I even have tried new ones. Sure wish Toyota would of done better on the manifold system. Good luck on your pipe.

 

...so i'm not the only one then. i thought i hadn't tightened them down enough or something after the rebuild

keep us informed on how you take care of things

 

I've had the same issues with cracks in the pipes around that area, and also the manifold bolts that won't stay tight. I have a short section of flex pipe welded in just past the y pipe to take the stress out of the pipe while the engine moves during operation, it was an extra expense, but that seems to have solved that problem, but I haven't done anything about the manifold bolts aside from tightening them once. Keep us posted.