the nice thing about the 4Runner is that the car is really balanced. unlike a pick-up the 4Runner gets traction in the back. My 4Runner is 2WD though but that doesnt matter since its going to have 15" of travel in the front and 17"in the back. im just trying to get my high performance stuff settled before i even start preparing. once i get all my parts prepped then the build begins. im going to start off by working on the engine and tranny at school since im just a junior in highschool and then when i get home im going to start working on the interior. im going to basically be making a full roll cage inside and changing the seats. on top of that im going to dynamat the interior and put all my electronics in. then im going to work on the suspension and once thats in the body work would be the last thing. im planning to start in the summer if everything goes well! So back to trannys do you guys know where i could get all my tranny internals modified for racing? i like the system that latent solutions provides since it has a redline preventer.

 

Let me take a wild guess, This is your first race car?

Also what is your budget? You are aware you are looking at $15k+ for all of this right?

 

actually ive been involved in racing for 4 years now. this is going to be my first race truck and off road race, but i have a lot of building and fabrication skills under my belt. ive done a lot of prerunning, but that was in a raptor and so there really wasnt much to do to it. ive been involved with trucks now for 2 years and i just thought hey why dont i build my own. im actually just buying the stuff that people wont sponsor me for. all my fenders and bodywork i got for free, im currently working on some tire sponsorships and trying to see what i can do to maybe get big discounts on parts. i honestly dont have a budget im just going to get the parts that i need because if i make a budget i feel as though my truck wont be the way that i want it. of coarse im trying to bargain with companies on discounts but most of the work that ill be doing on it will be custom work that ill do on it which is pretty much a huge saving right there. all my porting and engine work is going to be done by one of my auto shop teachers friends who currently races in NHRA and he has the equipment to do it.

 

The reason I ask is that you have some things right but then you say things that go completely against building a real race car. Like the dynomat, you should be removing the stock sound deadening/ carpets not adding more if you really were going to compete competitively.

I think that you severely underestimate the cost all of this will run, the engine build alone will cost you $5k+ just in parts, thats assuming that you use off the shelf parts, if you go custom add more to that.

You would be far better off using $2000 to buy a taco (they are easier to find with a manual transmission as well) and using that as the base truck. If you are worried about the traction/weight in the rear you are always better off starting out with too little weight and adding ballast exactly where you need it. In this case the best place to add it if needed (which I HIGHLY doubt it would be) is up under the truck either in the form of lead weight in a cage welded to the frame or in a second gas tank.

Having been around racing for a long time myself, I think that you can complete your goals but before you commit to something like this know what you are getting into and make sure you can afford to complete it. Another advantage of getting a taco for this would be you could get a newer truck with the 5vz which is a much better motor and you could get a 4wd model as well. I would never trust a 3vz in a setup like this, heck I would not trust it as a daily driver.

Think it through before taking the leap. Are you just wanting to race for fun? Or are you wanting to race to win? If racing for fun your plan should work, although that is a LOT of money to spend to just race for fun.

If you want to race to win, then think things over, because your 4500lb 4runner doesn't stand much chance against a 2500lb ranger unless you are making a LOT more power which you won't be (you can not escape the power to weight ratio).

Not to mention that even if getting sponsored you are looking at $10k-$15k easy all said and done to get this finished. Take that from someone that has built a few cars, it is never as cheap as you first think, it is usually about twice what you think.

 

Sounds like a neat build, get it going!

 

TA ive totally taken into consideration all the money that im prob going to end up spending and my total came out to 18xxx. i totally know what im getting myself into and thats why i plan on doing it. the nice thing about class 7 is that you vehicle has to have a min weight and for score class 7 its 3500lbs from what ive read and not to exceed 5000lbs. they also make you compete against cars that are close to your vehicle in performance. the reason im going to be putting dynamat is because its just an added comforts for me and also a little bit of safety added for me. i did think about buying a taco but i thought about why not build a T4R because tacos are common but 4Runners are not. plus itll be a way to show people that just because it has a crappy engine doesnt mean that it isnt strong, plus itll be unique to see it.

 

More power to you, I just prefer to play to win if spending that kind of money but hopefully you are a good enough driver to make that happen.

 

Hey Clownmeat, great reading and great job on the custom circuit design.

Not sure if you have considered this already (sorry if you have), but have you looked into a company like Sunstone circuits? I just priced out a 2x3" board on their website, and they quote $43 shipped. I have used them for some proto boards at work and they are great quality, and give you a proper circuit board like you just can't do on your own, solder mask, silkscreen if you want it, pre-coated, pre-drilled, etc.

 

yea i get you TA. thats my goal to make it happen and i know that if i really put all my effort and skill in i could at least complete it with a decent time.

 

not going to lie, this is probably one of the coolest things I've seen done in a long time! makes me want to put together a system for my 06 Taco

about the craziest thing I ever did like this was make a custom blinker circuit for my last truck consisted of a whopping 2 rectifier diodes

 

Haven't been here in awhile, update, paddle shift has been working flawless for months now. I use it everday, only had to switch it into stock mode twice so my wife could drive me home after beers. I let my mom try it once too, but blinkers and wipers kept getting turned on when she tried to shift.

 

So are u going to sell these or post up the data specs?? This seems like a awsome mod!! How hard would it be to adapt it to different trannys?

 

Probably not, there isn't enough demand for the time involved making them. As to sharing the code and hardware layout I don't know, I guess I could...