That wiring gives me nightmares. The mechanical stuff I'm cool with, but anything electrical just scares the crap out of me. I've got a ton of respect for anyone willing to take on a project of this magnitude.

 

Hey, just checking your build thread and saw you were done or almost with your MT and 4WD conversions -- nice work! Glad you were able to locate a good donor vehicle.

 

good luck with your decision

Alright, stuff that went down today...

Remember that transmission tunnel I cut out? Here's what we did with it:


Here you see the tunnel in my truck, cut out to match the size of the hole on the donor truck. Some spray engine enamel for rust protection:


Cut and fit, ready!


A body shop bud named Nelson came down and helped out the build.




Riveted that sucker on tight and cleaned up the silicone:



ADD solenoid wires removed from harness, all the way with contacts on both ends:


It was really easy to add the contacts to my existing harness. Here are the wires installed in the truck.


ADD vacuum solenoids, these are what actually connect and disconnect your front differential:


Clutch mount/master cylinder reinforcement plate, removed from donor to be added to my truck for added firewall strength.




I've got the brackets drilled off of the truck for the clutch lines. Going to install them tomorrow. The wiring is not fully completed for the whole truck, but the transmission can still be installed before it's all completely wired.

Stay tuned :guitar3:

 

Updates:

I wired the clutch start cancel switch and the clutch switch.

Drilled out the spot welds on this bracket for the clutch hydraulic line.


Drilled holes in my truck and bolted the bracket up to my truck.



Then came time for this




Too bad, the input shaft is about 30mm too long. The transmission had to come back down.



Compared to a proper length input shaft on a 2WD W59.


John's got a way to grind the input shaft to proper length, which will be followed by the immediate installation of the transmission.

Here's a pic of the gauge cluster insert from the donor. This will go into my cluster to eliminate PRND2L.

 

It's still giving me nightmares, too!

Thank you russ, it was a ton of work, but certainly worth it.

Jeff!

Yes, it's almost done, I'm very happy that you chimed in. I read through most of your posts regarding your Tacoma and they helped me plan things out well.

BTW, I'll try to get to you soon on the MAP ECU and injectors, the icing on the 4x4/5spd cake

Thanks for everything brother, I'll definitely keep in touch.




Every day brings it one step closer...

Here are the updates for December 5th, 2011:

My problem as we left off was the length of the transmission's input shaft, which was too long. We needed to find a way to turn the output shaft to keep the input shaft spinning.

Say hello to Mr. On the car brake lathe!


Mr. On the car brake lathe does a terrific job of spinning rotors, why not transmissions?



John working his magic:


The shop just about turned into a 4Runner off road shop!


With the input shaft correctly shortened (shown here coated with a blue layout fluid), the trans went back up.



Shifters installed


The front driveshaft fit well, the slip yolk is extended about one extra inch.


The transmission crossmember that I cut off of the donor being welded to my truck:








Turns out that the transmission was not leaking, it was the transfer case. It has a leak at the fill plug, which was missing a gasket. We put new gear oil in the T-case.


Reinstalled the rear driveshaft (slip yolk very compressed... barely a 1/4 inch of movement). This will have to be shortened.


Tomorrow, I'm taking both of my trucks back home. The 99 will not be 100% done, but certainly drivable. The 2000 will begin part out very soon, I'll post a new thread in the classifieds when that happens.

I love this forum, thank you for the support, guys.

 

I was just contacted by 4WD Toyota Owner's Magazine... looks like they're doing a feature on my truck!

Thank you and the rest of you guys... freakin awesome...

Dash back in. This is about halfway through, I forgot to take a finished pic.


6k white LEDs from V-LEDS.com. Still gotta work out the hotspots.


The ADD was hooked up today and some kinks with some misplaced wires were figured out. My truck is now 100% a fully functional 5-speed manual with four wheel drive.

Finally got to put on that icing



I'll be taking the truck to get the rear driveshaft shortened to proper length. The slip yolk only has about 1/2 to 1/4 inch of travel currently.

I also ordered a new vehicle speed sensor (VSS) gear, as the one in my truck (I do not have ABS, therefor the speed sensors in the hubs do nothing) is too small (29 tooth). I ordered a 33 tooth gear from Toyota and we'll see if it fits when it gets here.

Then it's time to throw the skid back on and see what this son of a beach can do. I tested 4WD on some dirt, it works great. I can't take it to the trail until it's got the correct driveshaft, but I'm eager to try 4LO! The curb I tested 4LO on today didn't really tell me much

I'll keep you all updated, a video will come soon!

 

Nice! Congrats on getting it up and running. This was an extremely ambitious project and you did a great job on the write up.

 

So awesome your gonna be in the magazine, congrats!

 

Awesome build!

 

Thank you guys!


Today:
My Check Engine Light came on. I was scared that it was going to be something serious.

Relief! I know already! Freakin' ECU.

I took my driveshaft over to Drivelines, Inc. over here in Mission Viejo. This shop is well renowned, they've even build driveshafts for Jesse James and delivered them on TV.

This is what $180 will get you:




I put it in and immediately went to the testing grounds, AKA a 40 foot tall steep dirt hill with shrubbery and crap all over it.

First, I went as far as I could in 2WD. As soon as the rear wheels actually touched the hill, the tires spun and it was going no further.

Then, I tried out 4LO for the first time...

... well, let's just say I realized that I'd proved my point about halfway up.

 

Awesome - congrats! Nice job!

Jeff

 

congratz. alot of work went into your swap. glad you got it all worked out. looks like you have one unique ride

 

Impressive documentation of the transformation from when you first bought the runner to now. Merry Christmas! I think that your newly built 4wd is a hell of a present to your self.

 

Thank you Jeff!


Thanks man!

Haha, yes, I would agree! Thank you!




Sorry guys, this isn't my main forum so I haven't updated this lately. Here's what I've been up to since December:

New speedo gear, finally a working speedo.



Delicious. Here some pics, nothing special... 40 PSI in the tires. I'll air em down when I'm up in the snow








--------------------------
Anyone know why these videos always double up on Yotatech?
[youtube]nAauTBNuFcQ[/youtube]
[youtube]lgr3cbW-9l4[/youtube]

--------------------------

I have never owned a manual transmission. I learned using traded in cars at work. I had a total combined experience of maybe 24 total hours spread across 4 years.

If there's anything to learn... you really don't know how bad at driving a stick you are until you own one! It's barely been a few weeks and I've improved ten fold.

I ate my Chipotle burrito on my lunch break with about 10 minutes to spare, so I popped in new shifter seat/socket bushings before going back to work.

Marlin Crawler Shifter Bushings.


The old shifter seat. It was originally one piece, but came apart.


Shifter socket bushing, new and old.


Installation is easy. You lay the seat bushing on the two pins (there are grooves in the seat) and pivot it around the pins until it falls into place.


The shifter is very solid and shifts are very smooth. Extremely worth it if you drive a 5-speed, especially since this costs less than $20.

-----------------

Some pics and vids from my Big Bear trip:

My CV boot tore, so my buddy who came along fashioned a sweet grocery bag/zip tie boot to keep stuff out of the grease.


Our burritos got cold, so...


Camped out in a small clearing at about 7600ft.



On the way to the Big Bear Discovery Center



Later in the day:







Making CBI snow angels (lol)



View the rest here:
Big Bear Weekend pictures by corvettekorn - Photobucket


This is my first time ever wheeling a stick. I was the second one to go up, so I had no spotter, either... just a bunch of dudes staring... lol!
[youtube]XbxEz2z2G1A[/youtube]
[youtube]uaTBdt4bo6w[/youtube]
[youtube]YrAP0aywv0U[/youtube]

I call this piece, BACONRUNNER.



After all of the festivities, I gave the interior a deep cleaning. The donor truck had a lot of nicer interior plastics, so there was some exchanging of miscellaneous parts. The rear hatch weather stripping was perfect on the donor, torn up on mine (visible in the bacon photo).


Example of one of the exchanged parts. (Old, left. New, right.)




4Runners never came with the best of horns. They also aren't very loud. I replaced mine with some Fiamm/Bosch horns, OEM Mercedes-Benz. Here's a quick 9 second clip. They're easily twice as loud, perfect. The hole on the bracket to mount to the core support was too small, so Mr. Makita paid a visit. Also rewired the PA speaker.
[youtube]2X1DAn1AhlU[/youtube]

Picked up some cheap used 10" Rockford Fosgate subwoofers. The box is much nicer than my old one. They sound great and work well for my sound needs.


Last, but not least, I received my MAPECU2, AFR Calibration box, and 4 refurbished brown top 330cc (tested at 333cc) 1JZ-GTE Supra injectors from Jeff (who posted above). When I bought my supercharger from him, he included an 8 PSI pulley, so I just need to buy a Walbro 190 fuel pump and its boost time! Works out great when you can trust who you're buying from!


---------------------

I'm sure a little more getting used to driving a 5-speed and it won't be too difficult to wheel... but yeah, it's definitely more intensive than Automatic. A small price to pay for the added control. 2 months so far, I'm definitely miles ahead of when I went to Big Bear.

I ordered this over a month ago. Stupid USPS lost the first one, which sucks, because these are discontinued and very rare. Thanks to jdmpit on eBay, who sent me a free replacement. Feels and looks great. Still waiting on the new vinyl shift boot to replace the crappy worn/fading one.





Here is the MAP ECU 2.




Dual Channel AFR Calibration unit:


Brown top 330cc 1JZ-GTE Injectors (Toyota Part # 23250-46030)



Also, my workman SWR-2T SWR meter arrived. This is the same model SWR that I used before. Unfortunately, it was nonfunctional. I contacted the eBay seller to hopefully get a replacement. Bummer...

-----------------------

Oh yeah, new tires. 285/70/17 Load D.



Went with the All-Terrain again. The KM2's were getting low since I bought them used.

I'm looking forward to better mileage and longer tread life. They perform great, like my old set did.

I drove up a rocky stream with them and no issues. No good pics, it was dark.



--------------------

I'm placing an order for a Shrockworks front bumper w/prerunner hoop. Here's the same bumper on Fireball's rig.


Also might be getting front skid and belly pans from Budbuilt... Skid Row will be for sale!


eBay shifter boot... not bad.





Slow day at work, got to messing with the 4Runner again...

Scraped the red powdercoat off of the front shackle pins so they screw in all the way. They used to only screw in about halfway. You couldn't really tell when they hid underneath the truck, but they'll soon be out in the sun on the front of a shrockworks.

Left fog = broken ground connector, broken bulb holder, broken bottom metal hook/pin under bulb. Removed fog, new 100W bulb, used an oval head screw to hold in the bulb. New male spade connector fits nicely in the back of the bulb (excellent ground) where there's a few thin slots.

Right fog = Bulb holder was bent, fixed that. Female spade connector for ground was old and bent, etc... replaced with a new female spade connector.

Tuned my CB antenna, SWR of 1.1 so far (tuned on Ch13, all of my friends have CB's and this is the channel we use locally)

Half of my LED 3rd brake light stopped working, so I'm gonna see if I can fix that.

Going to swap passenger headlight with another OEM one I have from the donor, repaint the front Toyota logo, and make it look better for the magazine shoot. It's such a shame that I won't have the Shrockworks yet! Truck needs some love... both of my MTX amps blew up. I rewired the speakers to work passive for the time being, sucks without bass. Talking with an eBay seller about getting a 2.5" Jardine muffler. Also have to flatten the catback flange where it meets the cat because it's warped... hello exhaust leak. Also needs CV boots.

rock on, gents...

 

wow nice update. looks good and the new upgrades should be even nicer.

 

Random little thing here. I wrote an article on CarDomain and they published it on Autoholics. That's kinda cool, here it is if you're interested.


Why I Built Instead of Selling - Autoholics

-----------------------------

Some pics from King of the Hammers 2012. 4 days of off road bliss. My phone was dead for most of the trip, so here's a few of the pics I did manage. More pics coming later.

View of Hammertown


driffter33 and I with some other 4Runners



Toyota pickup with a 22R








Monster 4Runner



Camp with brian2sun and driffter33





Just look at those 35s!







-----------------------------

Mini update...

I was going to hold this off until my next update (should be coming soon), but oh shwell.

I met a dude named Charlie off of craigslist sometime a while back when he was looking for a 4Runner bumper. He swung by my house yesterday to buy just a grab handle for his driver's side.

He showed me that you can actually feel the holes in the headliner where you could screw in a driver's handle. I know it's been done, but I assumed it at least required some trim removal and possibly partial headliner removal.

Turns out, if you have an extra grab handle and a screw driver, you literally just feel for the holes, poke through, and screw it in.




That will come in good use when I want to install an A-pillar gauge pod.



Cherry bomb glasspack muffllers. $40 from Pepboys. Obviously, not meant for permanent use... but an affordable quick alternative. I guess what I'm saying is, I took it off after it burnt through all of the fiberglass packing.

Mufflers aren't easy to choose... 3RZ's have hardly any videos or sound clips of mufflers available. I don't want a MagnaPieceOf**** and I sure don't want a lawn mower Flowmaster (if you've seen a Flowmaster on a 3RZ, you'd understand).

Just about the time where I couldn't find any more 3RZ videos, I decided to search CustomTacos.com and found Jardine.

Jardine is owned by Doug Thorley. They used to sell pretty expensive catback systems before DT discontinued them. They really sound smooth and clean.

Discontinued... dammit! Resorted to option #2, eBay. I found a guy who ran his own performance business. He carried Jardine's catback systems before they were discontinued and was left with them after the fact. He didn't have any 4Runner catbacks any longer.

Luck has it, he just happened to have an extra 2.5" Jardine muffler laying around that he sold to me for $45!

2 days later:



------------------------

Sorry, I didn't post a video of the exhaust. I had the intention to record one after posting that last post. Long story short, I got rolled while driving down Santa Margarita Parkway. Cops in the Rancho Santa Margarita city area are notorious for pulling you over for no reason. My friends and I spent 1 hour on the curb, while popos scattered the entire contents of truck all over the place. Three total cop cars and the sergeant himself, in his fancy sergeant jacket.

Another 15 minutes reorganizing my stuff and getting *****ed at by cops for having a messy trunk area (that was perfectly organized before they ****ed it up...), it was too dark for video and I went home.

Their sole reason for calling out the force? My license plate frame obstructed the "E" in 4EZD760 and it he claimed it looked like an "F." Oh, so that must mean that I stash weed and coke in my truck. That one hour totally destroyed my day's schedule...

I'd like to shove my license plate up his ass. RSM police are a joke.



In other news, my donor truck has no hood, no doors, and no hatch. It is completely empty inside. I'll get some good money from a metal recycler after I cut it into bits with my sawzall. I'll be cutting the roof and pillars off for myself when I finally do my sunroof install. I have taken the remaining parts out to be stored indoors. After the body is gone, I'll take the suspension apart and be done with it. I want my driveway (and my car cover) back.

I'll buy a utility trailer to haul the donor body, so if anyone wants actual portions of the body, possibly to repair a severe accident, get in touch and we'll work something out. Core support and left apron are bad. Right apron is good. Rest of the body is straight but there are some rust spots.



It's hard keeping myself occupied while waiting for the front bumper...

My rear sway bar endlinks were too loose... threw a big washer in between the frame mount and top bushing on both sides and it's tightened up really nicely.

Finally installed a factory tail light converter for towing, courtesy of le donor truck:




The wiring is all plug and play. You just unplug the tail light and plug the tail light converter in. The wires run into a hole under the truck and into the cargo area through a small rubber square.






I was holding the 5VZ-FE intake for someone on T4R.ORG, but it's been 3 months and I'm sick of waiting. I have lined up a trade for a 2-channel sub amp with 800 watts. I'm sick of not having my subs!

So... I guess if you're at all interested in this build, stay tuned for a Shrockworks front bumper and fuel upgrades, coming as soon as I can install them

---------------------------

Both my headlights are busted. They've got broken aimers and brackets, held together with epoxy, hot glue, and loctite. Thanks to ye olde' donor 4runner, I replaced the passenger's side today.



A view inside of my old headlight shows the mud damage and peeled reflective stripping on the glass:


Versus the inside of the new one:


Broken bracket:


Epoxy:


Old vs new:



Notice the missing reflective strip on the glass:




Looks exactly the same, lol, but I can aim it!




Going up a usual trail, St. Patricks Day night (I promise we weren't drunk) during a very unusual Southern California rainstorm. The Dirt turned into thick soupy death, mixed with gravity which slid me into a ditch.

1AM

8AM


6 and a half hours of digging with small shovels, my friend and I practically remodeled the hill. The mud was too much, though, and the tires just squashed it out of the way. With no rocks, trees, or anything to put under the tires, it was time to get my friend Jay (driffter33) on the line.

He rides on down with his truck, hooks me up with his winch and literally pivots me all the way around.




Jay gets me all the way around to where I can use the truck's own power to move. Too bad, I ran out of gas... lol, to SHELL!

9AM:


Yes, that's my skidplate It had 2 front bolts, 2 middle bolts, and no back bolts. The back bolts didn't fit with after the diff drop, yet another fault of this skid. Back turned into a mudcatcher and bent it down, took it off and threw it under the tires for traction.




The damage:
Right side, paint literally destroyed. Gotta get a buffer and see what I can do.
Left side, paint pinstriped beyond a ricer's dream.
hatch dented in two spots, will contact my paintless dent removal specialist at work.
CBI powdercoat scraped to hell, will repaint left side of bumper with SEM trim black likely.
Also gonna get some dark gunmetal paint and get the wheels redone, as one of them is now silver... lol.






Already cleaned up the interior. Gonna remove my flares, clay/buff/wax, reinstall flares after painting with SEM trim black with Tacoma weather stripping.

Sliders lost most of their paint, not going to bother repainting them since I'll get some ODL boatsides soon.

Got a new amp for my subs, will install and get pics up ASAP...

Thanks

-------------------------------

Traded an intake for a Volfenhag ZX-7150 800W 2-Channel amp. Subs are working again, feels good to listen to music!




Took a trip to one of my favorite stores, The Paint Store off of Camino Capistrano in Laguna Niguel. I purchased 2 cans of SEM Trim Paint #39033, Charcoal Metallic, as well as one can of SEM Trim Black.

I wanted to go for that darker gray look I was intending to go for, but still staying within a reasonable budget. I wouldn't care if they were messed up on the trail, I'd just paint them again.

Only did one wheel to get a feeler. The color is certainly much darker than I expected, though I think it might look good.

Wheel off, PSI dropped, sanded.


Cleaned with mineral spirits, then masked with printer paper.


Self Etching primer:


SEM Charcoal Metallic. Removed Toyota logos from emblems to be repainted black.



Finished product. Will finish the other 3 tomorrow after picking up a first gen roll bar from twitchee2.





Also repainted driffter mount with SEM Trim Black, which I will post pics of tomorrow.


Quick trip to Power Toyota Irvine today and ordered 4 Tacoma rubber flare strips.
Adding Rubber Flare Trim - 3rd Gen 4Runner - YotaTech Forums

I'll be taking the flares off, peeling the plastidip off, and recoating them with SEM Trim Black. While they're off, I'll tackle the paint with a buffer. I'll reinstall the flares with the rubber trim for a factory look.

Also just ordered black lug nuts, AVS in channel window visors to replace my Wade brand ones, Walbro 190LPH kit from URD, K&N drycharger, and a Toytec 1" body lift. Shrockworks front bumper on it's way with PIAA fogs and driving lights, as well first gen roll bar (picking it up tomorrow), and Outdoor Logic boat sides.

More to come!

---------------------------------

I went to Burbank today to meet T4R member twitchee2, who sold me a 1st gen roll bar for $40. Will get it cut, welded, and painted soon. I'm definitely in the market for a bad ass shelf setup similar to DirtCo's sweet roll bar. Also ordered a 48" Hi Lift jack (finally) with mount for the bar.



Repainted driffter mount installed today. Ordered a FireStik K-1A quick disconnect because I want to begin parking the 4Runner in the garage someday soon.



Better shots of the wheels, they really make the red calipers pop. I'm going to try this color out for a while and see how it grows on me. I still haven't repainted the centercap logos, that's why they're missing.



-----------------------------

I'd like some new CV axles. Mine are old and have torn boots, wouldn't mind some fresh ones.


Here's a photo of the Tacoma rubber stripping for the flares:


Received my K&N Drycharger today.






Changed out the Wade In Channel vent visors with AVS brand.



The Wade front ones followed the whole window frame, both sides cracked and left plastic inside of the window channel. The AVS ones stop short, which is much nicer.

Wade


Compared


AVS


The rear ones are just about the same:


For those who encountered Jam protection with their in channel visors, purchase a can of Silicone Lubricant. It keeps rubber in good shape and allows the windows to glide past the visors effortlessly.


My black lugs have also arrived, yet to be installed.



In other news, back during the King of the Hammers trip, I was going pretty fast and accidentally hit a whoop pretty hard. I encountered some hard rubbing from the right wheel at full lock, against the mudflap. There was a slight pull to the right as well.

Steve Hanson, also known as Chaplain, stopped by my house a few days ago. He and I got to talking, and he pointed out that my front right lower control arm bolts had shifted. There are two metal stops on either side to prevent extreme shifting of this bolt. My bolt had shifted enough to flatten one of these metal stops. His advice was to weld a bead against the back side of these metal stops to prevent them from moving in the future.

I went over to my buddy John's place, Japanese Car Specialties, and it turns out that it's a rather common problem. We put the truck in the air and realigned the control arm a bit, which has eliminated the pull.

I'll get those metal stops welded when I can properly modify/weld the first gen roll bar, two birds with one stone.

Here is the bolt I'm talking about, after we shifted it back passed the metal stop.




Also, a special thanks to Dylan Ewald for helping me get my 1" Toytec body lift and panhard drop bracket.

More to come!

------------------------------

Installed my black lug nuts. They're short, but look good.


The antenna quick disconnect came in the mail, but I didn't install it yet.

Yesterday, my friend and I were bored. We always talk about the cool things that we would do if we had a cheap project car. A few minutes on craigslist and we found an 89 Ford Probe GT with a blown motor for sale. I bought it for $500.

We quickly rented a u-haul tow dolly, hooked it up to my 4Runner and towed the Probe from Palmdale to Mission Viejo. We'll start with changing the motor (dirt cheap at junkyards), fixing the suspension (cut springs/bad struts), and general maintenance. Then, clean up the interior by fixing it up with whatever better parts I can find, and likely paint the exterior using the same paint that I just painted my 4Runner's wheels with.

A little about the car:

155k
5 speed
FWD
Manual windows, manual door locks, manual sunroof.
Dark Titanium Metallic
Motor is blown to bits. My friend noticed that the timing was advanced all the way... previous owner was running 12 PSI.
The interior is pretty spotless for a 23 year old car.

My friend drives a mechanically identical Mazda MX6, which gets ridiculously good mileage and costs practically nothing to own.

Here's the car:






Let's just get this head out of the way to see what things look like... hoooly ˟˟˟˟˟. lol. This engine's toast! This is what happens when you ignore detonation with ridiculously advanced timing and high boost.



I'm waiting until April 6th, Pick Your Part 50% off day. As if the place wasn't already cheap enough... my friend and I will be pulling the best 2.2L Mazda F2 motor we can find, along with whatever other appropriate parts.

----------------------

CB antenna quick disconnect. I had to use a bench mounted vise to keep the spring steady as I removed the antenna. Also added a small felt strip on the antenna to prevent any more tail light scuffs/damage.




Hi-lift mounting bracket for 1st gen roll bar:


Swapped my back seatbelts with the donor's. I'm tired of people slamming their seat belt in the back door. These appear relatively unused and retract like new.




-----------------------------------

Hi Lift:


(hand tight)








Makeshift engine hoist. 2 ladders, 2 2x4's, ratchet straps.









-----------------------

Thanks to my buddy Alex Wilson for a sweet deal on a Scangauge 2. I've been playing with it every second I'm in the truck. It's great seeing info on my operating temperatures and MPG, etc.


This week is going to be a busy week, but hopefully there's time to install the Toytec 1" body lift.



Toytec Panhard drop bracket will probably be welded whenever I find someone to modify the roll bar and weld the front alignment bolt stops.


Walbro 190 Fuel Pump from URD. The 4Runner is ready for a boost upgrade! Just have to locate a proper wiring diagram for the MAP ECU2 and it's go time.


Stay tuned!

 

DAYUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM! LOL... SERIOUSLY... I kept reading, .......and reading...... JUST EXCELLENT, MAN!

So, Burbank, eh? Gotta let me trail as far as I can make it one of these times, eh? lol.

Great updates, man!

 

Awesome work man!!

 

Any updates? Beautiful truck!

 

Thanks guys! ahaha. Here's my updates from the last few months:


Finished up the wheels and centercaps.


I hate to admit it, but I'm sick of my 4Runner right now. Looks like it's going to take a hiatus from driving for a while. Mods are piling up for a truck that isn't even in top shape. It still drives great, but problems make me uncomfortable.




I've written up a list of items that need changing. I will start driving it again after

1. Replace Both CV axles (torn boots/mud inside)
2. Fix driver's seat front left bolt (ripped out)
3. Perform Alignment/weld alignment stops
4. Skid reinstalled (gotta bend it back into a skid-like shape)
5. Fix Leaking trans shifter seal
6. Oil change
7. Interior is dirty, muddy, greasy, needs serious cleaning.






I'm expecting to get used to the Probe, so I'll try to give the 4Runner enough rest to complete

1. 1st gen roll bar
2. fuel pump, mapecu2, injectors
3. body lift
4. buff/wax

Still waiting for Shrockworks front bumper. It's been fully paid off, nearing 2 1/2 months since order.

--------------

The Probe will be running very soon. We went to pull a motor from Pick Your Part during their 50% sale, but we didn't find any suitable cars. On the last of their 4 day sale, they cleared out a line of Fords and laid down an 89 Probe. Also picked up a cargo cover, MX6 GT seats, 91-92 style mirrors (green, visible on top of tan probe in engine removal photo), new steering wheel, metal top radiator (as opposed to the plastic one mine came with), sun visors, emblems, and a driver's door handle. The engine has been disassembled in my garage, just dropped off the head yesterday at Precision Cylinder Head for a valve job, resurfacing, and cleaning. New hydraulic lash adjusters, water pump, gasket set, and timing belt.







Head off:




This sucker ran hot. The #4 cylinder has some rust on the valves due to a leaky head gasket. Overall, needs some cleaning, but it's looking good.

New Hydraulic Lash Adjusters and master gasket set are in.


Also started removing the cheapo purple tint from the car. Here's while I was doing the back window. You can also see the new cargo cover I picked up.



----------------------


Fixed transmission leak. Shifter seal bolts backed out a little which allowed fluid to spill out. Torqued and sealed!

Repainted sliders. I've decided to hold off on purchasing Outdoor Logic Boatsides, simply because I have too many other financial commitments for the time being.






Done. The sliders dried for a total of 30 minutes before these pics. I accidentally stepped on one to get in the truck, the paint laughed at me as it remained spotless. The Krylon flat back I had used before was no match, scuffing even after multiple days of drying. Also took care of the rear bumper scrapes. While I didn't do much preparation at all, SEM Trim Black has blown my mind. After some light sanding to remove the surface rust, there's literally no difference in color between SEM TB and black powdercoat. I'm so far very pleased, SEM has made a repeat customer of me.





In other news, you fine members of YotaTech may recall a truck crash back in May 2010. That truck is owned by my failure/idiot brother. A project that should have taken less than one month, stretched out across two years.

That stupid truck... it was owned by my father who used to daily drive it. When my idiot brother got hold of it, he riced it out with chrome, primer, useless billet crap everywhere, and suede. I really only liked one of the modifications on it, the 2nd gen 4Runner front end. This latest front end being the 3rd 4Runner front end that he's destroyed.

My brother, let's call him Tattles, rear ended a Honda Accord while speeding through traffic on the 55 North, just past the 73 South entrance. It was 100% his fault. The truck was transported to my garage, where my 2005 C230 resided.

So, while jobless Tattles didn't fix his piece of junk, I managed to convert my 2WD 4Runner to a 4x4 5spd, and buy another car with a blown motor/pull the motor/rebuild a new one.

May 14th, 2010, crash day.


June, 2010, the illusion of progress.


August, 2010. Notice the new primered shelving unit to the left of my 4Runner.


Castrol Edge Contest video. Notice the first scene, I walk out of my garage. Guess what Toyota Statue is still there.
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Many months later, CBI install. Notice the reflection in my tail gate.


Swapping to 891's, still freakin there.


First day I worked on Donor Truck... you can see it peeking between the open door and b pillar.


After 4WD conversion, after supercharger, after soooooo many things... IT'S STILL THERE!


It sat in my garage for 1 year and 11 months. It was my pleasure to show my parents all of the crap he wasted their money on (billet overflow tank? Optima battery mount? GM alternator? $$POR-15$$ in Sunny CA on a rust free truck? wtf?). It still isn't finished, and will likely not be finished for months... if not years to come.

(notice excessive fossilized dust buildup)



HALLELUJAH, THE GARAGE IS FREE TO BE USED FOR IMPORTANT VEHICLES!

What a pleasure to have my garage back. I can finally work on things again, starting with this:



Head is cleaned.






Cleaning all parts with very strong degreaser from my work.




Tested out the cleaner on the bell housing, looks like I'll be cleaning the rest of the engine bay with this stuff. Also worked great on the interior (shift knob, steering wheel, etc) getting all of the previous owner gunk build up.



Also reattached the right side of the spoiler:








An all purpose cleaner was used on the pistons. I'm not entirely sure of what potential consequences can arise from using the Hot Wax degreaser. Anything to avoid adverse effects inside the combustion chamber. This is about as clean as they're going to get with this cleaner. New head gasket, came with cheap eBay gasket set.





New timing belt:



Oil return is finished, too. Currently cleaning out intake manifold (soooo much oil) while waiting for chain hoist, which should be here on Monday.

------------------

We swapped in an N/A block instead of a Turbo GT block. GT blocks have more oil galleries, an oil cooler, and more provisions for sensors, etc. This meant that we needed to tap the oil pan for a Turbo oil return line.

JB weld did the trick really well and has been holding for years on my friend's car.



Swapped pilot bearing from GT block to N/A block.


Pushed it outside to set up the chain hoist.


In the ghettoooooo, in the ghettooooooooooo





The downfall of this method is adjustability. Just when it seemed impossible to line up the input shaft, my friend pulls off a rubber transmission boot to reveal a clear view inside the bell housing.





You can thank my iPhone for losing a bunch of photos:







Intake manifold test fit


Cleaned up transmission, mount, etc.


Cleaned valve cover





On my way to pick your part now to find a few last things, and this thing should be running very soon.

Thanks dudes