Fightman's 98 4Runner (1 Viewer)

[fightman]

I first bought the truck in 2004 with 99000km on the ODO and some minor rust issues. After taking care of the rust issues, I started dressing the truck up. The 1st thing I did was buy a Hood deflector, then I did some light covers, Nerf Bars, and a front Safari Light bar.

I later got some Window visors, but don't have a pic of just those.
I drove the truck like that for over 5 years, then I discovered Cardomain, and found some other 3rd Gen 4Runners that were modded! Then the bug hit!
I first found some TRD Offroad Decals off E-bay and put those on:

Shortly after, I ended up doing a budget lift from Toytec, which gave me about a 3" lift in the front, and 3" in the back. The lift consisted of Front Spacers, a Differential Drop, and some Old Man Emu 890 coils for the rear. I later added some Skyjacker shocks, as my stockers were toast.

A couple of weeks later, I got some 33" Maxxis Bighorn MT's and some Procomp Wheels with a 4.5" backspace.

The tires were great, but rubbed considerably on the front plastic valance and the mud guard, so I decided to do some trimming.

I also ended up removing the front mudguards.
My next project was more a project of necessity. While driving down Lasalle Blvd. in Sudbury, I ended up losing my Spare tire, which almost hit a car behind me! After rigging it to stay in position for a few months, I decided it was time to build a Rear Tire Carrier.

I opted for a Swing down carrier, as a swing out would involve me cutting up my rear quarter panel or replacing the entire rear bumper. I wanted to keep my truck looking more stock.
Then out of boredom, I decided to try and fab up a roof rack. I started out with Recycled Clothing racks from the Superstore.

I ended up bolting it all together:

After some trial and error, and a couple of cans of Rubber Guard, I bought some lights and wammo!

One of my other mods was the Deckplate Modification:

This allows more airflow into the airbox, and gives the intake a little more of a throaty sound.
I also dressed up the interior with a shifter nob for my 4x4 stick:

One thing I do every spring is shampoo my interior:

 

[fightman]

The next thing I did was add some TRD Emblems to the grill and rear hatch:

Around the same time I did the emblems, I had Sam Harriman from Nickel 4x4 do me a favor and fix my carrier for me. He also added some D ring mounts and a new center receiver for towing.

The next big thing to do, was replace my spacer lift. The ride was very harsh, and my 12 year old stock struts were now toast. After alot of research, I ended up finding out I could use TRD Tundra Strut assemblies on my 4Runner! This would give me a Progressive rate coil, and also some Bilstein Struts!

I ended up picking these used units up from E-bay. The cost was relatively low at $80.00 dollars a piece, but the shipping costs brought it to $345.00 out the door!
After buying those strut assemblies, I got nervous that the rear would look sagged in comparison, so I did some more research. I ended up finding out the FZJ80 front coils could be used to lift the rear of a 3rd Gen 4Runner. So I started to look around, and when things were starting to look bad, and shipping from the US was going to cost me more than the springs themselves, I got a break! I found out that another member of the Sudbury Jeep Forum (Taco) had the very same era Landcruiser. He had just done a lift on it not too long ago, so I messaged him in order to buy his coils. He didn't have them anymore, but told me who did....DISCO! After messaging and meeting with Disco, I was lucky enough to get the coils for FREE!

They were pretty dirty and rusty, but that could be fixed!

He also gave me the rear coils and front Shocks of the FZJ, but I didn't need them.
After about a week of having this stuff in my garage, it was time to mount them on the truck. I took pictures of the old front end and rear setups in comparison to the Tundra and Landcruiser stuff:

Here's a before shot of the 4Runner with the Toytec spacer, 890 coils and the skyjacker shocks:

Not bad of a stance, but ride quality was harsh, and quite a bit of rubbing issues when heavily flexed.
Here's the after shot:

After this install, the truck's ride quality was 100% better! Not to mention, the rake I have is great!

 

[fightman]

So this is a mod I've been procrastinating to do. But is a must do if you drive a Toyota and don't like to replace axle seals or rear brakes! (gear oil contaminates the shoes) Today, while waiting for paint to dry, I decided to go ahead an get -R- dun!
First, I had to locate the original diff breather:

Once I loosened it off with some WD40 and a ratchet Wrench, I removed the old breather and then installed the Union fitting:

Once I was done with that, I moved on top by the Gas filler neck. I drilled a hole through the rubber gasket using my biggest bit and a drill. Once that was done, I fished some Fuel Line hose through the hole. I noticed that I couldn't find the other end of the hose, so I removed the Gas filler neck shield inside the inner fender, located the end of the hose, and then fished it through along with the gas filler neck.

Then I ran the fuel line to the Union fitting and secured it with a hose clamp. I then zip tied the fuel line to the Gas Filler neck, but leaving some slack to permit articulation:

Once I was done below, I moved back on top, and added the new breather plug. I used another hose clamp to secure the fuel line it, and then tucked it in.

Overall, it didn't take me much time to complete this mod. The only trouble I really had, was washing all the grease from under my truck off my hands!

 

[fightman]

So I decided to get rid of my Safari Light bar, and gain some ground clearance. I ended up making up some Light pods out of Margerine containers, and then mounting them into the Lower Plastic Valance to give them a more "Stock" look:

Here's some pics of the process:

And another shot of the finished product:

 

[fightman]

So I just realized that I forgot to post pics of my new headlights! I grew tired of staring at my stock busted headlight, and decided to upgrade! My truck is a 98, and as such, has the Fluted headlights, that look really crappy. I ended up finding a set of new Aftermarket 99+ Headlights on E-Bay for $135.00 shipped!

Here's a pic of the old VS the New:

Here's a shot of my top mechanic giving me a hand:

After shot:

Check out how Shiny these babies are!

Overall, easy mod, and honestly.....wish I would have done it sooner!

 

[fightman]

Well, after seeing it photoshopped, I decided to do some E-Bay shopping! I Found a "4Runner" emblem and also a "Toyota" emblem for approx. $15.00 shipped.

I ended up not using the "Toyota", but it may come in handy some day.

Don't mind the dirt on my truck, it was winter here, cold as hell, and I wasn't washing it till spring!

Just an FYI, I did clean off a spot to install the emblem! I was raised in the country, but I ain't no hillbilly! ha ha ha!

 

[fightman]

I just remembered I upgraded my horns last year! If you drive a 4Runner, you know why this is a must do mod! Mine sounded like the RoadRunner! HA HA HA! I got mine from Princess Auto, it's like a Tractor supply store....with all kinds of stuff for sale!

This pic, is for demonstration purposes only, It's got the low tone horn pictured, I used 2 high tone horns.

[/quote]

I snapped these pics when I did my headlight conversion

I ended up getting 2 high pitch horns though, but still better than the stock setup!

 

[fightman]

Well, today I decided to brave the cold (-25 Celsius with the windchill) and get working on my truck!

First, I had to survey the damage on my front end from my last little outing in November. This happened while I was crossing a frozen stream with the truck:

Enough with the bad memories :'( , I had to get started by removing my front bumper. (Thanks to the Tutorial and Documentation Reference Sticky on T4R.org, it was a breeze!)

Now sorry for the teaser pic, but I only removed the bumper that day. I had to see if I needed other parts, like the bumper brackets, or what have you....but I lucked out! Looks like all I really need to buy is the Chrome piece...should be under $200.00 for a brand new after market piece! Other than some new bolts, I should be good to go! I ordered the bumper piece on Tuesday, and it should have been in within a couple of days after that!

 

[fightman]

So, I got the bumper home, bought some Plasti-dip ($15.00 a can here!), and started patching the valance with the epoxy and some mesh.

Here's the valance mocked up with the margerine container light pods I made in November!

Last fall, I used silicone to glue the light pods into the valance. This time, I'm using 2 part Epoxy, and some mesh to make it stronger. Once it's all filled in, I sanded it down, and then painted it with the Plasti-dip.

Here's a pic mid-way into the Epoxy stage:

 

[fightman]

Ok, so I worked on restructuring the valance, making it solid again, and properly grafting the light pods in. After using the mesh and Epoxy, I took out the Dremel, and a sanding bit, and got to work on cleaning up the rough edges. I then used a sand paper to soften the sanding bit marks.

Once that was done, it was time for the Plasti-dip:

It was still too cold in my garage to let it dry there, so I decided to bring it in the basement to dry by the fireplace:

 

[fightman]

So, my OCD took over my body that night, and made me assemble the bumper!

Here's a pic of the valance on the New Chrome Bumper:

Here's a pic of the entire assembly with the new bumper lights and the driving lights:

Turned out alright.....next was to mount it on the truck, and aim the driving lights!

 

[fightman]

So, I got the bumper on the truck! However, it seems that my passenger side bumper bracket did get tweeked by the accident! The pictures don't really show it, but the passenger side gap, between the bumper and the lower fender edge, is about an inch and a half and the driver side is only half an inch!


(don't mind the 245's, these are my winter set!)

I was able to straighten things out! All I did was remove the nuts on the passenger side, add some washers to space out the top stud from the bracket, and re-torque the nuts! All is level now!

 

[fightman]

I'd also been working on revising my roof rack this winter. I'd decided to take some of the advice I've been getting, and cut off the ends of the lateral bars from the roof rack. This will make the rack look more square, instead of having the cross bars hanging half a foot on each side of the truck.

I started out by grinding off the ends of the cross bars:

I wanted to have something to cap off the ends of the tubing. So, I got creative, ha ha ha, and used some recycled cabinet nobs, to cap the tubing!

My next step will be to rubber guard the caps, and then maybe plasti-dip the whole rack!

I'm also thinking about buying another 2 square lights to match the current front ones, and add those to the front. I'm going to have to fab out some mounts for all of that, so that may take a while.

 

[fightman]

So, I couldn't wait for Spring weather to get here, and decided to put my mud tires back on! I'll just drive the truck on days where the roads are not invaded with salt!

Gonna polish up the wheels today, and post an updated pic of the truck....ALL CLEANED UP!

 

[fightman]

So, after a couple of hours of work, Mean Green had it's Mud Tires and Alloys back on!

Here's a before shot in my driveway:

Mickey Thompson Baja ATZ 245/75/16's

Here's the after shot in my driveway:

Maxxis Bighorn MT's 285/70/16's

It's hard to see, but the wheel on the left is polished the one on the right, is simply cleaned:

I used the Mother's Power Ball with some "Autosol" metal polish to get the wheels back to their original luster.

Pic of my daughter standing next to the Bighorns:

Here's some other shots for good measure:

 

[fightman]

I took more pics that night on my way to take the wife and kids out for some Ice cream. I decided to go take a short cruise to the local Ski Hill road for some Sunset pics:

 

[fightman]

Got a K&N filter for FREE today!

The same guy I got my LC coils from, has a 2000 Taco that he removed the filter from, and just wanted to get rid of it!

It's gonna need some cleaning, but that's a sweet deal!

 

[10ga]

Great looking 4Runner and great work. I just bought a 1998 SR5 4x4 this weekend and have some plans for it myself.

I've got a pretty good canvas to start with.....

Thanks for sharing.........10ga

 

[fightman]

So after over a year of having my tire carrier, and not liking my rusty spare on the back......The NAPA guy called today to tell me this was in:

So stoked to have my matching spare and rim!!!

 

[fightman]

Alright, so I wasn't really digging the center tube sticking out of the center of my wheel. It looks alright with a black wheel, but with the Procomp wheel, it stuck out like a sore thumb.

Before:

I decided to mark off where I wanted to cut the tube:

Then took my cut-off wheel and chopped it off!

Here's a pic of my little helper again!

Close-up of the wheel installed with the center hub cap!

Distance shot:

Not sure about you guys, but I find it looks alot better now!