Builds 40 Guy Builds a 100 Series (1 Viewer)

[REZARF]

Next, I installed a set of LED license plate lights I picked up on Amazon. They are designated for motorcycle plate lights but they fit perfectly in my Slee bumper. I wired them in at the 4 Pin trailer plug.

I'll add a glob of silicone to the back of the housing bolts, but it was too cold today to get the silicone to setup correctly. I'll wait for a warmer day. I used some shrink wrap and nylon braided loom to finish them off, I ran both leads to the truck to minimize them both going down at the same time.

Gotta' adjust them a bit but it wasn't dark when I finished them up.

 

[REZARF]

While I was playing with wires I decided to bump up the factory body/battery ground wire. Do I think 1 gauge cable is overkill... why yes I do. Go big or go home. I had this wire left over from another project as it was cut to short for that application. It can't hurt anything to have a big chubby high current ground anyway... so on it goes.

 

[REZARF]

I decided a while ago I wanted to add an under hood light. Land Cruisers are notoriously reliable, but I do find that a lot of the time I get to work on mine is after the kids go down for bed, not only that but after rolling 300k I expect to deal with a few more maintenance issues as things wear out and need fixing or replacing. I found this LED light strip for boats at the same sporting goods store going out of business where I bought the RAM Mounts. They were cheap enough and looked to be of high quality so I bought two strips, one for under the hood and another for the rear hatch so when it is opened I can have light over the tailgate if desired.

Mounting it up was easy, clean the paint with alcohol, stick it on with the provided 3M adhesive strip and screw in the two end caps. I messed around one evening deciding where to mount it, this lip behind the front hood seal was perfect in its angle and width.

This was the easy part, sticking it into place and dropping the wires behind the hood liner.

I used the end caps that connect to the end of the track, drilled a tiny hold and screwed the end caps down. I wanted these mechanical fasteners as I am unsure how the adhesive will do with under hood temps in the summer crawling on a trail. I like the reassurance that they have to tear out two screws before it can drop itself into the fan and grenade the radiator... oh crap, what have I done.

 

[REZARF]

I searched and found an adjustable hood pin switch for this application on Amazon. I picked up this little guy and it is simple but well made. It works by disconnecting the ground wire when pressure is applied (hood closed) and it connects via a spring loaded wire tab when the hood is opened allowing the circuit to complete. Simple but effective.

I had to fab up a quick little bracket to mount it to the fender, after searching the entire engine bay, there wasn't a good spot for this using an existing tapped hole. Two new holes were needed to mount this where and how I wanted.

I choose to mount mine close to the body ground using nutserts. Again, these work like rivets but give you a hole with a thread on a blind surface. I painted the raw metal and popped them in.

In this shot you can see how the wire attaches to the base of the plunger. When the plunger is depressed it disengages from the main body of the unit opening the circuit. Once released (open hood) the plunger rises allowing the tab on the bottom to connect the circuit.

I wrapped up the wire in nylon braided loom and followed my HAM radio wire run through the fender and then followed the washer fluid hose up to the hood where I tucked it in behind the hood liner to make the connection.

 

[REZARF]

I decided to just crimp these and use a waterproof/heat shrink butt connector. It was simple and my soldering iron was having a tough time combating the cold and flow the solder into the wire.

Here is a cheap trick to keep wires from rattling. I use small pieces of pipe insulation to wrap bundles of wire as they're easy to cut, and won't hold water, this tucked behind the hood liner should eliminate all rattles from this connection beating on the hood.

Here is the finished project and a few night shots. As you can see I need to pin back the hood liner a bit in a few spots as it is robbing some of the light now that it is sagging in a few spots. However, the amount of even bright white light under the entrire engine bay is impressive. This light, along side a head lamp should really increase my ability to see what I am doing under the hood of the cruiser in the dark.
View attachment 1374923

iPotato phone pics no filter, no image modification.

It's like an angle lives near my hood latch now

 

[REZARF]

Dual Batteries: Almost done

So one of three big projects I want to do this winter is dual batteries and the associated flexibility of adding a fuse panel for auxiliary electrical items like my fridge, HAM, sub amp, lights and stuff. But as I was poking around I found some rust forming underneath the battery tray. Nothing too serious yet, but my 40 has taught me rust doesn't sleep. So, while I was in there I went ahead and started to clean it up.

To get both batteries to fit in the factory location, I had to remove the factory battery J-bolt hold down bracket. I fabbed an uber high tech spark arrester out of a Christmas box. I like cardboard since it is easy to shape, and it burns before other things most of the time letting me know when to back off. It is great to use around painted surfaces as it smokes before the paint does... usually. Here I have marked my cut lines to get this part of the base level for a wider battery tray.

A few quick cuts with a cut off wheel and we are good to go. I modified my spark arrester to handle the grinding sparks and to allow some wiggle room for the grinding dish head.

 

[REZARF]

I cranked on the rust with a wire wheel, cleaned it up, and shot it with some rubberized under-coat. I have had good luck with this stuff in the past and it adds another layer of protection between the batteries and the sheet metal.

I was pleased to see it setup so well over night here with the sub freezing temps. I got it on while it was warm out around 55-60* and hit it a few times with a heat gun to help flash it, it was nice and rubbery but solid this morning. I am pleased with the results for the time invested.

 

[REZARF]

The Hella Optilux H4 bulbs were a disappointment. I LOVED the color, an actual non-blue, non-yellow color (around 5000k) but they barely lit up the road, which is kinda important for the headlights

After some research here I decided to run the Halogen Infra Red (HIR) 9011 bulbs in the low beam spot. It should roughly double the OEM light output. Time will tell if they are the right choice for me... next stop is likely a cheaper HID drop in kit even with the known issues they create.

65W bulbs. If you don't know you want to make sure you don't grab the glass with your fingers or the oils on your fingers can shorten the bulb life. If you don't have a big honking battery this is a 5 minute swap.

 

[REZARF]

I decided that I liked where the rear lights were but wanted them wired into my reverse lights but had put off all the necessary wiring to make it permanent. Well, yesterday I got after it and installed the trigger from the brake light to the rear lights and decided to go ahead and do all the wiring for the final time.

I started out by running the wire through the upper third brake light lens, there is enough space between the actual light housing and the mounting flange to drop the wires right through. This does require a new hole, but I made piece with drilling holes in my vehicles a long time ago.

This is where I dropped the wiring through from the rear spoiler into the upper hatch.

Then I used the lens as a template to drill a new hole directly below the lens. As usual I used some touch up paint followed by silicone sealant to seal up the new tight fitting o-ring. I've used this a lot on my cruisers and haven't had any rust nor leak issues yet... knock on wood.

There was a little juggling getting the lense mounted and the wires pulled through without boogering everything up.

Pure silicone, eliminates the potenial for leaks. Its messy but worth it if you not afraid to knock out a few holes into the cruiser.

This is all that is seen from the outside. I bought this wire which is a double run of positive and negative inside an insulated sheath. It was intended for the marine application, two 16ga wires.

 

[REZARF]

I tied the lights together in a "Y" configuration connecting both lights leads with the main power wire output. The master wire is what runs through the brake light, into the hatch and into the interior, where it splits off into two separate switches, one up in the cockpit, and the other being triggered by the rear brake light lamps so they illuminate when reversing.

This is the wires before they got mounted to the rear of the spoiler with zip-ties and adhesive mounting tabs. Now that the install is finished all the wires are snug, and fully out of sight.

I find one of the most frustrating and yet most satisfying things about vehicle wiring is making it disappear. For me this means running it along side of all the factory wiring through the factory grommets, looms, holes etc. For this run I repeated how I hid my HAM radio antenna cable. I ran the wires through the factory flex tube on the drivers side of the hatch. Its pretty full now so I want to make sure this was the last big fat run of wire.

 

[REZARF]

Switching the lights on using the backup lights as a trigger is really quite simple. First you need to splice into the circuit I added another "Y" connection by cutting the wire and using a high quality crimp with built in heat shrink, then I added a longer than needed section of adhesive lined heat shrink since this connection is on the exterior of the truck. Waterproof-ness is the critical factory for me on exterior splices.

This is a diode. This is run in-line from the tail light to the LED lights, for those that don't know I diode allows electricity to flow in only one direction, in this case, from the tail light to the rear LED lights. If I didn't use a diode then every time I used the in-cab switch to power the lights on the reverse lights would also illuminate. This little diode "blocks" the flow of electricity to the brake lights when powered from another 12v+ source or in this case the switch in the cab.

This one is a 6 amp version, the line on the diode determines which way the electricity flows through the unit. I think of the line indicating the direction like the front of an arrow... ------>

Here it is in line before I add an additional full coverage piece of heat shrink.

 

[REZARF]

Here is the result of the lights right at twilight. My neighbors motion light is on to the right in this picture, this is the factory amount of light when reversing.

Reverse lights now! BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE! When off road, reversing on trails at night, or setting up camp, these lights are awesome!

Lots of light, cold night, warm exhaust.

 

[REZARF]

Replaced the idler pulley with a unit from NAPA, I hate using non-OEM parts but man Mr. T was PROUD of his little pulleys. I can't believe how long I put up with that groaning bearing, the 100 is quiet as a V8 mouse now. Awesome. FWIW, the NAPA unit has a super high quality double row bearing with temperature ratings for the engine. It is a really nice aftermarket part for the $40 bucks I paid.

 

[sPaulp]

I just read all 12 pages of your build and I'm super impressed. Man, I thought I was mechanically inclined but wow you blow me away. Great build and I look forward to reading more as you continue to modify. Awesomeness!!!

 

[AxleIke]

Next, I installed a set of LED license plate lights I picked up on Amazon. They are designated for motorcycle plate lights but they fit perfectly in my Slee bumper. I wired them in at the 4 Pin trailer plug. View attachment 1374885

I'll add a glob of silicone to the back of the housing bolts, but it was too cold today to get the silicone to setup correctly. I'll wait for a warmer day. I used some shrink wrap and nylon braided loom to finish them off, I ran both leads to the truck to minimize them both going down at the same time.
View attachment 1374886

Gotta' adjust them a bit but it wasn't dark when I finished them up.
View attachment 1374887

That looks familiar....

LOL just kidding buddy. Looking great! Also glad you got that pulley replaced!

 

[Lowbudgetlc100]

how did you mount the lights on the back?

 

[REZARF]

Haha! Yeah, the day you showed me the ones on the back of your 4runner I ordered a set. Thanks for the help with the bearing. Napa had the pulley on hand so it was an easy decision.

 

[REZARF]

Really? This is a build thread man, and I documented how I did it...

See post 184 and 185

 

[REZARF]

I just read all 12 pages of your build and I'm super impressed. Man, I thought I was mechanically inclined but wow you blow me away. Great build and I look forward to reading more as you continue to modify. Awesomeness!!!

A 40 will teach you how to work on a rig. Thank you for the kind words

 

[REZARF]

We have had some nice weather and I had a little time to work on my 100 this week. I took another look at the dual battery system and decided to move forward with popping in a dual tray from Slee that I picked up second hand from a local club member. Bolt-in for the win. The bad news is I already zipped off the J-hook mount... awesome. Gotta weld that back on at some point.

The work to fab up and pop both batteries in the same spot seemed overwhelming, so I chose to move forward and pop the dual tray in with 3 bolts. I am stoked to move this forward again. I am hoping to knock out three big projects before the wheeling season starts here in Colorado. This is one of them.

Thank you Mr. Toyota for leaving all the space needed to drop in a second battery!

Here is the Slee dual battery tray bolted into three factory holes. It is solid as a rock and has a bracket bent off the side towards the engine where I will mount up my Blue Sea Systems dual battery isolator.

Here is the battery charge manager I picked up for this project. It is the Blue Sea ML-ARC or Magnetic latch- automatic charge relay. It allows the dual batteries to charge off the alternator, then I can draw the second battery all the way down to dead and the main starting battery remains isolated and fully charged. This model comes with the in-cab switch to monitor the system and override the system if I need the power of both batteries to start the cruiser or for a heavy winch session etc.

Looks like it is going to bolt right up to the bracket on the battery mount. I bought a pure rubber pad to put on the battery tray but I need to cut it to size.

Here is the mock up, Optima yellow top, ML-ARC and the Slee battery tray. I have everything in hand accept for the terminals for the 2/0 wire for the system. Once that arrives I will knock out the rest of the system which will include, a 12 circuit fuse block, 5 relays, and a few terminal blocks to run all the auxiliary lighting, HAM radio, Fridge, solar and stereo system off of.