Best Mods under $50... (1 Viewer)

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I like the idea about the hose for draining the rad but I'd still keep a Petcock there but use an extension house from that as many domestic radiators use.

My $0 mod relates to the rear dome light. After bumping the switch to the "always on" position while unloading some stuff i started thinking what a pain it would be if that happened on the trail. If i had done that during daylight i probably wouldn't have seen it and returned to a dead battery.

What i did was just rotate the entire housing 180 degrees so the switch points up and out of the way and put the screws back in. Plenty of wire so there's no stress on the harness and the access go right back into the same holes.

It may not seem like a big deal but I have nightmares of the "click" of a dead battery on the trail. Reminds of the old line: "The loudest sound in war is the click of your hammer falling on an empty chamber" :)
 
Screen for the cabin air intake to keep bugs, leaves, vermin, dust, and insects out of your HVAC system.

$20 - K&N Drycharger Part #22-2020PL. It also comes in red.

Fits perfectly!

Bro you are my new hero. I am so doing that this spring.

But how'd you manhandle that thing in there around the stack? My meathooks aren't exactly that nimble.
 
Screen for the cabin air intake to keep bugs, leaves, vermin, dust, and insects out of your HVAC system.

$20 - K&N Drycharger Part #22-2020PL. It also comes in red.

Fits perfectly!


Action complete!!! To have that screen is absolute vital for the dust storms here in H*ll Paso. Once I got the wiper motor out of the way, it took quite a bit of grunting and cussing to get my not-so-small-man-hands in far enough to slip the cover over the inlet. Probably took about 4 or 5 times of trying to attack it from different angles before it finally slipped over the edge. Overall, the job took about an hour and two beers. No change to the amount of air coming into the cab on vent either. Thanks a bunch for the idea!
 
Auxiliary Hood Prop

The stock hood prop rod is adequate for mundane duties like checking oil and coolant levels. If you're going to do more advanced stuff like fiddle with the carburator or screw around with the distributor or gaze scratching your head at all that smog crap down by the starter, then you need one of these handy-dandy Auxiliary Hood Props!

Mine is re-purposed from a shelf strut that was left in my pickup when my son borrowed it to move. It has stand-off rivets at either end. If you hook a rivet in the hole behind the headlight, it fits into one of those holes along the side of the hood giving you lots more room under the hood for those tasks listed above and more.

Oh, one more thing, it's ambidextrous!

Cost: $0.00
Aux hood prop.jpg
 
Hand carved shift knob made by me and my hands cost was time made out of walnut very sturdy I was actually surprised I got it right the first time to mount I drilled a hole 3/8 I think dabbled a very little bit of the old trusty jb weld I had in the trucks tool box and threaded her on there very solid and bam one of a kind shifter
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Hand carved shift knob made by me and my hands cost was time made out of walnut very sturdy I was actually surprised I got it right the first time to mount I drilled a hole 3/8 I think dabbled a very little bit of the old trusty jb weld I had in the trucks tool box and threaded her on there very solid and bam one of a kind shifter

Now that I like! You should have the shift pattern laser etched onto it and then varnish that bad boy.

Sent from OBAMAPHONE!
 
Replacing the return line on the power steering rubber hose, mine was hard as a rock so I replaced it w/ some new line I got at a part store :)
 
Now that I like! You should have the shift pattern laser etched onto it and then varnish that bad boy.

Sent from OBAMAPHONE!

I thought about that man. I recently invested in a rotary tool for engraving thought about trying something with that on some shift knobs im making for some friends who want one I think I can come up with a pattern for more uniformity
 
Installed a pair of Hella Supertone horns today... yikes! These are really loud and annoying... PERFECT!

Horns: just under $50 (on sale when I got em)
Relay and wiring (had it all in a box of spare stuff): free, otherwise add in $10-12 or so...

http://www.amazon.com/HELLA-0033998...UTF8&qid=1358196636&sr=1-8&keywords=supertone

I've been wanting a pair for a long time, but my only complaint is that they just seem too high pitched for a truck. I will definitely be putting a pair in our sedan at some point soon though.
 
I've been wanting a pair for a long time, but my only complaint is that they just seem too high pitched for a truck. I will definitely be putting a pair in our sedan at some point soon though.

Not higher pitched than the stock horns... just louder and a more grating tone. I have thought about sourcing some 70s or 80s "big american car" horns - deep and loud. But that never quite happened.
 
Not higher pitched than the stock horns... just louder and a more grating tone. I have thought about sourcing some 70s or 80s "big american car" horns - deep and loud. But that never quite happened.

That's what I had been wanting to do too. Kept running into dead ends though. Mostly due to placement and having to properly aim trumpet style horns without having the space to do it right.

I wonder if you could use two 300Hz Supertones with a single 500Hz to deepen the overall tone a bit without sacrificing decibels.
 
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Not higher pitched than the stock horns... just louder and a more grating tone. I have thought about sourcing some 70s or 80s "big american car" horns - deep and loud. But that never quite happened.

I said it before, I'll say it again.

$40 @ Autozone or O'Reilly's
OOgah horn. Loud, different obnoxious.
Scares hell out of pedestrians.

I have one on my Valkyrie motorcycle. I was riding through Kanab, Utah where they have an antique car club. Lot of pretty old folks driving them 'round. I honked at every one of 'em I drove by. I''m pretty sure about half of them still think there was an invisible ghost car driving through town that day.
 
Well I did the wiper mod today and what a difference. I got mine off a '99 4runner from an LKQ junk yard, while I was in there I came across a '95 4 runner and compared the wipers and they are the same. So if your local yard has a different year it'll still fit, I think the guy that originally posted this got his off a '97. Cost me 13 bucks and they even had an almost new set of Bosch platinum blades on them. The passenger side had already stripped the old wiper so I slid it on at the yard to compare and you can see the difference, and then tonight when I got home I installed them. Turned them on and even being dry there were no squeaks so I'm pretty excited about this mod. Now to get the read wiper off an 80 to replace the worn out one on the 60!
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Well I did the wiper mod today and what a difference. I got mine off a '99 4runner from an LKQ junk yard, while I was in there I came across a '95 4 runner and compared the wipers and they are the same. So if your local yard has a different year it'll still fit, I think the guy that originally posted this got his off a '97. Cost me 13 bucks and they even had an almost new set of Bosch platinum blades on them. The passenger side had already stripped the old wiper so I slid it on at the yard to compare and you can see the difference, and then tonight when I got home I installed them. Turned them on and even being dry there were no squeaks so I'm pretty excited about this mod. Now to get the read wiper off an 80 to replace the worn out one on the 60!

Only issue is the washers spray the wiper but well worth the trade off.
 
Only issue is the washers spray the wiper but well worth the trade off.

Why? Just physically larger?
WHERE in the arc of travel is it hitting the wiper?
 
You should be able to readjust the angle of the washers using a pushpin or needle. Just put the pin in into the orifice and gently adjust the angle.
 
It's amazing to me how many parts from mid-late 90's 4Runners are direct replacements on 80's vintage LCs. I am ordering a set of wiper arms off of ebay right now.

That said, I have a super simple under $50 mod: Dome light replacement. Pulled from a junk yard 1995 4Runner and bolted right in, as if made for the truck. It cleaned up easier than the chalky plastic from my original, and cost less than a lens replacement. I think the cost out the door was $1. It's a bad pic, but you get the idea.

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