ROTM Corax's 88 'runner

[corax]

I built my '88 more as an expedition rig, trying to make it good at a bit of everything
Aug '08 Big Bear, CA (Dishpan Springs)

Sept '08 Yosemite CA

Oct '08 Trinidad, North Cali - amongst the BIG trees

Oct '08 Crater Lake, OR

Jan '09 TTORA @ Rausch Creek Offroad Park, PA

June '09 TTORA @ Rausch Creek

1988 4Runner

-3.0L 7MGE Supra engine swap (200 hp stock, inline 6)
-Port & Polish on the cyl head with ARP head studs
-MSD 6A Ignition, MSD Blaster 2 coil and MSD 8mm wires
-2.5" mandrel bent exhaust through a stainless Flowmaster Delta 50 muffler
-OME Dakar rear leafs, Marlin Crawler U-Bolt flip kit, Bilstein 5150 remote reservoir (177/60 or soft valving), urethane bumpstops
-T-100 caliper / rotor brake upgrade, T-100 1 1/16" Master Cylinder, removed LSPV and installed Wilwood manual proportioning valve
-home-fab front bumper, rear bumper with receiver, lower control arm brace, idler arm brace
-Toyota LSD front differential swap from an '83 Celica Supra
-4.56:1 V6 center sections front and rear w/ 32x11.5x15 BFG A/T KO tires on alloy's
-Marlin HD W56 trans
-Hannemann front fenders
-Ford T-Bird Turbo Coupe hood vents
-110,000 candlepower driving lights (aircraft spot beams)
-rear driving lights wired for use as reverse lights
-SR5 gauge cluster (tach, oil press, voltage), added engine vacuum gauge
-Cherokee CM-10+ CB peaked (10w), tuned, and able to transmit on 10M, 11M, 12M bands (CB is 26.965 MHz -> 27.405 MHz, I have 23.815 MHz -> 30.555 MHz)
-Yaesu FT-2800 2meter 65W Ham radio (135MHz - 173MHz)
-'89 Celica All-Trac Turbo seats
-NWMP 14 gal aux tank
*8" Elocker waiting to go in the rear

My cross country trip thread <- the wife drove the 'runner pulling a 3,500 lb trailer 4,000 miles, I was driving the RV

This is what my current truck looked like when I bought it for 1k - '88 4runner, 4 cyl, 5 spd - windshield broken - trans shot - clutch gone - no RF rotor (brake pads were actually squeezing the cooling vanes) - rear drums seized - wheel bearings shot - interior mildewed & wet (rear window stuck open) - rusted fenders all around - god awful conversion van graphics down the side

I started by installing a MarlinCrawler HD rebuilt W56 trans, Marlin rear diff armor, 4.56:1 V6 third members, home fab F & R bumpers and the 7MGE swap - all in the first 6 months. The engine swap only had 500 miles on it before we left VA towing a 3,500 lb trailer.

This isn't really in chronological order, I tried to group things together a bit so it would be easier to read . . . .

 

[corax]

Home fab front bumper - 2" OD tube ~.120" thick (just under 1/8") - under the front bumper mounts I also have the Front Range Offroad front crossmember reinforcement welded on, it's 1/4" plate that'll prevent the crossmember from bending if hit and also prevent the bumper mount nuts from pulling through the factory sheet metal if I ever get to the winch part

mounted with 3 bolts from the front on both sides + the 2 tow hook bolts under the front frame, all mounting plates are 1/4" - the verticles off the front bracket needed to be "squeezed" a bit then cut flat to fit between the 2 lower bolts, the front mount plate extends up and covers the body cross member (in a frontal collision the mount plate will hit the crossmember) - the bottom brackets are bent and the tubes welded on from the side to fit in the body mount pocket

Home fab rear bumper - 2" OD tube ~.120" thick (just under 1/8"), 1/4" mount plates (same as most receivers) - mounted with 3 bolts from the side & 1 underneath on both

Later I added side hoops

Recently I re-worked it again. With the aux fuel tank I lost a bit of ground clearance in the rear, so time to relocate the spare. I also like the idea of being able to carry 2 spares on longer road trips, this will let me do that
trim the wings off . . . .

1/4" plate steel upright + piece the wings back together

all done

here's the hinge brackets for the spare tire carrier - I got the idea of having the spare swing up and to the side from Scotty at Addicted Offroad. I still have to build the actual tire carrier, but that should go quickly once I have the steel

 

[corax]

I know Total Chaos sells one, but I wanted it flat on the bottom so I could bolt a skid on later (and link to a Budd Built cross member, which is another future mod). I know Sonoran Steel makes one, but it looks like major overkill (and I'm trying to limit how much weight I add). I had one from Front Range Offroad on a previous project, but they don't make them anymore & I didn't like the way it bolted on. I didn't want a weld on truss because I'd like the option of unbolting it to make dropping the front diff easier.

This is what I came up with, design is based on the Front Range truss, but with weld on mounts. Fab time + install was only ~4 hrs using 2" x 1/2" channel and 2" 1/8" flat bar.

My home made idler gusset, you can probably guess where I got the design idea from, but like usual I had to change it a bit. I also tapped the idler body (6mm x 1.0) and added a grease zerk on the front of it (the gusset doesn't travel far enough to hit the zerk)

 

[corax]

Everyone's seen those cheap utility lights mounted to the side of a semi or on a tractor, doing a bit of research I found out how to make one of these into a decently bright driving light just by swapping in a new sealed beam. This will provide a cheap, light weight and vibration resistant light to help me avoid all the deer just waiting to jump in front of me when I'm bombing down country roads at night.

The heart of this is this sealed beam, NAPA p/n LMP 4509 (~$15). It's listed as an aircraft spotlight beam, and is rated for 100W at 13V producing 110,000 candlepower - if you can get a full 14V down to them expect a bit more

The rear of the 4509 bulb has screws to secure the wiring

Here's the utility light I'll be using for this (Harbor Freight <$10)

Start by getting the old light out of the rubber housing. Be careful not to chip the light when you pry it out by sliding a screwdriver as far behind it as possible. After you pop one out, you begin to realize that these lights will NOT fall out on their own going down the road.

Here's the light taken apart (note that this one isn't a sealed beam, but uses a regular H3 bulb).

Snip off the black ground wire going to the rivet on the inside, it doesn't provide a good ground and will eventually will fail causing the light to go out.

Here's the new bulb wired and ready to be popped back into the housing. I used 14 gauge wire to connect to my pre-existing light harness which uses 12 gauge from a 40 amp relay. The black ground wire goes to the mounting bolt into the 'runner's frame

It even says "AIRCRAFT" on the back of the bulb

Mounted up with a simple 90 degree bracket to the bolt hole on top of the frame just inside of the body mounts

All finished

from these you can see that the headlights don't even compare to the spotlights . . . in fact, I could hardly tell when the headlights were on except the headlights have a wider beam and filled in the sides a bit

low beam headlights

spot lights only (ignore the poor aiming on the right side, I need to modify my mount a bit to get it up a bit)

low beams + spots

high beams + spots

Also mounted some cheap fog lights on the back bumper so I could see better in reverse at night

 

[corax]

Another project presented itself when I found a Northwest Metal Products auxiliary gas tank on ebay for $170. These retail for $600 + shipping when new, so this was too good of a deal to pass up. It mounts above the spare tire and adds another 14 gallons of gas to the truck. It's supposed to be a gravity feed system with a hose running into a fitting where the main tank drain plug is on the bottom. Problem with this is I don't like the idea of having something hang even lower off the main tank, especially a brass fitting that could drain all my fuel if it gets hit hard enough.

So I thought of putting a shut valve on it (elec or manual) and have the aux tank drain into the filler neck vent tube for the main tank, but the filler neck is too high and I don't want to put a hole lower than that in the side of the main tank because I'm afraid it'll leak.

My final option is an electric fuel pump, but fuel pumps can get damaged when they run dry from heat build up and I would have no way of knowing when to shut off the extra pump. I can't find anything saying they are safe for short periods of dry running and likewise nothing about how they work except that they do not use a diaphragm.

This is what I came up with, though it may be a bit over engineered it should save the pump from running dry, and if the rest of the system wiring fails a jumper wire across the load side of the relay will still turn on the fuel pump (actually changed it a bit from the first idea, now I have the switches working on the ground side with the relay at the passenger side rear of the engine bay)

Red: fuel lines
Dk Blue: wiring
Parts: low pressure nitrous fuel safety switch (adjustable 2-5psi), fuel pump, momentary & toggle switches, relay, slight fuel line restriction (small crimp in steel fuel line to main tank)

- the toggle switch turns on the system, but the relay won't turn on the fuel pump until there is ~3psi at the low pressure switch
- press the momentary switch to bypass the pressure switch and turn on the relay and fuel pump
- pressure builds behind the restriction and makes the pressure switch close, the momentary switch can be let go now as the relay will stay on
- when the aux tank runs dry the pressure switch opens deactivating the relay and fuel pump

if I really want to get fancy, I was thinking I could run a wire from the + side of the fuel pump back up to the switch panel through an LED and on to ground as a "fuel pump on" indicator light

Installing the tank is easy, so I'll leave out the bits about drilling holes and bolting it up. It's the details that'll make it trouble free in the long run . . . like an exhaust heat shield so the gas doesn't get too hot (excessive vapor/boiling)

view from the wheel well - before I fill it for the first time I'd like to replace the rubber hose with steel braided to help deter thieves from thinking it would be easy to cut the rubber hose and steal my gas - I was also thinking a steel hard line would work, but I'd have to find another fitting first

transfer pump (universal, for a carb'd car) - I used 1/4 riv-nuts to attach it to the frame rail (still need to put a fuel filter inline to pretect the pump)

a bit of protection to keep the hoses from chaffing against the frame rail, it also keeps them tied together nicely so they don't move around much

a few months ago I had to repair the main tank fuel pump bracket because the metal line on the outside finally rusted through, while I was at it I added an extra line to dump the fuel from the aux tank into the main tank, I had actually extended that fitting down to the bottom of the tank in the hopes that it would work like a siphon once fuel starts flowing (in case the pump fails/doesn't work out I could still use the aux tank w/ pump removed)

I tossed my spare tire back under there and noticed that the tank didn't affect my departure angle at all, though if I drop off an obstacle the spare will definately take the hit. If I know I'm hitting any rough trails I'll just take the spare off and toss it in the back. I am planning on making some kind of spare carrier for the rear bumper - I always liked the idea of being able to carry 2 spare tires for longer trips.

rear view

Switches installed - turn the toggle on, press the momentary switch till there's enough pressure to trigger the pressure switch, let go of the momentary and the pump runs till the toggle is switched off or the pressure in the line drops (aux tank empty) - the blue LED is wired to the transfer pump V+ wire so it is on any time the pump is running

With the extra fuel on board I should be able to get a range just shy of 600 miles normal driving
(17 gal factory tank + 14 gal aux tank) x 19mpg = 589 miles
Since I got my 1" body lift years ago I've been embarassed by the gap between the gas tank and the body. Actually no, but I was bored today so I raised the tank 1" to match the body lift. Originally I had 17" from the ground to the bottom of the tank skid plate and the tank hung ~4.5" below the frame rails. So I dropped the tank and spent way too long cutting off the front mount. This is what it looked like originally

then after much effort, mostly with my Dremel because that was the only thing I had that could get in there to cut the metal next to the welds - it is of course welded to the top sides and bottom (before I painted it)

the rear mount was much easier. I cut it on an angle to get more weld between the 2 halves. I also used a 90* square to mark the 1" I was cutting out to make sure I didn't change the mounting angle

I still need to cut and remount the tank skid plate, but here's where the tank is now

giving me a bit more ground clearance (should be 18" by the time I get the skid back on)

 

[corax]

Another good junkyard find - I was looking for a cylinder head to P&P, but instead found an '82 Celica Supra with an F303 axle code, which means it had a 7.5" LSD differential which would fit nicely on the front of my '88 (F=7.5" differential, the 3 at the end designates it as a 2 pinion LSD). This thread has all the pertinent info, except it fails to mention that you need to grind 1/4" off both stub axles before sliding them into the differential (if you don't, the passenger side won't seal and the driver side will push the bearing in the halfshaft tube out 1/4") - The *official* 7.5" Supra LSD into a IFS diff thread.

out of the Celica Supra housing - I ended up reusing the original Celica bearings, even though they had 205k miles on them they still looked good

Disassembled - I ended up shimming the LSD springs ~ .075" to add just a little bit more bite. Not shown, but the side gear clutch material still looked really good for the mileage on this unit

To me, this looks like it should have steel plates splined to the side gear for better torque biasing. someone else thought so too

I didn't take any pics of the install and set up as that is covered in the link. I was able to get the same exact backlash as what it had using a combination of the Celica Supra shims and the shims that were in the 4runner housing. One word of caution, when I called a Toyota dealer to order a shim, they told me that the part number was good but has been discontinued.

 

[corax]

Radiator spray

After swapping engines I’ve had cooling problems pulling my trailer on long grades. The cooling system works fine the rest of the time in stop/go traffic or at highway speeds, I just needed a bit of extra cooling on long steep grades or in the desert. This could also work to help wash off the radiator for those who like to play in the mud (the washer motor I got really is that strong).

Hayden has a product called Rapid Cool Radiator Mist System, but it usually retails for ~$ 80 (click me-> Radiator Mist System). I built my system for $10 plus a few spare bits I already had collecting dust. It’s a pretty simple system and only took a few hours for a nice clean install. Now I won’t have to worry about desert temps or cross my fingers that the head gasket will last pulling a grade.

Here's the major components. A junkyard windshield washer motor that I swiped from a Mercedes, a “large” size universal radiator reservoir, 4’ 7/64” rubber tube, 20” 5/16” brake line - you'll also need a momentary switch and some wiring to run run the pump along with an anti-siphon valve to prevent the system from leaking down.

I had to modify the reservoir a bit to mount nicely where I wanted. Using a heat gun I heated the bottle where I wanted it to change until the white plastic turned translucent. Then I pushed in on the corner with a block of wood and held it until the plastic cooled and hardened (cools much quicker if you run water over it).

The spray bar needs to have a directed spray pattern so it doesn’t just shoot one solid stream at one part of the radiator. Using my mighty Dremel and a thin cut off wheel, I made 4 verticle slices in the brake line – 2 offset above centerline and 2 below centerline for more even water distribution across the radiator - if you use the heavy duty (thicker) cut off wheels, the spray may be weaker and use more water, the thin wheels keep the pressure in the spray bar up

Close up shot of the slots in the spray bar - I used a pair of vice-grips to pinch the brake line closed and just for kicks soldered the end on top of that

I mounted the spray bar in the grill behind one of the thicker horizontal sections by cutting 2 half circles and recessing it back in, this will help keep it from shifting around. I decided to use plastic zip ties to hold it in place, although a more permanent solution would be JB Weld (once you're happy with the spray pattern)

When I run the water without the fan on, you can actually see it coming out the backside of the radiator. The pusher fan whips the water around fairly well and completely saturates the radiator. Although it shouldn't be an issue, I made sure the water didn't spray directly onto the fan motor. I timed about 40 seconds of continuous use with the 2.5qt reservoir, but figure I’ll only need to use this for 1 or 2 seconds at a time, so it should last.

Washer pumps are not self priming, so they must be located slightly below or even with the bottom of the reservoir. Because they’re mounted below the water level, you’ll need an anti-siphon check valve to prevent all the water from just leaking out constantly. These can be found on most rear washer hoses near the actual rear washer spray nozzle. Locate it as close to the spray bar as possible to prevent having to refill the entire water hose every time.
- water flow needs to go in the direction of the arrow -

For wiring I’m running a push button momentary switch that supplies 12V to the pump. The pump ground goes to chassis. This little washer motor draws ~ 5 amps! but the biggest momentary switch I could find was 3A, as long as I'm only pressing it for a few seconds at a time there should be no issue.

That’s pretty much it. When I see the temps start to climb, I push the button for a couple seconds, wait half a minute and push the button again until the temps start to drop.

 

[corax]

cylinder head rebuild

I didn't really take too many pics of the swap itself (100 degrees w/ 90% humidity = slight case of heat exhaustion when I was doing it), but
here are some 7MGE swap notes and pics


a little bit of cylinder head work to correct a coolant leak between cyl 1 & 2 on the exhaust side, there wasn't any fluid mixing and I didn't find any signs of cylinder leakage on the gasket when I got it apart

but before the actual work there is much prep. I sourced a Pick-A-Part 7MGE cyl head to prep so the whole job would be just swapping parts

after a thorough cleaning this is what I was left with on the intake side

originally I just wanted to smooth out the air flow a bit (take out some of the sharp edges by the valve seats, ect)but it turned into this with the help of my trusty Dremel

exhaust before

and after - the exhaust side was a PAIN because it's so much tighter

combustion chamber
valves all cleaned up and organized so they go back into the same holes

most of the power you can get out of an engine will come from the cylinder head, and being who I am, I pay attention to the details. after getting a cylinder head surfaced it will have these ridges or burrs along any opening . . .

which need to be cleaned, or it could lead to preignition from glowing hot metal fragments. I used 200 grit sandpaper. to give a nice round edge. the combustion chamber has "squish" all around the circumference, so I wasn't worried about undercutting the headgasket. I also cleaned all the head bolt holes and coolant passages

all back together and ready to go, the exhaust valve seats were touched up at the machine shop to remove some minor pitting but the valves were all perfect so I left them alone

this is kinda neat. the 7MGE cams and sprockets each have 3 holes and a removable dowell pin. when you get the head machined the distance from the crank sprocket to the cam sprocket is reduced, so if there is no cam adjustment the intake and exhaust timing actually become retarded. these holes are spaced slightly different from cam to sprocket and allow you to advance or retard the cam timing as needed. I didn't mess with it at this point because I lost my degree wheel . . .

any repair is an excuse to upgrade, right? the 7MGe weakness is low head bolt torque (58 ft/lbs) with the ARP studs it is recommended to torque to 80ft/lbs using ARP lube or 120 ft/lbs using 10w-30 oil

the biggest pain of the whole job was valve adjustment. I had shims from 3 different engines to choose from and was able to get everything in spec except 1 exhaust valve (.001" too tight, all other exhaust valves are on the tight side). I still have to go back through it all and reset lash.

I did have a problem starting it once everything was together, and I spent 1-2 hours going through distributor set-up, ignition, and everything else . . . until I saw the vise grips on my rubber fuel line that I had put there to prevent gas from siphoning out of the tank while I worked After that it started right up.
Engine also got a bit of MSD lovin’

I already had the MSD Blaster 2 coil installed previously (another $3 junkyard find), but thought I'd mount it on the passenger side since everything else was getting upgraded.

 

[corax]

Ron Davis radiator install

Recently I got around to REALLY upgrading the cooling system. A few months back I found a double row, dual pass Ron Davis radiator at a flea market for $25 (too good of a deal to pass up). Though I wasn't sure if I could use it, a few weeks of staring at it got me going on how to fit it into an already tight engine bay.

(2 of the fins were previously repaired, but they look solid)

Here's how it works. A dual-pass horizontal-flow radiator moves coolant across the top half of the radiator on the first pass, then directs the coolant across the lower portion of the radiator face for a second pass. One reason this works is because the velocity of the coolant roughly doubles when the coolant is forced to travel across half as many tubes per pass. This creates turbulence in the tubes, exposing more coolant to the radiator tube walls and improving heat transfer. It also provides a bit of a restriction to coolant flow, reducing the overall flow rate of the cooling system and allowing the coolant to spend more time in the radiator. I think one of my problems with the single core Griffin was that it flowed too fast with this engine - the coolant didn't have enough time to really cool as it passed through the radiator (but that's just speculation).

I enlarged the radiator opening a bit so I could move the radiator as far forward as possible.

Here it is all mocked up in its final position. I already had the lower brackets made (just a "J-hook" to cradle the bottom of the radiator, bolted to the body crossmember), so I just needed to bend and fit the brackets to their final position.

The top hose/inlet is a simple 1.5" neck that the hose slides on to. The lower hose/outlet though is a 3/4" NPT bung . . . so I got a copper 3/4" NPT fitting, trimmed the overall length down and soldered a "street elbow" on to it. I also tapped the bung a bit deeper so that the copper fitting would thread all the way in (no threads showing). The outlet on my fitting is now 1.25" - the stock lower radiator hose is 1.375" - so there sohould be no real restriction that I need to worry about.

top view of it mounted with the plumbing all connected - I found a formed hose that I could cut/splice onto the stock lower radiator hose and used a universal flex hose for the top

Home Depot pipe hanger to hold the long lower radiator hose away from anything it might rub against

** started to fill the radiator with water to flush everything out of it and noticed water puring out of the bottom/front core tube . . . I don't know how I didn't see it split and spread 1/8" open. I tried to silver solder it but couldn't get it to stick, so I filled it with as much JB weld as I could push in and then squeezed the core closed. I pressure tested it to 20psi and it's held, so I'll consider this a permanent repair.

Previously I was using a 14" fan on my single core Griffin radiator. I could fit one 12" or 2 9" fans with the new setup (not enough room between the radiator and the front cross member for the 14"). I did some math on how much coverage the fans would give on the radiator:
1x14" fan = 153 sq.in.
1x12" fan = 113 sq.in.
2x9" fans = 127 sq.in
So 2x9" fans it is then - combined they pull 22 amps when they first start spinning, but settle down to 10 amps at full speed. Even though I'm stepping down in fan size I should be golden since the overall cooling capacity is increasing (won't find out till I have to pull the trailer again).

 

[corax]

Celica bucket seat install

Another great junkyard find - a new pair of bucket seats. The 'runner already has buckets, but, being the American I am, I wanted something a bit sportier with more bling and adjustments.

Here are the old seats -- FOR SALE

and the new seats, neither has any tears and are pretty mint for being nearly 20 years old. The passenger seat has the pretty standard recline & slide and also headrest height/tilt, but the driver side also has electric lateral and lumbar adjust along with seat bottom angle adjustments. The car I got them out of rhymes with 1st gen Cellica AllTrac Turbo (I felt so bad for that car . . . it was in good shape and I hated to tear it apart, but it looked like someone already took a ball-peen to the turbo)

In order for the seat to slide forward far enough for anyone to get in the back I had to match the rear seat mounts. The Cellica sliders are longer than the 4runner's, which meant I had to pull off the front mounts (make them semi-custom mounts) and also remove 2 bracket that were hitting the floor pan (just the bracket that held the spring which pulls the seat forward). I also removed the seat mounted belt buckle, preferring to use the factory belt buckle mounts on the body of the truck.

The seat itself sits just a hair lower, but that's OK to me. I took the seat back off and unbolted the seat bottom to make lining everything up much easier - it won't slide right unless the rails are parallel. If I decide later to raise it, the front mounts will get custom mounts (2 diagonal verticles and mount tabs bolted on) and the rear mounts will just need a spacer

Here's how I did the front mounts - I basically removed the mount, flipped it 180 degrees and drilled a new hole in the verticle section (the hole was originally in the 45* angle part). When I drilled out the rivet and spot weld that held them on I was left with (2) 6mm holes on each side, so I just used these holes with 2 grade 8 bolts

I reused the outside rear seat mount, but the inside rear mount didn't line up at all. I didn't really feel like welding a bracket on to use the original hole (not mention I would then have to worry about making the seat side-to-side level)so I drilled the floor and used a nice wide washer on the outside of the floorboard to prevent the nut from ever pulling through the sheet metal.

Both done. I didn't really have to worry so much about the driver side being able to slide all the way forward so install was a bit quicker. These do provide alot better lateral support and are very comfy.

Here's the power lumbar and side wing adjust switch in its new home

 

[corax]

Roof rack was swiped off an Isuzu Rodeo, the cross bars were shortened so it would fit between the rear windows. It's mounted with 8 6mm stainless bolts through the shell with brake line cut to length to prevent the walls of the shell from distorting when everything was tightened down. In addition to the factory rubber gasket under the side rails I used just a touch of RTV to prevent and water leaks, so far I've had none.

 

[corax]

CB mount

time to make a stronger CB antenna mount. the old one worked fine, but after the fiberglass whip got bent over and shoved into the rear window to give enough clearance to drive into a parking garage (not me) it was too broken to fix. I did try removing the old mount and filling the backside with JB Weld, but the cracks would still open up whenever the antenna moved (with winter coming, I could just imagine water getting in there and breaking it up more)

this is what I came up with. it's 2" x 1/8" flatstock with a small piece of 90* angle for the actual mount. I snagged the antenna mounting stud and plastic insulator from an extra "trucker" style mirror mount that I had laying around. from the point where it mounts to the truck it has a zig in it for extra tailgate clearance, and all the corners have been rounded to prevent any scratches or snags from happening. I bent the 90* angle to a bit tighter of an angle to better follow the rear sheet metal and give an evenly spaced look

finished and mounted with (4) 6mm bolts & washers on the backside to distribute and minimize any bending force the factory sheet metal might get - you can also see where I ran the antenna feedline, a small notch in the sheet metal behind the taillight and some plastic trimming with my dremmel on the taillight housing did the job perfect

I filled the holes from the old mount with JB Weld and used some touch-up paint to make it look semi-pretty again

 

[corax]

rear window switch

Rear window switch to be able to lower or raise the window when I'm in the back. It's wired into the tailgate key switch wires, so the key doesn't have to be on

No real details on the wiring - I figured out most of it out from here 4Runner Rear Window Cheap Tricks

not sure since it's been awhile, so don't blame me if you pop a fuse, but it looks like:
2 wires in the dash switch are for the little light, ignore these 2 - the other 3 got tied into the harness back by the spare tire jack
Green/yellow from dash switch to Blue/white in harness
Red/yellow from dash switch to blue/black in harness
last wire from the switch goes to ground, I used the bolt on the jack bracket

 

[corax]

brake upgrade

upgraded the Master Cylinder in preparation for my T100 caliper swap - the bigger pistons on the T100 calipers need a slightly bigger MC bore. The '90s T100 1 tons have a 1-1/16" MC bore vs the popular 1" bore found in many mid 90's 4runners and LandCruisers - bigger isn't necessarily better when it comes to the MC bore. A bigger bore moves more fluid, but produces less hydraulic pressure with the same amount of force on the pedal. In this case, I wanted to match what was available on the T100 (I should have probably stayed with the 1” bore since I can’t fit the dual diaphragm booster that the T100 uses).

here's my $50 ebay master cylinder, brand new - note the 1-1/16" cast on the side

out with the old 7/8" bore MC

in with the new (and the aluminum looks much prettier than rust )

it was a simple bolt on swap, no drama. The front brake line needed to be bent a bit to match up with the T100 MC port. I didn't bother to bench bleed it, prefering to do it on the vehicle with a rag under the lines. Initial driving impressions are good with pressure building and the pedal firm very near the top of it's travel, though when I get the T100 calipers on it should soften up a bit. I would not recommend this size MC with the stock 1st gen calipers as it could get tiring to drive with the extra firm pedal. On a 2nd gen with the "S12W" calipers though, it might be a nice upgrade that would give a better pedal feel.
Here are the original calipers, note the S12+8 casting mark in the second pic. Toyota uses standard calipers on several different models, the cast mark identifies which ones are identical (no difference in the cast mark to indicate left or right side though)

Here's what happens if you try to use the T-100 (S13WB cast mark) calipers with the stock rotors.

BTW, when I was getting parts I told the parts guy it was a '95 T-100 4wd.

So I got a pair of T-100 rotors to go with the new calipers and pads - the only thing that needs to change for the rotors is to push the bottom of the backing plate away from the rotors about 1/8" to keep it from rubbing - otherwise everything just bolts on

Here are the '88 4runner rotor specs:
# of Bolt Holes:6
Bolt Circle Diameter:5"
Diameter:11.375"
Height:2.535"
Maximum Lateral Runout:.004"
Thickness When New:.79"
Discard Thickness:.709"
Vented / Solid:Vented
Center Hole Diameter:3.942"


here are the T-100 rotor specs:
# of Bolt Holes:6
Bolt Circle Diameter:5"
Diameter:11.41"
Height:2.59"
Maximum Lateral Runout:.004"
Thickness When New:.985"
Discard Thickness:.905"
Vented / Solid:Vented
Center Hole Diameter:3.942"

So the only real difference is thickness and overall diameter - if you saw the "height" is also different, that's only because the rotor is thicker and the height needed to change to keep the rotor centered in the caliper.

The calipers are a simple bolt on affair, the only thing necessary is little bit of trimming to the backing plate

Finished product (kinda finished, I didn't have the rotors on yet in these pics)

for some other caliper options look here

The pedal feel with the bigger calipers is better, before with the stock S12+8 calipers and the 1 1/16" MC the pedal was rock solid. It's just not stopping the way I want it to and I have my doubts about the rear LSPV . . .
Wilwood manual brake proportioning valve - the shiny fittings are SAE standard for 3/16" brake line, the only metric (Toyota) fittings are the rusted ones that I re-used on the master cylinder, the Toyota fittings worked perfectly with the 3/16" line and mixing them on the line made it easy to adapt
(note: all brake lines where bent with a tool, brake line doesn't bend very nicely by hand - it has a tendency to kink)

Took the LSPV off. The line that needs to get bent down to the flexible brake line is the one at the top of the LSPV - there is an -> next to the brake line on the LSPV. The line with an "F" next to it ties into the front brake line and can just be bent back or cut off . . . .

. . . . once you plug the front "T" I just took a fiting and put a big puddle of weld in the middle of it to make my own plug.

 

[corax]

OME rear suspension

before

rear suspension height (rim to wheel well)

the old and the Old Man Emu - the original spring pack was 3 mains + 1 overload - the OME pack is 4 mains + 2 overloads (main leaves are about the same thickness as the originals)

Energy Suspension bumpstops, Marlin U-Bolt flip (note the excess trimmed off the top of the u-bolts)- this pic was with the weight of the axle pulling on the springs, I need to get a longer rear brake hose yet (just a slight pull on the hose like this, but add the weight of tires though and it'll probably get pulled on too much) I'm also not sure how I like the bumpstop placement, I think it might get destroyed by the u-bolt nuts. I may end up welding a shallow platform on top of the u-bolt plate for the bumpstop to bolt to and let it contact the factory strike plate. I'm also not ecstatic about how the e-brake cable is being pulled on (maybe a transfer case e-brkae in the future?)

shock mount welded on, while doing the install I measured and mounted everything for 11.5" stroke Bilstein 5150's.

after

new height - I guess my old springs were really sagging, the OME springs should have only given me 2" (+ my shackles from the old springs give another 1.25") - I got about 5.5" total

Well, this is more height than I wanted, it looks downright goofy like this. I don't have the shocks on the back yet either, the dumpy Rancho's will bolt up to the mounts, but I'll have 0 down travel. Once I get the Bilsteins on, the back end will come up a bit more too (gas pressure). So I'm thinking I need to put some stock length shackles back in to drop the height a bit and hope the springs settle.

made a new set of shackles - 4" eye to eye out this "muscle car" shackle kit ($15)

took the bottom overload leaf out - it didn't look like it would do anything anyway, just acted like a spacer or 3/8" lift block - I left the top overload leaf in to help control axle wrap. You can't really tell it, but I also added an extra gusset to the lower shock mount to get more surface area on the axle tube (probably wraps just under 1/2 way around now)

moved the Energy Suspension bumpstop down to the bottom by welding a perch onto the u-bolt plate (left over 1/4" flat from shortening the shackles)

and lost about 2" . . . which means I gained 3.5" from the OME's

This I can live with, a little bit of rake and it doesn't look nearly as goofy anymore - still havent done anything to the front, don't think I will have to either to fit 33x10.5 tires

I ended up going with the "soft valved" Bilsteins 170/60 compression/rebound

 

[corax]

This is the only video I have, nothing major though:

 

[toy4xfun]

nice you have to tell me how you did the inverted scoops.

 

[corax]

nice you have to tell me how you did the inverted scoops.

I made a cardboard template based on the minimal opening needed for the scoop to sit flush, taped it to the hood, adjusted it so that I wouldn't have to cut through the formed sheet metal hood reinforcement and used an air body saw to cut the opening. Black RTV has held them in place since 2006. The other side was exactly the same except there was a bit more measuring to make sure the holes were symetrical side to side.

 

[toy4xfun]

they look good and i bet they help move heat out from under the hood.

 

[corax]

not really part of my truck, but another minor thing. I did this several years ago with 2 extra hooks like what came on the front of my 4runner. I bolted the 2 hooks together making sure the bolt holes were aligned. Then I turned the heat all the way up on the MIG and welded then together. Next was opening up the hole farthest from the hook with a 5/8" drill bit. I added some rubber to either side just to keep it from making noise over every bump.

they're nearly the perfect width for a 2" receiver - just a hair wider would be better, so the cross pin is completely in shear instead of a bit of bend, but I've never had any issue with the cross pin anyway

very similar in shape to these massive beasts when it's finished