My '04 Runner

[Mad4Rnr]

This is my 2004 4Runner and this buildup started back in 2009. I've built a few Yota trucks in my time including a '81 pick-up, a '84 X-tra cab, and a '87 4Runner all of which were capable Rubicon crawlers.

Since this truck is my daily driver I will treat it a little different that previous builds to maintain the street-ability and comfort but at the same time increase its' performance.



Let me give you guys a little history on this rig before the modifications start. My wife and I bought it used from the local Toyota dealer over three years ago, it apparently came from Southern California. I think it was a commuter car because it had 46k on the odometer and also was hit in the rear as the tailgate has been painted. The truck has only ever had fluids changed but I did put new tires on it at 55k, nothing special though just stock size Dunlops. It's a V6 - SR5 model and is bone stock but now after 3 years of daily commuting it has 85k miles on it.

Lately its' had a bit of a bouncy ride so I decided to replace the shocks and level the vehicle at the same time. I found some upgraded Bilstein shocks online and some FJ cruiser springs locally off CL, I also picked up a Daystar 1" front spacer kit....



After I went to Harbor Freight for a spring compressor this morning I spent a few hours wrenching today. All said and done I had the front strut assemblies together and ready for install tomorrow morning:



Overall my plans for this truck are to slowly upgrade parts as they wear out or fail. The small lift that I'm doing with the 1" spacer and FJ springs will eventually make room for more aggressive tires. I'm thinking about doing some outfitting and I use to install car stereo's when I was in high school so plans are in the works for a new stereo system.

[Mad4Rnr]

Finished wrapping up the install on the shocks and springs, here is the front all bolted up:



I forgot to take a picture of the rear shocks and springs but not much to see there anyway. So here is the finished product:



I will take it to get an alignment tomorrow but during a quick test drive today I was really impressed with the ride quality! I also just love the new improved stance but I think I'll have to order up some spidertrax spacers this week.

[Mad4Rnr]

Got the steering aligned this morning and have to say this is a great mod for anyone looking for a little more ride height with a slightly firmer ride and better handling. This should have been how the 4Runner came stock from the factory! I can't find my before measurements but when I do I'll post them, I "think" I ended up with +1.5" in the front and +0.5" lift in the rear.

Pro's:
1) Truck looks level (imagine that!)
2) Corners better with less body roll (stiffer rear coils?)
3) I'm 6'2" so my visibility is now centered in windshield!
4) Less nose dive when braking (stiffer front coils?)
5) Reduced pulsing in pedal when braking (less stress on front brakes due to less nose dive?)
6) Ride is butter smooth at 65mph (definitely the Bilstein's)

Con's:
1) Lighter steering wheel feel so maybe it's more likely to roll during aggressive maneuvering.
2) Maybe a little lower fuel economy, this is debatable because I've only driven it a couple days but makes sense if there is more air resistance w/nose in the air.
3) I've heard reports of a firm ride below 25mph but I haven't confirmed this yet, maybe the Bilstein's compensate well for the stiffer FJ springs.

[Mad4Rnr]

My new Clarion NX409 nav head unit showed up so this morning I tore into the dash to pull the the stock stereo. Here is a picture of the fresh piece of electronic gear after I installed the ISO brackets:



Then I went to town soldering all the joints between the harness and adapter, I also wired up a relay for the bypass, but more on that later...



When I installed the harness I made sure the +12V was direct to the yota harness and then wrapped some foam around the line filter and relay. I also zip tied the GPS antenna to the air duct behind the HU, even though it's not the highest spot in the vehicle this spot seems mostly unobstructed.



Then I cut a slot into to the bezel for the iPod cable, I'm stoked on this HU because it allows full iPod control and you can watch video from the iPod as well



The iPod will live in the pocket:



Unit powered up as expected, I am definitely impressed so far with the menu layout and the touch screen. I'm glad its not a motorized screen and super excited that is has a real volume knob (I like to to crank it sometimes:guitar.



Unfortunately the relay setup that was triggered by the remote didn't work for the video. For a temporary fix I installed a low profile switch to the front bezel next to the iPod cable output.

The bad picture I took doesn't do the video quality justice, both audio and video from this unit are top notch.



The only thing I have left to do is figure out a way to fill the 1/2" gaps on the side unit, too bad the metra dash kit didn't work.

[Mad4Rnr]

So, I decided not to go to work this and work on the 4Rnr instead.

First things first I went to my local car audio store and picked up the correct Metra dash kit.



It looks better than not having a dash kit but I think the design is funky and the texture doesn't match well. Someday maybe I may make some custom filler strips...

Next I picked up some plastic polish and hit up the front headlight lens with some elbow grease

BEFORE:


AFTER:

[Mad4Rnr]

It's been a few months since I worked on the Runner but a couple weeks back I got the itch to start modifying again. I started by getting a new exhaust system including a 50 Series Flow Master and a nice side output chrome tip, nice low rumble without being too obnoxious.



Then I bought some stereo gear in a late night buying spree.

From the left to the right, Monster 16AWG twisted quad for the the front components, twisted pair for the rear coax. 4AWG power and ground wire. Monster four pair RCA's and one two pair for the sub. Kicker 100 A fuse holder and battery terminals:




Kicker 10ZX700.5 amp, sub bass controller, 1 Farad capacitor and some Dynamat.



CDT Audio CL-62 components, CDT 6.5 coax, Kicker Comp CVR 10" dual VC 4 Ohm woofer that I got used from a buddy and I bought a new grill for.



My goal for this system is high sound quality on a moderate budget and minimal impact on stock storage and functionality. I just ordered a temporary sub enclosure but will eventually make a fiberglass enclosure for the passenger rear panel.

On to the install...

Originally Posted by PapaSmurf009

Looks good! Can't wait to see it all installed. :chowtime:

Jim

Thanks, here is some progress for you:


I started the install by gutting the inside of the truck, it didn't take too long at all but this ain't my first rodeo either.




I used the factory drivers to trace out the baffles on 1/2" MDF. I used 1/8" MDF for the tweeter mounting plate.




Then I busted out the heat gun and roller to help lay down some Dynamat on the front door. Also ran the twisted quad speaker wire into the doors using the factory boot




Same story but rear door

[Mad4Rnr]

I took the front cover off the sub bass controller and mounted the in the left hand switch bay of the center console using supplied hardware.




It always bugged me that the DAC switch is located in the center console so I decided to move it to the left side of the steering wheel. Just cut the plug and made a nice long harness. Also rewired the head unit harness so I could add a switch to open the illumination circuit in case I want to run day time running lights and not dim the screen.




I primed and painted the speaker baffles and then used foam tape to seal the back of the speaker and the back of the baffle, all bolted up they fit tight.






I ran the 4 AWG power wire through the the stock firewall grommet and to the kicker fuse holder. I had to fab a mounting bracket using 1-1/2" aluminum angle.




I ordered up a Optima 34R red top battery and installed it with 1 x 2" aluminum tubing under the hold down bracket. I ran a 4AWG ground wire from the chassis to Kicker battery terminals, they seem nice and fit well just hope the plastic covers hold up.




I installed the cross-overs for the components under the front seats and ran the speaker wire and power wire down the driver side.




I ran the RCA's, remote, and sub bass controller down the passenger side




And then quickly wired the amp to test the system.

[Mad4Rnr]

Went ahead and mounted the cap to the seat back and then the amp with some 1/2" spacers so I could route the wires under the amp




Still need to strain relief the wires with some padded clamps but for now it works




To finish up I bought an off the shelf woofer enclosure because I probably won't get to build the fiberglass enclosure for another couple weeks.




Still need to tune it but all in all the system sounds great! Plenty of power, clean highs, rich mids, and tight bass.

So I haven't had the time to start the fiberglass enclose but I was able to install some Dynamat in the rear.

Just a couple small pieces on the driver side to dampen out the stray bass and road noise:




On the passenger side I used a lot more Dynmat since the enclosure will fill this cavity:




Last week end some more performance mods arrived, fist an aFe silver bullet throttle body spacer:




And also a aFe stage two cold air intake:




I hear the throttle body spacer doesn't really help performance at all, I think it does cut down on intake whistle though. The CAI sounds pretty cool and it really opened up the upper RPM range, seems like it hurt the off-the-line performance a little.

To fix this I decided to get a Underdog Racing Development MAF Sensor calibration unit. Since I live in Cali I wired the box using bullet connectors so I can easily disconnect it for smog:




Then a found a nice little spot for it in the passenger kick panel:




This truck now has awesome throttle response and the upper end is screaming all the way to 5k! This unit really rounded out the exhaust and intake mods, best performance upgrade so far!

[Mad4Rnr]

Been awhile since I did any work on this old rig so last week after the odo turned 100,000 miles I decided it deserved an upgrade. I've been needing new tires and been looking at the FJ's TRD/BFG wheel and tire package since they run the 265-75 R16 AT's, which is a nice small increase in diameter from stock. Not sure others noticed but after the earthquake in Japan these wheels all but disappeared from the market so last night when I just happened to check Craig's List I decided to jump on a way too good to pass up local deal. Only 3k miles on these bad boys, tires even still have the little nub's on them:



The wheels didn't have the TPMS but I think I can always swap the stems over from old wheels.



Like the size of these tires on the 4Rnr especially with my small lift but I may still need some wheel spacers to get the look right



Just after I took this photo I deleted the running boards, looks sick!

[BigBaller]

What?...No MadDog rc lights...anywhere? Wtf is wrong with you?

Looking good.