[corax]

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





graphics removed (heat gun & oven cleaner for the residual adhesive) - chrome grill epoxy painted Black Gloss - ford turbo coupe reversed hood scoops - ford focus antenna up on the roof - interior cleaned - new shifter boot sewn up (the old one was crusty mildew & mold)



a few months ago at Hungry Valley OHV - MarlinCrawler HD rebuilt W56 trans - Marlin rear diff armor - 4.56:1 V6 third members - home fab F & R bumpers - used 32x10.5-15 BFG A/T ebay tires on used ebay rims - 7MGE Supra swap - home fab lower control arm brace - now to start the expedition travel mods (I think tire/can carrier might be next fab job)



almost looks factory, doesn't it? next week we'll see if the Smog Referee likes it



some of my fancy exhaust work to route it down the driver side



** the Smog Ref passed it on the Visual & Functional Inspections, but it failed the tailpipe test - I think I need to move the catalytic converter closer to the exh manifold to get it "light off" quicker, right now it's not getting hot enough to do its job **

[corax]

Got my reverse lights on today.  I used a relay for the lights so that the reverse switch on the transmission doesn't burn out trying to pass too much current.  The first pic explains the wiring, which was easy.  For power, I tapped off a 12 gauge wire that I had run for my trailer socket adapter.  The lights I decided to use were cheapo Pilot driving lights I picked up from some parts store awhile back for $20. 



Mounting for these lights is pretty standard, so I just welded a 1.5"x5"x1/8" tab onto my bumper.  I recessed them into the tube work fairly well, so I don't expect they'll break anytime soon.

[corax]

Home fab front bumper - 2" OD tube ~.120" thick (just under 1/8") - I'm going to run 3 driving lights on the front & I may try to retro fit a winch tray on there yet - 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



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 sides - future plans might include side guards and dual swing outs (one for fuel/water cans & one for an extra spare) - originally I copied the pattern for the mount plates from a tow receiver and just extended it to "capture" the main tube, after a 1" body lift to accomodate the radiator for the 7MGE I needed to raise it to get rid of the bumper gap - thats why the side plates are in 2 pieces now, when I get time I plan on welding some bar to bridge the 2 and prevent the whole thing from rotating downward when I tow




edit 5-25-08 - Got a bit of work done to the rear bumper to finish it off.
Added side hoops

linked both side plates with some small square tube

previously I had a 90* bracket bolted onto the side plates that bolted onto the bottom of the frame rail - now it's welded 1/4" with gussets at each end

finished product

[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. 


installed and painted - everything was assembled & both mounts drilled & bolted with it off the vehicle.  I tapped it into place between the lower arm perches & welded up the mounts.  that way I know there is no slop in the mounts and everything is a nice tight fit.  It's strong enough I can jack up the front of the truck with no visible deflection on the truss



Since I spent so much time on the radiator and fan getting them to fit, a bit of pretection was in order.  I built and installed an expanded steel grill to keep the rocks out of my radiator.  used 1/4" square rod on the sides to keep it from bending as easily, it's the gloss black bit under the factory grill



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]

a bit more work on cooling for the 7MGE - I'm starting to suspect that I may have sized the radiator a bit small, but then again I wasn't really figuring on being in the South West and having to deal with that much heat.  The issue now is on long steep grades at highway speed it'll start to get a bit too warm.  the radiator fan doesn't come into play at highway speed, so maybe this is my problem . . .





*edit* 6-14-2008
- installed a 160 degree thermostat - no one sells one that low for Toyota (52mm thermostat), but I found a 54mm thermostat rated to 160.  I just had to dremel ~1 mm off the O.D. and it fit perfect
- installed a 210 degree 3/8" NPT fan switch that I got off Ebay, but it doesn't seem to work - Shooting the mounting boss with my temp gun it reads 220 degrees but the fan still isn't turning on (and the temp gauge in the dash is uncomfortably high), I can ground the wire going to the switch and the fan turns on - I think I want to find a 185 degree switch anyway now

[corax]

Another trip to the CA Smog Referee Station

1st visit on 2/08 - passed visual and functional - failed tailpipe
                  %CO    %O2       HC             CO%              NOx (PPM)
test     rpm     meas   meas   max  meas   max  meas    max  meas
15mph  1723    13.6   1.3     121  144    0.70  0.59    1006 3078  GROSS POLLUTER
25mph  2787    14.6   0.2     101   62    0.90  0.17     866 1450  FAIL

-Moved Cat Converter closed to engine so it lights off sooner
-Ditched the 12" elec pusher fan, fabbed new radiator mounts to fit a 14" elec
 pusher fan
2nd visit on 5/08 - passed visual and functional - failed tailpipe again, but improved
                  %CO    %O2       HC             CO%              NOx (PPM)
test     rpm     meas   meas   max  meas   max  meas    max  meas
15mph  1670    13.8   1.0     121  133    0.70  0.38    1006 1687  FAIL
25mph  2751    14.5   0.2     101   40    0.90  0.07     866 1101  FAIL

I'm thinking I need a bigger catalytic converter with more internal surface area to clean the exhaust - the one I have now is kinda small

[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.  Incidently the spare tire will sit ~ 4inches lower than stock, so until I plan and build a swing out tire carrier I'll have to be careful not to drop the rear end off a ledge


CARB legal, but not California legal (?!?) - so install will have to wait till I pass at the Smog Referee Station

The exterior of it was completely rusted, however the interior looked nice and clean (the only rust inside was where the side mounts were welded and the galvanizing was burned off).  I was too excited to get started to take a before pic, but this is after I was done prepping the outside.




I got all the rust off first with a wire cup brush mounted onto my 4" grinder. When it was clean enough I painted the outside with POR-15, which is my favorite rust killer.  After letting it bake in the rear of my truck with the windows closed for a week (90+ degrees outside), I layed on 3 coats of spray truck bed coating and put it in the back again to "cure" for a week in the So Cal heat.

This is supposed to be a gravity feed system supplying the main tank through a fitting screwed into the main tank drain plug.  However, I don't like the idea of having a fitting on the bottom of the main tank - the main tank is already low enough & I don't want to worry about hitting a rock and draining both tanks.  So my plan is to use a cheap gas pump to transfer fuel from the aux tank to the main tank through the filler neck vent hose.  The only downside to this set-up will be that I have to remember to turn off the pump when the aux tank is empty or I risk burning up the transfer pump which is not designed to run dry.

[corax]

Had a good junkyard find a couple weeks ago - 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.


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.

I still need to test it out (maybe Hungry Valley this weekend as it's right up the road) and after I put a few miles on it change the oil.

[corax]

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.

edit 6-19-2008 finished the install

finished mounting the washer motor - welded a bracket together and secured the motor to it with a hose clamp

bent a piece of lexan to mount the momentary switch to and wired it up

[corax]

In my compulsive drive for new projects to accomplish every weekend I though I'd slap on some MSD lovin'.  I already had 2 MSD 6A's, but needed the 8910EIS adapter (small red box) to make it work with Toyota's coil igniter.  I got one off ebay for $20 and set out to mount everything . . .


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]

a little bit of exhaust work this weekend in preparation for the smog ref - It's 2.5" all the way back with the pipes slid together and 3" wide band clamps sealing everything (antiseize on the pipes where they slide in so I can take them back apart and band clamps because I like them better than u-bolt clamps)

old exhaust and tiny MagnaFlow cat - it has so many flanges because originaly the cat was further back, but everything got moved around after the first smog visit to get the cat closer to the engine


old tailpipe


new cat - looks much bigger, so hopefully the increased capacity and surface area will scrub the last remaining bit of bad exhaust gas


new pipe from the cat back to my FlowMaster Delta 50


new tailpipe - I made the tailpipe before throwing the 32" spare underneath and before the new cat and pipe was installed, now I have to move the tailpipe a bit further away from the spare . . . who knows, I might have to redo the tailpipe when I put my aux tank on.

[corax]

a little bit of cylinder head work this weekend 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 . . .


I also found my vacuum leak, which I am pretty sure led to high NOx readings and my failed smog (likely did that one myself when I installed the EGR last year)

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'll need to go back through valve adjust again once everything settles in

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 though it started right up.  a wide open throttle test drive up the I-5 Grapevine will have to wait till this weekend

[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

[corax]

I made a junkyard run the other day, and for lack of anything better decided to snag 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, but I'm gonna hold off on my final impressions till I get some seat time on the driver side. 

*edit* much better for distance driving and better support for the fast stuff

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

[corax]

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