Shane's '95 4Runner 2wd-Auto to 4wd-5speed
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Disclaimer: If you don't know what you're getting yourself into following the mods and procedures discussed and pictures here do the smart thing and have a qualified shop and mechanic perform them. I assume no responsibility nor does this website nor anyone within here for you're doing something wrong and injuring/damaging yourself or your vehicle.
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2wd 4Runner=VZN120L-GKPGEA and mine's #260 from July 1995, by then they (Toyota Motors, Japan) were in rundown mode for the U.S. market and already making the 3rd Gen 4Runners, but the lady who bought this specific one hated the look of the newer ones so she called in a favor and ordered this up directly from Japan since they were still being carried over on the international market (South America, Africa, Middle East, Japan) for a few more years. (IIRC they finally ceased production of this version of the Hilux Surf around mid-1997.)
So what I started out with was this sweet little unassuming number that was literally used as a transport for dog and pony shows. ;) No, seriously, she raises show dogs. ~Yes, my right rear bumper got bent the first week I had the 4Runner while out playing and getting stupid. :D
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-c...voQ/s720/1.jpg
*A little later I did the ECT Switch Mod to move it closer to the driver, it's usually where the coin slot is. I also have the wiring mod to move it into the dash using one of the newer 1st-Gen Tacoma Switches. (Yes, I do wiring harnesses, etc., but only for friends, not a business of any sort. :D )
Now it's all converted over and looking like this..
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:D Shane
Re: Shane's '95 4Runner 2wd-Auto to 4wd-5speed
"Stage 1"..I planned this build out in 4-5 stages.
Sweet!! LOL..factory installed Daytons on steelies! :D A340E 2wd Auto running 3.90 gearing..
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Took it over to the local tire shop (American Tire) to swap out the scrawny 28's for a spare set of 30's I had in the garage from another build.
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Not too bad, at least now it'll mall crawl w/ the Scorpions.
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That stripe, chrome and silver have got to go!
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Pure horse play at the backlot at work since the office was closed due to the flood controls going bad.
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Hey Boss, I can clear that out for you no problem. :D
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Shaved and cleaned but still needs a tint to cut down the interior heat as well as some sliders at the very least.
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Slider's and tint done as well as installing one of the black wire wrapped Tacoma antenna's to cut out the wind noise the smooth one made.
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Seeing as I had some left over cans of flat black Krylon why the hell not, just to accentuate the 31" TA/KO's. (I'm such a dork.)
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Got a set of replacement coils and killed the rear end sag these are known to have.
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Also wanting to have a better power curve w/ the A340E I swapped in a 4.56 3rd and grabbed a 4.56 front to setup parts for stage 2.
*Note with this year you'll need to run a .9137 reduction box for the speedometer and cruise so the system doesn't go haywire trying to correct things.
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Re: Shane's '95 4Runner 2wd-Auto to 4wd-5speed
So at this point I was about at the end of Stage 1 of the build and the budget I put for it. I then went out and basically started having as much fun playing around wheeling light stuff and traveling anywhere it would take us.
Local's run out to Hollister SVRA for some weekend time away from the wives. ;)
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-o...4M/s720/18.jpg
Note to self, don't do Jackrabbit backwards if the ground's still wet and slippery from the rains, or at least don't do it in 2wd. (Meh, "it'll buff right out".)
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How the hell do you wedge a tree limb right between your slider, body and left front wheel's still beyond me.
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ECT Relocation Mod.. Official "Writeup" is here: http://www.ultimateyota.com/index.ph...relocation_mod
Open up the center panels.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-w...c4/s720/23.jpg
Cut out a little bit of room for the wiring to pull back and meet the armrest console.
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Pop the ECT switch out and throw in one of the coin holders from the armrest console.
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Look for this wiring with the white plug, unplug it and pull it back.
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Go find either a newer Tacoma ECT switch or like I did initially, grab one from a corresponding era Corolla or Camry w/ the auto.
You pop open the switches and swap your switches innards to the other one (Skip if using a Tacoma Switch)
*When you do this there are a set of "ear tabs" on the switches top edge, cut them off so the switch fits back together, don't worry b/c there's 6 initially so it'll hold together just fine.
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Pop it into place.
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Threw on a tranny cooler since the early A340E's were extremely prone to overheating if running anything over a 30" and doing any trail time or long distance driving on the freeways at over 60mph+.
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You have got to be kidding me? :mecry: Stupid P/O didn't use factory parts, and of course that's when I found out she'd also mixed green coolant w/ Toyota Red. Even more brilliant it was done to the less than venerable 3.0.
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Buttoned back up and pretty much ready for the next stage.
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Re: Shane's '95 4Runner 2wd-Auto to 4wd-5speed
Pushed into "Stage 2": 5-speed swap and adding 4wd.
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"This thing really needs some oomph and 4wd. Stop getting us stuck in mud and snow." -wife
"OK, so I can go ahead and do what I've been wanting to, ;) ?"
"[Sighing while handing over the checkbook] Yeeessss. [Eyeroll]" -wife
"Sweet!! Auto to 5-speed and 4wd??!! :D "
"Yes, just get us out of this dirt and back home first."
*Note to self, remember this "Negotiating Tactic" for future mods. :D
As far as the front IFS differential all we did was grabbed a pair of the the frame horns from a donor rig and welded them up. On the IFS differential you can run the left axle tube from an earlier non-ADD system with the proper seal and not have to wire up the ADD unit and vacuum lines. From there you knock out the outer and inner spindle block off plates, install the brass sleeves for the axle's to ride in and use the remaining manual hub parts to complete the assembly. The only minor change I did was installed the proper thrust washer and c-clip on the axle stub. The reason is having seen a lot of guys skipping the installation of the thrust washer and c-clip on the outside of the axle stub and having excessively annoying clicking and wear on the brass inserts. It's a pretty easy procedure, you pull off the hub, install the c-clip on the groove, keep the bolt w/ washer on the axle stub, pull it towards you and measure the clearance. Then go back to the FSM and read the chart and use the proper shim. An added benefit is it tends to keep dirt, water, etc out of the assembly more. To keep the cruise and emissions working right as you do the wiring for the auto to manual swap I did the following..
**Note this was done with a vehicle equipped with a standard speedometer cable driven output and electronic cruise control, versus the other combination(s) of an electrical speedometer output with electrical cruise control, or the electrical speedometer output with vacuum operated cruise control. From what I've seen things do correspond, but be sure before expecting things to work flawlessly.**
When you pull out the auto transmission (this also applies to the 4wd autos) there are two specific things needing to be done with the 5 speed swap, beyond the wires in the underbody connection. You need to pull the neutral switch bypass black box off of the auto shifter itself. This is easily identified as the little black box that's just under the forward right spot of the shifter that the brown sheathed wires and shift over ride detent goes into. You'll also want to pull the connector and wires that go to the O/D button, in fact, cut off the wires closest to the button itself. You'll see the brown sheathed wires as well as the little black box in this picture. The blue connector w/ the two white wires you'll need to splice or jumper I discuss is on the left side (barely visable). The other wires on the blue plug (green/white and green/yellow) can be left open.
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The two white wires on the blue connector within the shifter console from the connection to the shifter get spliced, you make sure the ECT is in the off position, and pull the switch from the connection. Solder and tape up the two white wires. If you were to turn on the ignition now the ECT CEL on the dash will be blinking rapidly indicating a "No Signal" condition which is what you want. Pull out the gauge panel and remove the ECT CEL Bulb, you won't be needing it anymore from here. In my case I moved it and the clip it came with into the empty spot on my dash so I'd have a 4wd indicator. IIRC I also had to run the positive wire (green/white) for it from the 4wd switch on the transmission to the big blue connector at the back of the gauge cluster (Plug C11, either spot 7 or 8 depending on how your 2wd is wired) and a ground wire (white/black) to a point on the steel dash brace to get the light to come on.
Now to get the vehicle running. :D From here on in it's just a matter of installing the pedal assembly, drilling a hole in the firewall, running the clutch master, and tearing into the big white gang plug for the transmission containing the main 6 wires. You need to run the two thick black wires from the neutral safety switch (one w/ a white stripe and the other w/ a yellow stripe, or in the case of mine being a 2wd one w/ the yellow stripe and the other having a red stripe) into the lower clutch switch assembly so you don't accidentally start the vehicle while in gear. I didn't bother to install a clutch cancel switch because honestly I've never needed one before and I don't need it for this. IMHO here, don't simply plug a pair of male spade plugs into the gang plug as it's likely you'll never want to go back to an automatic ever again after all you've done to get this far. You'll want to use good quality wiring, and only drop in size one or two levels, or the amperage will fry the splice. Then run the two wires for the reverse lights (red/white and black/white) to the sensor on the side of the transmission and clean everything up. Leave the separate ECU that is for the automatic where it is fully intact and if you choose to do like I did, go ahead and clip off the wires for the auto solenoids. Grab some plasticoat, and like the factory does with some of the pigtails under the hood, fold them back on themselves and stick a clear sealing tip on them followed by a good quality heat-shrink to keep things watertight. They don't hang down and can stay where they are.
Re: Shane's '95 4Runner 2wd-Auto to 4wd-5speed
*Interior mods, repairs, other foofy comfort things.*
*Seat Lower: Repair/Swap*
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Slide the seat forward, remove the trim covers and remove the 4 14mm bolts. *Take it easy, I've personally seen a lot of these having been cross threaded from the factory, you gotta love assembly line machinery.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-R...nU/s720/77.JPG
Once the seats are out clean up and chase the mounting holes and inspect the bolts, if crossthreaded obviously replace them, they're only like $1 a piece, cheap insurance IMHO.
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Remove the setscrew from the recline handle and it pulls right off. Then remove the single screw from the rear center pivot point of the trim cover. You push in softly while pushing forward and the panel comes off.
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Here's what's inside.
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Remove the 4 10mm/12mm bolts from the side rails to loosen the lower seat pad. Use extreme care here and stay away from the rails, springs, slide handle, and slide handle wires. You do not want to knock it loose and have the seat rails start to move and catch your hand or fingers.
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At this point you can send out your lower for repair and borrow the right one so the vehicle is drivable..they interchange and are not side specific unless having the lumbar/hip knobs (full fabric style versus the fabric/vinyl like mine.)
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-m...qI/s512/76.JPG
..or do like I did, grab a spare lower from a recycler and swap it over, and hand the other lower to the recycler to have redone and turn a better profit.
:D Again, me with the SpotShot cleaning things up to look nice and fresh.
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Clean up the rails removing all of the dirt, dust, carpet fuzz, petrified french fries, etc.
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Button things back up and go out and wheel. *Man, those two stick shifts look right at home in there. :D
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FWIW here's a writeup I did on some basic bodywork preventative maintenance to prevent rust-through, etc: http://www.ultimateyota.com/index.ph...er_maintenance. It's a pretty handy thing to use as I caught a bunch of trapped mud and debris rotting away after getting us stuck in the snow and mud like I said above. Also learned at the same time that SpotShot is the second most amazing fabric and upholstery cleaner I could get and it came in handy with the next batch of interior mods.
So, after having the 4Runner this long and enjoying it as much as we could I found out my build progress plan was about to take a drastic turn and I would be redirecting my finances as well as finally attending and completing college. The reason being is we found out we were going to be a proud parents of a wonderful little girl! With that in mind of course the first spot I hit was my dealership for some necessary parts for a baby seat tether. (Ha-ha, priorities, huh? The next spot was my local college's counseling department, admissions, financial aid, and scholarship meetings.) For anything sold in the United States, all post '95 vehicles have the baby seat restraint tether mounts integrated into the seat crevice, or similar spot. On the prior vehicles like mine you have to install them. I'd been an EMT and seen what happens in this exact type of vehicle when people had short cutted the necessary install parts and instead by using the cargo hold down loops on the cargo area's fenders. It's like someone taking a 5 point harness and not mounting the back strap straight back. Guess what happened when this driver got side swiped..let's just say things didn't hold, luckily the child's seat had the carrier bar up at the time and it acted as a mini roll bar. So I'll happily do things the right way here.
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Also took care of the old steering rod insulator at the firewall having been so old it was letting dirt, air and noise into the cabin.
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Also grabbed a Deck Lamp switch for the dash to wire up my floods and keep it looking factory.
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Re: Shane's '95 4Runner 2wd-Auto to 4wd-5speed
Stage 3: "Functionality, Power, and Play Friendly"
I wanted a bit more power from the 3.0 so we installed a Thorley Header system as well as a performance catalytic converter with a full 2-1/4" cat back exhaust. While doing so I shaved the legs off the EGR to clean things up and get to the #3 sparkplug w/o having to go through the fender well.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-h..._o/s720/49.JPG
Tight squeeze here, later down the road I came to the conclusion that I could use the exhaust shielding from a 3.4 equipped 4Runner to shield all this. (The stick on aftermarket heat shield stuff doesn't work well enough and eventually burnt off.)
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Here's the 96+ 4Runner exhaust shielding installed around the right side header and y-pipe. The black plate just behind the brake lines is just a piece of spare aircraft aluminum heat plate I formed to keep the heat off of the lines.
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Front undercross part of the y-pipe and a glimpse of the R150. Basically just had to cut the right hole out of the transmission tunnel for the sticks to fit through and do some wiring.
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Flattened out the new high flow cat b/c I hated how the factory one was clocked vertically and hung up everytime.
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The rest of the piping.
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Threw on a 4Crawler Body lift and balljoint spacers to finish my lift as well as free up some cooling space for that spot where the header was beating up on the right cab wall and torching the floorboards and carpeting then fabbed up a LSPV lift to correct things afterwards. Basically using the springs I did (recall model coils for that gen, but FJ Cruiser coils also are the same spec ;) ) you have just under a 3" lift compared to what you'd get with using the bigger FJ80 coils and larger balljoint spacers. The reason for doing this ultimately is this is a play rig and still needs to work for DD and family camping and exploring stuff. I'm just not set on wheeling a 4Runner in rocks, etc anymore at this point, I'll build a truck later down the road. I say "family camping" now for a reason, which I mention in the next post.
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Pavement run pulling from 2nd gear through 4th before I eased off the go pedal..
MVI 0014
Re: Shane's '95 4Runner 2wd-Auto to 4wd-5speed
Trying to decide if I want to run drawers or not so I made a template out of some spare bicycle shipping boxes..
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-e...0/IMG_0014.JPG
Re: Shane's '95 4Runner 2wd-Auto to 4wd-5speed
2nd-Gen 4Runner Rear Door Triangle Glass Remove and Replace
1. Pull the weatherstripping back slightly just above the top rear corner of the door above the glass retention rail using a philipps screwdriver.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-V...0/IMG_5613.jpg
2. Roll the main window all the way down.
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3. Use a philipps screwdriver to loosen the inner door release handle trim.
4. Push the inner door release handle trim either forward or backwards to release it from the door panel and expose the pull rod and plastic L-clip.
5. Remove the inner door release handle trim
6. Using a small standard tip screwdriver remove the trim caps from the two armrest holes.
7. Using (this depends on the parts spec for what was used) either a 10mm socket, or a large phillipps remove the two bolts that attach the armrest and door panel to the door.
8.1 If the door glass is manually operated, push on the door panel and expose the gold zinc coated spring/c-clip that slides into two slots on the inside of the window crank arm. Use a piece of bent wire or small pliers to pull the spring/c-clip off and the handle now loose will simply pull off.
8.2 if the door glass is electrically operated you pull the frontmost portion of the window switch panel up and forwards to remove it, expose the electrical connector, and disconnect the electrics.
9. Using a small tape covered crowbar end to pop the 10-13 assorted plastic panel clips to release the panel.
10. Lifting the door panel in a forward and upwards motion carefully release the top trim from the top edge of the door panel, be careful, this area has some sharp edges.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-A...0/IMG_5615.jpg
11. Remove the rear portion of the plastic dirt shielding by heating the black tar up with a hair dryer for a little bit at a time so it'll be reusable.
12. Once the dirt shield is removed you'll see the lower portion of the glass retention rail with two specific 10mm bolts.
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13. Remove the two 10mm bolts.
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14. Carefully, starting from the middle of the upper door glass strip pull it outwards and down all the way to the glass retention rail.
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15. Wiggle and slide out the triangle glass surround forwards and slightly upwards to remove it.
16. Reverse the process to reinstall everything.
Re: Shane's '95 4Runner 2wd-Auto to 4wd-5speed
