What have you done to your 4th Gen 4Runner today?

Great looking 4Runner. Love the bumper, especially with the lower wings. That's got to help in the gas millage area. I wish I could mount my control box that way. Mine is still not visible with the hood closed but it does block the cooling system. Ignore the horn placement, that didn't work for obvious reasons.


A word of caution though. I don't recommend having wires or anything that is going to pull or tug on the A/C condenser line. It doesn't take much to create a leak where the line goes to the condenser.

 

I purchase them on Amazon, I actually purchased red and blue LEDs but I decided on blue. The LEDs on the instrument cluster have to be de-soldered and blue LEDs re-soldered. I only replaced the back lighting led and left the warning lights, 4x4 lights original. I believe it was only 13 soldered LEDs. As for the environmental panel you just remove the old incandescent bulbs and replace them with LEDs. You get way more LEDs than you will used but I have them in case they start flickering. Also they are polarity sensitive so if they do not work you have to just switch them around.

 

Thanks for the kind regards! The wings on the bumper was one of the reasons I chose that bumper... it appeared the most "complete."

Good call on the AC lines.. they do seem to be too malleable for young wires to them... I'll modify the connections.

Your so looks great! I like the work bench top it has! Does your winch mount to the bumper or a bracket attached to the bumper? Your disconnect switch is a superior size to what I have! Nice work on the switch mount too!

 

I covered the winch with a generic Amazon winch bag and it works well...should keep it ready when the weather changes...I also threw up the Baja Designs S8 light bar and am seeing how much modification is needed to make it fit...

 

Got the Dobinsons IMS suspension put on today. Man, what a difference! Just in the short drive home i can tell its much more 'muted', soaks up bumps way better, is plush but firm. Everything you hear about higher quality suspension systems, this has it. Not apples to apples, but NIGHT and DAY better than Bilstein 5100's with OME coils that i have on my Tacoma. I hope it settles just a bit because it sits a little high for my liking at the moment. Should have been 1" front, 3/4" rear lift... looks to be more than that right now. I took before measurements, so i'll take afters as well to compare (more accurate than the eyeball test), and post up some photos later.

 

What front bumper is that? I like the look of it.
Thanks

 

Thanks! It's a Shrockworks bumper...the company was out of Houston and there was a group buy on another forum I participated in...the company folded a couple years back but their bumpers are still being sold from some outfits online. Excellent fit and finish and incredibly solid, though I'm biased...

 

That's a HUGE upgrade from Billys!! The best test is hitting speed bumps...I always felt like I jumped twice when one was hit in stock suspension and once upgraded, these trucks eat them up now without spilling my beer...er....coffee I mean!! Congratulations!!

 

Heres some photos:

 

Thanks for the nice comments. Yeah, theres a bit of a shelf up front but it has come in handy on several occasions. The winch is mounted directly to the bumper. Its all one piece. I bought a set of bumper to frame braces from Ascend Fabrications (https://www.ascendfabrications.com/product-page/frame-brackets) that I still have to install. It requires removing the bumper but will provide an additional point of securing the bumper, which is important when using your bumper to recover yourself or someone else.

The switch is big and definitely needs to be. Mine is good for 300amps. Pretty sure I bought it as part of a kit from 75Built (https://www.75built.com/product-page/on-off-switch). Here's the install on my 3rd gen Tacoma using 75Built's remote winch bracket (https://www.75built.com/product-page/winch-panel). To bad there's not as much room on the 4Runner as on the Tacoma, as this is nicely packaged.


I used the switch bracket that came with the remote winch mount kit from my outgoing Tacoma. Looks like you could even by this part separately from them. (https://www.75built.com/product-page/universal-switch-bracket). This does require trimming some plastic and drilling some holes. I used rivnuts to mount it. It came out very well and is accessible. Heres what it looks like with the cut plastic trim installed. You can also see how I ended up mounting the horns:

 

I need this upgrade. Currently running those Bilstein 5100's on OME springs and after running all the washboard fire-trails up in South Dakota, I am surprised my teeth didn't fall out. I have been looking at the fully adjustable Dobinson setup as well.

 

Oh man, that's a legit setup you have!! Thank you for the links!! Looks like another optimization will be under way!!

 

Thanks. Its taken a lot of work and fabrication to get things into the desired places but it all has come out very well.

 

Got to put a few more miles on them on my drive to work this morning. One good test is a specific stretch of freeway here in San Diego (the 52 by the landfill - San Diegans will know what i'm talking about) where the freeway has these dips due to the freeway literally sinking (i've heard they laid the freeway over the 'old' landfill area so they are constantly doing construction on this particular stretch). My stock set up would bottom out and hit the bump stops every time i drove over these at freeway speeds. This morning, could hardly tell they were there, just soaked them up. I'm highly impressed.

 

Replaced the leaky weather seal moulding on my tailgate. First picture shows all the material that was left on the old one (that's the part that sits against the glass). Second pic is comparison of the old vs. new. Can't figure out how water was getting in...lol.

 

It's amazing how much that trim piece takes a beating! Nice work on a simple swap! Should seal everything better while looking fresh!

 

Fund a sweet deal on some takeoff TRD Off Road wheels from a 5th Gen... Had them powder coated at a local place. The offset is a tad wider, and I like the look of it much better now.!

 

Sharp!

 

That's the style rim my 19 TRD OR 4runner had. I think they look much better on the 4th gen. I am sure the all black color helps. Looks really nice, Frosty!

 

Finally got around to measuring my post-lift numbers. I measured from the bottom of the center cap on each wheel straight up to the bottom of the fender. Here's where i'm at:

Stock suspension with worn OEM springs/coils:

Driver Front: 21"
Passenger Front: 21"

Driver Rear: 21.75"
Passenger Rear: 22.5"

Dobinsons IMS with C59-296 front coils and C59-599 rear coils:

Driver Front: 22.5"
Passenger Front: 23"

Driver Rear: 24.25"
Passenger Rear: 24.5"

Variances from stock to new:

Driver Front: +1.5"
Passenger Front: +2"

Driver Rear: +2.5"
Passenger Rear: +2"

The coils i picked should have been a 1" up front lift and 3/4" rear lift. I have to assume my OEM rear coils were sagging a ton to begin with, hence the large variance. I still love it and maybe it will still settle a bit.

Also, i don't recall how full my gas tank was when i did my original measurements, but i'm at like a 1/4" today when i measured. So maybe with a full gas tank my rear will be more even.

 

Not 4runner related, but confirmed with the owner I will be picking this future beast up in the next month.



Backstory: I had a 1990 Fox Mustang for 10 years that looked almost identical to this one. I put a TON of work and money into it over that decade (331sbf, TrickFlow H/C/I, full exhaust, lots of Maximum Motorsports suspension bits, 5-lug conversion with Cobra brakes, etc. etc. etc.) Sold it to a guy and regretted selling it ever since. I kept in touch with the guy because he's owned many Mustangs and am genuinely just interested in talking Mustangs. He's tried selling me some of his cars in the past but they were always too expensive. My exact Mustang I sold him is long gone... but he reached out recently and offered to sell me the one above. I couldn't pass up this opportunity. The only thing that will be different when i get the one above is he's putting on a 5-lug conversion for me. This one is almost bone stock as it sits, no performance modifications. I'm excited get a 'project car' back and live once again in the days gone past.

 

Congrats, I am excited for you. Though I do like that generation GT, I have always been a fan of the LX 5.0. It had that muscle car look to it, and it's tough to beat the sound that the 5.0 makes. Almost bought a 91 LX 5.0 years ago that had the Kenny Brown - Outlaw Mustang package. It was ridiculously loud, but a very cool car. It looked very similar to this one, including the color:


I also noticed the e46 M3 in the background. That's my current project, a 2003 BMW M3 also in black. Not the same as the Mustang no doubt, but an iconic car in it's own right. Here's the most current pic of my M3, parked next to the 2019 4Runner I used to own.

 

Nice looking Bimmer! I’ve always loved those M3’s as well as the previous generation, the boxy ones.

 

Here's my boxy bitch...an early 90s German...I've been "building" the 3b I5t for 10 years...ha! Just another 12% completed project I seem to keep jumping into...

 

I think we are straying of this thread topic. lol. But I love the topic of older vehicles. Currently my newest one is my 04 4Runner, followed by my 03 M3.

I love the older Audi's. The Quattro Sport from the 80's is probably still my favorite. I don't think it was ever sold in the states though. It's what the early group B Audi rally cars were based off of. Audi and BMW both created some timeless designs in the 80's all the way up into the 2000's.

 

Awesome! When I was a kid in the '90s my grandpa was a serious Ford guy and had a '90 foxbody this same color that he put a ton of work into as well. One of his proudest moments was having it featured on the cover of Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords magazine. It was one incredible beast!

Congrats on picking this up and thanks for the nostalgic throwback I saw as soon as I looked at the pic!

 

Great posts, loving sharing old school cars. But like someone said, sorry for derailing the thread. Back on topic!

After putting more miles on the Dobinsons IMS my takeaway is, these are awesome. They REALLY shine on like big undulating bumps, like big whoopdidoos if you will. For minor, sharp bumps, like pot holes or other road imperfections, they still bump you a bit. Definitely better than OEM, but it doesn't ride like a Cadillac, which is a good thing overall. Truck feels very planted and doesn't bounce around. Still 110% happy with them and would recommend to anyone thinking about it.

 

Yesterday.

 

Installed my new license plates today. Picked up a thin protective cover for my rear license plate "Nano Shield" from Amazon that fits between the bottom clips of my license plate holder.
A bit expensive. Probably will do the same for the front license plate