T4r feat White Whale
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Welp, bought a family hauler for the wife to DD and for us to use for roadtrips, hauling, etc.
She was amenable to something 'enthusiast' and a car I am very happy to own - a Toyota 4runner. We needed an SUV that could tow, hold a lot of gear, and be reliable. I love their simplicity, capability and aftermarket parts availability. They have approx. the same amount of technology as a 90s e34. The only two nits I have with this model are the electronically controlled drivetrain selection and the rust-prone frames.
I got lucky that it ended up being white. After months of searching, I found this rust free example in Tennessee - flew down from MKE at 6am on a Saturday and was home by 10pm same day.
Here she is in the beautiful mountains of TN on the day I drove her home. its a 2007 Limited, white with gray interior. Super clean, daily driven by an old lady, garaged, Toyota parts used for maintenance, blah blah.
I got right to work with a few upgrades before letting it hit the road. I did a tune up including oil change, air filter, spark plugs and boots. I plan to change all fluids (both diffs, transfer case, transmission) in the spring, I'm out of time now.
look at that frame. i was stunned how clean it was. similar age/mileage Wisconsin cars I looked at had fist sized holes in the frame.
I removed the pinstripes then gave the paint a full detail with clay bar, polish then wax.
Of course, the truck got a bixenon retrofit, which I kept from the e30. TRS Mini-D2S 4.0 with 50w ballasts and custom foreground limiters.
I also smoked the headlights while they were open, and restored the lenses.
GROM Bluetooth adapter with aux-in and charge port (bottom black box with white plug)
I ran the aux-in and usb charger to the dashboard below the RAM mount which I installed based on Dave's recommendation. It works great at holding a big heavy phone.
I cleaned out the POs filth in the console. Lady must have ate fries everyday - greasy crumbs in every nook and cranny. bleh!
I found some used 5th gen 4runner TRD Offroad wheels, plastidipped them black and added General Grabber snow tires for the winter.
I added a 1.5" lift kit to the front of the 4runner. They come from the factory with quite a bit of rake, and it levels it out. It is simply a 3/4" spacer than goes on top of the front strut, and due to the geometry it nets a 1.5" lift.
and the most important bit of work i did was to try and prevent future rust for future me. PB blaster has recently come out with a new rust-protectant coating that has an optimistic 2-year life. most of the products (Fluid Film, motor oil, etc) have a 1 year recoat time. There's a guy on Youtube who tests all of the undercoating products and he says it is now the king of the castle. Its also only $10/can and I used 5 total for coating everything.
I jacked the car up, removed the skid plate and spare tire and sprayed every nook and cranny on the underside.
I also I removed the front bumper and sprayed all the steel inside
i also removed all 4 wheels and sprayed all the suspension and frame inside the wheels.
On the exterior i also painted the lower front valance black, added a Yakima roof rack, debadged the doors and in the future will black-out the rear badges.
Here's the final product!
with any luck ill be back here with some stuff within the next year or so
Dan
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I love 4Runners and that white is amazing! I don't know how many number of 4Runners I've worked on over the years and I have NEVER seen a frame like that. That's amazing!
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TRS Mini-D2S 4.0 with 50w ballasts and custom foreground limiters
I put a set of D2S 5.0 in my truck with limiters and 50w ballast as well, and holy hell have I been impressed by them.
Morimoto Mini HB's are super sweet for drop in high beam replacement as well, I run the D2S in the low beam and Mini HB is the high beam hole. That coupled with a 28" light bar makes for an unreasonable amount of light in situations were it is allowed.Looking good sir!
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I'm a big fan of the Morimoto stuff. I have their XB headlights on the F-150 and it made a MASSIVE difference compared to stock. I also have their reverse light license plate strip on the way to try out.
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@andyhundley and I worked at a Toyota dealership when the frame recalls were being done on the tundras and Tacoma's, that was wild. Full frame replacement on 10-15 year old trucks.
Excitied to see what you do with this!
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Not sure what you are planning to spray the inside of the frame with. But I highly recommend this stuff.
https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/collision-repair-us/featured-products/cavity-wax-plus/
This is what GOOD body shops use to prevent rust on repaired cars.
Or what smart people should have used on their 2000-2007 Chevy truck rocker panels.
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I love 4Runners and that white is amazing! I don't know how many number of 4Runners I've worked on over the years and I have NEVER seen a frame like that. That's amazing!
thanks! yup, when i saw a pic of the frame i knew she was the one!
I put a set of D2S 5.0 in my truck with limiters and 50w ballast as well, and holy hell have I been impressed by them.
Morimoto Mini HB's are super sweet for drop in high beam replacement as well, I run the D2S in the low beam and Mini HB is the high beam hole. That coupled with a 28" light bar makes for an unreasonable amount of light in situations were it is allowed.Looking good sir!
yup, the mini-D2S are no-brainers! i almost bought the HBs but i have concerns with retrofitting a light into a housing i have to bake open that doesnt have a replacable bulb. if it fails in anyway i have to take the headlight apart to fix it. no fun. I know LEDs should last forever, but i really dont want to open these headlights ever again.
I'm a big fan of the Morimoto stuff. I have their XB headlights on the F-150 and it made a MASSIVE difference compared to stock. I also have their reverse light license plate strip on the way to try out.
yup, morimoto is my go-to for quality stuff!
@andyhundley and I worked at a Toyota dealership when the frame recalls were being done on the tundras and Tacoma's, that was wild. Full frame replacement on 10-15 year old trucks.
Excitied to see what you do with this!
somehow the 4runners didnt get included in those recalls, despite having basically the same frame as the tacos.
Not sure what you are planning to spray the inside of the frame with. But I highly recommend this stuff.
https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/collision-repair-us/featured-products/cavity-wax-plus/
This is what GOOD body shops use to prevent rust on repaired cars.
Or what smart people should have used on their 2000-2007 Chevy truck rocker panels.
yeah i looked at also doing an inside the frame spray, but havent pulled the trigger yet. the 3M stuff seems slightly better on cost than the Eastwood i was looking at. i also considered plugging all of the holes instead.
Dan
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Whelp, sold the Volvo bought a Volvo. Drove her back from D.C. this weekend - lets hope she's as reliable as the wagon!
2012 XC90 3.2 R-Design, Ice White w/Black interior
Most of my drive was at night, but here's the dealer pic.
Its a big honkin thing, but will keep the fam safe.
Dan
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Whelp, sold the Volvo bought a Volvo. Drove her back from D.C. this weekend - lets hope she's as reliable as the wagon!
2012 XC90 3.2 R-Design, Ice White w/Black interior
Most of my drive was at night, but here's the dealer pic.
Its a big honkin thing, but will keep the fam safe.
Very cool! I was looking at those very seriously before the X5. Ultimately decided I didn't want another Volvo, but they are fantastic cars. My wife had a couple and it was always such a comfortable ride.
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Very cool! I was looking at those very seriously before the X5. Ultimately decided I didn't want another Volvo, but they are fantastic cars. My wife had a couple and it was always such a comfortable ride.
thanks! was the most comfortable 13 hour driving day I've had, by a long shot. eats up the highway miles. the R-design seats are fantastic.
Dan
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thanks! was the most comfortable 13 hour driving day I've had, by a long shot. eats up the highway miles. the R-design seats are fantastic.
And I believe their exteriors have aged extremely well. I wish the tech had aged better. I don't know if prices on the R-Designs have normalized yet, but when I was looking the ones I was most interested in were the same price as the X5. And that was hard to justify.
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nothing has normalized yet, lol. but the 2012 x5s seem to be a few thousand more than the R-designs, but thats just with a quick search of x5s that i am unfamiliar with. i considered x5s, but the volvo drivetrains seems a bit more DIY serviceable that anything newer from bmw. registering and coding a new battery, fugget it
Dan
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Whelp, sold the Volvo bought a Volvo. Drove her back from D.C. this weekend - lets hope she's as reliable as the wagon!
2012 XC90 3.2 R-Design, Ice White w/Black interior
Most of my drive was at night, but here's the dealer pic.
Its a big honkin thing, but will keep the fam safe.
We've got your non-r twin! My wife has been driving her 2012 XC90 for 7 or 8 years now and it's been dead nuts reliable. Other than oil changes, tires and brakes I haven't had to do a thing to it. She's at 130k or so right now and my wife says she's going to keep it until it dies. She loves her XC90.
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@straight6pwrIf you have the satellite radio I'd HIGHLY recommend you disconnect it and replace it with https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/volvo-most-network-diagnostic-bypass-loop-genuine-volvo-8688083. I spent 2 years and 3 batteries chasing down the SLOWEST parasitic drain issue that would only rear it's head in cold weather after sitting for 2+ days.
The RDAR module starts to cause a drain and I'm still not 100% sure why but after disconnecting it we've had no issues.
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How are the factory bi-xenon headlights? Are they pretty decent?
Decent for 10+ year old headlights. I upgraded the HID's on ours to the Osram Cool Blue 7k. Highly recommend. Before you judge the color watch the video. They're not blue.
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We've got your non-r twin! My wife has been driving her 2012 XC90 for 7 or 8 years now and it's been dead nuts reliable. Other than oil changes, tires and brakes I haven't had to do a thing to it. She's at 130k or so right now and my wife says she's going to keep it until it dies. She loves her XC90.
nice! i have been driving it as I work out issues before sending in the registration, but hopefully my wife feels the same as it will be her car for daily. hopefully we will see the same reliability! so far on the fixes I have done (motor mounts, spark plugs, filters, shock mounts) it is really easy to work on.
@straight6pwrIf you have the satellite radio I'd HIGHLY recommend you disconnect it and replace it with https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/volvo-most-network-diagnostic-bypass-loop-genuine-volvo-8688083. I spent 2 years and 3 batteries chasing down the SLOWEST parasitic drain issue that would only rear it's head in cold weather after sitting for 2+ days.
The RDAR module starts to cause a drain and I'm still not 100% sure why but after disconnecting it we've had no issues.
no satellite radio, from what i saw. I will have to scroll through the inputs again to verify. thanks for the link, will definitely bypass if i find it.
How are the factory bi-xenon headlights? Are they pretty decent?
for my standards, not great. but I looked into each headlight and the reflector bowls on both sides are already worn out so that's the issue. not surprising at the mileage. seems like they would have been good headlights if new. they have active bending and auto leveling, which both still amazingly work. active bending is nice at low speeds around the neighborhood, auto leveling is handy for heavy loads.
I bought a bad headlight from a swedespeed forum member in an attempt to open one and see about a retrofit but so far i have not been able to heat my way in, which aligns with what people have said online that the seal/glue volvo used is basically permanent. next step is investigating whether I can cut open the light and then figure out how to glue them back together. TRS has their black friday sale so I'm trying to figure it out quick to get my 20% savings if I decide to order a set of projectors.
Sadly, i have extra D2S bulbs around but no D1S so I cant test fit a newer bulb to see if that helps with light output. dont really want to drop $60 to find out that it doesnt help.
Dan
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my enthusiastic car moments have been reduced to chores.
got the winter wheels/tires on. just have to change the oil and shes ready for some daily duties.
Dan
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