2003 4Runner Limited 4wd V8 FJ tcased overlanding rockcrawling do-it-all build

Good point. I noticed they were already cocked over to one side and one of them had rubbed on the shock body, causing some damage. Cosmetic only but still. I'll have to order up some of those boots then and swap them out.

 

nein.

 

Lots of companies still sell headers…

The exhaust manifolds are what’s restrictive, not the y-pipe. Upgrade to headers first for sure. There’s isn’t any gain to be had from “upgrading” the y-pipe, unless you are pushing way more air, i.e., running a turbo or supercharger.

 

Have you seen the OEM y-pipe on the V8 4runners? It's ridiculously restrictive. 2 1/4" pipes, if that, mashed together, effectively cutting each one in half. Just replacing that will gain a small performance upgrade compared to stock.

 

Oh yeah, I thought we were talking about everything from the headers on back

 

That Y pipe on the 2nd nets a 15-20whp gain alone. But that y being crushed like that is how Toyota contains the rasp.

 

Did some things today.

Fabed the legs for my band saw table. The whole table is made from scraps that I had from other projects. I've only had to buy the countersunk screws and drill bit. I do need to buy a foot pedal for it but it's not a rush.





Then I decided to finally install the Doug Thorley y-pipe. I dunno why I didn't at least install that when I got it. I was waiting on doing it with the headers originally.

Out with the old, catted and way restrictive y-pipe. The stock exhaust manifolds still have cats on them.



I don't know why Toyota thought this was a good idea.



The slightly blurry DT y-pipe.



Way better flowing and not cat. Not a perfect y intersection but 100x better than the stock one.



Only struggled with one exhaust nut that seemed to be cross-threaded. Living in southern AZ, there is no rust. But I got it off the stud (manifold on driver's side) and got the DT y-pipe in place. Reused the big donut gasket to the cat-back for now. The DT system came with new donut gaskets for the header side. The crossover pipe is moved to behind the transmission crossmember and slightly higher. The is awesome because I've beat up the stock crossover pipe offroad and now I won't have to remove it to service the transmission. Both O2 sensors are in and working fine too.









Sounds about the same still, especially at idle. Driving, it feels like it's breathing easier now but I need to get more seat time to really tell. I only ran down to the gas station to get gas and back so far. Overall, I'm super happy with just the y-pipe for the reasons stated earlier. It's much more off-road and maintenance friendly now.

 

New cat/y-pipe back showed up today.

https://www.extremeterrain.com/bold...ck-cat-back-exhaust-system-rbd-c1t63t-05.html





Pretty easy install, just struggled a little with the slip joints as they are pretty tight. Dropped the OEM one out and popped the new on in. I did modify the tail pipe a little for better clearance. The new system sits a good 1-2 inches higher and the muffler is smaller and not as fat. Also welded together instead of crimped and each end has a curve to it that should help it from getting caught on anything, unlike the old one.



Might have broken this weld/slip fit when I smacked the OEM muffler on rocks last outing.









Nice, clean, deep tone to it. No drone at all on the freeway. I can definitely tell I have a V8 now! Worth the $500 shipped for sure.

 

Where did you get the DT y-pipe? I've been looking but can't find one (not even on their website). Would be worth scrapping the URD one for the DT to get the resonators and get rid of the rasp.

 

https://www.burtmanindustries.com/zoomprod.php?id=dt_05_09

He doesn't list them separately and if Thorley themselves aren't showing them, then Burtman likely can't get them either. He doesn't keep stock, he orders from DT directly. So I think you are SOL for those. Best bet is going to find an exhaust shop that works on hotrods and such and see if they can recraft the y-pipe with resonators for you. Show them picks of the DT ones even, so they have an idea of what you are looking for.

 

Well, I finally got around to redoing these lights. Bought a set of LED rock lights for the project. Pretty happy with them. Aluminum housings, waterproof and much brighter that just sticking LED bulbs into the original running board housings.

$40 4WDKING White LED Rock Lights, 4 Pods IP68 Waterproof Underbody Glow Trail Rig Lamp LED Neon Lights for Truck Jeep Off Road Truck Car Boat ATV SUV Motorcycle

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0833PYKS2

I used some 90 degree framing braces from Home Depot for the mounting brackets that I painted black. Just drilled mounting holes and used an existing threaded mounting hole on each side of the frame and then installed a rivnut for the other mounting holes. Plenty strong enough for the lightweight lights.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Simpson...-in-x-2-3-4-in-Galvanized-Angle-A23/100374944

Shortened the wiring up a bunch and it's still a little long but that will allow me to move the lights further out if I decide to to later. Pics are only of the driver side but the passenger side is essentially the same.







Much brighter than before.



I've got a Toyota style switch on order to wire into the circuit and make it so I can turn the lights on at any time.

 

Painted some silver interior parts black finally. Something I've wanted to get done for a while but just never did.

Center console is all black now, except the lower part under the arm rest. I'll do that when I need to pull the whole console out for new carpet.





Also removed and painted the silver pull handles on the door cards. Here's the driver door before.



And now, after paint. All 4 doors are done.



And then I cut out the support braces where the vents are in the hood. Flows much more air now out of each side.

 

How inconsiderate....lots of exhaust junkies here abouts. We need some audio!

 

I'll see what I can do.

 

New Koyorad all aluminum radiator going in tomorrow, along with silicone radiator hoses.







Have to re-route the trans cooler lines when I do it as the Koyo doesn't have an internal trans cooler. Not a big deal, just a little extra work is all.

I also upgraded the head unit to a larger, 10" Android one. Sits out from the dash some but I like it much better so far. Sound is way better and the visibility is greatly improved. It's Android 12 with 8 cores and 4GB RAM, so much better performance than the Atoto that was in there.

$169 8-Core 4GB+64GB Double Din Android Car Stereo Radio Apple Carplay & Android Auto,10" IPS Touch Screen Car Radio with Bluetooth,GPS in-Dash Navigation Unit,Split Screen,Dual USB,Backup Camera

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BB24TY3N





I'll probably play with the mounting some more to try and get it a little tighter to the dash. The brackets are painted, they didn't come black.

 

New radiator is installed. Of course, I found that CSF, my first choice for an aluminum radiator, in fact DOES make a radiator for the V8 now. Very annoying. The Koyo is good but the CSF is definitely better IMO.

https://csfrace.com/new-csf-lexus-gx470-4th-gen-v8-toyota-4runner-radiator/

Anyhow, the Koyo is in and burped. Test drive done and everything is working so far. Will keep an eye on coolant levels for a bit but they should be fine. Had to use a 1.3 bar extended plunger cap on the new radiator. The stock one has a 1.1 bar shallow plunge cap so it won't work.

No internal trans cooler on the Koyo (the CSF does have one) so I had to shorten one trans line, effectively bypassing what would normally go to the internal radiator trans cooler. No issues so far but I've only done a short test drive. I do have a larger, aftermarket external trans cooler as well.

The line on the left is the shortened one.





New rad bolts up just like stock does. I have a 1" body lift, so there are drop brackets for the radiator.

 

Installed a wiring kit today, that makes it so you can pop the rear hatch and roll down and up the rear window from within the back. Ideal for camping out of the 4Runner, which I do.

This is the kit - https://www.ebay.com/itm/266069311030

He made the wires longer than normal for me since I wanted to mount the switches in the driver side cubby over the rear wheel well. Nice kit, well put together and it comes with instructions. Takes some work since you need to disassemble part of the interior to run the wires but the end results are well worth it.

Wire routing. I also applied sound deadener since I had all the panels off.The wires run up to the roof and into the rubber wire protector thing that the factory wires run through for the hatch. The wires you tap into are in the hatch itself.





And it's just 2 switches. The flush button is to pop the hatch from inside and the rocker switch locks/unlocks the doors with a quick press or rolls up/down the hatch window, also allowing you to set it at any height.



Hidden with the lid closed.



Simple mod but super handy if you camp out of your 4Runner.

 

Well, it's confirmed. The motor mounts are officially broken. Going to start the process of replacing those with the Solid Offroad mounts that I've had for a while and swap in the DT headers while I'm at it. I'll figure out the O2 sensor issue afterward. Registration is good thru Oct 2024, so I have time.

 

Driver side is mostly done now. Took all day tho so I'll have to wait until next weekend to wrap it up.

Driver motor mount. Definitely broken.



OEM manifold out, Doug Thorley ready to go in.



Replaced all the exhaust studs/nuts with titanium versions.





Got the new motor mount bolted up.



And the header in. Nice having the 12 point nuts, made it easier to tighten the nuts using various length wrenches.





I did have a couple mishaps along the way. On the driver side, there is a wiring loom behind the header with a plastic cover. Being an AZ truck, of course the plastic is super brittle so there were several parts that broke with things being shoved around to access bolts and such. The big bummer is the dented oil pan. I used a couple blocks of wood to spread the load when I jacked the engine up but didn't take into account the drain plug sticking out and ended up with the pan pushed in about 1/4" around the drain plug hole. Not the end of the world tho. Next oil change I'll use a long bolt in the drain hole and a slide hammer to try popping it back out.

 

I did the same thing on my oil pan. Decided it wasn't worth sweating over. Hasn't caused any problems that I've noticed. Several thousand miles so far.