Cynicalriders "J0hnny5 is ALIVE!" 01 build thread.

Not right behind the TC, I want it to extend back enough to cover the cat and give more of a flat belly

I'm more of a go slow guy myself lol

 

Ah okay I see what you mean. Are you going to try to make it angle from the t case in towards the frame? That way you don't lose clearance too?

And that makes sense since you mentioned you wanna SAS eventually. I understand why considering the trails you run up north.

 

Thanks Ant!

Did some work this weekend to prep for next weeks Rausch trip:

Started with this, was rubbing on the metal that holds the flairs on.




Used channel locks to manipulate the piece before I cut.



Pinch weld cut, smashed and cleaned up with flap disc:




I ran out of caulk at home so all I could do in the mean time was spray bedliner on the areas I worked on. Gotta caulk it before this weekend though.




Also went on a small trail ride on an overgrown quad trail. Got some new beauty marks. Hoping to get a proper wax done before winter to make some of these less noticeable.

 

Did some wheeling at Rausch recently:





And finally got to this spot on the comp course that I experienced in a buddies FJ on my first trip to Rausch ever last year:





My next goal is to go up and over.

Also have a skid row IFS skid on the way, a fix for my tire mount since those broke at rausch, and some blue LED's waiting to go in. Also planning on rebuilding the front steering components within the next month.

 

hey I saw that you're looking at replacing your LBJs... did you ever check if the PO had them replaced under the recall??

I just replaced mine w/ oem from Camelback... the PO had them replaced in '04 w/ the recall.. I had 150k on these..

 

He had frame inspection done under recall but my vin was unaffected. Mine still have no play but my adjustment nut is seized on my ITRE end and my rack is shot so I figure it's time to just overhaul my steering. Relatively inexpensive for the additional shit and worth it for the piece of mind.

 

I didn't mean the frame recall, I meant the lower ball joint recall.. put your vin in the Toyotas recall website

 

Sorry that's what I meant but explained it poorly. He had the frame done under recall but my vin was unaffected for LBJ so he never had it done.

 

Oh ok gotcha. Gonna feel like a whole new truck!

 

Did some painting when I was changing the wife's brakes yesterday:

Painted both my fillers (one was a replacement that was primered only and the other had rust pitting:


Painted my door sill I was getting rust at:




Also installed heavier duty hardware to hold the spare in. The last shit busted at rausch:



Gonna touch up all my armor with POR today after work since Rausch put a beat on them:

 

Got some videos from the last Rausch trip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD5XozDkvfU

And Ryan took this one of 23 but I was in front of him on that trail. It was sweet watching my stock suspension put in work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdgmc9eB8fE

Finally did my LED cluster, love the look. While I was there I also painted my needles as well as installed the Camry keyring.

As far as painting the needles go, I took the very easy way of not removing the needles. I used acetone + q-tips to remove the paint on the needles and used a folder with duct tape on it as protection.



Painted them a royal blue:



They look awesome during the day but the issue I have now is that they are not semi transparent anymore and difficult to see at night.

The cluster is very visible during the day:



And looks awesome at night:



I then moved onto the Camry key ring. I bought a blue LED for it right away as well.

Here is how it has to be modified to fit around the cylinder:



Then I wired it into the harness that goes up the A-Pillar using the plug behind the interior fuse box. Using the black and black and white wires lets you have it fade on when the truck is unlocked and domes are on and fade off when you turn the key:

Pic:

Vid in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le4FrlgzD4o

Now I have an issue with my speedo and tach not working but my engine temp and gas needles working so I need to tear it all apart again tomorrow to fix it.

 

Took a personal day yesterday to figure out my needle issue.

Turns out it was something extremely stupid. The paint on the needle got stuck to the needle stopper and wouldn't let it move freely. So since I had everything opened up again I decided to try to fix the night time visibility issue as well.

Had some time to kill between the gym and when Advance auto opened so I did some ghetto mall crawling...





Took it all apart again:



Removed old paint and repainted the needles to make them a more translucent blue.

Day:



Day w/ LED's on:



Night:



It's not perfect but still better.

Also received a bunch of goodies that are waiting to go on:

 

More pictars courtesy of Ant:

 

Did some things this past weekend.

Replaced my steering rack, inner and outer tie rods, and LBJ's with my cousin. It was a pretty smooth process until the intermediate shaft got stuck on the old rack and took 3 hours of pickle forking, air hammering, and lubing to get to break free.

Also intended to put on my new skid because this one has seen better days:



But I figured I would leave it all off till I get my alignment.

Problem spot:



Fucking POS out:



Turns out when we put it back together I we may have been a spline off. I'll be taking it to my other cousins shop where I have access to a lift to hopefully make it a quick process.

 

I need to wheel soon... All your pics are making me jello.

Gauges look great!

 

Sub! Love the silver first gens. Sometimes I wish I had the Xtra cab. They look so good

 

Thank you! I love the double cabs and often wish I had one but I can't have that little bed space. I feel i run out as it is.

Finally got the skid row IFS skid on:



Put my e-locker actuator guard on:



Surprisingly had to grind a bit to get it to fit:



Then did some exploring in my old home town area:

 

I know you probably don't want to mess with the needles again but if you lightly scrape away the edges it should make it more visible at night but still look good during the day.

I just made mine clear with blue LEDs. I'm sure there's a pic in my build.


Looking good though mike! Just need a lift!