Ok, so its not a volvo. (skip to the second post for volvo content)
But it was time to give up on the old 85 benz, she was a great car for 5 years, I put almost 100k on her, and I sold her with just about 520k on the clock still clacking along.
Enter my new wheels, A 1998 4 runner. Not that special you might say, But this particular example is a U.S. truck. Its 2WD (i know) and automatic (blech) but it came from texas recently and had passed the out of country no problem. Might I add it has zero rust? Bonus was that its a 2.7 4cyl, very rare in this generation, also had working a/c, power windows, mirrors and locks. I picked it up for $2000 with 138k miles on it which makes me feel a bit like i stole it. I bought it over the phone on kijiji, and asides from needing a set of tires and some front brake hoses, it passes a safety without a sniff. Here it is on a road trip
Prejector retrofit, Im a little sick of crap hid kits, so i decided to give a projector retrofit a shot. This particular projector from the retrofit source just sandwiches over your H4 housing, installation is neat and a snap. Kit includes projectors, shrouds, bulbs (d2s) and amp cables for $170 if you provide a set of ballasts. This is also a HI/LO function projector with a little solenoid and shield.
I added an amber LED strip due to my lack of DRL
(pardon the potato phone quality)
Output (at about 60ft) notice the lack of glare above the cutoff line
3 inch lift and 31x10.5x15 tires (dont worry, i did a very anal alignment to it after)
Winter shoes
Whats this?
I picked up a 1996 4runner that had been rolled in central alberta. Miraculously its also a 2.7 but it has 4wd and a manual. The plan is to swap in the 4wd/5spd drivetrain and The task is not an easy one, I had to aquire a 98 pcm and engine wiring harness due to the fact that the newer truck uses wasted spark vs a distributor. I also had to move the transmission crossmember forward about 6 inches to avoid interfering with the transfer case. Cut and weld
Holes needed to be drilled for the slave cyl, pedals needed swapping, the shifter hole in the floor needed cutting, P/N switches needed fooling and diffs needed installing. But at the end of 3 long evenings (18 hrs total work) between two guys. we had some success!
There is still some stuff to do, like wiring in the clutch cancel switch, the clutch switch for starting and the clutch switch for cruise control. As well as combining the manual and auto clusters to remove PRNDL and make the speedometer/odometer in KM. But other than that it runs and drives factory, No CEL or strange vibrations.
Next up are s60/v70 seats and a electric fan swaparoo.