5th Gen Build --> A Baja resilient daily driver

Hey all -

I have been wanting to catalog my 4Runner build and decided now is the time.

First off, the intent of this build is to make it as BAJA capable as possible while maintaining it as a daily driver. So mid-travel suspension, a couple of race radios, full storage to spend 2+ weeks in Baja with wife and 2 daughters, full tool set, the option to pack a small welder for races, stereo to enjoy the 24 hours driving back up the Peninsula, eventually a Starlink with a high powered pure sine inverter, and maybe a 12volt fridge.

I got my 4Runner paid off last month and intend to do some upgrades I have been putting off. I have had it for almost 6 years and have slowly added things to it over the years that I will try to update in detail with reviews later but quick recap of its current status:

• 285/70/17 KO2s
• P&P sliders and full skid plates
• Second Battery with isolator
• LFD Front hybrid bumper with WARN EVO 10s winch
• CaliRaised Ditch Lights
• CaliRaised 30" hidden LED bar
• 2 race radios (VHF)
• Westcott full-length roof rack
• 5100 shocks upfront
• Mid-travel rear suspension (Dobinsons) with ICON overland springs, panhard bar relocation w/ extended brake lines and extended sway bar links
• Homemade rear shelf

Future Upgrades planned (roughly in order)

• Stereo ~$3,000
• Upgrade front suspension ~$2,500 -- Dobinsons Shocks & JBA Control Arms
• 34" tires
• Regear and air locker rear & (maybe front?) ~$4,000
• Baja Designs 4" lights on roof rack, work/camp/rock lights off both sides of roof rack, rear chase light ~$5,000
• Rear bumper - Coast off-road? ~ $1,000
• ROAM cases for the roof rack ~ $1,000
• ARB tank with a mini hose reel ~ $300
• Pure Sine inverter ~$300
• Starlink capable (install mount and wire it)
• Garmin Tread XL Chase Edition ~$1,800
• Upgrade my rear shelf I built into a drawer system to better accommodate a fridge and
  $770 Weldpro 200 Amp Inverter Multi Process Welder with 3 Year Warranty Dual Voltage 220V/110V Mig/Tig/Arc Stick 3 in 1 welder/welding machine
  welder

I just cleaned up my engine bay's wiring over the holidays. I added a

$140 MICTUNING P1s RGB 5" 12 Gang Switch Panel, High Power 5-Level Brightness Multifunction Toggle Switch Momentary Circuit Control Relay System Box for Truck RV Offroad Marine, Patent Pending

MicTuning switch system for my already installed ARB compressor,

$791 WARN 103253 VR EVO 10-S Electric 12V DC Winch with Synthetic Rope: 3/8" Diameter x 90' Length, 5 Ton (10000 lb) Pulling Capacity

Warn winch, ditch lights, light bar, rewired my

$105 WirthCo 1213.1241 20092 Battery Doctor 125 Amp/150 Amp Battery Isolator , Black

2nd battery iso switch, added a

$100 NOCO GENIUS2X2, 2-Bank, 4A (2A/Bank) Smart Car Battery Charger, 6V/12V Automotive Charger, Battery Maintainer, Trickle Charger, Float Charger and Desulfator for Motorcycle, ATV and Lithium Batteries

NOCO battery charger, a

$64 WARN 63001 Replacement Solenoid for Power Interrupt Kit , Black

solenoid for my winch, ran wires from my batteries to the dash for a

$13 MICTUNING MIC-DV-077 LED Digital Panel Double Voltmeter, Rocker Switch Style Voltage Monitor Blue for Car Pickup RV Truck Dual Battery Pack

voltmeter (this does NOT fit in the 4Runner and I need to find a replacement) and added/upgraded my fuses to Blue Sea with

$23 Blue Sea Systems 5191 Fuse Block Terminal 30-300 AMP

Blue Sea terminal fuse block holders. I am very happy with how it all looks.

I already upgraded my

Infinity KAPPA-93IX Kappa 6x9" Three-Way car Audio multielement Speaker

front door speakers and my

$70 Infinity REF-3032CFX Reference 3.5" Two-Way car Audio Speaker

dash speakers.

My wants for the stereo are (in order) DMX8709s receiver, under-seat Kicker 11HS8 subwoofer (driver side), I'm going to start with rear door speakers, Infinity Kappa 63XF, then maybe upgrade those later to Infinity Kappa 603CF and move the 63XFs to the hatch.

Once I get everything installed, I want to power them with an AudioControl LC 6.1200 amp installed under the passenger seat

Channels 1/2 to the door speakers with the dash running off of the receiver.
Channels 3/4 to the rear door speakers
Channels 5/6 to the rear hatch or maybe bridged to another subwoofer

Some current questions/issues I am thinking over:

• Where to mount the pure sine inverter?
  They're the size of an amp and my plan is for the driver side to have a sub and passenger to have an amp. I'm thinking maybe in the rear, I can sneak one into the rear wheel well area, but not sure yet.
• Will my stereo be loud enough? <--mostly a joke, but I might add a secondary subwoofer system that I can easily unplug and remove for Baja trips but keep it in for my DD duties.
• Where to mount my mini hose reel? I was hoping I could sneak it into my engine bay, but I don't think it will fit, but a tank just might instead.
• Where to mount a fire extinguisher(s)? I might pull the trigger on a rear molle setup, this could also help with my mini hose reel situation.
• If I pack a welder, I'll need the ability to pack 2 small generators and a tank for C25. Perhaps after a rear bumper is installed, I might be able to also pack a bottle for compressed air for air tools and quicker tire fill-ups.

I'll take some pictures this weekend and update the thread. I'm really happy with how my engine bay turned out. My wife is getting tired of me staring at it and "thinking".

 

Sounds like you pretty much have it nailed, followed for pics.

 

Here’s some pictures of the engine bay.
A couple notes:

• Still need to remove the NOCO battery clips and hard wire with fuse to the battery on the main battery.
  
• It’s very dirty. I still haven’t washed it since I did 3,000 miles in Baja 2 months back. The inside is even worse with 2 toddlers.
  
• I forgot I wanted to add under hood lights: just bought 2 of these to try them out.
  $32 KC HiLiTES Cyclone V2 LED - Single Light - Clear Lens - 5W Flood Beam
  KC Hilites cyclone V2.
• I still have some work to cover some terminals on the battery.

 

Current as it sits. A ton of forward rake. I’m hoping to get 6-12 months more out of these tires and then I’ll upgrade the front suspension and put on 34s I think.

I’m currently thinking through how I want to wire my 2 antennas for the VHF radios. Might just make a couple tabs and mount to the roof rack. I bought a bunch of tnutz for the rack to mount containers.

 

A couple of random pictures. The top one is it loaded up 2 months back. I had the springs on but not new shocks. The ones I bought didn’t work so I had to run my 5100s on the rear and just take it easy so they didn’t extend too far. Also before I reworked the sway bar and panhard bar. I’m hoping to head down to San Felipe for the SCORE race in March fully loaded to see how it drives when heavy.

 

I have been doing a lot of misc electrical work over the last couple of weeks.

First off is I added a dash top multi mount from TacoGarage and mounted my VHF radio head to it.

 

Any best guess how much weight you had loaded on the WD rack? How did it handle it other than expected wind drag?

 

I also upgraded my stereo receiver. I already have the 3.5” tweeter upgrade and 110 watt RMS 6x9 speakers in the front. An amp is coming very soon. Even after the head unit upgrade, you can tell the 6x9s need a lot more help. I added sound deadening material to the rear driver side door and got a 6 3/4” speaker to fit with some homemade brackets.

Receiver: Kenwood DMX8709S
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_113DMX8709/Kenwood-DMX8709S.html

Rear door speakers: Pioneer TS-M650Pro 6-3/4"
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009MS7CP2?ie=UTF8

Desired AMP: Audio Control LC 4.800 w/o DSP or D.4.800 with DSP ($250 price difference)
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_161LC4800/AudioControl-LC-4-800.html
https://www.crutchfield.com/S-ko9Rkwit1Ns/p_161D4800/AudioControl-D-4-800.html

 

While I was spending countless hours wiring the under the hood, I kept thinking how much I wished I had lights mounted. So I did that too. Should have done these first in hindsight.
I bought KC Cyclone V2s and used a rivetnut gun to install inserts into the hood. Overkill but I’m happy with it.

 

I started to run some amp wire through my passenger firewall and ran new coax cables for the 2 VHF radios and mounted the base for the antennas. The PCI antennas come tomorrow.

I purchased 2 of these:

$29 Anina 3/4" Hole Mount NMO L Shape Stainless Steel Bracket, 16 Feet RG58 Pure Copper Coax Cable NMO to PL259, Waterproof NMO Rain Cap for VHF/UHF/CB Ham Radio Mobile Dual Band Antenna

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CFFC2CBR?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
I mounted one front passenger side, with the coax going out the boot of the passenger side firewall because the OEM hole is filled with a 1/0 gauge wire for the amp and pure sine inverter.

The other is going out the driver-side tail light. I will send the wire under the carpet when I decide to add deadening material to the floor. Future project for sure.

Need pictures of the setup.


I also got my second NOCO connector hard wired. I cut the wires before the connector they provide to make a cleaner look and turns out there are 2 wires going from the device into the connector but NOT OUT of the connector and it is giving me a fault code. I contacted NOCO and they say it’s for a temperature sensor and they don’t have any advice for me. I tried wiring them together and didn’t solve the problem. I might try running them to the battery and see if it solves the fault codes on the NOCO.

 

Hard to estimate the weight but a good amount. Spare tire, 2 paddle boards, and 4 good sized bins, 1 was heavy. Took maximum effort to get it up. The other 3 were mostly packed with clothes or similar (toys for kids in Baja was one of them going down).
Wind resistance was very noticeable. Handling was tough to gauge because I had not reworked my pan hard bar in the rear yet.

 

Other things I have done:
I started to wire in some KC Cyclone V2s as rock lights. I got one wired up in the rear on the driver side. Found a great mounting spot and then went to the passenger side and the exhaust is in the way. So I'm stumped on that for now.

I also bought a RIGID scene flood light to mount to my roof rack for driver + passenger side light. I only mounted one so far to see how I like it.

$106 RIGID INDUSTRIES Black DC Scene Floodlight (1x2 65 Degree), One Size For Auto, RV, ATV

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01553D4U4

I bought weathertech mats for the vehicle. Should have done that BEFORE I bought the vehicle, oh well, better late than never.

(Need pictures)

Next up on my todo list:

• Program radios --> programming cable comes tomorrow
• I found an Iceco Fridge/Cooler on Craigslist, get it plugged in, and eventually a better mount in the rear.
  https://icecofreezer.com/products/vlpro60s-12v-refrigerator
  
• Mount more RIGID lights, 1 or 3 more, not sure yet.
• Add more KC Cyclone rock lights, 2-4 more
• Finish adding sound-deadening material on the other 3 doors and rear hatch
• Buy and install an amp and run speaker wires to all four doors. I think I'll buy some cheaper 6.5" speakers for the hatch and keep the stock wiring from the receiver to power them. They will be nice if we are ever tailgating somewhere.
• Once I get all the above dialed in, then I'll make a big purchase from Baja Designs and get some 4" lights on my rack. It's going to be a little pricey and probably overkill, but I don't want to buy some cheap lights. Buy once, cry once.

I'm planning to head out to King of Hammers this weekend to give everything a trial run. Probably won't use anything besides the radios and stereo, but soon enough.

 

I have been spending a lot of spare time working on the stereo. I thought an amp and wired it up today.

This is under the passenger seat. A positive and negative terminal block so I can have an aux power line for an inverter and make it easy to add a second amp. I have a 0 gauge OFC wire to the seat area from the main battery. About a 13’ stretch. And then 4 gauge from the block to the amp. I think I’ll add a second 0 gauge wire from the second battery and run 2 isolators if I add a second amp. This will allow me to pick what battery the amp(s) are being powered by.

I’m in the market for new speakers for the front doors and I need to sound deaden the doors. More stereo work to come.

I also mounted a rear shelf I purchased off another forum member here. Velox. Really strong and stout. I had to drill 6 holes to get it where I wanted but I’m pretty happy with it.

Lastly, I got a solar controller and mounted it under the hood with a solar panel up top. Solar panel is a work in progress. I was hoping to mount it underneath my roof rack so my roof rack was still usable, but it’s not working the way I’d like it too. Need to rework the idea.

Fridge slide comes Tuesday.

Camping in san Felipe for the race next weekend.

 

Did you regear? I didn't see it on your list.
Nice job.

 

No, started to talk the wife into it yesterday on our drive back from San Felipe though.

 

Upgraded my door speakers to Stereo Integrity 6.5”. They work a lot better than my previous 6x9s.

I still need to install SI 3.5 speakers in the dash and eventually mount the tweeters using pods on the a pillar for a full 3 way active stereo up front. When that is done, I’m going to buy a sub. Perhaps a kicker 12” through crutchfield. I found one that should fit behind my second row seats and in front of my tools boxes.

Stereo should really crank when I’m done.

I also bought 3 more rigid flood lights for my roof rack. Took the Runner down to San felipe last weekend to camp with the family for a race and everything is coming together well.

 

Stereo is 95% done. I have some other updates I can share elsewhere, but I'll start with the stereo upgrade. I'm about ~$3,000 all in (I saved about $1,300 buying 2 amps used and speakers BNIB off of DIYmobileaudio.com) I did all the work myself. I'm guessing 80-100 hours with all the killmat/noico, speaker wire runs, and install. Maybe more.

Components:
$665 - Kenwood DMX8709S w/ maestro to get factory controls
$600 (used) - Arc Audio PS8-50 AMP+DSP - ~ $1,200 new
$225 (used) - Rockford Fosgate AMP --> subwoofer - ~ $500 new
$460 (BNIB) - Stereo Integrity Speakers - ~ $880 new

TM65 Midbass
M25 Tweeter
M3 Carbon Midrange​

$315 - Kicker 12" subwoofer
$115 - Pioneer 6.75" speakers for rear doors (these are actually muted right now, probably don't need them)

Misc: kill mat/noico ($200), HDMI adapter cable for Kenwood ($60), power distribution blocks($65), RCA cable($15), speaker wire($30), tweeter pods from Valicar($100), custom speaker adapter from user on DIYmobileaudio.com ($45)

Years ago, I dropped in a couple of 6x9s into my front doors and did nothing else. It improved the stereo, but marginally. I also installed them haphazardly which led to them getting damaged over the years. I, recently, did the 3.5" coaxial upgrade found on this site. That was an upgrade I should have done first. This is when the audio bug bit me and I decided to go all in. I purchased the Kenwood with factory controls and that launched me headfirst into the project. I started to peruse DIYaudiomobile and found a deal on an amp that could power an active 3-way front stage. I then started to purchase speakers/drivers. Stereo integrity seems to have a good reputation at DIY and many users seem to purchase and then upgrade later, so finding all the speakers BNIB or slightly used took less than a week. Once everything started to arrive, I started to install the speakers. I was also lucky enough to find someone who had custom speaker brackets made for the TM65s and for a Toyota. I deadened my doors, I removed all the hatch components and deadened the rear of the vehicle and rear doors. I'm still waiting for my tweeter pods to show up, the person who makes them is in Europe. They are en route and I should have them by the end of the month. Right now my tweeters are just sitting on my dash. I have a little more work to do on my front doors, but as of right now, it sounds really good.

My review:
I'm very happy with it all. I still have some work to do on tuning and time delay of the speakers to get the active 3-way really humming. I think I will pay someone to help me tune it once I get my tweeter pods and finalize the installation. I was able to get both amps and power distribution blocks installed under my passenger seat. The kicker sub I bought was purchased solely because it would fit between my rear seat and the bins I keep in the cargo area. It fits perfectly.

Feel free to ask any questions or if you're local to San Diego, check it out in person. Besides the tweeters and the Kenwood receiver, it looks stock but sounds amazing.

Future upgrades:

• I'm going to keep my ears to the ground for a used ArcAudio Blackbird AMP/DSP. It is the exact same physical specs as the PS8-50 I have, but just sends out more power to the speakers.
• When I have a spare $1,500 cash lying around, I might upgrade to the JL stealthbox, but for now, the kicker sub is just fine.