writer: Scott G.
Shawn Bennett of Image Auto Detailing in Orange, CA spends every day of the week keeping his customers' vehicles absolutely immaculate. On the weekends, however, you could say Shawn pulls a sort of Mr. Hyde, dirtying up and punishing his own very customized '98 Toyota 4-Runner out in the desert. Shawn is one of those guys who likes to push things to the extreme, whether testing the limits of his Toyota off-roading, or putting together an outrageous sound system. His two hobbies don't exactly complement one another, considering the beating his vehicle takes when the work week is done - your average sound competitor isn't going to risk damage to his expensive electronic equipment for some high speed thrills. But for Shawn his rough and tumble weekend excursions amount to more than thrills. It's his passion. The same goes for his other hobby, car audio. The combination proves that it is possible to merge two seemingly diametrically opposed worlds. After experiencing the adrenaline rush of getting air off a hill with the stereo blasting, the whole thing makes perfect sense to us.
FunctionUpon the purchase of the Toyota 4-Runner Shawn already had a list of goals for the vehicle. First was upgrading the SUV for digging in the dirt. Shawn contacted Camburg engineering for the suspension modifications and the decision was made to give the Toyota a decent amount of wheel travel to tackle the rough desert terrain. The upper and lower arms were replaced with wider models and 10" King coilovers were installed for that Cadillac ride through the bumps. The track width was increased 3.5 inches per side for a total of 7 inches. Dejong Manufacturing in Temecula made some billet aluminum brackets to mount the remote resevoirs off of the shock hoops. They really bring the show finish. For those situations where the bumps are overwhelming, a set of Sway-Away bump shocks were added. The custom shock hoops and engine cage were fabricated by Jamie Campbell who did a very nice job in the tightest of quarters. The total combination afforded around 14.5 inches of front suspension travel, a very respectable amount by any hard core off-roader's standards.
The rear suspension was also attacked with the same aggression. The rear arms were replaced with custom arms plated for strength and 8" King shocks were mounted in the stock rear locations. This task would have been impossible if not for the guys at King who were kind enough to make a custom pin mount for the shocks to be mounted without serious modifications. The rear ended up with about 14 inches of travel.
FormThe next item on the list was the body, which needed some basic modifications just to accept the aggressive suspension system. The increased track width called for flared fenders in the front. When Shawn received the 4" wider fiberglass front fenders he had a whole new set of hurdles to jump. He really wanted to keep the factory bumper and factory lines. So Shawn himself modified the width and angle of the factory chrome bumper to match the lines of the new much wider fenders. After the mods were done the bumper was smoothed perfectly, re-chromed and installed. The fenders proved to be the perfect size to accommodate the 35" Pro-Comp Xterrain tires wrapped around a set of 15" Centerline aluminum wheels. The whole exterior of the truck was repainted with the factory color mixed with a lot of pearl to give it a beautiful hue that makes you want to feel the finish. In addition, Shawn added 2001 Toyota 4-Runner headlamps with PIAA bulbs as well as clear corner lights to the front; then to finish off the exterior, he had Advantage Window Tint in Anaheim Hills do all the windows in a combination of smoke and blue tint for a consistent color scheme.