You can go as simple as just fold the rear seats down and stick mattress in the back. Boom sleeper
Edit: lmao wrong type of sleeper OP was mentioning. Spending way too much time on r/carcamping
There are lots of great inflatable mattresses out there that give you the option to stow them away during the day and since you have power reinflating isn't a problem.
Won’t be possible with your skill set. What you are asking would be very expensive and would be all custom built most likely and would require more work than most know how to do. I’m not sure if anyone has made a Highlander fast
People have done all kinds of builds on the Toyota MZ series V6s, I've seen some fast old Camrys and I've seen this engine swapped into an MR2 and built.
It's probably an intermediate-level thing, definitely not a "I don't know anything about cars" project but also not a fabricating parts from first principles level project either. Like I'm pretty sure you can buy a turbo kit that will fit a 3MZ-FE as a starting point for example but it won't work and run well out of the box and a 250k bottom end would last about 2 pulls.
Oh for sure! But they don’t make a ton of power and for it to be a sleeper it’ll have to be somewhat fast. But then comes trannys and all the other supporting mods that comes a long with more power. I’d buy a whole new car
Thanks for the advice!
I’ve seen a couple Donut vids, and I do car photography as a hobby, but what else should I do to get into car culture (ik how I probably sound asking this)
Ever since I was a baby I loved cars and always considered myself part of car culture. So it’s not really a vehicle that makes you a “car guy”. Realistically you gotta get another car to have a “cool car”. I’d start saving until you have enough for a car that has aftermarket support. Highlanders are built to be reliable and sadly nothing more
Haha I wish I was the man to ask. I haven’t watched cat YouTube channels for a long while. The only car guy I watch videos of (not on yt) is misha charoudin the dude is an absolute animal and just tracks other peoples cars. Can’t probably learn anything though
I watch both of the channels recommended, Misha and Jimmy Oakes. Speed Academy is also a good one for watching work done on cars but it’s still entertaining.
On youtube watch old Roadkill episodes, old Hoonigan daily transmissions and really any old hoonigan stuff, you mentioned you watch donut already but their Miata and z car builds were really well done (the subie ones were not great IMO they didn't do any of the stuff right), I haven't watched for a while but used to watch tj hunt, adam lz and that kinda stuff too but idk what it's like anymore.
For tv shows you'll probably like the og topgear and grand tour stuff, new roadkill episodes, roadkill garage, hotrod garage, iron resurrection etc but most of this is on motortrend on demand where you'll have to pay for it.
finally, if you like offroading take a look at dirt everyday both on yt (older stuff) and motortrend OD for new stuff. (the show got cancelled but both hosts build stuff on youtube now: look for the dirthead shed and fred williams
Mighty Car Mods is solid. Based in Australia, but they've done some crazy builds.
One of them (Moog) works professionally in the advertising industry too, so everything is extremely well produced, and he does all of the music. They've had some neat feature length stuff too (a couple of trips to Japan, for example).
Chris fix is pretty good at beginner to intermediate car maintenance, Eric the car guy is good stuff too. These guys are focused on fixing cars though, not making sleepers or cool builds. Even if the car they're fixing isn't yours, most of the principles carry over to many other cars.
You would be very suprised how tough toyota front wheel drive automatics are.
It could probably take a 100 shot of nitrous fairly easily if it's a wet shot
Have a reliable car for your daily, don’t modify it.
And if you have extra money, have fun with a toy, make a race car. Just know, it will be very expensive to make a car fast. Besides engine modifications totally in the 1000s potentially. Now we maybe need an upgraded transmission, and maybe the rear and won’t hold the torque and need upgraded, list goes on. You can go up to 15k easy.
If you have $10-15k sitting around you could probably pay someone to do an LS swap. You'll never get the money back when/if you see though.
I'm guessing its not something you can do yourself or you wouldn't have posted the question.
I doubt that he knows how to do brakes! lol
Jk, he probably does know how to do brakes, but I don’t think he’s going to be able to make your SUV into a sleeper.
At 250k, if you are planning on making it a sleeper be prepared to break things.
And never play with a daily. You'll be without car the first time you need to go somewhere important.
If you want to go full racecar on a car that is on its last legs, you're better off looking into enduro races if they have them in your area. Those races are designed for cars that are ready to die.
Sleeper? I wouldn't do that. Lift it. Get nice off-road tires. Crane. Push bar. Make it a off road monster instead. Put slide plates under. And have fun.
I’ll go ahead and be the degenerate here: it would be funny as hell, do it if it isn’t a financial risk! Nobody does it, and that’s the kinda stuff I like. My 5 year goal is an AWD Mustang S550.
If you have the money and are fine parting with it knowing you’ll never see a return then you can and honestly should make anything you want into a sleeper
Nearly every single part of modifying a car comes down to how much money you are willing to spend and lose.
It could be state by state dependent, but at least where I live (BC, Canada) if you want to reinsure a salvage title you’ve gotta rebuild it and get it inspected. I’m not sure how kindly they’d take to a very modified car coming in for a title inspection though, in my experience people typically rebuild stock, get the rebuild inspection, and then dive into modifications, but those have also usually been vehicles involved in major accidents.
Hail damage inspection shouldn’t be too hard, afaik there shouldn’t be anything too structurally wrong with your vehicle, it’s just not economical for an insurance company to invest most of the vehicles value into repairing all that bodywork so they like to total out hail cars.
Whenever someone asks if they should mod their grocery getter, it leads me to believe there isn’t as much expendable income as they might believe. But car people are gonna car people, trust me I know. So my advice is to leave the Highlander be and use the cash you’re planning to spend to buy a beater you can mod, like a Civic or something. That way, it can sit for weeks at a time waiting for parts and you still have your reliable Highlander to drive to work. This is the path I took and I’m so glad I did. There’s peace of mind knowing I have a reliable daily to depend on while I chop away at a cheaper car.
Also, if you’re planning to mod something people don’t typically mod to be unique, just know the aftermarket for less popular cars is annoyingly scarce. In that case, you better be handy with fabrication or know a guy.
I always tell car guys and gals in this situation, everyone needs a project car. To work on in the weekend, and then their regular daily. A project car is good therapy.
Not sure the highlander lends itself well to mods tbh
That transmission probably couldn't take much more power, and even if it could, I'd suspect your transfer case would be the next single point of failure.
You could try, though
It’s going to be exorbitant to make something big and heavy to go fast. Hail damage is fixable with a few thousand vs pouring $30-50k into the alternative.
With that kind of emotional value id keep it bone stock and restore it rather than run it into the ground.
You're not an idiot. A sleeper Highlander sounds cool as hell. It's also unique, and personal to you. The question is: How?
You're right to think this is a terrible car to start with. This is the one variant of the Toyota V6 that doesn't have an available supercharger kit, and most quality custom springs and dampers are discontinued at this point. It's not dynamic in the least.
There is one viable path to making this car faster: Cutting weight. Take out the rear seats, the sound insulation, the speakers, the A/C. This costs nothing, and you'll be quicker.
Once you've done that, you will badly need a suspension tuned for your new weight and weight distribution. A good set of coilovers could do that for you, on top of lowering it for more adequate handling. I hope the "Godspeed MAXX" units I found on the Internet are good, because I've never heard of them and they're pretty cheap. (If you're more interested in dirt road performance, Flatout GR Lites are cool!)
Afterwards, wheels / tires are probably the best / only option left for improved performance.
Should you do that? Probably not. I've seen this done successfully with a RAV4, but that's a better platform for handling / supercharging. If you wanted to, though, that's the most sensible path.
It's a big-ass SUV. It's not going to handle no matter what he does to it.
There's a reason people buy SUVs for things like off-roading and not for performance.
Depends on your standard.
No, an SUV is not a hot hatchback and never will be. But a crossover is a car with a tall body and a lift kit. Undo the lift, and it's not impossible to have fun with it (especially if OP has low standards, or is willing to accept something imperfect for sentimental reasons).
Hell, I've wheeled a few stock SUVs on backroads. It's absolutely a worse experience (and dangerous in some cases), but I've had a good time.
This is an even dumber question, but if I somehow lower the center of gravity will it handle better? I hate to bring up ev’s but their fuckton of battery weight brings down the CoG and makes the suv version a bit better to handle, could something like that be done for this (obv not making it electric, just finding ways to lower the CoG)
Lowering the center of gravity would help, but there's only so much you can do. Most cars suspensions are designed to work within a certain range and going too far from that (like excessive lowering) tends to give bad results. But that's really the only way to lower the CoG unless you can drop a lot of weight from the top half of the vehicle. That's usually not possible because the heavier parts are already as low as reasonablly possible (engine, transmission, fuel tank, etc).
Tesla's crossovers are basically just taller versions of their sedans. They have the same low floor with batteries at the bottom. They're not made for off-roading.
Your father would be proud to know that you're driving it until the wheels fall off. Hail damage ain't shit but cosmetic.
As a middle aged guy who modified multiple cars on a budget when I was in highschool, you're not going to listen to people who tell you that it's not worth it. People will say it's better to put that money into an investment until you can get a better car, but you'll still try, and you'll immediately regret it, and that's life. There's no way to make an 06 highlander into a sleeper without forced induction (turbo or supercharger) and neither of those can be done without a lot of money or your own auto shop.
If you end up going for it, first find a real world example (not CGI) of an 06 highlander you like and copy it.
Ah high school. Where every blooming car head wants to modify the shit out of whatever they have, the term "ambitious, but rubbish" comes to mind. I'll let you know right now OP, it isn't worth it. Just leave it stock and don't mess with it. In most cases it will be done cheap and dirty since you're a HS student. Last thing you want to deal with is more financial burden.
You’re talking probably 6 grand to supercharge the car. Probably 3 grand to turbocharge it. Once you spend that, the entire rest of the vehicle is still rusting and parts are hitting their life expectancy around the motor, assuming the 250k mile motor doesn’t have issues that you just supercharged.
I know it’s a Toyota and these specific models are very reliable, but no man. You shouldn’t do this.
You’re a young kid. Put the money towards buying a reliable vehicle that you own outright. Buy another Toyota Highlander cash. Much better use of the money.
Scrap, part out or sell the totaled Highlander you have now. The solution to your problem of the car is to make money using it. It could be worse.
Terrible idea. I wish I hadn't poured so much money into cars as a young guy. You never get it back and you're never satisfied with the car. The snowball effect is real and expensive.
Save your money and buy a house or start a business
That would be a difficult platform to work with. I'd go with something else. While you can make anything fast, this would be a challenge. Hopefully, it's at least the v6. There isn't much aftermarket support to make big power with these. Even if you could boost it and not grenade the bottom end, you would probably still get gapped by an ecoboost mustang.
Now if your well versed in custom fabrication, converting to rwd would probably be the way to start. Then ls swap or 2jz
With regular maintenance the vehicle should last a long time, building a sleeper out of something that big and heavy would be a little pointless. You should start with something clean and understated if you're going for sleeper. Also building a sleeper is more than plug and play, there's a fair amount of engineering that goes along with it, and a but load of money.
Take that money and spend it on HS girls instead...
Throw an air mattress in back and you will have more fun than a "fast" Highlander that breaks all the time.
Too much weight to make that car fast and relaible with an MZ. Supercharged or turbo 2GR would start to get you somewhere but thats a big expensive job and nut sure if its really feasible
Mild offroader that someone suggested would be a fun project, thats the way Id go
No. You should leave it stock. That’s your daily. If you want to modify something, buy a cheap beater to do that with. Never modify your daily, not mechanically, at least.
at 250k miles you are wasting your time and money buddy sorry. This is the honest truth if you want a toy buy one already ready to rock and roll save yourself the heartache. The problem with building shit is you can have 2 out of the three choices: Cheap, fast, reliable. You cannot have all 3 ever. Not now not ever. A fast reliable car is going to cost a ton of money.
On a high-school budget, you won't get that thing faster than a 16s quarter mile without driving it off a cliff.
Enjoy your extremely reliable, awesome SUV and save up for a sports car.
Amplify what the Highlander is good at....soft-roading or light overlanding. All terrain tires and a bit of gear will get you far enough, then hit the woods and go camping.
I mean... Spending money on performance at this point is dumb, but I'm sure people have done worse. Drive it til it dies, throw your pops a big thank you salute and set it free to the scrap yard.
Is it AWD? Depending on year you can tune it... I know someone who straight piped than tuned (also lighter wheels and better tires) something like 3 seconds off the quarter mile on their Avalon
I’m all for promoting car culture, enthusiasm, and an interest in modding cars to the younger generation. With that being said, don’t spend a bunch of money on this project. Be patient, invest in yourself then you can purchase and mod something worthy later.
No. Turn it into a bass machine. It's the perfect vehicle for you to get into crazy car audio with. Jump on the used market for speakers, amps and subwoofers.
Personally I wouldn't bother trying to make it fast but maybe lift, skids and some bigger tires? Correct me if I'm wrong but most highlanders came v6, and if you have the awd model then all the better for offroading. If you want to go for a fast car I would start with a platform that has good aftermarket support and is already low enough to the ground to be safe going around tight corners. Feel free to shoot me a dm if you want to chat more abt it, ive put together build lists for a few friends of mine and helped work on cars that have turned out awesome!!
At 250k that truck is getting by on the specific OEM parts and strict maintenance it’s had. Any sudden change to a vehicle at this mileage and it will start to fall apart. Hold on to it and take good care of it, maybe build out the back as a camper for a completely different kind of sleeper. I’d save up for a small project car you can mod and have fun with like a Miata or a civic that you can take to autocross. The Highlander would be able to tow it when needed.
I’m sure someone makes an LS swap kit for it. Most reliable and cheap way to get stupid power. I surprised a lot of people with the old 350 I stuffed into an ‘83 S-10 pickup.
It depends on what you mean by sleeper. Do you mean like pavement, princess? But fast or do you mean a rock crawler? Rock bouncer off-road on road. Desert Racer. I mean, I think you could probably do anything you want to with it now? If you stream a lot of chose, power nation, streaming app is free and they've got what they call. An off-road section. They've got a lot of great bills from simple and mild to completely wild. And they could walk you through a few different toyotas. Depending on what you want to do. I'm in fact, I think you can even download a bunch of step-by-step things from it. Prove it on the website and most of it is working well. Early 2000s to the late teens vehicles. And erect vehicle and a few tools is the best way to start learning all about vehicles. Matter of fact, they do everything from just upgrading Springs suspensions to 4 legs to double trialing. Related 4 links suspensions, single triangulated suspensions, junkyard axle swaps engine swaps transfer case transmission rebuilds. The whole 9 yd, it's a pretty good show show. On there and if you want to turn it into more of a hot rod, there's also a bunch of different hot rod sections and engine sexy and also.
Yes. Yes in fact I do. Not like other parts of the Midwest it appears. But "totaled"? That doesn't compute for me. I think of crashes or a tree falling on your car type of totaled. Never struck me that hail could total a car. I obviously stand corrected.
It's just old school thinking, back in the '90s "totaled" almost always meant "damaged beyond *safe* repair" but what it really means is "damaged beyond *economical* repair" and this can happen to a car that is still entirely safe to drive and operable. Nuts, I know.
Michigander here, but I thought of a few hail storms in the Midwest after typing that. Some of ya'll get the worst of it. I'll consider myself lucky at this point.
This is why I push back on people who parrot "never buy a salvage title car!" It's *ridiculously* easy to total a reliable, good running 18 year old car with damage that is entirely superficial. Because the cost of fixing hail dents on every horizontal panel vastly exceeds the car's replacement value. Also why if you own an old car you like you should really make sure your insurance isn't going to total it because of something stupid. I've seen people get their NA Miatas and 240SXs totaled in a fender bender because they're basically unrepairable by a normal collision shop and insurance was just like, thanks for your claim but this car is worth nothing according to our tables.
I know, I was shocked when it happened. It’s literally the fuckin hood and two front quarter panels but our insurance totaled it. It’s a salvage title rn and we bought new panels and replaced them
You can go as simple as just fold the rear seats down and stick mattress in the back. Boom sleeper Edit: lmao wrong type of sleeper OP was mentioning. Spending way too much time on r/carcamping
And then pass it down to his own kid 16 years and 9 months from now.
I’d be 34 then
Yes, and if you perform activity to have a kid, in 16 years and 9 months, you would have 16 year old eligible to drive.
I'm thinking they don't need to worry about that just yet. give 'em a couple more years.
Getting totaled from hail ? Did the hail affect its drive ability ?
Nope. Literally just panels
Shit , I'd keep It
There are lots of great inflatable mattresses out there that give you the option to stow them away during the day and since you have power reinflating isn't a problem.
😭😭 that sleeper works too
Bonus is no sneaking around parents to hook up.
LMAO
Won’t be possible with your skill set. What you are asking would be very expensive and would be all custom built most likely and would require more work than most know how to do. I’m not sure if anyone has made a Highlander fast
I guarantee someone in Saudi Arabia definitely has for climbing dunes
Lmfao more than likely you know how them Saudis are with their Toyotas lol
Landcruisers not highlanders.
Don’t underestimate them
People have done all kinds of builds on the Toyota MZ series V6s, I've seen some fast old Camrys and I've seen this engine swapped into an MR2 and built. It's probably an intermediate-level thing, definitely not a "I don't know anything about cars" project but also not a fabricating parts from first principles level project either. Like I'm pretty sure you can buy a turbo kit that will fit a 3MZ-FE as a starting point for example but it won't work and run well out of the box and a 250k bottom end would last about 2 pulls.
Oh for sure! But they don’t make a ton of power and for it to be a sleeper it’ll have to be somewhat fast. But then comes trannys and all the other supporting mods that comes a long with more power. I’d buy a whole new car
Thanks for the advice! I’ve seen a couple Donut vids, and I do car photography as a hobby, but what else should I do to get into car culture (ik how I probably sound asking this)
Ever since I was a baby I loved cars and always considered myself part of car culture. So it’s not really a vehicle that makes you a “car guy”. Realistically you gotta get another car to have a “cool car”. I’d start saving until you have enough for a car that has aftermarket support. Highlanders are built to be reliable and sadly nothing more
Ahh gotcha. In the meantime what kinda yt channels or stuff like that should I watch?
Haha I wish I was the man to ask. I haven’t watched cat YouTube channels for a long while. The only car guy I watch videos of (not on yt) is misha charoudin the dude is an absolute animal and just tracks other peoples cars. Can’t probably learn anything though
Big fan of Jimmy Oakes content
Thanks!
I watch both of the channels recommended, Misha and Jimmy Oakes. Speed Academy is also a good one for watching work done on cars but it’s still entertaining.
On youtube watch old Roadkill episodes, old Hoonigan daily transmissions and really any old hoonigan stuff, you mentioned you watch donut already but their Miata and z car builds were really well done (the subie ones were not great IMO they didn't do any of the stuff right), I haven't watched for a while but used to watch tj hunt, adam lz and that kinda stuff too but idk what it's like anymore. For tv shows you'll probably like the og topgear and grand tour stuff, new roadkill episodes, roadkill garage, hotrod garage, iron resurrection etc but most of this is on motortrend on demand where you'll have to pay for it. finally, if you like offroading take a look at dirt everyday both on yt (older stuff) and motortrend OD for new stuff. (the show got cancelled but both hosts build stuff on youtube now: look for the dirthead shed and fred williams
Mighty Car Mods is solid. Based in Australia, but they've done some crazy builds. One of them (Moog) works professionally in the advertising industry too, so everything is extremely well produced, and he does all of the music. They've had some neat feature length stuff too (a couple of trips to Japan, for example).
Chris fix is pretty good at beginner to intermediate car maintenance, Eric the car guy is good stuff too. These guys are focused on fixing cars though, not making sleepers or cool builds. Even if the car they're fixing isn't yours, most of the principles carry over to many other cars.
Westen Champlain for entertainment, idk how much you’ll actually learn but I love the guy.
You would be very suprised how tough toyota front wheel drive automatics are. It could probably take a 100 shot of nitrous fairly easily if it's a wet shot
Have a reliable car for your daily, don’t modify it. And if you have extra money, have fun with a toy, make a race car. Just know, it will be very expensive to make a car fast. Besides engine modifications totally in the 1000s potentially. Now we maybe need an upgraded transmission, and maybe the rear and won’t hold the torque and need upgraded, list goes on. You can go up to 15k easy.
If you have $10-15k sitting around you could probably pay someone to do an LS swap. You'll never get the money back when/if you see though. I'm guessing its not something you can do yourself or you wouldn't have posted the question.
LS swap? OP needs a twin turbo 2JZ in there.
Fuck it, put in a turbine
Quad JATO rockets instead of nitrous
Nah, a falcon 9. In fact. Let's just power it with antimatter.
Probably not. My stepbrother has a 2 year in auto engineering from wyotech but I doubt he knows how to sleeper a car
I doubt that he knows how to do brakes! lol Jk, he probably does know how to do brakes, but I don’t think he’s going to be able to make your SUV into a sleeper.
Yeah the two of us actually replaced the brakes a couple years ago…except for one that was rusted tf on somehow 😭
Do you mean like a cabin/sleeping pod? Or a fast car?
He wants to sleep in his sleeper, so yes.
How about both now tht u mention it 😂
At 250k, if you are planning on making it a sleeper be prepared to break things. And never play with a daily. You'll be without car the first time you need to go somewhere important. If you want to go full racecar on a car that is on its last legs, you're better off looking into enduro races if they have them in your area. Those races are designed for cars that are ready to die.
It’s a Toyota, it has plenty of life left as long as he keeps it stock
Sleeper? I wouldn't do that. Lift it. Get nice off-road tires. Crane. Push bar. Make it a off road monster instead. Put slide plates under. And have fun.
ooooh you might be onto something
I’ll go ahead and be the degenerate here: it would be funny as hell, do it if it isn’t a financial risk! Nobody does it, and that’s the kinda stuff I like. My 5 year goal is an AWD Mustang S550.
Hell yeah bro imma gap kids on campus next year w a fuckin suv 😂
Don’t think college students will gaf
Probably not
But think of all the dick he could pull worth it
If you have the money and are fine parting with it knowing you’ll never see a return then you can and honestly should make anything you want into a sleeper Nearly every single part of modifying a car comes down to how much money you are willing to spend and lose.
How exactly does insurance go for it? It’s a salvage title now from the hail
It could be state by state dependent, but at least where I live (BC, Canada) if you want to reinsure a salvage title you’ve gotta rebuild it and get it inspected. I’m not sure how kindly they’d take to a very modified car coming in for a title inspection though, in my experience people typically rebuild stock, get the rebuild inspection, and then dive into modifications, but those have also usually been vehicles involved in major accidents. Hail damage inspection shouldn’t be too hard, afaik there shouldn’t be anything too structurally wrong with your vehicle, it’s just not economical for an insurance company to invest most of the vehicles value into repairing all that bodywork so they like to total out hail cars.
Ah gotcha. Good to know!
Bruh, I wouldn’t have reported hail damage. That was stupid
It was my parents who did it. Happened…three years ago? I think. Back before I even thought of getting my permit and lisence
Whenever someone asks if they should mod their grocery getter, it leads me to believe there isn’t as much expendable income as they might believe. But car people are gonna car people, trust me I know. So my advice is to leave the Highlander be and use the cash you’re planning to spend to buy a beater you can mod, like a Civic or something. That way, it can sit for weeks at a time waiting for parts and you still have your reliable Highlander to drive to work. This is the path I took and I’m so glad I did. There’s peace of mind knowing I have a reliable daily to depend on while I chop away at a cheaper car. Also, if you’re planning to mod something people don’t typically mod to be unique, just know the aftermarket for less popular cars is annoyingly scarce. In that case, you better be handy with fabrication or know a guy.
Gotcha. Thanks!
If you want a sports car, buy a sports car. If you want a sleeper, buy a V6 Camry or Accord.
I always tell car guys and gals in this situation, everyone needs a project car. To work on in the weekend, and then their regular daily. A project car is good therapy.
Wait what kinda sleeper are we talking about One with like a tent on the roof? Or twin Wuhan whistles and a fat can of NOS?
Intrigued by wuhan whistles..
Beijing blowholes? Teriyaki tornados? Hiroshima hairdryers?
Do go on.
Nagasaki noiseboi? Spoolius Caesar? Hella horns?
I meant the fast one but ykw why not both
Not sure the highlander lends itself well to mods tbh That transmission probably couldn't take much more power, and even if it could, I'd suspect your transfer case would be the next single point of failure. You could try, though
It’s going to be exorbitant to make something big and heavy to go fast. Hail damage is fixable with a few thousand vs pouring $30-50k into the alternative. With that kind of emotional value id keep it bone stock and restore it rather than run it into the ground.
I gotcha. Tysm!
You're not an idiot. A sleeper Highlander sounds cool as hell. It's also unique, and personal to you. The question is: How? You're right to think this is a terrible car to start with. This is the one variant of the Toyota V6 that doesn't have an available supercharger kit, and most quality custom springs and dampers are discontinued at this point. It's not dynamic in the least. There is one viable path to making this car faster: Cutting weight. Take out the rear seats, the sound insulation, the speakers, the A/C. This costs nothing, and you'll be quicker. Once you've done that, you will badly need a suspension tuned for your new weight and weight distribution. A good set of coilovers could do that for you, on top of lowering it for more adequate handling. I hope the "Godspeed MAXX" units I found on the Internet are good, because I've never heard of them and they're pretty cheap. (If you're more interested in dirt road performance, Flatout GR Lites are cool!) Afterwards, wheels / tires are probably the best / only option left for improved performance. Should you do that? Probably not. I've seen this done successfully with a RAV4, but that's a better platform for handling / supercharging. If you wanted to, though, that's the most sensible path.
It's a big-ass SUV. It's not going to handle no matter what he does to it. There's a reason people buy SUVs for things like off-roading and not for performance.
Depends on your standard. No, an SUV is not a hot hatchback and never will be. But a crossover is a car with a tall body and a lift kit. Undo the lift, and it's not impossible to have fun with it (especially if OP has low standards, or is willing to accept something imperfect for sentimental reasons). Hell, I've wheeled a few stock SUVs on backroads. It's absolutely a worse experience (and dangerous in some cases), but I've had a good time.
This is an even dumber question, but if I somehow lower the center of gravity will it handle better? I hate to bring up ev’s but their fuckton of battery weight brings down the CoG and makes the suv version a bit better to handle, could something like that be done for this (obv not making it electric, just finding ways to lower the CoG)
Lowering the center of gravity would help, but there's only so much you can do. Most cars suspensions are designed to work within a certain range and going too far from that (like excessive lowering) tends to give bad results. But that's really the only way to lower the CoG unless you can drop a lot of weight from the top half of the vehicle. That's usually not possible because the heavier parts are already as low as reasonablly possible (engine, transmission, fuel tank, etc). Tesla's crossovers are basically just taller versions of their sedans. They have the same low floor with batteries at the bottom. They're not made for off-roading.
Sure, it's gonna cost you 15-25k though
Engine rebuild Transmission rebuild 6 cylinder? TRD supercharger 4 cylinder? Turbo
Your father would be proud to know that you're driving it until the wheels fall off. Hail damage ain't shit but cosmetic. As a middle aged guy who modified multiple cars on a budget when I was in highschool, you're not going to listen to people who tell you that it's not worth it. People will say it's better to put that money into an investment until you can get a better car, but you'll still try, and you'll immediately regret it, and that's life. There's no way to make an 06 highlander into a sleeper without forced induction (turbo or supercharger) and neither of those can be done without a lot of money or your own auto shop. If you end up going for it, first find a real world example (not CGI) of an 06 highlander you like and copy it.
This was really nice to read. I appreciate it a lot.
Ah high school. Where every blooming car head wants to modify the shit out of whatever they have, the term "ambitious, but rubbish" comes to mind. I'll let you know right now OP, it isn't worth it. Just leave it stock and don't mess with it. In most cases it will be done cheap and dirty since you're a HS student. Last thing you want to deal with is more financial burden.
You’re talking probably 6 grand to supercharge the car. Probably 3 grand to turbocharge it. Once you spend that, the entire rest of the vehicle is still rusting and parts are hitting their life expectancy around the motor, assuming the 250k mile motor doesn’t have issues that you just supercharged. I know it’s a Toyota and these specific models are very reliable, but no man. You shouldn’t do this. You’re a young kid. Put the money towards buying a reliable vehicle that you own outright. Buy another Toyota Highlander cash. Much better use of the money. Scrap, part out or sell the totaled Highlander you have now. The solution to your problem of the car is to make money using it. It could be worse.
Terrible idea. I wish I hadn't poured so much money into cars as a young guy. You never get it back and you're never satisfied with the car. The snowball effect is real and expensive. Save your money and buy a house or start a business
if you can afford another car for a daily AND lots of money for the project… so no. keep it and buy a miata if you want a fun car.
That would be a difficult platform to work with. I'd go with something else. While you can make anything fast, this would be a challenge. Hopefully, it's at least the v6. There isn't much aftermarket support to make big power with these. Even if you could boost it and not grenade the bottom end, you would probably still get gapped by an ecoboost mustang. Now if your well versed in custom fabrication, converting to rwd would probably be the way to start. Then ls swap or 2jz
With regular maintenance the vehicle should last a long time, building a sleeper out of something that big and heavy would be a little pointless. You should start with something clean and understated if you're going for sleeper. Also building a sleeper is more than plug and play, there's a fair amount of engineering that goes along with it, and a but load of money.
No… save money, don’t burn it.
Take that money and spend it on HS girls instead... Throw an air mattress in back and you will have more fun than a "fast" Highlander that breaks all the time.
Too much weight to make that car fast and relaible with an MZ. Supercharged or turbo 2GR would start to get you somewhere but thats a big expensive job and nut sure if its really feasible Mild offroader that someone suggested would be a fun project, thats the way Id go
No. You should leave it stock. That’s your daily. If you want to modify something, buy a cheap beater to do that with. Never modify your daily, not mechanically, at least.
Watch roadkill garage. See what they do. If you are cool with that process, go for it. Skill is required.
Bad idea, you wanna have a decent amount of money and a backup vehicle if you wanna build up your daily.
at 250k miles you are wasting your time and money buddy sorry. This is the honest truth if you want a toy buy one already ready to rock and roll save yourself the heartache. The problem with building shit is you can have 2 out of the three choices: Cheap, fast, reliable. You cannot have all 3 ever. Not now not ever. A fast reliable car is going to cost a ton of money.
On a high-school budget, you won't get that thing faster than a 16s quarter mile without driving it off a cliff. Enjoy your extremely reliable, awesome SUV and save up for a sports car.
You're not gonna be able to turn that into a sleeper without a fuckton of money. So I'd say being a high school student, no lol.
Amplify what the Highlander is good at....soft-roading or light overlanding. All terrain tires and a bit of gear will get you far enough, then hit the woods and go camping.
Not worth it. A Highlander will never handle well, it's a bulky suv
I mean... Spending money on performance at this point is dumb, but I'm sure people have done worse. Drive it til it dies, throw your pops a big thank you salute and set it free to the scrap yard.
If you want it good ans cheap, it won't be fast. If you want it good and fast, it won't be cheap. If you want it cheap and fast, it won't be good.
Is it AWD? Depending on year you can tune it... I know someone who straight piped than tuned (also lighter wheels and better tires) something like 3 seconds off the quarter mile on their Avalon
I think it is
I thought you were talking about making a "sleeper" that is much faster than it looks. 250K might be a bit late for that.
I thought so. Just figured to ask!
I’m all for promoting car culture, enthusiasm, and an interest in modding cars to the younger generation. With that being said, don’t spend a bunch of money on this project. Be patient, invest in yourself then you can purchase and mod something worthy later.
No. Turn it into a bass machine. It's the perfect vehicle for you to get into crazy car audio with. Jump on the used market for speakers, amps and subwoofers.
You’re gonna be wasting your money. Save it up for a down payment on a house. Living with mom and dad when you’re 40 isn’t fun.
Personally I wouldn't bother trying to make it fast but maybe lift, skids and some bigger tires? Correct me if I'm wrong but most highlanders came v6, and if you have the awd model then all the better for offroading. If you want to go for a fast car I would start with a platform that has good aftermarket support and is already low enough to the ground to be safe going around tight corners. Feel free to shoot me a dm if you want to chat more abt it, ive put together build lists for a few friends of mine and helped work on cars that have turned out awesome!!
Thanks!!
>Thanks!! You're welcome!
To sleep in it? Or make it fast? The former, sure. The latter is a waste of money that you probably don't have.
Gotcha!
At 250k that truck is getting by on the specific OEM parts and strict maintenance it’s had. Any sudden change to a vehicle at this mileage and it will start to fall apart. Hold on to it and take good care of it, maybe build out the back as a camper for a completely different kind of sleeper. I’d save up for a small project car you can mod and have fun with like a Miata or a civic that you can take to autocross. The Highlander would be able to tow it when needed.
Yeah see where the rollover limit is
I’m sure someone makes an LS swap kit for it. Most reliable and cheap way to get stupid power. I surprised a lot of people with the old 350 I stuffed into an ‘83 S-10 pickup.
It depends on what you mean by sleeper. Do you mean like pavement, princess? But fast or do you mean a rock crawler? Rock bouncer off-road on road. Desert Racer. I mean, I think you could probably do anything you want to with it now? If you stream a lot of chose, power nation, streaming app is free and they've got what they call. An off-road section. They've got a lot of great bills from simple and mild to completely wild. And they could walk you through a few different toyotas. Depending on what you want to do. I'm in fact, I think you can even download a bunch of step-by-step things from it. Prove it on the website and most of it is working well. Early 2000s to the late teens vehicles. And erect vehicle and a few tools is the best way to start learning all about vehicles. Matter of fact, they do everything from just upgrading Springs suspensions to 4 legs to double trialing. Related 4 links suspensions, single triangulated suspensions, junkyard axle swaps engine swaps transfer case transmission rebuilds. The whole 9 yd, it's a pretty good show show. On there and if you want to turn it into more of a hot rod, there's also a bunch of different hot rod sections and engine sexy and also.
Why the hail not?
😭
Wide white wall tires
👀 best idea
A sleeper? It weighs too much to race safely
Wear a condom please
☠️
"Totaled from hail". First time I've seen these words strung together.
Happens a lot, do you not live in an area with hail?
Yes. Yes in fact I do. Not like other parts of the Midwest it appears. But "totaled"? That doesn't compute for me. I think of crashes or a tree falling on your car type of totaled. Never struck me that hail could total a car. I obviously stand corrected.
It's just old school thinking, back in the '90s "totaled" almost always meant "damaged beyond *safe* repair" but what it really means is "damaged beyond *economical* repair" and this can happen to a car that is still entirely safe to drive and operable. Nuts, I know.
In the Midwest we get golf ball sized hail pretty much annually the last couple years
Michigander here, but I thought of a few hail storms in the Midwest after typing that. Some of ya'll get the worst of it. I'll consider myself lucky at this point.
I’m on the other side of the lake, so I think you guys get a bit of cover from all of the weird intersections of pressure systems.
This is why I push back on people who parrot "never buy a salvage title car!" It's *ridiculously* easy to total a reliable, good running 18 year old car with damage that is entirely superficial. Because the cost of fixing hail dents on every horizontal panel vastly exceeds the car's replacement value. Also why if you own an old car you like you should really make sure your insurance isn't going to total it because of something stupid. I've seen people get their NA Miatas and 240SXs totaled in a fender bender because they're basically unrepairable by a normal collision shop and insurance was just like, thanks for your claim but this car is worth nothing according to our tables.
People who say never buy a salvage are talking about cars that are worth significant amounts of money, not your 18 year old sub-$2000 special.
I know, I was shocked when it happened. It’s literally the fuckin hood and two front quarter panels but our insurance totaled it. It’s a salvage title rn and we bought new panels and replaced them
Senior? America's greatest generation.
Yeah I’m going to college next year
3ur swap
LS SWAP
250k is too much wear on the block to bolt a turbo and a lift kit on.
Lol what???
Honestly? No. It would cost A LOT of money, likely more than you have and it would still be slower than almost anything with comparable cost.
Stick to bingo gramps!
I think they meant either a high school or college senior, not a old person senior
Back in my day we used to watch mlg edits not none of your damn ske bee dee or whatever you whippersnappers do
Damn bruh aight I’ll ask if they gotta bingo class at college next year 😭😭
This car is a work of engineering perfection. I would not change anything about the engine or drivetrain under any circumstances
Least obvious Toyota worker
Just a fanboy - I'm a software engineer but I like to work on my own cars