Had some time in the garage last night, so I installed that SR5 panel on drivers side.

Here you see I have taped the moisture barrier back down. I also used a piece of a heavy yard waste bag to cover the speaker hole that someone cut in door. I greased the window mechanism with lithium grease and of course put tite seal inside door before this step.


And the finished product...also scraped that purple tint off the window, that was bugging me for the last 5 years. I also cleaned the door seals and coated them with vaseline. They're in good shape for 29 years old and I want to keep them that way.


On another note, I sold my old tcase on eBay. I told myself I would buy the vinyl floor when that happens, so I'm putting together my Rock auto order now...including some AC stuff that I'll need to get that going.

 

Man those door panels look great! The more i look at yalls 4runners is giving me the itch for another first gen. Ive been scouring craigslist nite and day.

 

A couple of little accessories showed up for my center console. I got these off ebay a while back, but shipping from Taiwan or China took like a month to get here. Planning to do some more work on the console this weekend.

 

An officemate suggested using 100% silicone di-electric grease on the rubber seals/ trims. Worked great, too.

Nice! I also like the combination lock! Go links? Tnx, Cory!

 

Ray - dielectric grease...that's a good tip. I read about using vaseline to "refresh" the seals on a refrigerator, and then I thought it would work on the truck as well.

Here is the link to the combination lock http://www.ebay.com/itm/112244592498...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

And I actually bought the USB Port and Cig Lighter from Amazon

 

Nice work on the runner, the ammo can console is a neat idea, excited to see how it turns out!


Were those stripes a stock option? I haven't seen that design before

 

Thanks magnet18. I really don't know if the stripes are original. Definitely the bottom 2 stripes don't seem factory to me, but the big swooshes on the doors look factory. This truck has had some body work way before me, so who knows.

Got a little bit of work done on the console. I welded the passenger side onto the cupholder addition. Ground most of the welds down.



On the driver's side, I'm making that part removeable so I can open it and get to the back of the USB power outlet. I would have installed the USB outlet, but turns out I don't have a drill bit large enough or a hole saw small enough. Gotta think about what I want to do there.



So now I need to install that USB power port, figure out the combination lock, and then clean up and paint this thing.

 

What size bit do you need? If I have it, I'll trade ya for your old Toyota fender badge

 

Tony - sending you a PM.

 

I like how your console is turning out! Let us know how you like the combination lock once you've got it installed, I've been looking for options for my next console build, thanks and nice work!

 

Ed - I will post more soon, I ordered a step drill bit that should be here today so I can drill the holes for the lock and the USB port.

I received the vinyl flooring from ACC. The material is nice and thick, and I like the texture. It also comes with some insulation that I assume is for the firewall. I guess for $106 it's decent. We'll see once I install it.




On another topic, I had a marker light out, so I figured might as well go LED. I ordered these Amazenar amber LEDs from Amazon, $10 for 4, and they are definitely brighter than the incandescent...

LED on the left in case you can't tell. I'd like replacement corner lenses, still deciding whether to go with the hilux combo turn signal/marker corner lenses or whether to just get new US spec marker lenses.

 

Nice work on the LED's!... I was unaware that you could get vinyl flooring for our rigs, I might have went that direction instead of carpet if I had known about it at the time...it's been a year and I still haven't installed the carpet yet, lol. Can't wait to see how your floors look when your done!

 

link to the vinyl flooring anywhere?
(Sorry if I missed it)

Im debating between that and marine boat carpet

 

The vinyl floor is made by ACC, I bought it through Rock Auto, they were the cheapest by a few bucks. There are a few molded spots in it, like the hump over the seat brackets and some bumpouts high up on the firewall, but other than those places, almost seems like a generic sheet of vinyl could be used. We'll see once I install it, it is definitely thick and heavy, and the included insulation will be nice in addition to the tite-seal that I have put down.

 

Started working on the floor holes. First I cut out a little square...here's my cardboard template.


When welding that little piece in, I could barely get any weld to stick without blowing a hole right thru and I'm using a copper spoon on the back, .030 wire and trying to dial down the speed. So I cut out the crappy welded piece and went bigger.



I was so frustrated, I kept blowing holes in this new piece. Finally I got a few decent tacks to stick and I finally said to heck with it, ground the welds down some and painted it. I used the POR-15 metal prep spray to prepare it before painting, my can of POR-15 was all solidified so that really frustrated me, I whipped out the rustoleum red and brushed it on. I'm going to fiberglass over it and fill the swiss cheese holes. The weld's look like garbage, I've never welded sheet metal before and I hope I never do again. Waiting for the paint to dry so I can put down the fiberglass filler.

 

Should have put the fiberglass down before the paint. I would strip it and put it down to bare metal then glass it.

as for welding sheet metal, I'm assuming you are using flux core with .030.

if that's the case, that is what i used. It is stupid hard to weld but i managed to figure it out.

I'm using a hobart auto arc setting the voltage to 1 and wire speed to 30. Trigger pulls have to be short and deliberate. There can be absolutely no gap. On the panels where i had a gap i would take a welding rod, i think 3/16 and weld with that as a filler rod. It was messy but worked.

 

Cutting out floor sections is going down a rabbit hole. Well worth it in the end, but sometimes it's hard to know when to stop. Argon gas with the 030 wire will weld 20 gauge if your careful. The floor pan should be 14-16 but I know what your going thru with the deterioration of the metal. Flux tends to blow thru a lot more than the gas. Another thing you can try if you'd like is to cut the patch panel an inch bigger all the way around leaving a flange and then drill some 3/8 holes about every 6" on "the flange" and plug weld or rosette the holes.

Cant wait to see that vinyl in there!

P.S. Don't forget to treat/paint the underside especially the welds. As soon as the zinc is burned off the sheet metal, the rust will come quick.

 

I used a Lincoln 240v mig, I've heard 110 is better
second to lowest wire speed. Rusted thin metal i eventually gave up butt welding on and filled with allmetal. Rusty floorpan i would definitely just oversize and paint well.
I second the wirebrush and then fill. Allmetal or duraglass or something

 

ehatch - good tip on the gaps and using the welding rod to fill it. I just ran out of patience, I was so frustrated. I will wire wheel that paint off before I apply the glass, thanks man.

Tony - yeah that floor pan is THIN, I don't know all the metal working tricks, so yeah sounds like cutting it bigger and doing the plug welds would have been smarter. I guess you have to learn sometime. I did paint the underside. The frame rail is right there and makes it hard to get to a lot of it, but I'll make sure it gets coated.

Thanks Rob, I will just wirebrush and fill it, I don't think I can stomach cutting it out again.

 

Thanks for everyone's input, I was so frustrated Sunday using my POS harbor freight welder to blow holes in the floor. I wire wheeled the paint off, hit it with some more mineral spirits and wiped it clean, and then I mixed up some long hair bondo and applied it. I put more hardener than it says on the can, and still the working time is like 1 minute, but I got it on there. We are headed to Legoland tomorrow, so I wanted to get this on there so that maybe on Sunday when we get back I can do a little more work on it. A decent welder is on my list.