First half back from paint. New rockers, cab corners, fenders. Paint turned out great. Had rock guard ran up 6” and also into the inner door sill. All door jambs painted and rust proofing on all new parts and inside doors. Box is getting worked on now. Having a hard time sourcing a decent tailgate so it may get a new factory job. Once bed is painted it will be sent over for Line-x.

So far I’ve gotten the back quarter windows in, few cab plugs and cab vents. Found 2 bolts snapped off for front skid plate so it’s off now getting painted and will replace those. Also repainting mirrors and outer door trim as they were faded badly.

I decided to rename my posts to Momo’s 95 DLX build. I felt that I surpassed the idea of a low buck build up with this truck.

When I originally started out I had ideas of being able to completely redo this truck for around $5000 to $6000. But as of now I’m pushing almost $8000 and I can see more than likely another thousand going into it. I honestly hope that I can finish this build with less than $10,000 or very close to it.

Over the last couple of weeks I found a used factory tailgate that looked almost brand new. I found it about two hours away from my home at a little junkyard in Northeast Iowa. It had been sitting in one of their barns for several years. Only about two dents in it about the size of a dime each and no rust.

I also ordered several parts from Camelback Toyota parts. I have to say that I was very impressed with their pricing and their service. I ordered several parts namely weatherstrip some chrome molding for around the windshield and clips. When I checked in all the parts I noticed that I was missing a couple pieces and it was a simple phone call to them about five minutes on the phone and they realized they forgot to send a couple parts and within an hour those parts were on the truck heading to my home. I recommend them to anybody looking for factory brand new parts as everything is available online through their catalog.

I had also been out to a junkyard in Southeast Iowa trying to find some parts and pieces but couldn’t find anything. I’ve been looking for new outside door handles because when I removed my original ones they both cracked at the mounting points. Since the metal nut is in a recessed plastic housing and with 20+ years of being held together all it took was a pretty good torque on a screwdriver to put a stress crack in all of those mounting points.

I try to epoxy them back together but it didn’t work. Each time that I would try and tighten the doorhandle up i just broke the epoxy loose. So I ordered two factory doorhandles from Rancho Toyota parts out of California. Another great place that I found it very easy to look on their website and find exactly what I needed and they pulled the parts and ship them to me for a very very reasonable price.

It’s been really hot here lately and so I haven’t been out working on the truck as much as I would like to. But this week has brought in several inches of rain and cooler temperatures. So installing weatherstripping and hopefully getting a box back from paint very soon will be my next adventure over the following couple of weeks

Rear bumper mounts painted and installed
Weatherstrip fits perfectly! No aftermarket weatherstrip as I’ve fought door gaps and clearances before
Lots of parts!
Fresh look for the mirrors-many years of sun fading had made the mirrors look chalky. Scrubbed down and fresh coat of flat black and they look new! Be sure to use adhesion promoter on your plastic pieces

Quick update-Front bumper mounted temporarily while I get a new bracket for it, had to cut the old one off. Paint for the mirrors and trim piece turned out very nice and those are both back on.




Right now I'm getting the glass back in. Ordered all new weatherstrip for both doors, waiting for it to arrive.

Found a chrome push bar that I've been looking for quite some time. Located in SE Missouri, it was a brand new piece left over from someone's shop. It should be here tomorrow.

Getting ready to order carpet and sound deadener for the floor and door panels. Need to listen to a few speakers but will be mounting 5" doors speakers and 6.5" speakers in the back, all new wiring, head unit and possibly an amp and sub.

Last night I worked on the drivers side windows, getting new weatherstrip installed on ventilator window, new glass run and installed glass on regulator. Used all factory Toyota parts, everything fitting perfect. Made the mistake of installing the glass run weatherstrip above the ventilator window before installing it, and it pushed the entire assembly down just a little, creating a small gap in weatherstrip. Tonight I'll re-do that and should be good to finish up passenger side.







New JBL speakers and sound deadener will be this weekends project as well as finishing up the front bumper and valance. Might try installing rear slider as well.

Finished both vent windows and main window installs today. All went pretty smooth and I greased the tracks which made a huge improvement.

Also installed new fender liners from Rock Auto, repainted bumper balance, center grill section and installed. Tomorrow will work on installing the fatmat sound deadened and maybe get the new speakers installed.

Worked on removing the old tar insulation sheets on the floor last night. I had to take the drivers side out when I started the project as the floor had rusted through. It actually didn't help the problem as water had leaked in from the seam of the firewall, ran down around and under it and eventually made the floor rust around the body mount area. I thought about trying to re-seal it to the floor and cover it with sound deadener, but it just won't hold up long term, doing it this way.







Most of the floor is coming up in big sheets, was suprised at how easily it's coming off. Once I have it stripped down, I'll run a degreaser over the entire floor then install the Fatmat 80 mil sound deadener. Going to cover entire floor, some of the inner door panels but more than likely won't mess with the roof.

The headliner has a small tear, but not sure if I'll get that taken care of just yet. Front drivers seat needs recovered but having a hard time finding original style material so it matches.

Finished getting all of the tar sections pulled out last night. All in all, came out relatively easy. I then sprayed it all down with Eastwood pre paint prep, which literally melted the remaining tar and crud away. Wiped it all out, vacuumed and re sprayed the sections again.



I laid out the Fatmat deadener to get an idea of how much I'll need and where to place it. For the floor section, up the back cab wall and the small box out section under the rear seat, it will take all of the 36 sq. ft., as I will double up the front driver and passenger side area to mimic the original.



I want to install my amp inside the box out section here and also incorporate a sub or two. The rear open space area on the side wall I need to build something that will hold a couple 6.5 speakers as well.

Today I worked on installing the sound deadener on the floor, doors and back wall/panel. Very easy material to work with and has made a big difference in sound and feel. The doors feel much stronger and have minimal weight added.

Stereo installation started. Kenwood Excelon 501 and JBL speakers. I ran 3 pair of pre out cables for a future amp.



Still have some smoke stains remaining on the plastic that need scrubbed off.












Not the best of mounting but all I could do at this point, since the 4" speaker is a little different than the 4T mounting. Surprisingly decent sound from these little speakers, but doesn't take much to overpower them.

And done...tomorrow working on door panels. Carpet will be ordered as well. Hoping the box is done this week!