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Decided on a few things. Thinking back to growing up in the early 90’s in the golden ages of the minitruck scene and getting sentimental about some high school memories, combined with a lifetime obsession with Toyota’s: 1. Needs to start, and run, EVERY DAY. If you can’t drive it cross country on any given day, it’s pointless. 2. Needs to be an original black truck. No color changes. 3. Has to have a good stereo. a. Alpine head unit, no touch screens, but BlueTooth is ok, so might as well mandate hands free phone as well. b. Has to use JL Audio wire and connectors. c. JL 12” sub. d. Has to keep at least (1) back “jump” seat regardless of the box. e. Needs to incorporate additional interior lighting to offset the “gloom” of the factory overhead some light. f. Needs to incorporate at least (2) sets of 6.5” separates for the front and rear speakers to fill it in properly. g. Needs to be soundproofed. SEALED, not just a few “peel and sticks” here and there. Both for sound quality as well as temperature control and road noise. 4. No sliding back glass. Ever. 5. Darkest tint the law will allow. 6. Updated bucket seats. Preferably 05+ Tacoma TRD seats so I can fit the Toyota TRD seat covers on them. 7. Factory parts and hardware where it counts. Third party stuff when Toyota prices are stupid for something simple. |
There may be some other stuff along the way, but to get things started, since I knew I had a LOT of interior work to do, I started there. Started gutting the interior. Saved the jump seats to re-use the foam cushion material for later. https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...fa3a47973.jpeg |
Right away I found a Toyota VIP RSXXXX security system brain under the driver seat. Since I plan to install a Clifford alarm, this is surely going to be an item of interest later on. If anyone knows where to find a diagram on how there were wired in to the T100, please share. |
I was thinking about making a carbon fiber enclosure to save space and weight, but since this is his first truck and I plan on shedding weight elsewhere like removing the spare tire, etc, I decided to go with a standard MDF box. Simple design, etc..
After some ideas, and some measuring, I went to work on the box right away. https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...251262c0e.jpeg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...141902c4c.jpeg |
After peeling the fabric off the jump seats, ripping out the metal internal tubing, and cutting a piece of the foam to make a new “jump seat”, I started wrapping it in carpet and flexSealing the internal spaces to to add another layer of seal protection.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...cdc51c225.jpeg |
I remade the rear “cushion twice since the above photo, but I’ll post more pics of that as I go. |
Pulled the seats. They had to go. Words cannot explain how much I hate the stock seats in the T100. If anyone wants them, come get ‘em. https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...8e8aa5aa8.jpeg |
Since I had some time, I rolled in the FJ to a local junkyard and found a set of Tacoma TRD seats. Hauling ‘em home.
$75 for the pair. score....... https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...2c2d7b09d.jpeg |
While I contemplate the fact that the seats are not going to be a direct bolt-in because the rails are about 3” narrower on the Tacoma seats, I might as well get all the interior panels ripped out and get to work on the sound deadening material. I used to be a car audio installer at a JL Audio / Alpine shop and I have a good amount of experience with Dynamat. Enough to know that it’s overpriced and that you buy the exact same material at Home Depot for a fraction of the cost. https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...7a51bb2d9.jpeg |
The “Instant Waterproof Repair Tape” is, without reservation, Dynamat, repackaged without the logos to provide a continued demand for the raw product. So I’ll start with the doors, to seal them up and get the door speakers in so I can start redoing the doors and door fabric. |
Time to shred the hands.https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...4eb148346.jpeghttps://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...d3f652003.jpeg https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...79ce7b56a.jpegPainted the armrest support brackets, etc. test wired the door speakers for wire length. |
It immediately became obvious that 6.5” were not going to fit in the factory door speaker plates. Looked around on Crutchfield and Amazon and ordered some adapters for 6.5”. Cheap part, so worth the money to not spend the time making my own. While I was at it I ordered speaker baffles to ensure the air space behind the speaker was sealed and to ensure that any water that may make its way past the window runner doesn’t end up getting on the back side of the speakers. ......and wouldn’t you know that the adapters would NOT accept a high end 6.5”.... soooooooooo, that was a waste of time and money to just have to make my own anyway. https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...e307b2faf.jpeg |
But then I had to glue, and seal, and seal again the wooden ones to make them weatherproof, put the baffles in, a good amount of clear gorilla silicone, and mounted the door speakers up. finally starting to look like something is happening here. https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...716827cd1.jpeg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...a44fb0df5.jpegWHERE’S THE BEEF? (old kenwood on the left, new Alpine SP-60C on the right.) and YEAH, my son skips leg day a LOT. |
So now that I know I need to mount the separate tweeters, it was time to rip apart the door panels and address a whole bunch of issues. Something this simple can be a PITA in terms of fabric, getting it apart without destroying it, and getting it back together in such a manner that it will STAY, and not vibrate, etc. Found some funky fabric and a good mounting location for the tweeter and got to work. Note, used a chisel to separate the fabric panel. This is going to be a challenge to get back together properly. Oh, decided to switch the interior color from grey/blue to black. So started painting plastics with Krylon plastic paint. Looks good so far. Slow and steady it goes. https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...fd264de3f.jpegLots, and lot, and lots of gorilla spray glue, a lot of swearing, and 4 coats of Scotchguard waterproofing spray later........ Yeah, it’s funky, but for now, I think it might work out pretty well.... Like a tie on a fitted suit. https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...ecf6dda42.jpeg https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...3afa9377a.jpeg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...569eca51c.jpeg |
Ordered a carpet kit from RockAuto, cleaned the Tacoma seats and stretched the TRD covers on, staged it to give the color combo a look. Starting to dig the vibe.https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...d6272a3f8.jpeg |
Since I know I’m going to spend the next few weeks climbing around the interior trying to get things to stick, etc., I wiped down everything I could with mineral spirits and sprayed a thin coat of black paint in the cab. Mainly to keep things somewhat tolerable. Then I went to work completely sealing the interior. No holes, no seams. Going for dead silent air tight.https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...1bdd2f1ca.jpeg |
This part is going to take a while..... ...and it’’s getting hot. So, time to get rid of the stupid sliding rear window to let some air in here. If you’ve never taken a rear window out, all you do is push on the rubber from the inside. It’s seriously that simple on this truck.https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.yot...f629e74f9.jpeg |
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About the above photo... I found that the plastic paint sucks. It’s shiny, but it’s thin, it scratched easily, and there was no way with a color change that it was going to hold up. So I started sanding down the plastic, cleaning it with mineral spirits, and spraying it with Bedliner from an aerosol can. MUCH, MUCH better adhesion and durability. this will work really well. Also, the previous owner apparently installed the 6x9 speakers in the rear with a dull spoon while smoking meth so I had to trace out a circle slightly larger than the abortion he cut into the plastic and make some clean cut circles to make it bearable without having to buy all new interior panels. I’ll use the same carpet I used on the box behind the hole to make it look clean and keep people wondering if there are some more speakers behind them. Note, the factory mounting locations could ABSOLUTELY hold a quality 10” sub on each side in a healthy fiberglass enclosure, but I already made my box and I’m not going to run more than 5 channels, so that ship has already sailed. Maybe next time I’ll do something stealthier. |
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