Better Late Than Never Build Thread

[96RedRunner]

This has sounded local with a twist of social dumbassery thrown in with the ransom. GTA 12 or some chit.
If a pro from out town did it using trackers it'd be never heard of or seen again how they roll.
My $.02

 

[Speedy]

Definitely a pro group. All I'll post for now.

 

[brillo_76]

Yes. Those cuts gave it away. It wasn't your neighborhood, kids, that's for sure. Then, flant it on social media..

Sent from my SM-A536V using Tapatalk

 

[Speedy]

Put in the new gauge cluster lens and polished the original as a spare. Interestingly my gauge bezel was grey on the back side. Makes me wonder if Toyota made all of them grey and painted the front black for black interiors?

Video in third post.

 

[JoeT4R]

Put in the new gauge cluster lens and polished the original as a spare. Interestingly my gauge bezel was grey on the back side. Makes me wonder if Toyota made all of them grey and painted the front black for black interiors?



Video in third post.

I would love to do this! Mine is definitely a bit hazy and appears scratched up. Nice work brother.

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[Speedy]

Shampooed the carpets this weekend and they needed it. Spic and span now.

Rented an "extractor" from local big box store for $30/24 hours and it worked awesome with a 20% solution of lavender simple green and hot water.

Detailed the rest of the interior while I was at it. Final interior project wrapping up this week then it's on to the exterior.

Been putting things off since the Hellcat was stolen, just wasn't in the mood to get out in the shop but got some "maybe" good news last week so fingers crossed for now and back on the horse as it were.

 

[Speedy]

New interior is in. It's Katzkin as mentioned earlier and looks great. Much higher quality than the original leather that came in the truck and I added heated seats which are better than OEM heated seats in our other cars. Katzkin seats came from Affordable Auto Leather in Tuscon, AZ. Found him on the Tundra forum, good customer service and a good price.

Original leather seat covers are sold.

Installed new OEM cold weather hatch struts as well as my originals had gotten pretty weak over the past 21 years.

Finished everything off with new OEM floor mats all around. Interior is finished. Next up is the exterior.

Video in third post.

Factory heated seat circuit I tapped coming from the back of the fuse block in the engine bay.

 

[brillo_76]

Those seats did turn out very nice .

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[Speedy]

Those seats did turn out very nice .

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Thank you sir. The pics make the biscuit color look a tad light, but it's the light. They're lighter than original which I wanted to brighten up the interior, but darker than they look. You can kinda get an idea in the pic of the back seats where you can see the back of the front seat. I'm having to get used to the new height since the foams were all replace up front lol.

I think the heated seat switches came out nice in the arm rest location as well. Super convenient and better than OEM in my opinion.

 

[JoeT4R]

Very nicely done, Speedy. I still can't get over that steering wheel and how good it looks. I swear it just transforms the whole truck in my opinion, lol.

 

[Speedy]

Very nicely done, Speedy. I still can't get over that steering wheel and how good it looks. I swear it just transforms the whole truck in my opinion, lol.

Thanks man, steering wheel was totally worth it. Other than the seats it's the highest interface the driver has with the vehicle. I enjoy it every time I drive.

 

[Dezert4Runner]

I finally grabbed one of the East Detailing covers after eyeballing them for months while keeping an eye out for a more pristine wheel off a part-out 3rd gen, to no avail. Took about a month to show up, but I’m impressed with the quality that you get for the price. I’ll be pulling the wheel and following your video for my install. Yours came out very nice and the attention to detail shows! I saw a couple videos on Youtube of 3rd gen installs with this same East Detailing cover and their final product left something to be desired, to say the least. I can see how pulling the wheel in the long run is easier and yields better results. Thanks for taking the time to make the detailed video for us all.

 

[shadow247]

Yeah immediately. They caught it on some license plate readers but who knows if they'll recover it, or recover it in one piece.

Really sucks since it can't really be replaced. I had built the car in to a 1000hp street/strip car and now the Hellcats are no longer being made.

There needs to be a class action lawsuit against FCA. They KNOW the passcode for the security system has been compromised.

Its literally as easy as a thief having a new remote, and plugging into the OBD port with a laptop and programming the new key.

 

[Speedy]

There needs to be real consequences for thieves. They cut hands off in other countries and those places don't seem to have the kinds of problems with theft that we do. They used to hang people for stealing horses.

 

[Speedy]

Looks like I'm gonna need some longer front sway bar end links. I did notice the sway bar is pulled down a bit up front but thought it would be fine since it drove OK, but when the tires are off the ground on a jack I can see the steering rack boot (and inner tie rod) will make contact with the sway bar. This would be a very rare occurrence, but I'm OCD and want it right.

I've got Addco say bars, so I need something probably 2 inches longer but that are straight. I can probably build my own with some 9 or 10" long grade 8 bolts and a stainless (or other) 1/2" OD tube. Anyone know of anything premade? I'd rather not go with some $200 adjustables, disconnectables, etc. Wanna keep it simple.

 

[shadow247]

Looks like I'm gonna need some longer front sway bar end links. I did notice the sway bar is pulled down a bit up front but thought it would be fine since it drove OK, but when the tires are off the ground on a jack I can see the steering rack boot (and inner tie rod) will make contact with the sway bar. This would be a very rare occurrence, but I'm OCD and want it right.

I've got Addco say bars, so I need something probably 2 inches longer but that are straight. I can probably build my own with some 9 or 10" long grade 8 bolts and a stainless (or other) 1/2" OD tube. Anyone know of anything premade? I'd rather not go with some $200 adjustables, disconnectables, etc. Wanna keep it simple.

2nd Gen Rear links are what you want. That's what I ran on my 99 when I had the Tundra front springs and about 2.5 inches of lift.

 

[Speedy]

2nd Gen Rear links are what you want. That's what I ran on my 99 when I had the Tundra front springs and about 2.5 inches of lift.

I don't think those will work with the Addco sway bar up front. The end link needs to be the straight type without 90° joint.

I found Energy Suspension makes "universal" links like I need you just measure for size. Something like this should work:

Amazon.com: ENERGY SUSPN Energy Suspension 9.8124G End Link Set with Hardware : Automotive

More to come...

 

[phattyduck]

I don't think those will work with the Addco sway bar up front. The end link needs to be the straight type without 90° joint.

More to come...

The 90* joint is on the bottom (a-arm) side of things - or am I missing something? (I have addco bars - the stock arms seemed to work until I bent them and upgraded to disconnects)

Addco bar with worn and bent stock endlink:

-Charlie

 

[Speedy]

The 90* joint is on the bottom (a-arm) side of things - or am I missing something? (I have addco bars - the stock arms seemed to work until I bent them and upgraded to disconnects)

Addco bar with worn and bent stock endlink:

-Charlie

Where the link in your image connects to the lower A-arm, mine has an add on triangular piece that bolts in (supplied by Addco) then the link goes through that straight through a hole in the top.

 

[Speedy]

Front sway bar end links replaced with Energy Suspension extended units. This solved the problem of the sway bar hitting the rack boots at full droop. Unless it's my imagination the ride is greatly improved as well. Maybe the sway bar being pulled down was causing it to be firmer than it needed to be dunno.

However, as a results of my error the steering rack boots have small tears in them where the inner tie rod rubbed the sway bar, so I have to replace the boots next :rockthrow:

These Energy Suspension end links are much beefier than the ones that originally came with the Addco sway bars. Took care of the oil change while it was in the shop as well.