Livened up my interior alittle

[maxspeed96ct]

Finally finished pimping out my interior , I installed White LEDS everywere.
Few were alittle bit of a pain but im happy with the outcome of the project.
-The gauges have slight hotspots, but in person they arent as bad as the camera makes it seem
-For the HVAC I used the high power 3 smt LEDS and put clear silicone on the top leds to avoid the hot spots.
-Also Did my map lights and my dome lights.


I also Installed a ebay no name brand navi/dvd/bluetooth/ipod double din headunit.
-Paid 230 for it( best offer on the auction)
For fitment I had to sand down the din opening about 1/8" all the way around. But some time with a mouse sander and some 120 grit I got it in there.
Direct link HD 6.2" GPS NAVIGATION CAR DVD RADIO STEREO AM/FM/MP3 - eBay (item 170586816655 end time Feb-03-11 19:28:18 PST)

I must say the headunit functions are great, the picture quality is damm good, touch screen is pretty fast. The GPS is nice and on point. My favorite part is the bulit in bluetooth. Has the mic built right in, I tested it out with a few phone calls and everyone said they heard me loud and clear, it also rings through the speakers when someone calls. And right on the screen you can chose to answer it or ignore it.
-Only negitive about the headunit so far is the IPOD makes a slight buzz sound inbetween flipping between songs, but ill see if i can adjust it out somehow. But its cool to flip right through the ipod by just touching the screen.

PICS:

 

[GottaBeTRD]

nice man, that looks great! where did you get the smt neo wedges at?

as for the hot spots, did the clear silicone make a huge difference?
ive recently saw a video of a guy covering the inside of the bezel of the garages and HVAC with a tin foil like material so the light reflected more evenly, it looked pretty good as far a hotspots from what i remember. i think next time i dive into it ill try it, but good job! it makes such a difference doesn't it??

 

[maxspeed96ct]

nice man, that looks great! where did you get the smt neo wedges at?

as for the hot spots, did the clear silicone make a huge difference?
ive recently saw a video of a guy covering the inside of the bezel of the garages and HVAC with a tin foil like material so the light reflected more evenly, it looked pretty good as far a hotspots from what i remember. i think next time i dive into it ill try it, but good job! it makes such a difference doesn't it??

Most of my LEDS are from superbrightleds, the 2 3-smt #74 bulbs for the hvac I just got from ebay. Because I wasnt sure how much of a differance it was going to make. Didnt want to spend alot.
2x T5 74 3-SMD SMT LED White car bulb - eBay (item 110627919150 end time Feb-21-11 18:27:35 PST)

The clear silcone made a huge differance. When I had the single HP LEDS the hot spots were terrible. They were better when I put the 3-smt Hp bulbs, but the clear silicone made it even better.

I'd like to put better LEDS in the gauges , but that would require removal of the actual gauges faces , needles and etc because the other bulbs I found are to wide to fit through the holes in the back.

Next on the list I need to stop being lazy and fix my clock lol

 

[durrell]

Did the LED dome lights make a huge difference? That's one thing I've been considering. The dome lights and map lights in these things are worthless.

 

[maxspeed96ct]

Did the LED dome lights make a huge difference? That's one thing I've been considering. The dome lights and map lights in these things are worthless.

they helped out alot, but I still wish I could add some more lighting in general without making it look to hacked up.

I saw another member added one onto the rear lift gate itself. Id like to do something like that someday.

 

[HuntNFish]

How long did the screen install take? How difficult was it? Did it come with directions?

 

[TheDurk]

How long did the screen install take? How difficult was it? Did it come with directions?

+1. All those RCA connectors look like a PIA. How did you connect to the car harness?

 

[maxspeed96ct]

How long did the screen install take? How difficult was it? Did it come with directions?

No directions, the difficultly level was a 5 out of 10 for me . But that also depends on how mechanically inclined you are.

Wiring up the harness is just like any other radio. I used this http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...0512084150&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK:MEWNX:IT

The GPS antenna is stuck to the bottom part of the dash with double sided tape.

The stock radio brackets bolted right up to the ebay navi, just had to cut off these 4 tiny little tabs (hard to explain you'd have to see it.
Then to make it sit flush with the trim I put some 1/8" washers on the top 2 screws that bolt the brackets to the dash ( theres 4 of these bolts total ).

Up till this point its basicly the same as any other double din radio install .

The one thing I had to do that others didnt was sand down the radio trim.

I used my little electric mouse sander and just went around all 4 inside corners till the radio fit. I shaved off about 1/8 of a inch maybe alittle more .

The other issue is theres isnt much room in the back for all the wires, takes some fighting but I think any navi/dvd unit will have that issue.

 

[GottaBeTRD]

Did the LED dome lights make a huge difference? That's one thing I've been considering. The dome lights and map lights in these things are worthless.

i also i did a LED dome light swap in all the map and domes it's definitely better than the stock but i think the LED's spread the light out a little different??
I got mine from V-Leds the ones in the dome have 2 LEDs and the one in the map lights have 4 ill opst pics in my sig in a bit

Maxspeed i may have to try the sylicone trick too next time i want to open that thing up again haha... its not a fun mod to do thats for sure. Whats wrong with your clock?

 

[maxspeed96ct]

i also i did a LED dome light swap in all the map and domes it's definitely better than the stock but i think the LED's spread the light out a little different??
I got mine from V-Leds the ones in the dome have 2 LEDs and the one in the map lights have 4 ill opst pics in my sig in a bit

Maxspeed i may have to try the sylicone trick too next time i want to open that thing up again haha... its not a fun mod to do thats for sure. Whats wrong with your clock?

My clock just doesnt work, Im not sure if I should try to mess with it or try to score one from a junk yard or ebay...

Ive got to look into the thread about changing it from green to a white color if I do fix it.

 

[GottaBeTRD]

that sucks, man that thing is so delicate, while i was doing the color change thing those little buttons that stick to the circuit board just fell off, (no worries though) they just go back in the trim piece and all is well. But good luck getting that thing to work, i would have no clue how to fix something like that without buying a new one

 

[maxspeed96ct]

that sucks, man that thing is so delicate, while i was doing the color change thing those little buttons that stick to the circuit board just fell off, (no worries though) they just go back in the trim piece and all is well. But good luck getting that thing to work, i would have no clue how to fix something like that without buying a new one

Ya it looked delicate to me so I didnt touch it, theres a clock fix thread kicken here somewere, but ive got to find out if clocks from corolas or camrys are the same. Maybe I can snag a working one from a junk yard.

 

[J i m s t e r]

Apache on the UK Surf forum has done a step-by-step the same mod, I'll go for this I reckon:

More interior mods! - Hilux Surf Forum

 

[maxspeed96ct]

Apache on the UK Surf forum has done a step-by-step the same mod, I'll go for this I reckon:

More interior mods! - Hilux Surf Forum

good link, Im glad I found a 99. I didnt realize how much better the interior was untill I got on the forum.

 

[maxspeed96ct]

Just to update the thread for anyone who uses pandora for their music. If you have a bluetooth phone you can sink to the radio and play music without anymore stupid wires!

This headunit is much better then I expected

 

[FoneRunner]

Kind of a general question, but have you tried playing any CD's while driving with the new head unit? I don't know if it's my lift or my stock radio/CD but I can't go more than a few feet of normal driving without that thing skipping like crazy from some small bump in the road...are these newer head units better?

 

[maxspeed96ct]

Kind of a general question, but have you tried playing any CD's while driving with the new head unit? I don't know if it's my lift or my stock radio/CD but I can't go more than a few feet of normal driving without that thing skipping like crazy from some small bump in the road...are these newer head units better?

no skiping here, but im on stock springs with some beat up shocks.. Well see what happens when I change them soon.

 

[GottaBeTRD]

man i cant get over how clean the head unit looks in your truck! i cant believe you got such a steal too!