Figured I'd start myself a build thread. I have a HUGE grocery list of things I'm going to do to this rig. It's a large enough list that I had to enter everything into an Excel document just so I can remember everything I've thought of :lmao: As I do more and more things...I'll post up pics.
ALL THUMBS ARE CLICKABLE
First mod was to remove those stock running boards...
From there it begins slow and boring with some interior sound deadening that I wanted to get out of the way before I started running wire & cable for the sound system and aux panels:
Fatmat on the rear cargo floor and quarters. This will eventually run all the way under the front & rear seats to the dash, inside all 5 doors, and also the upper rear quarters. I'm also applying the deadener on the inside of the rear plastic panels and will also line them with a thin insulation material.
I also picked up a Kenwood DDX-616 HU and for now installed it with both PAC-TATO & PAC-SWI adapters (to work with the JBL amp & to keep steering wheel controls). I'll eventually be pulling out the rest of the stock system, replacing the speakers, and adding a 5 channel amp which at that point I'll pull out the TATO adapter.
I did notice a pretty substantial sound difference...and I'm still not done. I had the rear cargo area disassembled for about 2 weeks before I started laying the deadener so I had been driving around without any insulation really...so now with the deadener, I notice the difference. Along with that, I covered the inside of the plastic facias with a layer of the Fatmat and then glued 3/8" thick jute backing over the top of that for 100% coverage. I'll have pics of that up tonight hopefully. Once I get the liftgate done and panels back on...I can't imagine I'll hear much noise coming from the rear.
Well, like I said above, I have ALOT of items/upgrades planned for this rig so listing them all would be ridiculous...but here are some of the major ones:
OW 2.5" suspension kit
Front UCA's
+/- 33" tires
Demello front 3-hoop bumper w/9000lb Superwinch
Probably build my own rear bumper with swings (swing down possibly)
Decided since the silver paint on the grill was looking worn out and faded, that I'd paint it black. Just for the hell of it and to tie in the black grill a bit, I also painted the center area below the vent in the air dam to match. Of course, once I get the Demello bumper on...that won't matter.
Ran some 2 gauge cable from the engine bay back to the cargo area and fabbed up a fuse panel mount to go where the OEM nav dvd player was.
There's a small solid grommet in the firewall on the passenger side near where the main loom goes through. The cable ends up coming into the cabin above and behind the glove box/cabin filter. There's an easy route from there down to the kickpanel:
Interestingly enough, the OEM wire route along the front & rear threshold has a perfect spot to run the cable that holds in snug (it fit the 2 gauge just fine):
Here's the install of the aux fuse panel in the rear. I used the same brackets that mounted the dvd nav box to the fenderwell and just used aluminum angle and a piece of aluminum plate to make the shelf for the fuse panel. Then...of course the shelf looked boring in plain flat aluminum...so I did a down and dirty half a$$ed engine turning pattern to dress it up
Got a bit more done on the sound deadening mission. Pretty much stripped all the interior panels out minus the doors and front kicks. I wish Toyota would have thought to put a junction connector near the drivers A pillar for the wiring loom that goes up onto the headliner. They have all the leads that go to map lights, visors, sunroof, mirror, etc...glued/taped down to the topside of the headliner and it would have been nice to just unhook this loom at the A pillar and pull the whole unit out as one. :sobbing:
Filled in the drivers side rear quarter with fill. Made a cover that I taped to the back of the seatbelt retractor so the fill wouldn't get caught up in it...and also made a box for the back of the 115v inverter so it didn't come into contact with the fill (in case it gets hot). I'll do the passenger quarter once I get the sub enclosure out of there. (I'm having the "perfect box" engineered for my Alpine 8"...matched to the cabin of the 4Runner :keyboard
Also stuffed the rearmost header beam with fill.
Here's the roof all layered with deadener.
To make the roof more dead, I used silicone to seal all the crossbeams to the roof panel. (this still stinks)
Put a couple of layers inside the front crossbeam and roof and stuffed the beam with fill here too.
Then I covered the deadener with a layer of jute.
Then covered all that with a layer of 1" thick light density foam sheet (think soft like a blanket fill). Couldn't cover the one panel furthest forward since the sunroof rolls back into that position and there wouldn't have been enough room for both.
And here is the headliner going back in. Those last two pieces of "fabric foam" and four little squares on the headliner are the only factory padding that is in the roof
Next up will be deadening, siliconing, and possibly padding of all 5 doors.
Then......I can start installing the rest of the audio system and build my "perfect sub enclosure" :tongue:
Hoe much fat mat did you order and will it be enough to finish your project? I have the same one lined up but haven't estimated the amount of dead'ner I'll need.
I went with the 100 sq.ft. pack. It comes with 2 rolls that are 18" wide and just over 33 foot long each.
One roll was enough to do everything you see in posts #1 & #4 above (rear cargo area) along with the roof shown in the newest posts above. I had very little of the first roll left to start on the rear liftgate and had to move into the second roll to finish it.
Since my last post, I've also gotten one rear door complete (exterior & interior skins). I still have 3/4 of the second roll left. I'm hoping that should be enough to do at least the last 3 doors (with putting 2 or 3 layers on the exterior skin behind the speaker on the front doors). Not sure how much if any I will have left to do the front and rear seat floor areas...which is last on the list since I have to take out the seats.
Rear liftgate. Can't see it, but the interior (exterior skin) of the gate is also covered. I used some of the jute to add cushion around any wires or relay boxes/electrical that may rattle or tap against something on rough roads. I didn't get a picture of the plastic trim panel for the liftgate, but it was treated to the same deadener and jute layers as the rear quarter panel covers that I show in post #4 above.
Drivers rear door. You can see the layer added to the exterior skin.
Same door with the added layer to the interior skin to seal it off. You can see here also the jute used to cushion the wires.
This is really just a shot for future reference on the depth of speaker that can be installed into the rear doors with the OEM spacer still intact. Time will tell whether this spacer will work for my aftermarket speaker needs or if I'll need to make some out of MDF. 4.25" of available depth, and that was to the crossbar in the door since it sits directly behind the speaker opening. (WOW, that's even more depth than you have available for the 8" woofer in the OEM enclosure :lmao
Here is the woofer that came out of said rear door. 20 watts :naughty:
I also finished up a set of crossbars for the roof rack.
I needed crossbars to facilitate mounting my rooftop tent and there wasn't much available in the aftermarket that was either the right size or didn't sit so high off the roof...so I made my own.
A piece of 1/4" thick steel about 4" long & 3/4" wide with holes drilled & tapped became the piece inside the rack rails for the crossbars to bolt to. The hardware is stainless socket head cap screws. Crossbars are 1.5"x 2" rectangle tube welded to some 1"x 1" angle on the ends.
Well, I've gotten a bit more accomplished in terms of the audio system. I was able to get the sub enclosure built for the 8" Alpine Type R.
I have built a countless number of sub enclosures over the years and could easily have designed this one myself to be the correct size...but I decided to let someone else do the designing for me. I had a guy named Pete Kulicki of PWK Designs model an enclosure specifically tailored to this sub and to the cabin of the 4Runner for the type of sound I wanted. Once I received the plans, I built it using 3/4" MDF. It came out sweet!:banana:
I have never in my days of audio heard ONE 8" sub sound this loud and go this low. I have already fooled people into thinking I had a pair of 10's or 12's in the back and when they see what it really is, they were looking for hidden subs :biggrin2: Also, this is only with a temporary amplifier that at most is feeding the sub with 100 watts per coil (DVC sub). The amplifier I'll be using for the sub later will be feeding it with roughly 700 watts.
I used binding posts for the connection since the idea behind using one sub in a more or less small enclosure was to be able to remove it when I needed the extra space to go camping.
I also installed the rear door midbass drivers. The OEM plastic spacers wouldn't have worked with these drivers, so I had to fabricate my own using 3/4" MDF. Since it was possible that they may see some moisture being exposed to the door interior, I sprayed them with some rust colored primer and a coat of satin clear to give a bit of protection. MDF will act like a sponge and expand if given enough water.
The woofers are a 6.5" Peerless SLS and will be tuned lower than a midrange would be to help in reproducing some of the frequencies between what the midrange and sub will provide...hence why they call them midbass. With the power I have to them right now (less than what they will eventually get), they already sound fantastic and really produce those snare drum and higher bass guitar notes very well.
Went with the Overland Warehouse 2.5 kit and replaced the upper control arm at the same time with a 1.25" uniball version from Camburg.
The uppers & kit went on without incident and quicker than I thought they would. The only parts of the install that I remember being a pain in the butt were not having a ratcheting wrench for both removal/install at the upper rear shock nut and for removal of the inward most upper nut on the front coilovers. Also, was a bit tougher to get that long ass upper control arm bolt through all the washers and bushings from the engine compartment while holding the arm in place (BY MYSELF) :sobbing: I showed it who was boss though and eventually was victorious.
I put on some 1.25" All-Pro wheel spacers too and I think the tires ended up being in perfect alignment with the flares. Was surprised to see that the lift doesn't look bad paired with the 265/70-17 tires, realizing that I may not need to go as large as I had thought.
I have yet to crank the front coilovers up at all. The collars are still at the upper most point at the top of the threads. I'll wait till I get my front bumper and winch installed before cranking the front up to level the truck. By then the rear should have settled in too.
Recently I bought a momentary button so I can do the interior release mod for the liftgate, and I think at the same time I am going to try and install a two way momentary rocker so I can control the rear window while I'm at it...we'll see. I'm also in the planning/sourcing stage of a rear cargo drawer/storage system I'm going to build myself. That will probably be the next update. That or finally getting my front door speakers and my system amp installed so I can put my front door panels back on
