WhiteMudhorn's Build Thread

[WhiteMudhorn]

Hey forumites!

I'm new to the 4Rnr scene but have worked on my own cars for a while. Dabbled In car audio, then power mods, now onto Overland/Off-road/Camping...

More than likely its 90% commuter, 8% Camping/Overland, 1% Off-roader.

This thread is going to be a not so comprehensive list of mods I have done. I won't post a bunch of pictures that other people have already done so I'll just post the things that are a bit different than the crowd.

1) LED interior lights
2) RAGO Rear MOLLE Panels
3) Anytime Backup Camera & Front Camera
4) Sound system upgrade.

• a. Dash speaker replacement
• b. Custom setup
• c. Door speakers
• d. Amplification & tuning

 

[WhiteMudhorn]

led there be light

LED interior lights

Everyone has done them, there are kits everywhere cheap and expensive, good and bad.

I decided I want color accuracy... WHAT? in a Car? WTF for?... I don't know.. but high CRI was a term I got hooked on when playing the flashlight game so... off to the races...

So I went to superbrightleds.com because that's what google told me to do if I want high CRI leds that go in the car.

I ordered some that I thought would be good... but didn't fit.. ordered more and more... until I got what I wanted.. MAYBE

I used to prefer 6000K white.. but like I said I've been on the high CRI kick so 3000K is where I'm at (warm white). It's also easier on the eyes at night.


Door Puddle Lights & Map Lights
921-led-landscape-light-bulb-6-led-forward-firing-miniature-wedge-retrofit-100-lumens

- Don't use these, they fit, they're bright AF.. but all of the light you see is a reflection.. of a corner so its a lot of wasted light. I also tried the fit them in the map light. If I had cut the surround it would probably work and be super bright, but I didn't and replaced it with the below.

Get a side firing like these:
194-led-bulb-5-smd-led-tower-miniature-wedge-retrofit-car

These will be good for maps, door puddles, and vanity lights if you so choose.

Vanity Lights
I used these.. because.. LUMENS... boy are they bright... too bright actually. I can use them as a microscope light to see my pores.
921-led-landscape-light-bulb-9-smd-led-disc-miniature-wedge-retrofit-130-lumens

I taped up 4 of the 9 LEDs to help with the brightness. The ones above would work better since they won't blind you.

Center Dome & Hatch Lights
I went all out on these.. In hind sight.. I probably shouldn't have as it got kinda hot when I left it on while working on the car at night. Like maybe close to melting plastic hot. But... it was on for like an hour.

I used these Festoon adapters
uxcell Rectractable Festoon adapter

then wired them to these G4 Sockets: gz4-g4-socket-wired-bi-pin adapter

so I can use these:
g4-led-boat-and-rv-light-bulb-40-watt-equivalent-bi-pin-led-disc-390-lumens

At 390 Lumens they are super bright almost too bright and too hot so I might have to downgrade a bit.

 

[WhiteMudhorn]

Holy Molle ... Back That up

Rago Rear Molle Panels

Nothing that much different than other people. I opted for the blemished sale and got a good deal. I didn't care that it was blemished, I'm happy with the savings though these things aren't cheap at all.

Only thing I might be doing different is mounting a set of sockets on there..

(Saved for picture)


Anytime Backup Camera

Three things of note:

1) On the 2020+ there are two plugs that are the same on the back of the radio. You want to plug into the one near the passenger side, NOT the driver side.

2) I added about 3 feet of red wire to match the harnesses' extended length to reach the switch for the green/red wires connection.

3) I used Tesa fabric tape to wrap cables up for a clean stock look.

 

[WhiteMudhorn]

Did I hear that right?

Car Audio Upgrades

PART Un

The base sound system leaves a lot to be desired. A lot... A lot a lot.... you get the gist

There are plenty of threads out there about upgrading the dash whatever the hell it is.. to either subaru/jbl tweeters... or budget 3.5" coaxials. Both are reasonable upgrades ... really anything would be an upgrade.

The Tweeters bring upper range detail and sibilance at the cost of midrange clarity as the door speakers would have that job.

The coaxials would be way better as it brings both... But as a former car audio nut... I wasn't going to be happy with just that. A sort of sound upgrade was in the plans before I even bought the 4Runner (or any car for that matter).

So my first upgrade was to put in a wideband in the flavor of Audio Frog GS25.

I purchased the frogs, some dash wire harness on the bay, and they drop right in the dash spot.

AF GS25 are 100x more clear, better sounding, better output than stock. It brought the sound stage up and no more muddiness.

 

[WhiteMudhorn]

Sounds like brightness

Car Audio Upgrades

PART Deux

First thing I did was to add more grounding. So from my old system a while back I added two 4 AWG Knuconcepts cables and grounded them to the frame.

I then made my own Relay & Fuse box mounting plate. I got the Relay & Fuse box from Amazon for about $30.

Online LED Store Fuse Relay Box

I also got the Car Audio Fuse holder from a link I got through Smitty's build thread.

LittelFuse MEGA Fuse 0298900Z

 

[WhiteMudhorn]

Takes Deux to tango

Car Audio Part Deux Continued...

Currently I only have the amp wired, and only the Audio Frog GS25 installed.

I purchased these from the bay and added capacitors for the Audio Frog midrange.

For the door midbasses I ran additional wires from the amplifier to the adapter.

My plan is to add small tweeters for the top end along with the midranges. We'll see if this will work. Below is the basic shape for the Fullrange and the small tweeter.

I ran the Power cable through the passenger side grommet and ran it under the passer seat where the amp currently resides.