Slowly but Shirlee the '91 Toyota Single Cab

[genera_lee]

next up, less maintenance, more fun stuff for the old girl

---Start of the sound system install ---
i started my audio build this weekend(10/16), after years of waiting, and a year or more of planning.


after much deliberation and some wheeling and dealing with my local shop (custom sounds in Austin, TX) i've finalized my parts list. it is as follows:



Headunit: Pioneer DEH-80PRS

Amp: Kenwood Excelon x802-5 (5 Channel)

Sub: JL 10TW3

Components: Focal Performance PS165v1

sound deadening: Dynamat extreme, ccf, heat shielding, etc.





The overall build ethos is to keep it clean, simple, and stock looking, but in the most aurally pleasing way possible given a reasonable (relative i know) budget.



i can and will do pretty much all of the fab and finish work myself.



the final build will have the 80prs in the dash - duh - , (already installed actually at time of posting); amp in an tbd location; custom built sealed sub box, center mounted; door pods for the woofers (probably not sealed, but TBD) with custom door pockets built in; tucked and clean, no corners cut wiring and sound deadening; bucket seats installed; and a custom built center console with some trick features i have planned.

for the overland side of things, i'll have some stuff in the center console for a radio as well as maybe an extinguisher and a good maglite or equivalent baton-style light/torch. behind the seats, i'm going to build in some shelving/storage for first aid kit, air down/up stuff, a little bit of detailing stuff, and some tools and supplies, as well as hopefully winching tackle. we'll see how much room i end up having.

I was able to get a good deal on all the system parts, and i got a full single cab set of dynamat for free, so i'll be using that too.


now for some preliminary install pics:


original dash and HU -

gear:

removed the dash to install a new gauge cluster with a tach and some extra gauges.

Spaghet:

no more spaghet:

the odometer on the new cluster was 8000 miles low, so rigged up a setup with a drill, the worm gear, and some zipties to roll the odometer forward to make the new cluster match the old one that came out of the truck.

removed all other dash parts to remove old crappy kenwood headunit.

it ended up having an HD radio antenna hardwired in. i'll have to order a new antenna cable for when i go back in to run RCAs to the new amp in the next phase of install.


HU and new cluster installed:

i'll do glamour shots again when its all installed.


installing the HU is just the first part of the build. i'm in the process of finishing the cad models for the box and door panel parts. i have some decisions to make coming up on amp placement, tweeter placement, active vs passive, and general aesthetic stuff. it'll be fun for me.

 

[genera_lee]

did a little bit of work on my cad models for the sub enclosure and door parts i'm gonna be making. decided to throw a model of the actual sub in there just to practice some.

i'll also throw some more pictures in of my preliminary designs. they will certainly be changing; i actually did these last year and i've had some new ideas since then on what i want. but i do want to get a good log of the progression from original ideas through to completion so i'll post em up.

pictures below:

old sub box design. i know its rough. but it was enough for me to figure out the box volume and some of the fitment issues in the truck.
box volume without a sub is 1.1 cuft for this design. the sub i have has a recommended volume for a sealed enclosure of .6 cuft. so i have plenty of room to work with if i can make this box fit.

this is that box with the sub modeled in it

section view showing that the sub has plenty of room around it.

i'm designing door card inserts to make to act as both speaker rings and door pockets. the cab is small so storage is at a premium. any little space like this that i can take advantage of is important to me.

thats all i have for now. i only have time to work on this a couple evenings a week so it''ll be a bit slow at first while i finish planning the build

 

[genera_lee]

theres definitely something satisfying about doing na oil change and not spilling any on the driveway!

that is all

 

[genera_lee]

One more month down in my 12 months of camping once a month goal.

this was the first solo trip I've done in a while, and man it was nice to get out of the house and away from EVERYONE. except my dog. but she doesn't count.

I had planned to meet some friends out near driftwood to go to a brewery and enjoy the weather. i drove out there separate from them. its always such a beautiful drive from Austin toward driftwood. great winding, hilly roads, low on traffic, and high on views.

we hung out at the brewery for a while before i took off toward a site i'd found on hipcamp about 45 minutes into a pitcher

i found my hipcamp site well after dark, typical, and proceeded to follow my host down a short dirt road while he was on a beach cruiser bicycle.
hey had just cleared this new site and he said i was welcome to use any of the wood around for a fire. A+ my friend.
i did have to clear some of the site to make it tentable. but that was no big deal. i split some of the maple logs and with each strike, grimaced in proverbial pain as i watched my mostly unused ax work the head off the handle... i got all the fire wood i needed for the evening cut before it let go thankfully

built a nice little fire in the ring already made by the owners. i was clearly the first one in the site. then i went to work using my shovel as a scythe to clear a spot for my tent, got that set up, and cracked open a cold one. heated up dinner, and that was all she wrote.

woke up the next morning and went to go split a little more wood when the inevitable hppened (see pic). looks like i get to upgrade now. i shouldnt have sent a boys ax to do a man's job anyway. maybe i'll re-handle it and make a heavy hatchet or intruder deterrent.

all in all, for not having public land around, its not too terribly difficult finding spots to camp, at least in the hill country.

i want this to be the start of something that i do more frequently. i've really missed it since moving back from Reno. it was one of the reasons i decided to do the new years resolution to camp 12 times in 12 months. i'm already looking at going to camp outside llano in the next couple weeks and possibly do some fishing on the Colorado River.

 

[genera_lee]

went wheeling this weekend, for the first time in a while. my good buddy had his 2016 subaru outback (rallitek lift, motegi wheels and falken wildpeak tires, roof basket and various accessories, it was a nice little rig) stolen and so he bought a brand new 2021 tacoma trd off-road with the help of insurance. he wanted to go break it in a little bit, so we found an overlanding route in the hill country and went after it. we had planned to go to hidden falls adventure park, but the chance of rain steered us to less difficult trails.

She was pooped by the end of it.

we did ~60 miles of dirt back roads, with a few river crossings and some slightly sketchy corners, but nothing challenging at all. it was just DUSTY. drove way out of austin to the start, then drove back roads back toward fredricksburg, stopped for a late lunch, then drove on back to austin for the evening. took me all day sunday to clean the truck out.

Then,
flushed the trans and rear diff today.

redline MT90 into the trans, new drain and fill plug.
valvoline 80w-90 in the rear diff, also new fill and drain plugs in the pumpkin too.

i'll have to get another bottle of 80w-90 for the front diff, i didnt have enough to do the front too.

 

[genera_lee]

@Offroadnutz , thanks for all the likes pal!

 

[Offroadnutz]

@Offroadnutz , thanks for all the likes pal!

Glad to see someone else with an old yoter!

 

[genera_lee]

@Offroadnutz , thanks for all the likes pal!

Glad to see someone else with an old yoter!

I may have to pick your brain over PM about your 7mge swapped rig. I may have access to a cheap doner car and am thinking about that as a long term swap candidate

 

[genera_lee]

recently picked up fly fishing, mostly just as another excuse to get outside during a time of the year i otherwise wouldnt have much of a reason to.

i took an into lesson a couple weeks back and got to practice my casting this last weekend on the llano and james rivers west of austin. i stayed at dos Rios Campground and RV park outside of mason.

spent a fitful night in my hammock, had some pretty decent pad thai from a backpacking meal, and then almost sank the kayak i rented (had a hole in it that i didnt know about, so when i had to drag it back up stream into the wind, it weighed at least 200 lbs and was nearly full of water inside).

the Llano was somewhat cold, but its beautiful. the water is crazy clear, its mostly wade-able, and the scenery is fantastic.

then i caught my first, second, and third fish on a fly rod!!
the only one worth showing was this itty bitty largemouth bass. the other 2 were extremely small sunfish.

i took part of the Texas Hill Country Overland Route back to austin and stopped at a crossing and thats where i caught those fish. the river was the james river.

saw this weird frog. can anyone shed some light on this? some cursory googling produced nothing

more trips coming up.

and i've nailed down the mounting for the set of bucket seats i have. those will likely be going in this weekend.

 

[Offroadnutz]

That frog looks like it has a protective air bag around it. Lol

 

[genera_lee]

picked up a bunch of stuff for some repair work in the next few weeks.

got a gm 12si alternator and plug as well as the trail gear 22re to gm alternator mount. painted it black.

i also have a new water pump, all new main coolant hoses, and new coolant to install.

still planning the full sound system install to happen in the next 2 months or so. thats why i'm putting in a higher output alternator that will be more robust and easier to find in parts stores. i also have proper sound deadener on the way (cld, ccf, and mlv, not just cld, for anyone who cares to know the actual plans) as well as color matched carpet for both the sub box and center console. goal is as factory as possible.

i'm also contemplating putting a molle panel, fabric or alloy, behind the drivers seat. think it could be really useful, instead of the shelving i was originally planning to use.



oh i also installed bucket seats. WHAT A COMFY DIFFERENCE

 

[GLOCKer]

I've enjoyed how much love you've put into this Toyota! It's a really nice truck! I can't wait to see where you take it next!

 

[genera_lee]

picked up one of the stock dash clocks for the truck a couple weeks back. finally took the hour or so to pull the dash apart to install it. cleans everything up just a little bit. way better than having a non functional bass knob in a panel that kept falling out.

 

[genera_lee]

ok.

got the new alternator and water pump installed. i was really hoping to fix the massive oil leak i have but time got away from me. i also replaced the drivers side motor mount, but not the passenger side cause of time. started on the project on friday evening, and started the truck back up at like 630 or 7pm on sunday.

i had a noise coming from the front end that i was pretty sure was a bad water pump bearing. turns out i was right. i also pulled the water pump in hopes of fixing a small coolant leak. but of course i now have a slightly larger coolant leak. i cant win with this engine and leaks. i put fipg on both the housing and pump, and used the gasket, torqued all the bolts to spec, and STILL have a small leak. so annoying.

replaced upper, middle, and lower rad hoses and installed better clamps thanks to 22re performance.

also did a gm alternator swap. i have some work still to do with the wiring to get it how i want. but it all works as of now. the alternator i have is better for sure, but i think its somewhat running as a one wire because on warm starts it doesn't charge unless i rev past 1500 for a hot second. then it self excites and will maintain voltage and charging down to about 700 rpm. i'm getting 38 amps at idle and upwards of 90 at cruising rpms so its a worthwhile upgrade. the trailgear alternator bracket was a bit of trouble. the old alt bracket was much thicker, and the lower rad intermediate pipe uses a bolt on the alt bracket to hold it in place. luckily i had enough washers or came up with some other solution to allow the bolt to tighten everything. i never heard of this being an issue before. i also strongly recommend getting all the bolts in the bracket finger tight, then getting the alt lined up with the belt by moving the bracket, as there is some play in the hole spacing, before final tightening.

now on to what everyone actually cares about. the pictures:

my useless wrench companion. cant even fetch a beer...

said beer that fueled the repair

in the above pics you can see i added a 1/0 gauge power cable from the alternator output to the battery. ran this up the side of the radiator with a 150 amp breaker in it over to the battery, then connected the fuse box to the battery instead of having the alternator running through the 80 fuse in the box. below you can see the full car audio wiring setup i got from Knuconceptz to wire in the amp and speaker install thats coming up.

i wanted to get the alternator upgrade out of the way before i did the rest of the audio stuff so i have a good base for power. it realistically shouldn't pull any more that it is with my current audio setup, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

 

[Offroadnutz]

Beautiful dog...

 

[tturbocar]

so badass to read all of this! currently waiting on my runner from the toyota shop (22re blown hg) cant wait to do some of the stuff you have done!

 

[genera_lee]

Alternator is done and working well. Got a sweet little setup on top of the battery for a fuse block.

I am about to be in between jobs and I have about 2 weeks off. I have rolls of ccf, silicone speaker surrounds, rolls of mlv, tape, etc all either in or on the way. Gonna finish full sound treatment on the truck, a false back wall, center console build, and full system install and sound treatment application in that time. Oh and building a sub box.

This build is about to get interesting

 

[genera_lee]

oh last things to report,

I'll be moving back to Reno in the next couple of months! i'm so excited to be back in the mountains!

 

[genera_lee]

Welcome to probably the biggest update in the truck so far.

An overview of what's been done so far and what's left to do:
- Sub box - built, speaker installed, wired, temporarily installed in truck until it can get wrapped in carpet(might do it myself depending on cost)
- Back panel - built and painted. Needs to be wrapped in vinyl
- center console - have main carcass built but it'll take a lot of work to finish
- speaker rings - built mostly. They need fastener hardware, some finish trim routing and sanding, paint, and to be installed.
- cab sound deadening - still needs the full treatment. Cld, ccf, then, mlv in the cab firewall to back wall, and in the doors. Then I have some 1/4" expanded pvc to make door baffles as well. Back wall has some Cld tiles, as do the doors, but otherwise all that still needs to be done.

This sub hits SO HARD compared to the ported Walmart Kicker sub and box that was in before. Wow I'm so glad I spent the money for this sub. Can't wait to get the component speakers installed and get everything tuned! My audiophile dreams are slowly coming true.

Now onto the part everyone really cares about, the pictures!

(I'll post once I get to my computer and get all the links sorted)

 

[genera_lee]

here start the pics:

i started out by building a false wall for the back of the cab to pretty it up. it bolts into place across the top and has grooves to match the doors. it will also be what the amp and wiring mounts to behind the drivers seat, as well as the quick releases for the sub once they come in. on the driver's side, i'm going to make a partial Molle panel to fit the available space to hold a few things. then a fire extinguisher will go on as well, but actually get bolted to the back wall. i'm going to try to (in the future) come up with some quick release mechanism for the extinguisher because... fire.

mock up in the cab

i was able to get pretty decent fitment against the side of the truck with a bit of room to spare with just carboard templating. next time i'll use the washer trick to get it a bit cleaner, but i'm happy with how this turned out. also got holes drilled and rivnuts installed in the back wall to hold up the panel.

mock mounted up with grooves to match whats on the doors

planning out where the amp will live. the cutout next to it is or the stock bottle jack, which i'll be keeping.

another shot of the back wall with the routed grooves in it. you can see my apprentice marks there where the guide for my router slipped. looks like a heart beat sinus rhythm, somewhat fitting for car audio as well i guess. im just glad it will be behind the sub box.

i spent a fair amount of time moving the seat in and out and cutting cardboard to fit to get the sub box shape right, as well as some drawing to figure out all my actuals dims. here is the flat back of the box.

and me in the layout process

then i got it all glued and nailed up except for the face so i could figure out exactly where the driver was gonna sit. this is what i landed on. i retrospect, i should've gone down about another inch. i can always build another box. it really wasnt as bad as i expected. and i could improve my joinery a little bit in the next one. plus it was only like $20 in lumber.

this is how it fits behind the seat before i mounted the front panel on. you can also see i finished all the seams in construction adhesive for a good seal. apparently silicone will eventually eat parts of the speaker in a sealed box? who knew...

the final major touch i wanted to add before final trimming, edge treatment, and paint, was to add a panel on the front and create an inset for the sub. this turned out about as well as i could've asked for considering. i used the 3d model of the sub i'd generated a few months ago to create a laser cut router template.

i also added the hole for the neutrik plug receptacle in this hidden part of the box for speaker cables. you can also see i've edge routed all the corners to soften them and complete the box.

then i painted both the box and the back wall with a bunch of coats of sanding sealer, then hit them with some primer. then i mounted the sub finally! you can see the back panel in the background.