[ChefFJ]

First off I must admit I feel foolish as I write this posting because I don’t think I ever really took the time to say hello or introduce myself months ago when I first came upon this godsend off a forum. So here goes:

My name is Laramy and I am an FZJaholic. My addiction is working on my LC, my pleasure is this forum, and my poison is all the ideas I have picked up here. I am coming up on 30 years young and this is my first LC, though not my first Toyota. In 2000 I bought a 97 4Runner that I loved and grew to understand the interior quiet thoroughly by doing extensive car audio work. Unfortunately I let her go in 2007 when I foolishly fell for a Voodoo Blue FJ Cruiser…. Needless to say I learned the hard way that it was not what I wanted after putting a 3” lift kit and ProComp 33’s on her. I hated the blind spots, the back seat was a nightmare to access, and the payment on top of my initial trade in was not worth it. In the end I sold her off when I decided split with my ex-wife and run off to the South Pacific for a 4-month vacation. When I got home I started researching Toyota 4x4’s and knew I wanted a used rig that I could buy out-right and still have a little money left to play with. I wanted 4 full size passenger doors and the ability to build it up for a great camping/expedition machine. Those qualities left me with one choice, a Land Cruiser. After a month off searching I drove home from Sacramento with a 1996 FZJ80 with 125k of dealer-maintained highway miles. Near perfect interior, no rust, and 3 functional LOCKERS!! I has in hog heaven. Two weeks later she was sitting a little taller on a full OME 2.5” kit with heavies up front, mediums in back and rolling on ProComp Extreme AT 315/75 rubber.



It was only a matter of weeks before I read about the ScangaugeII and it was installed, giving me the much-wanted ability to closely monitor the engine temp. The Magellan nav was a carryover from my FJC as was the cell phone mount and schnazzy rice rocket mirror (flame all you want, I love the added peripheral vision.)



You may also make out that I installed a Pioneer CD player with a Zapco SXSL EQ in the dash as well… but I will get to stereo stuff later.

A month into ownership my first problem showed its ugly head…. The sunroof stopped opening all the way. With much thanks going to the members here I learned about the common issues and the nightmare that follows to address the busted sunroof. The dreaded headliner!! My interior experience from my 4Runner taught me one key thing, only take the headliner down once!!! Do everything you can think of up there while you can. So my list of projects grew exponentially from here. So now a faulty cable has create a list of projects including, removing the roof rack and all of the nutserts, pulling the useless speakers from up there, wiring up another dome light, DynaMat, DynaLiner, Line-X, and so on. Many weekends later and I had done it all….







Which then led to another case of DynaMat Extreme for the rear cargo area.





Which brings me back to the stereo. I had tons of gear that was pulled from my 4Runner and I now saw that I had plenty off space inside the rear panels to mount it up nice and stealthy. So I built a panel that fit snuggly inside the passenger side panel and mounted up my Zapco 4 channel amp to run my front and rear speakers (mids and highs) along with the corresponding crossovers for the Boston Acoustic Pro Series component speaker sets that were also a carry over from the 4Runner.





Well aware off the heating issue that could follow by hiding the amp I utilized the grille from the old worn out sub to install a fan that runs when ever the amp is on to push cool air across the amplifier.



Snap the panel back in place and it looks like this now. Now I just need to resolve what I will do to cover/fill the void from the ashtray that never was needed and no longer fits.



At this point I moved over to the drivers side panel. I ditched the jack, and cut out the storage bin, which left me with a great big area to use for power and ground distribution. I won’t go into extensive detail about what is now there but the jist-of it follows. 1/0 awg from the battery runs under the truck along the top of the frame contained inside flexible conduit, up into the truck through a water tight grommet right where the jack used to be, this connects to a mini-ANL fused dist block sending an 8awg ea to the 4 channel and the Zapco sub amp which has not yet been mentioned. An additional 8awg feeds the marine fuse panel, which is there for future planned upgrades like on board air. The final output from the main dist block is reserved for a 4awg connection to the Xantrex ProWatt1000 inverter waiting in my garage. An equally overkill ground distribution is set up to mirror the positive voltage, though it grounds to the frame underneath the vehicle near the spare tire.



The set of four wires on the left feed a pair of marine 12v receptacles, just the like the pair I put in the back of the center console for my two girls.



Since I was in the mood for interior 12v work I went ahead and nearly copied NLXTACY by disassembling a 40w inverter and hiding the body under the gear shift panel and mounting the outlet/switch from the inverter on the exterior of the same panel.



I will need to take better pictures of this next part, but bare with me. I agreed that like NLXTACY the need to additional fused 12v distribution was needed up front. But I didn’t want to buy another $50 fuse panel and I really didn’t want it under the passenger seat due to mud, water, snow, dust, etc. So I dug around the front of the rig and found what I believe to be a great spot. Since I pulled every single component of the factory stereo I had a nice void behind the metal knee guard under the steering wheel where another useless speaker once lived. Using a dremel I cut away the rolled in edge and squeezed a 12v fused and ground buss panel in that opening and wired in my little inverter, two rear passenger 12v receptacles, and my hardwire kit for the Nav, leaving me with plenty of room for future fused power needs up front. The only catch so far is changing fuses requires removing the plastic panel under the steering wheel. But in time I will develop a way to make the speaker grille open so I have easy access for fuse changes. You can just make out some of the wiring through the grille in this shot.



I failed to mention that somewhere in the middle of all the interior electrical work I took the FZJ into the local Line-X shop and had the roof completely done. I ground out the nut-serts and hit them with some Rustoleum on the exterior. On the interior the DynaMat was very firmly applied into the holes to prevent any leakage. I think it turned out really clean looking and you can barely make out that there ever was a factory rack. I still want to take it back in to have the small strip on top of the rear hatch done, but I cannot figure out the removal of the hatch. The wire harness has me scratching my head. But that is for another thread. Here is a pic of the roof covered in the glorious product we all have come to love!! Line-X!



Door speakers are my current project. The depth dilemma in the rear doors was solved by ordering a set of pods from OZ that could hold the 6.5” midbass driver and 1’ tweeter and give me both better imaging and clearance from the shallow window tracks. The speakers are wired with 16awg outdoor/inwall grade wire that passes through the door grommets, giving me one solid wire connection to the amplifier and a better power transfer so I maximize the 80watts of ultra-clean power going each channel. The fiberglass pods are currently an eye-sore because they were only available in black or grey vinyl wrapping. I ordered the black and just ripped off the vinyl. I will have them rewrapped in matching beige vinyl after I complete the rebuild of the front door panels.



That is the shortest version of a long story that has been going on since April when I bought the 80. Currently I am working with a cabinet maker that I worked for a few summers ago in designing a rear storage system that will contain my previously mentioned inverter, (2) 8” JL Audio subwoofers, the sub amplifier, compressor for the on board air, and many other things. I hope to include a few ideas I have not seen here and utilize many of the wisdoms that you all have already posted up. I am also slowly building up the supplies necessary to build custom door panels for the front doors that will look very close to stock but cleanly and safely contain a 6.5” midbass, a 4” midrange, and a 1” tweeter in each door. This will envolve mostly fiberglass and upholstery work that I will learn as I go. I am both very excited and nervous… but with just the rear doors and one sub functioning right now it sounds amazing!! So I am highly motivated to get the front stage installed and the drawer system done so I can have the pair of subs.

[NLXTACY]

Holy crap that is cool! I will be looking carefully at your stereo set up.

And I get mentioned...twice! Woohoo!!!!

Oh and welcome

[ChefFJ]

Your posts have been most helpful in helping me along with the design. I only wish I had some metal working skills so these past projects could be wood free. I worry about rot and weight. The only wood I want in the truck will be in the drawer system, but most of it will be coated in Line-X.

Thanks again, NLXTACY. I hope to be able to help others with my projects as you have with yours.

Stay tuned for more.... this system will be competition grade. But trail worthy.

[450 DUDE]

Nice work man !
That sound system is serious ! Let me know when you want to scratch that thing , Im just up the hill.

ken

[Falco80]

Brilliant work! I love the hidden stereo equipment.
Internal 12v outlets are something I am planning to do at the moment too. Welcome, keep the cool interior pics coming!

[Buckru]

That is one heck of an introduction my friend. Congrats and welcome aboard.
One of the cool things is you really didn't have to come out of pocket again as most of it was purchased a while ago.

Buck

[Sanchez]

Nice eye candy!

Welcome!

[bpassmore]

welcome brotha

[peytonkristen]

Dammit! I am impressed! Cool rig. I like it... I like it!

Welcome

[jfz80]

Cool build so far man... keep us posted and welcome aboard!!!

I wish i could find it, but another member has done custom door panels for just one speaker and a tweeter i believe.......ill let ya know if i find it. I would love a stereo one day but all these pesky supsension parts and PM keep getting in the way.

[josharre2000]

Nice Rig. I love the lined top.

[98 SNAKE EATER]

Nice work

[Romer]

Welcome and thanks for your share, fellow cruiser-holic

[nicholas]

Welcome. I like your stealth mods. Someday I'd like to have a interior with hidden power inverters.

[haffi]

Great job Keep those pics coming up. I´m interested in seeing those front door panels you mentioned. I´m need bigger speakers than the 10 cm originals.

This is my rear door setup, a 6"x9" alpine speakers in wood panel coered with grey carpet.



Please post some pics while making the front panels

[Blue Phoenix]

Was this a ROTW week thread or an intro? Just kidding, but you should seriously consider the ROTW. Very impressive set up.

[haffi]

I remember looking at a tread with pics of speakers installed in the bottom of the front doors. The compartment had been modified to fit the speakers. I cant find it, does anyone remember this tread?

[ChefFJ]

I promise that when I get the front door panels going I will take progress pix. You hit it on the head with the key concept for making this idea work. The long pocket at the bottom will be removed, rebuilt and replace. The portion with the light will remain along with about 8-12" off the pocket, about to the current internal divider. At that point I will cut off the rest off the pocket and mold it into a panel that will flow upward toward the existing speaker location but also taper in toward the door panel to give clearance to the narrow gap between the door and the dash. Think elongated triangle that will have the 6.5" speaker down at the level and depth of the factory pocket and as the triangle tapers upwards the speakers will follow suit. Hardest part of the project will be making the form for the fiberglass speaker pod, after that is done it should move along quickly.

[BACruiser]

Very nice job Chef Keep up the good work and keep us posted on the progress.

[Grolar]

Wow. The fan in the old sub hole is the cherry on a really glorious cake. Hats off and welcome.