2003 Landcruiser Restored and Modified (1 Viewer)

[RNR365]

Well, I finally found a really nice 2003 Land Cruiser back in May 2021. One owner in San Francisco who used it as the family sedan. 121k miles. I'm certain it has not been off-road. His son told me the truck was his baby. But he was getting older and not driving it much and his son convinced him to sell it. I had been looking on and off for over 5 years. I had no intention of doing anything but some off-road upgrades to do some Overlanding.

Jack Carr, one of my favorite authors, had a Series 60 restored by Jonathan Ward at TLC4x4. Jonathan also restored a Series 80 for Joe Rogan. Watched his YouTube video's on the upgrades and got inspired to upgrade mine. It was great to find that all of the upgrades I wanted to do were all done here on this forum. So I put a list of the things I really wanted in my dream LC. I wanted Dynamat to quiet the truck as much as possible, an upgraded Navigation system, a backup camera and reverse LED lights. When I took the door panels off, the JBL speakers were shot. The foam edges had disintegrated. So I added new speakers to the list and decided a new amp was in order to drive everything. After I get the basics done I'll work on the off-road mod's.

In this thread I'll explain in detail what I did and how I did it. Most of which is on various threads here on ih8mud. So here we go. The 2003 Toyota Land Cruiser Wagon with Navigation and Rear Seat Entertainment System. Sticker price: $61,503. The first pic is my drive home from San Francisco across the San Francisco Bay Bridge.

 

[mycars]

Great intro. I'm excited to see where this goes...

 

[WreckDiver1321]

Great start! Looks like you got a creampuff, which is ideal. Mine is also a 2003, though I prefer the color you got. Interested to see what you do with it!

 

[suprarx7nut]

Very cool. Suuuuper clean.

 

[RNR365]

The first thing I did was give the truck a serious bath. I recruited a car aficionado friend of mine to help get the exterior looking like new. The paint looked really good as it hasn't seen a lot of sun being based out of San Francisco. We spent 10 hours that included stripping the old wax, removing embedded dirt and finally polishing and waxing. First step was stripping any old wax using Dawn and Meguiars. Then we washed again with just the Meguiars. The next step was using speed clay to remove dirt and such that has embedded in the paint over the years. Never heard of it before but what a difference. You could feel the paint get smooth as I worked the clay. Then we polished the car twice with a Makita orbital polisher. Once with 110 grit and once with 210 grit Meguiars Mirror shine polish. And then finally a coat of Meguiars Hybrid Ceramic Wax. The paint looks brand new. The blue flecks in the gray paint just popped out. Amazing. Needless to say I don't want to do that again. Need to put a few more coats of wax on and that should do it for a few years. Next up is upgrading the interior...

 

[WreckDiver1321]

I can already visualize the rain beading off that thing. Solid work!

 

[RNR365]

The products I used...

 

[RNR365]

When I first bought the truck all I was going to do to the interior was buy a Weathertech cargo liner. Then I found Jonathan Ward and that was a game changer. Two LC's he did were pretty mind blowing. Jack Carr's 60 Series LC and Joe Rogan's 80 Series LC. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I-FbMOClX8&t=311s https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPg-hlhoa64&t=186sThat's when it dawned on me that the Land Cruisers are truly worth making them great as they will become more desirable as time goes on. My first thought was to do Dynamat. So I started to disassemble the interior and the first thing I noticed was the stock JBL speakers were shot. The foam edges had completely disintegrated. Thanks to @jammingator and @GTV for their helpful posts on Morel speakers and the Kicker sub which I decided to go with. But first the Dynamat...

I can confirm that it takes 3-36 sq.ft. packs of Dynamat to do the interior. I burned an entire sheet on the subwoofer cabinet. I bought the Kicker CompRT Series shallow-mount 6-3/4" subwoofer with dual 2-ohm voice coils. Also, I put a layer of Wool/Polyester blend batting inside the cabinet for further vibration damping. Two layers were about 3/8" thick.

Installing Dynamat is a bit of an art and you just have to go for it. I used a spray bottle with 75% rubbing alcohol to clean all the metal surfaces the Dynamat would go on. My hands had a lot of foil cuts. I tried latex gloves but the Dynamat just sticks and you end up pulling finger tips off. Annoying! Save yourself a lot of time and make sure when you take the truck apart you take lots of photo's so you know where everything goes when putting it back together. Getting this messy part of the upgrades was a relief. On deck is the Morel speakers and Alpine amplifier.


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[RNR365]

So far everything is looking really good. The Subwoofer barely fit back into place with the cabinet Dynamatted but it did go in ok.

 

[WreckDiver1321]

I bet that will be like a bank vault with all that sound deadening!

 

[RNR365]

Bought the Morel Maximo Ultra 602 MKII speakers. Got the last set on eBay. 2-Ways for the front and Coax's for the rear's. First saw them on a build that @GTV did. After researching them, they are definitely legit.

Replacing the stock amp with the Alpine PDR-V75 to drive everything. The footprint is perfect for replacing the stock amp. Highly rated, been around for years and recently discontinued. Got a great price on Amazon. Put's out 75W per channel for the 4 speakers and 250W for the new Kicker Sub. More than enough for my listening style. The Morel MKII's are relatively recent and max power went to 90W from 80W I believe.

For the Head Unit I bought the Pioneer 4500NEX from Crutchfield. It was the only model available and had everything I wanted. HD Radio, Carplay for my iPhone. Lot's of upgrades. It has a CD/DVD player so you can use a Navigation DVD for areas that may not have cell service and I can eliminate the stock 6 CD changer. Install details next...

 

[RNR365]

I bet that will be like a bank vault with all that sound deadening!

Just talking inside is like being in a sound chamber. Dead quiet!

 

[mycars]

I am interested to see how the install goes with replacing the nav unit with the Pioneer unit. I am new to the LC community (doing research before I purchase my first 100), and from my research on here it can be done but it's not super easy. Thank you for documenting this process!

 

[Exiled]

Congrats on a great find and on setting down a clear path. As a lifelong Cruiserhead that has often meandered with my modifications rather than sticking to a clear plan, I like the way you're approaching this. Watching this thread for sure!

 

[Manhattan]

Nice find. Great work. Definitely following this thread!

 

[Couvi]

I'm following as well and am really interested to see how you install/replace the nav unit. My 2004 is actually in the shop now due to an issue with the climate buttons not functioning.

 

[RNR365]

Got the Morel speakers installed. Pretty straightforward. A little re-wiring for the Morel crossovers. I have become a big fan of the solder seal connectors. The tweeters are larger than the stock tweeters and thankfully the covers do fit... barely. Thanks to @jammingator for the tips on mounting the tweeter. I used double sticky tape to secure them to the original tweeter mount plate and enlarged the inside plastic hole by carving out some plastic with an Xacto knife. Replaced all four speaker covers on the door panels too. Looks like new. The Morel speaker screw holes did not match up exactly. They were on the same radii but about 1/4"inside and new ones needed to be drilled. I used the stock speaker screws to secure the Morels. All in all really happy with the way it turned out. Now I need to wire in a reverse camera and a rear LED light bar and get the Alpine amp wired up.

 

[RNR365]

I decided to go with the Pioneer ND-BC8 Rear VIew camera. Pioneer makes quality products. I bought one of the Chinese rear view camera's that fit into the license plate light and it wouldn't stay in the hole without some modifications. Yeah, I could've modified it but it felt cheap so I sent it back and got the Pioneer. To mount it I bought a 1"x1"x2" piece of extruded acrylic from Tap Plastics. Double sticky tape and it worked perfect. Drilled a small hole for the camera wire and sealed it with a dab of silicone sealer.

For the reverse LED light bar I decided to try the light bar I'd seen on most of Jonathan Ward's videos. He has another great company called ICON4x4 and they make some awesome products. Pricey but super high quality and great designs. Didn't know what to expect but when I first took it out of the box it leaves no doubt it is legit. It must weigh 5lbs. Machined from billet aluminum and looks great. I ran the wire up into the LC where the trailer wiring went in just behind the rear fender well and then back out where the hood release goes into the engine bay.

 

[bcngator00]

When I first bought the truck all I was going to do to the interior was buy a Weathertech cargo liner. Then I found Jonathan Ward and that was a game changer. Two LC's he did were pretty mind blowing. Jack Carr's 60 Series LC and Joe Rogan's 80 Series LC. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I-FbMOClX8&t=311s https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPg-hlhoa64&t=186sThat's when it dawned on me that the Land Cruisers are truly worth making them great as they will become more desirable as time goes on. My first thought was to do Dynamat. So I started to disassemble the interior and the first thing I noticed was the stock JBL speakers were shot. The foam edges had completely disintegrated. Thanks to @jammingator and @GTV for their helpful posts on Morel speakers and the Kicker sub which I decided to go with. But first the Dynamat...

I can confirm that it takes 3-36 sq.ft. packs of Dynamat to do the interior. I burned an entire sheet on the subwoofer cabinet. I bought the Kicker CompRT Series shallow-mount 6-3/4" subwoofer with dual 2-ohm voice coils. Also, I put a layer of Wool/Polyester blend batting inside the cabinet for further vibration damping. Two layers were about 3/8" thick.

Installing Dynamat is a bit of an art and you just have to go for it. I used a spray bottle with 75% rubbing alcohol to clean all the metal surfaces the Dynamat would go on. My hands had a lot of foil cuts. I tried latex gloves but the Dynamat just sticks and you end up pulling finger tips off. Annoying! Save yourself a lot of time and make sure when you take the truck apart you take lots of photo's so you know where everything goes when putting it back together. Getting this messy part of the upgrades was a relief. On deck is the Morel speakers and Alpine amplifier.


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Thank you for posting the link to Jonathan Ward’s download on Jack Carr’s 60 Series. I am a big fan of his work and have read/watched a lot about his truck. Had not seen that video. I will be watching your thread and wish you the best of luck. Life and money have got in the way of my build ideas so I live vicariously through guys like yourself. Keep up the good work and enjoy!

 

[RNR365]

This is the point at which you really need to start getting very familiar with the Electrical Wiring Diagram manual for your specific year truck. Got the Alpine amp wired up. I was able to configure the stock mounting brackets under the passenger seat to hold the amp. Put a layer of Dynamat over the metal and secured with double sticky tape as it has very little wiggle room top to bottom. I thought it was a good idea to have it slightly elevated for air flow and cooling. I used 3 pairs of Audioquest Evergreen 2m RCA cables to go from the head unit to the amp. These are for the front, rear and sub amp audio outputs.

Now it's time for the most challenging part of this interior upgrade project, the Pioneer Head Unit...