Custom Interiors (1 Viewer)

[antichrist]

Its been a long but fun journey, but I am mostly complete with getting the Antichrist past all mechanical and exterior improvements in the vein of a resto mod. Gone through the drive train including a Detroit Diesel 6.2l Turbo Diesel, paint cushion tail gate, suspension, bumpers, Yady ya.

[Link to engine swap]

87 FJ60 GM 6.2 Sidewinder Turbo Swap

I have been staring at potential diesels to bolt to my recently new H55 that would meet some simple criteria: target HPs around 200HP and 280 to 300 ftLbs, around 25 or so MPG, must have great reliability and access to parts. I was looking at a 12ht or 1HDT. These provide great reliability and...

forum.ih8mud.com

Now I would like to turn to the interior. I have upgraded the carpet (SOR), replaced the drivers seat bottom cushion, painted the dash, put in a secure center Consol (with CB), modified rear speakers near the roof line, Put in the WagonGear quarter panel storage panels and tail gate storage panel the result is clean and functional but with the exterior, running gear and engine bay looking squared away, the interior, especially the door panels could really use a more updated and custom approach befitting the the rest of the rig.

Has any Mudder done a resto mod interior upgrade on a 60? Do y'all have ideas as to what interior features, improvements could/should/would be done to achieve maximum awesomeness for a 60 interior? Love to see pics and get ideas and sources for the ultimate cruiserhead interior.

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

I pulled a set of seats and door and cargo panels from a part-out 60 that had had its interior redone. All the seats and panels are matching- they key to a clean interior, right? There are a couple sets of aftermarket seat covers being marketed right now, but nobody makes the door panels. your best bet is to take your upholstery to the shop and have the pro fabricate a matched set. IIRC, the seat cover guys have bulk fabric that your upholsterer can use to fix the door cards. I think Trail Tailor is working on repro door card backing...

 

[antichrist]

Yup. I was considering a move away from the stock look and go to a fully custom interior. I do not own mad upholstry skills so this will be me finding the right custom auto upholstry shop. Not likely in Mountaineer state (custom upholstry has a whole different meaning in West Virginia). I was hoping to get some concepts from others if there has been any custom interiors done

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

I do have plans for misc door cards. Aluminum flat and diamond, wood, ABS, and just the simple backing cards for upholstery. But it'll be Dec/Jan before I can even get t making the CAD files for these.

J

 

[Willard]

I did mine in the reverse of you. I started with the interior.

So I will take a pic of mine tonight.
First and foremost i took out the entire interior sans the dash. cleaned and welded any holes in the floor. Where it was WAY to dangerous to weld I used a patch with body panel adhesive, using clecos to hold the patches being bonded down, lots of hammering and forming for some of the corners. None of those patches are coming off. Any larger areas (drivers floor for example) was completely cut out and rewelded back in.

So far I have done the Seats (Cruiser Corp replacement covers) with new seat bottoms on the front. (i painted the frames while i had the foam and covers off)
New Carpet (Trail Tailor)
Floor mats (Canadian Tire, hey I was there and they are heavy rubber)
Rear cargo mat (used made by SOR).
I used Soffseal Sound Deadeners INSUL1 as sound deadening for the floor after painting with POR 15 (picked up at summit racing) . I used this in my Chevelle and not only did it stop me from cooking with the long tube headers and 3" exhaust, but kept the sound way down as well.
I put in a FJ62 center console, but after looking at the stock radio and the fact I like it, I will pickup another radio compatible center console and use it.
For door panels, I bought some extra fabric from Cruiser Corp and will have them made with the fabric that matches the seats.
My dash is cracked and I have a dash cap for it. After dry fitting, I am not happy with it at all and will be looking for a new dash, or getting mine refinished. I knew a place that did this (they did my Chevelle's) so I need to go through my links and find it.

 

[antichrist]

Thanks Willard. I too went through a strip down and hole fill excercise. Also I put in Dynamat which really did help with noise and heat. I also placed felt/foil insulation on all door and side panels to help with temperature control and sound deadening. When one closes a door the tinny sound is gone replaced with a solid modern car feel.

I did replace the carpet with SOR carpet kit and the SOR seat covers (which faded its color very quickly. The interior is in pretty good shape and is clean and functional. But ia looking for a step up in Custom look. I am thinking something like buffalo hide leather with improved seats, side panels. Would likely take out the SOR carpet should I need to match color/style. I routinely camp and fish (I.e. Wet waders) out this truck so the interior will need to have some durability to it. I really like the wagongear panels in the back

Because of the neat clean acccess for things like my auxiliary battery and the auxiliary fuse panels and plugs for portable LED lights and my fridge. I just think there are a lot of custom hot rod interiors with some very creative touches that could be brought into a cruiser

 

[jfnall]

I see some nice details on your 60. Nice work!

 

[Carp]

View attachment 1525500 View attachment 1525501 View attachment 1525502
Because of the neat clean acccess for things like my auxiliary battery and the auxiliary fuse panels and plugs for portable LED lights and my fridge. I just think there are a lot of custom hot rod interiors with some very creative touches that could be brought into a cruiser

Awesome rear quarter panel! Can you give some more details on the battery, fuse panel, etc? I've been wanting to do a second battery/rear power and this makes a lot of sense! Thanks in advance!

 

[Comet]

Being born and raised in West Virginia, I was excited to hear you were modifying the truck; however, I was quickly disappointed because there is no red primer anywhere to be seen, the engine is way too clean, and none of the windows are cracked or have that awesome head butt star print on the windshield. I bet the axles even track straight down the highway. You sir, are not a Mountaineer! Get out there and tear some stuff up!

On a serious note: The truck looks great, the turbo diesel is stupid simple for maintenance, and I love what you have done so far. The roof rack is low profile and everything I see screams understated yet bad @ss. Your truck will be used for examples of what I want mine to look like in the future.

Interior mods that I have seen that peak my interest are updated seats for ride comfort on longer trips, charging areas for all means of electronics, self sufficiency items like your battery system, and convenience items like on board air and pressurized water storage for shower and clean up. Keeping with your simple and clean approach. I am looking forward to your modifications.
Comet.

 

[antichrist]

Hey Comet- I strive to meet all the "correct" Mountaineer expectations. Thanks for the ideas for the interior- just what I am looking for in terms of the interior plan. If I could just find the right "perfectionist" auto upholstery guy.

Carp- I have a National Luna battery system to manage the two batteries. The main starting battery is placed on the drivers side under the hood (the engine bay photo above has the battery and controller placement shown) the controller has the NL fuses (80 amp) per their instructions I ran 0 cables (+ and -) inside the front inner fender then inside the frame rail on drivers side ( prevent accidental damage) then up into the rear quarter panel. These were wrapped full length in large shrink wrap and are softened at each bend to prevent insulation wear/tear and thus shorts. Installed a Blue Sea fuse block for all my Aux loads in the rear quarter panel and had Kevin at Wagongear customize my cover for the fuse panel access door. I used a Marinco (I should have bought stock in West Marine) terminal block at the Main battery to supply cleaner terminal connections. I bought a high output chevy alternator and ran a #2 cable from there to my main battery.

The Aux battery had to be two 6v optimas to fit in the confined space of the quarter panel. Wired them in series. I had to make a custom bracket to secure the two batteries ( Sorry didn't take a pic of that). They are solidly bolted in and both batteries can be removed in a simple straight forward method. I didn't really want to place these on the passenger side as that is the fuel filler/vent side of things. That said, this is a great place for an AUx battery as most my aux loads are in the back of the truck or off the rear bumper

 

[antichrist]

Getting some questions on my engine swap. I recorded progress on the Diesel Forum. So, here's the link for those looking for those details:

87 FJ60 GM 6.2 Sidewinder Turbo Swap

 

[GLTHFJ60]

How custom are you looking to go with your interior? Dash swap with something else? New custom door cards? Or just new fabric all around?

 

[antichrist]

My dash is in good shape. But I could go whole hog. I will likely change the door cards, get color and style to match. (Seats, door panels, dash match material, style and color) I am definitely going to change the seats to something a lot more comfy for longer trips. I may even explore custom handles and othe trim pieces. The dash gauges and switches I'll likely keep

But I may work in a mount for an iPad mini to handle nav, tunes and camera functionality. In the end the interior needs some modernization without being too ghetto

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

Having done terrible things to the dash of an fj55, just make your changes judiciously. I wholeheartedly support modernization; just offering up a thought that, based on those pics, is not foreign to you design approach. Aka: , carry on, good sir, carry on...

 

[cruiser enthuiser]

Watching

Would like to redo my interior soon.

Cheers!

-Ed

 

[2mountainfish]

Nothing super special, just a slight twist on the original fabric and electronics.

 

[Carp]

Carp- I have a National Luna battery system to manage the two batteries. The main starting battery is placed on the drivers side under the hood (the engine bay photo above has the battery and controller placement shown) the controller has the NL fuses (80 amp) per their instructions I ran 0 cables (+ and -) inside the front inner fender then inside the frame rail on drivers side ( prevent accidental damage) then up into the rear quarter panel. These were wrapped full length in large shrink wrap and are softened at each bend to prevent insulation wear/tear and thus shorts. Installed a Blue Sea fuse block for all my Aux loads in the rear quarter panel and had Kevin at Wagongear customize my cover for the fuse panel access door. I used a Marinco (I should have bought stock in West Marine) terminal block at the Main battery to supply cleaner terminal connections. I bought a high output chevy alternator and ran a #2 cable from there to my main battery.

The Aux battery had to be two 6v optimas to fit in the confined space of the quarter panel. Wired them in series. I had to make a custom bracket to secure the two batteries ( Sorry didn't take a pic of that). They are solidly bolted in and both batteries can be removed in a simple straight forward method. I didn't really want to place these on the passenger side as that is the fuel filler/vent side of things. That said, this is a great place for an AUx battery as most my aux loads are in the back of the truck or off the rear bumper

View attachment 1526823 View attachment 1526824

Thanks for the clear and thorough response. You've given me some great inspiration. Love you're truck and keep up the good work.

 

[Willard]

I am sure you have seen this, if not it may give you an idea
1986 Toyota Land Cruiser Fj60 Custom Interior - Photo 64188793 - 1986 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ60 - Doomsday Prepped

 

[GLTHFJ60]

For the lazy:

That's the first example I've seen on this forum of a custom FJ60 dashboard. FJ62 dash swaps are one thing, but that setup is nuts.

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

well dip me in doo; is that the NOS trigger dangling off the wheel there?