I fought the headliner and the headliner lost

[ZeGerman]

And of course, as if I did not have enough s*** to tackle on this rig, the actuator is giving me issues on the drivers side door. Bloody thing could not crap out before I put the door cards back on??? I guess Ill be taking the actuators out tomorrow. Hopefully I can just clean the little motor and not have to replace them entirely. So right now to open the front door I have to open the window, stick the key into the lock and turn then open from the outside, stick the key back into the ignition to close the window. How ghetto is that?

 

[shmabs]

You mentioned that the carpet you used is marine carpet, as in just generic marine carpet, or a carpet "kit" for the cruiser?

Mike

 

[ZeGerman]

You mentioned that the carpet you used is marine carpet, as in just generic marine carpet, or a carpet "kit" for the cruiser?

Mike

This one is not a kit. I ordered a kit from Australia being that mine is RHD but the color was not as black as I liked. Its more of a dark gray. I have a high pressure steamer and in conjunction with a heathen shaping it was not a problem. I only put a seam on parts that show. Anything under the moulding stayed raw. All I can say is that youtube is the best education I never paid for

 

[ZeGerman]

Got the front door locks up and running again. The little motors in the actuator were dirty as fxxx! The brushes are at about40% so it should now last another 25 years. One of the mudders made an awesome video on how to clean and fix them things. Here the link:



I started cleaning all the rubber around the windows. It helped speed up the windows but the drivers side still goes up and down kind of slow. I guess Ill be taking that apart next

Had a bit of time left over so sprayed the rear panels and fitted them. Now the carpet looks really good with clean edges.

On the other side I removed the box and increased the opening size si I will be able to store larger items in there and access it easily even with the drawer system inside.

Since its getting warmer I really need to get on the AC system. Need a condenser compressor etc etc. This is something I actually look forward to.

 

[BILT4ME]

What steamer did you use to clean the interior? link?

 

[shmabs]

Your carpet work looks REALLY good for not being a formed, fitted kit.

 

[BILT4ME]

I did something similar with a marine carpet that was leftover from a pool install at a local hotel. I took a bunch of the remnants, cut them to size and shape and used a torch and heat gun to shape them and fuse them in an old pickup. I would totally do that again for the Cruiser if I needed to.

The marine carpet held up well and it wasn't a problem if it got wet. I put in two layers for sound deadening at the time. Plus, I had enough left over that I could have replaced it a couple times if needed.

 

[ZeGerman]

Your carpet work looks REALLY good for not being a formed, fitted kit.

As long as you have a template, it makes it easier. I have the other carpet that made a great template. The carpet is the cruiser looks amazing from 10 feet away. Just don't get closer and look at it.

 

[MDarius]

You sprayed the rear panels...spray paint? Some other magic?

 

[ZeGerman]

You sprayed the rear panels...spray paint? Some other magic?

i still think its magic! Its a product by Duplicolor called Vinyl & Fabric. Its a pliable paint basically. I test sprayed my old panels when I first got the cruiser. So far it has held up perfectly. The key is to spray multiple light coats. They adhere to each other forming a very strong bond even on soft surfaces. The result is not distinguishable from a factory panel. I absolutely love using that stuff.

Regular Spraypaint would never last. I have tried that in the past. Looks good at first but always started to peel. The Duplicolor stuff has held up so far very very well.

 

[BILT4ME]

i still think its magic! Its a product by Duplicolor called Vinyl & Fabric. Its a pliable paint basically. I test sprayed my old panels when I first got the cruiser. So far it has held up perfectly. The key is to spray multiple light coats. They adhere to each other forming a very strong bond even on soft surfaces. The result is not distinguishable from a factory panel. I absolutely love using that stuff.

Regular Spraypaint would never last. I have tried that in the past. Looks good at first but always started to peel. The Duplicolor stuff has held up so far very very well.

Yes!

I did this on a console I did in the truck I referred to earlier. I started with a tan console and painted it black with the Duplicolor Vinyl and it was FANTASTIC. It wore VERY well and lasted for MANY years without ever showing the tan through.

I think the interior of you truck looks GREAT! I REALLY love the look of those front seats.

 

[ZeGerman]

Yes!

I did this on a console I did in the truck I referred to earlier. I started with a tan console and painted it black with the Duplicolor Vinyl and it was FANTASTIC. It wore VERY well and lasted for MANY years without ever showing the tan through.

I think the interior of you truck looks GREAT! I REALLY love the look of those front seats.

Thank you!! I'm taking a small break cause I was getting impatient with painting all the small trim pieces. I'll restart on the weekend

 

[bmorgan]

Why not all black? I haven't the faintest idea. You are right in that they are the same price Yes 100sqft of the black and silver combined and 100sqft of the of the 157 insulation. The Previous owner ripped out the carpets and put in the truck bed liner so I did not have to do that. I would have done that also. I don't see any reason to remove the factory hard tar. Is it important to do a bedliner? Probably not. I just figure that if I ever got water in there for whatever reason, I would not have to worry about rust.

As for removing the factory tar vibration deadener, I read where some guys were saying it adds weight and when it's old, it's hard and doesn't offer any sound benefit. I don't know. I'm probably complicating things as usual.

As for the silver vs black: I sent Noico an email. Sound deadening is important to me, heat is a more important. I'd like to get that heat down as much as possible. I'll pass along what I find out.

 

[ZeGerman]

As for removing the factory tar vibration deadener, I read where some guys were saying it adds weight and when it's old, it's hard and doesn't offer any sound benefit. I don't know. I'm probably complicating things as usual.

As for the silver vs black: I sent Noico an email. Sound deadening is important to me, heat is a more important. I'd like to get that heat down as much as possible. I'll pass along what I find out.

I just left the factory tar. As far as black vs silver its just purely aesthetics. For the heat you need the 157 mil Noico Liner. Between that the butyl and the carpet I have almost no heat transmission into the cabin, whereas before it was unbearable.

 

[ZeGerman]

I was trying to find a floor mat for the rear but could not quite find one. Since I made everything else black, why not try and dye the old blue nasty carpet. Here are the results:

Im really happy with the way it turned out. Stayed soft. Today I tried to rub the color off and it would not. SUCCESS!!

Also replaced the rear sunroof hoses. Now they will not kink. Last night we had a torrential downpour and not a single drop went in the cabin.

 

[ZeGerman]

While I have no issues with laying new cables fuse boxes etc for new accessories having to do anything with the old vehicle harness just stresses me out!! I removed the mast antenna and replaced it with a rubber one. That leaves the switch and quite a bit of wiring. I like to remove something completely rather just unplugging it and leaving the wires in the dash. I have taken out so much already. This cruiser came from Japan and the Japanese really really love their accessories. I must have pulled out a 30 gallon trash bag of wires already. As far as accessories go, I just need to remove one more item. The PO installed an alarm system and an engine immobilizer. I can't wait to rip that junk out.

Some packages started trickling in. I opted for a Pioneer Double Din head unit. Its an App radio with Apple Car Play as well as the android version. I like the idea that my texts will be read to me and I can answer texts by voice recognition. Normally I would just put the phone away and ignore texts etc cause I simply can not do anything else while driving. I just do not have that ability.

I will dissect the Pioneer radio and remove the front screen from the main body of the radio. These screens are attached to the radio by a 60pin ribbon cable. This way I can stash the Brains of the radio unit somewhere else and open up a lot of space in the dash

I also decided to get rid of the overhead altimeter and compass. In that general area I will be mounting the screen for the Yaesu FTM400XDR. Its a Ham Radio. The Yaesu has an Altimeter and Compass built in. The other thing I want to mount up there is the S-Pod 8 circuit SE system to control all the lights on the rig. I like the idea of a small streamlined switch panel rather that a bank of old school switches.

So basically the faceplates of the Pioneer, the Yaesu and the S-pod will be in the front of the cabin. All the brains and control boxes will be stashed in the rear. Most likely I will build parcel shelves in the rear quarter panel and mount all the electronics in there.

Link to Products:
YAESU FTM 400 DXR
Yaesu FTM-400XDR 144/430MHz Dual-Band Analog/Digital Mobile Transceiver System Fusion: GPS & Navigation

S-POD
8 Circuit SE System w\Touchscreen for Universal Trucks

PIONEER SPH-DA120
AppRadio

So now my dash is back to looking like this:

I really like the way that @NLXTACY does things. He did a writeup on power distribution. In it he would take apart inverters and build it into his console. Very clean and user friendly. I will be copying the s*** out of it

 

[ZeGerman]

What steamer did you use to clean the interior? link?

Sorry I did not see this question. I use a steamer called the VX-5000. Pricey at first but this thing has paid for itself 10 times over in the first year alone. I keep finding new applications for it.

vx5000

 

[bmorgan]

As for removing the factory tar vibration deadener, I read where some guys were saying it adds weight and when it's old, it's hard and doesn't offer any sound benefit. I don't know. I'm probably complicating things as usual.

As for the silver vs black: I sent Noico an email. Sound deadening is important to me, heat is a more important. I'd like to get that heat down as much as possible. I'll pass along what I find out.

Yep - no difference between silver and black for either sound or heat. They agreed that the improved heat insulation mostly comes from the closed cell liner. I was thinking the silver might improve heat from radiation (from the ceiling). I guess my North Ave trade school education was being overused on this one.

 

[ZeGerman]

Back on the Cruiser. My patience meter went from "I want to set fire to this thing" back down to "You can do it". And the weather is cooperating once again. We had a brief cold front which made working no fun.

I removed the sunroof cassette. It comes out in one piece. Its definitely larger than I thought it would be. When taking it out, I highly recommend that you have a second person with you to hold the thing up while you remove the bolts. I used my head. And I don't mean my brains. I literally used my forehead to prop this damn thing up while unbolting the entire thing. Luckily I have monkey arms that can reach everything, so unless you are 6'5" with monkey arms then definitely have someone else with you.

Here is a video walk around of the entire sunroof cassette removed from the vehicle. It will help you understand how the whole thing works:

 

[ZeGerman]

Cleaned the crap out of the sunroof cassette. Its no wonder that they slow down over time and leak. There is a lot of crud in hidden nooks and crannies. Pollen and dust mixes in with the greased parts and just grinds the entire thing. Most of the rubber has hardened. Lucky for me it has not come to the point of cracking. This means that it can be rejuvenated. I use a product called Gummy Pflege which translates to Rubber Care. It does wonders in keeping rubber soft and rejuvenating old rubber:

There are always people that look at me like Im crazy when I take a wad of steel wool to my windows. I use 0000 steel wool. Its super fine and basically takes out all impurities that are embedded in the glass. Small scratches magically disappear and larger scratches get softened by a lot. The result is always glass that almost reflects like a mirror.