SPRFRKR - Mall Cruiser Refresh Build
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redeye
SILVER Star
Beautiful ride dude.
- Thread starter
- #23
10.) Tint Installed
I put tint on my truck and am very happy with the result:
Everyone knows the issue with matching the factory tint. The tint I used looks great and has a bronze tint to it. I used the following: http://www.snaptint.com/car-tint-Toyota-Landcruiser-1996-suv-front.html at 35% in Bronze. The darkness is good, the bronze is good, however, the reflectivity is a bit low compared to the factory tint. It came laser-cut to fit the front windows and installed easily for less than $30. Worth the purchase. In some lights it looks like a perfect match, in others, you can see a difference, but they still look like they go together well.
Price: $30
I put tint on my truck and am very happy with the result:
Everyone knows the issue with matching the factory tint. The tint I used looks great and has a bronze tint to it. I used the following: http://www.snaptint.com/car-tint-Toyota-Landcruiser-1996-suv-front.html at 35% in Bronze. The darkness is good, the bronze is good, however, the reflectivity is a bit low compared to the factory tint. It came laser-cut to fit the front windows and installed easily for less than $30. Worth the purchase. In some lights it looks like a perfect match, in others, you can see a difference, but they still look like they go together well.
Price: $30
- Thread starter
- #24
11.) Stereo Installed
I'll summarize this compared to the amount of effort/work that went into it.
I used one of the factory laser cut subwoofer racks by a fellow mud member here. It was able to take an 8" JL woofer and AMP. The preferred pioneer free-air sub is discontinued. The JL is good, but not enough depth for reggae.
We squeezed Rockford Fosgates under the front factory grilles. The rears required use of the grilles that came with the speakers, but a quick coat of Krylon lawn chair paint and it looks factory (almost).
Sony Navigation and DVD Receiver. Connects and streams music via bluetooth which has been awesome. I should have gotten out of this much cheaper than I did, but I paid for an install which ran close to $1K. Just for sake of clarity in build price.
Cost: $2,900
I'll summarize this compared to the amount of effort/work that went into it.
I used one of the factory laser cut subwoofer racks by a fellow mud member here. It was able to take an 8" JL woofer and AMP. The preferred pioneer free-air sub is discontinued. The JL is good, but not enough depth for reggae.
We squeezed Rockford Fosgates under the front factory grilles. The rears required use of the grilles that came with the speakers, but a quick coat of Krylon lawn chair paint and it looks factory (almost).
Sony Navigation and DVD Receiver. Connects and streams music via bluetooth which has been awesome. I should have gotten out of this much cheaper than I did, but I paid for an install which ran close to $1K. Just for sake of clarity in build price.
Cost: $2,900
wow, your dumping some money into that thing. 1K on color matching bumpers, wow im too cheap for that
- Thread starter
- #26
Yes, I am afraid "dumping" may be the correct terminology too lol. I wanted to post the costs as they actually are as I think sometimes people fool themselves into thinking they can get away with a fully built truck for $5K extra or that people are embarrassed/ashamed to let people know publicly what they are spending. If anything, I think it is a useful thread for that reason only. Don't get me wrong, this is certainly a "checkbook build". I don't have access to a garage myself, so everything is getting subbed out for the most part. I've already spent more than I would have liked, but the checklist of items is at least getting smaller than when I started. I won't get 1/5th of the amount I'm putting into it back in re-sale, but at least it will be what I want in this truck.
Paying for someone else to do it definitely adds up. I think it is very clean and nice just not my thing. If your liking it and it is worth it to you then have at it. I assume since your not doing any maintenance items its mechanically sound. I am used to the builds on here where people have to dump a lot of money into fixing there cruiser before they can enjoy there cruiser.
You said you had wheels on the way? Mind hinting at what you have in store?
You said you had wheels on the way? Mind hinting at what you have in store?
- Thread starter
- #28
12.) Passenger Seat Repair
The passenger seat forward and backward control was not working at the time of purchase. Shortly thereafter, the backrest control knob broke off as well. The design of the backrest control is a bit strange in how it works and could see how it broke.
The common issue of the white threaded cap on the seat gearing was the cause of the forward/backward issue. The gear had stripped out as well.
Attempt number one to fix had me buy the $40 pack of gears from gamivinti.com http://gamiviti.com/html/products_seatparts.html. The instructions were good, but I bunged it up somewhere and the seat would not move at all. I made it worse somehow. I put the actual motor and parts back together incorrectly after I broke them down too far for what was needed.
Attempt number two had me buy the same gear set from gamiviti again, as well as buy a broken seat motor unit from the parting out section here. The unit I purchased has the same issue with the cap missing and gear stripped. It was much easier to do this time and repaired it with no issue and swapped it out cleanly. I epoxied the white cap into the end.
I found a whole seat control panel with all buttons in the parting out section for $49. It was a direct swap which only required a few screws and peeling back of the seat upholstery.
Everything is back in and it works well. Happy to have this fixed as it seems anytime a person gets into the truck the first thing they tried to do was adjust the seat. A little embarrassing, but now it is fixed, so no worries there.
Cost: $168
The passenger seat forward and backward control was not working at the time of purchase. Shortly thereafter, the backrest control knob broke off as well. The design of the backrest control is a bit strange in how it works and could see how it broke.
The common issue of the white threaded cap on the seat gearing was the cause of the forward/backward issue. The gear had stripped out as well.
Attempt number one to fix had me buy the $40 pack of gears from gamivinti.com http://gamiviti.com/html/products_seatparts.html. The instructions were good, but I bunged it up somewhere and the seat would not move at all. I made it worse somehow. I put the actual motor and parts back together incorrectly after I broke them down too far for what was needed.
Attempt number two had me buy the same gear set from gamiviti again, as well as buy a broken seat motor unit from the parting out section here. The unit I purchased has the same issue with the cap missing and gear stripped. It was much easier to do this time and repaired it with no issue and swapped it out cleanly. I epoxied the white cap into the end.
I found a whole seat control panel with all buttons in the parting out section for $49. It was a direct swap which only required a few screws and peeling back of the seat upholstery.
Everything is back in and it works well. Happy to have this fixed as it seems anytime a person gets into the truck the first thing they tried to do was adjust the seat. A little embarrassing, but now it is fixed, so no worries there.
Cost: $168
Sharp looking ride... I like a lot of the stuff you've done to it. Looking forward to more!
Very cool. Love the color matched bumpers! But I gotta say...there's something about the orange lights that I love on these trucks. Don't think I could ever swap for clear 
Looks awesome. I bought a 97 black series 80 a few months back and have been going through the same exercise or repairs and deferred maintenance. It's very therapeutic to get it all organized and complete each task one by one. Good luck and keep the info flowing. I love it!
- Thread starter
- #32
13.) Wheel Spacers, Wheels, and Tires
Made a big jump forward today closer to completing my vision of an ideal LC.
- 1.5" Wheel Spacers. Torqued to 85# with Blue LocTite. Will re-torque after 200 miles.
- 18" Black Rhino wheels.
- 285/65 R18 Nitto Terra Grappler Tires
I'm happy with the result. They ride better than my old wheels, a bit more stable in the corners, the road noise isn't too bad, and they look pretty good. They may need a 2.5" lift to make them look perfect though.
eBay Spacer: $200
Wheels + Tires: $2,200
Cost: $2,400
Remaining:
- Sliders
- Lift
- Roof Rack Solution
- Rest of Interior Leather (did front seats already)
Made a big jump forward today closer to completing my vision of an ideal LC.
- 1.5" Wheel Spacers. Torqued to 85# with Blue LocTite. Will re-torque after 200 miles.
- 18" Black Rhino wheels.
- 285/65 R18 Nitto Terra Grappler Tires
I'm happy with the result. They ride better than my old wheels, a bit more stable in the corners, the road noise isn't too bad, and they look pretty good. They may need a 2.5" lift to make them look perfect though.
eBay Spacer: $200
Wheels + Tires: $2,200
Cost: $2,400
Remaining:
- Sliders
- Lift
- Roof Rack Solution
- Rest of Interior Leather (did front seats already)
- Thread starter
- #33
14.) Complete Bosal Exhaust
My truck threw a P0420 error due to catalytic converters. I felt it was time to change the exhaust out as I thought it may have had a leak anyway and wanted to see about an upgrade, perhaps even a slight boost in power. I settled on the Bosal exhaust due to cost and delivery time. I've heard that the Bosal exhausts are actually TDR exhaust, but I am unsure if that is the case.
I used the image below to order the needed items from the exhaust manifold back:
I paid a local shop to put it in as I saw some suspect nuts that could have given me some trouble. Turns out they had to break out the stud extractor.
The overall result is "meh". It looks nicer than the old one, but the sound is not that great and may even have a drone at lower RPMs. Don't get me wrong, it is better than the stock, but I was hoping for a much better tone change.
Exhaust: $539
Install: $200
Cost: $739
My truck threw a P0420 error due to catalytic converters. I felt it was time to change the exhaust out as I thought it may have had a leak anyway and wanted to see about an upgrade, perhaps even a slight boost in power. I settled on the Bosal exhaust due to cost and delivery time. I've heard that the Bosal exhausts are actually TDR exhaust, but I am unsure if that is the case.
I used the image below to order the needed items from the exhaust manifold back:
I paid a local shop to put it in as I saw some suspect nuts that could have given me some trouble. Turns out they had to break out the stud extractor.
The overall result is "meh". It looks nicer than the old one, but the sound is not that great and may even have a drone at lower RPMs. Don't get me wrong, it is better than the stock, but I was hoping for a much better tone change.
Exhaust: $539
Install: $200
Cost: $739
- Thread starter
- #34
15.) Auxillary Lights
I ordered a $120 pair of "cheap" KC lights for my front bumper. Installation was super easy and I put the switch to the left of the wheel. It came with fused wiring which I liked. The cheap plastic rings holding in the bulbs have a tendency to pop out. I dropped one on the road and had to circle back to find it after it took some beating. I may swap them out for something a bit more robust, but they do work well in terms of light output. My updated depo headlights along with the KC lights really put out some light!
I have in my head covers that would be great, but I don't think they exist, red covers with white "toyota" lettering. They would be great, but I think I am simply imagining them in my head!
Pics in next post...
I ordered a $120 pair of "cheap" KC lights for my front bumper. Installation was super easy and I put the switch to the left of the wheel. It came with fused wiring which I liked. The cheap plastic rings holding in the bulbs have a tendency to pop out. I dropped one on the road and had to circle back to find it after it took some beating. I may swap them out for something a bit more robust, but they do work well in terms of light output. My updated depo headlights along with the KC lights really put out some light!
I have in my head covers that would be great, but I don't think they exist, red covers with white "toyota" lettering. They would be great, but I think I am simply imagining them in my head!
Pics in next post...
- Thread starter
- #35
16.) Wheel Hub Cap Delete
I removed the center hub caps on my new wheels for a better look and there would be no chance they would survive any offroading. I painted the hubs using a low-gloss engine black enamel. The stuff works great and required little prep and was forgiving of a heavy hand.
I removed the center hub caps on my new wheels for a better look and there would be no chance they would survive any offroading. I painted the hubs using a low-gloss engine black enamel. The stuff works great and required little prep and was forgiving of a heavy hand.
- Thread starter
- #36
17.) Exhaust Manifold Replacement OEM
I recently replaced the entire exhaust but I still felt it was a bit too loud under load of acceleration. That usually indicates a gasket to exhaust ring. There are a few ways to fix it, exhaust mud, torque the flange or stud bolts tighter, stuff two rings in, etc. I took a different route and put in new factory manifolds with studs/bolts along with all related gaskets and rings. Now it is tight as a drum and I have a new exhaust from block to tailpipe.
Cost: $600
I recently replaced the entire exhaust but I still felt it was a bit too loud under load of acceleration. That usually indicates a gasket to exhaust ring. There are a few ways to fix it, exhaust mud, torque the flange or stud bolts tighter, stuff two rings in, etc. I took a different route and put in new factory manifolds with studs/bolts along with all related gaskets and rings. Now it is tight as a drum and I have a new exhaust from block to tailpipe.
Cost: $600
- Thread starter
- #37
18.) New Seat and Arm Rest Leather
The interior of my truck was very clean when I bought it, but not perfect. The leather seems to wear somewhat poorly in these trucks. One of the well-known Mud members here sells custom, perfectly matching replacement leather skins for the interior. I contacted him and order the front seats and arm rest. The rear seats in my truck, including the third row are in great shape.
I had a local auto interior person re-wrap the seats in the new leather and they are perfect. The color, the texture, fit and finish is great.
Cost: $1,200
The interior of my truck was very clean when I bought it, but not perfect. The leather seems to wear somewhat poorly in these trucks. One of the well-known Mud members here sells custom, perfectly matching replacement leather skins for the interior. I contacted him and order the front seats and arm rest. The rear seats in my truck, including the third row are in great shape.
I had a local auto interior person re-wrap the seats in the new leather and they are perfect. The color, the texture, fit and finish is great.
Cost: $1,200
duggy
SILVER Star
you're definitely doing some great work to the truck, and nice house also!
- Thread starter
- #39
Thanks! The house isn't mine, but made for a great backdrop. Maybe if I saved some of the $ I put into the truck I could afford that house!
