What Have You Done To Your 3rd Gen Today?

Way back in '21, when we had the December deluge, it was visibly raining on my passenger side. I'm talking big drops, enough to fill my Thermos tumbler in an hour. Once the sky cleared, I started trying to figure out what was wrong. The seal at the bottom of the windshield was beat up, so I pulled the cowl. It'd been pulled before - four of the six clips on the engine side were broken and it looked like the previous owner had tried to stuff old wiper blades in the seal channel. Poor design on Toyota's part - if that seal goes, the water runs right into the cabin air intake. Doing some reading here, someone had suggested putting a cover over it, with space on the sides for air to get in. So I marked where I wanted to attach the cover on the wall

Cut up a piece of aluminum (the notch corresponds to the bump on the wall and the marks are to round the cover.


Then after taping the wall to be neat, I ran a bead of silicon along the wall to act as a shelf to attach the aluminum cover to and let it harden.


Pulled off the tape and put two bumper pads (pieces of Velcro I found in the glove compartment) on the side of the cabin intake toward the engine.


Then taped up the aluminum cover (again to be neat) and ran another bead of silicon along the wall. The towels are there to hold the cover tight against the wall.


I let the seal cure overnight and pulled off the tape (see, nice and shiny).


I then ran a leak test (I sprayed the windshield with the garden hose for 15 minutes)


And got no cabin rain.


Some clever person with a 3D printer and some spatial ability should design up a cover for the intake, something that protects from both windshield leakage and the leaves/mice that get in the cabin filter. It'd be the same piece for both the Gen 2s and 3s. Since there are holes on the engine side, Toyota once did have some thought of putting something there.

 

Thoughts? Impressions?

 

Thanks for the info.

 

If you're going to paint the entire grill matte or gloss black (great idea by the way), don't forget to color match the other areas on your truck:

 

Awesome! I have one just like that, love it.

 

quick question because I have a white boxer who stress sheds when he gets in my truck and I have black interior so it sticks out like crazy and pisses me off. I also have a 7yr old daughter who has a booster seat back there. Do you think this set up would work with a child back there as well as a dog?

 

Oh not the grill, I am going to paint the metal behind the grill thats orange. When you look at the truck head on you can see orange parts behind it, I dont want to see anything behind the grill, It should look like a black void of nothingness in there

 

Was in the same boat with my aftermarket grille. I painted some of the items with Eastwood's high heat paint. Some on this forum said I shouldnt have painted the AC condenser, or whatever it's called, but I haven't noticed any degraded performance so far, and it's almost been a year. You can see the before and after below. It made everything disappear.

$32 Eastwood High Heat Resistant Radiator Paint | Satin Black Spray for Paint for Automotive Radiators | Stone and Chip Resistant Paint Finish | Heat Resistant To 300° F | 12 oz | 1 Pack

https://www.amazon.com/Eastwood-103...al8h&pd_rd_i=B003CRM9CU&ref_=pd_bap_d_rp_84_t

 

you could use it in the “car bench style” mode as seen in this pic.
but then I’d think you wouldn’t get as much fur protection toward the front. It’s still probably better than no cover at all though.

Dog seat cover

 

I have the same situation. My son loves to throw milk his milk

 

Yes, but it wouldn't be a 'nice' fit.
You would have to bunch it up a bit. The sides (door areas) have straps to hold up the sides. You could still attach to the upper grab handle but might be in the way of your daughter. Or if you have an overhead molle rack you could attach it straight up and not over lap your kid, this would be the ideal way.

 

Yeah thats what Im planning right there. I always hated being able to see random parts behind the grill. And painting the radiator/ac condenser has next to zero effect on cooling, so not sure what others were thinking.

 

My, how times have changed. When I was that age my dad's response would've been, "Ok, no more milk for you."

 

Yea that’s exactly the response he gets

 

my daughter is not allowed to eat or drink in my truck just yet. We haven't had any long trips yet tho so there would be an exception.

 

I put these covers on my truck also. Big improvement from glare on my waxed tailgate!

I have yet checked out what others see at night, but I have not received a ticket from lack of lights. It must be acceptable.

 

I wish. 18 months and he hates car rides without milk and snacks

 

It depends on how you go about it. If you spray the hell out of it you'll insulate the areas you hit a bit, but also increase the frontal area and reduce airflow. If you go easy on the paint and focus on just knocking down the reflection on the front edges of the cooling fins it won't have any impact. It sounds like either @ljh824 either kept calm and sane about the amount of paint he got on the fins, or the system is overbuilt enough that the loss of efficiency is not readily apparent.

That said, as I darken more and more of my truck I will probably end up doing the same thing. I might do a roll-on paint for the heat-exchanger area though to keep the paint on the very leading edge of the fins.

 

When I was that age, throwing my milk would have resulted in a sore ass.

 

How’d it turn out?