drizzohs '21 off-road build

Installed the MESO V2 fuse cover and washed all the desert off the truck from last weekend's adventure. Also added some weather stripping on the B pillars to hopefully get rid of the small amount of wind noise the truck has from there.

Obligatory pic that shows none of the changes I made:

 

Well I think the weather stripping was a success! I haven't heard the noise from the top of the doors since it was added. Also the doors seem to have a more upscale closing sound now. All around wins from a very cheap and simple fix.

Last night I yanked out the overhead console and Second Skin'd as much of the roof as I could reach from that area and then applied felt tape to almost the whole underside of the console itself. This helped to get rid of the rattles that were coming from the console but the truck still isn't completely rattle-free yet. At least that's one less area that generates noise now. I still find it absolutely ridiculous how rattley these trucks are for the price point. I can understand it with my Scion, being Toyota's low end line, but I was really expecting this to be more solid. I haven't even done the stereo yet.

 

Mannnnnn, I really want to do that MGM pro shift knob in my truck

 

Off-Road knob

It came out so clean and fits perfectly. Wasn't really hard to do, just took some time.

 

It's on my list of low-priority mods. I already had you explain the process, I just need to dedicate some time and $$$ to doing it. My stock knob leaves so much to be desired

 

Been bored waiting for my sliders to get made so I installed the Total Chaos Bed Stiffeners last week. I wasn't sure these were completely necessary with an open/stock weighted bed when I initially ordered but during the install I found some chipping near the top of the bed that only could have been caused by flexing during offroading so I'm glad I threw these on. Install was painless and these have perfect fitment. My Ti drill bits tore thru the rear end in seconds (much quicker to drill thru than the frame lol). Another cool thing is that TC included about 900 stickers with these and they had fantastic communication after ordering, they also shipped these the day after placing the order. If I needed anything else they make I wouldn't hesitate to order from them again. The only bad part was masking the bolts after torquing to paint them to hide the bronze. I also sprayed some paint on the back side after drilling the holes to hopefully prevent any rusting. These also fit very well with the factory bed mat and it didn't require any trimming. I really like their design being low profile and going all the way to the top of the bed.

 

It feels like forever since my last update here, but after a long 2-month wait my beautiful TIG-welded DOM sliders from Westcott Designs are finally done! IMO these are the nicest sliders available and are absolute works of art up close. They've been powder coated satin black in-house and are fully bolt on. Fitment was perfect and they should be more than adequate for what this truck is going to be put thru. With the 20° angle these are very low profile and subtle but make the truck as a whole look so much more finished.

Picked these up close to closing time on Friday and the guys at Westcott showed me around the machine shop and helped load these into the bed. They also brought out a bunch of foam for the 40-minute drive home to make sure nothing got scratched. It's awesome to have companies like this local to me, super cool shop and great staff. Wish I needed more parts from them because they are one of my favorite shops I've been to, and I would not hesitate to buy from them again.



Even the mounting hardware has been powder coated.



This was one of the smoothest bolt-ons I've done on this truck so far. Install took about 1.5 hours taking my time and everything fit perfectly. They only required one bolt hole to be finished drilling thru in the rear where the frame has an extra bracing plate welded in. The truck looks amazing and the kickouts almost exactly match my wheel fitment for a very finished look. Somehow the truck feels so much more aggressive now.



I also got my Baja Designs S2 Sport flush-mount chase light installed on the rear bumper. This was a much bigger pain to install than I expected due to there being a steel layer behind the plastic bumper cover which required lots of cutting in a place the dremel absolutely did not want to fit, but at the end of the day it came out really clean. It bugged me having nothing opposite of the trailer hitch wiring and this about perfectly fit the bill. The angle of the pic makes it look like it's mounted a little higher than the hitch harness but IRL it's dead-on and I'm very happy with how it came out. Looks a lot cleaner than putting big holes in the bumperettes to put lights too. The yellow is a little bright but I'm sure I'll get used to it soon. Flows really well with the truck as a whole I think, especially after I add some yellow lights up front.

This is being installed along with an Overland Equipped Auxiliary Power Kit and AOB factory style switches, but still waiting for the switches and daisy chain backlight harnesses to arrive. This little light has crazy good output though, it should be great for the dust out here.

 

Those are the exact sliders that will be in my future. Love the work they do and attention to detail shows in their products. Great looking truck!

 

I saw them on a buddy's Pro locally about 10 months ago and I added them to my wish list right away. By far my favorite sliders available. Since my buddy purchased his they have moved powder coating to in-house and I can say that my parts have a nicer powder job than his. They do fairly significant sales for Black Friday (I think I saved 15%) so if you can wait it's worth holding out for, still going to be a pretty penny to ship to FL though.

Also thank you! If Solar Octane was available in 21 I would have probably ordered one, that color is rad.

 

Good to know about the in-house powdercoating! Thanks! I'm so glad I was able to get Solar Octane. Been super happy with it. and yeah Black Friday is the goal. I should be plenty ready by then. Picked up their lift kit this past sale and have an appointment this thursday for install with new wheels and tires. Hoping to do a gradual full Westcott build

 

Everything I saw when I was there looked top notch. My buddy has their Pro lift too and seems to like it.

I didn't plan on putting a roof rack but seeing them at the shop made me want one a little bit lol. I love how low profile they are.

 

yeah I just saw a video on Youtube of a shop tour and it seems like a really nice operation. Looking forward to seeing how the lift turns out. the wait for the sliders is gonna be painful but like you said, should definitely be worth it.

 

Did you have to trim the bed mat for these to work?

 

Lol I read everything up until that point. Thanks. I’m gonna go with these.

 

The sliders look so good and is going to make my wait longer but worth it in the end.

 

With me getting to the point in this build where I am starting to add electronic accessories, I needed to find a clean wiring solution to not having a bunch of power leads off running off the battery. There are a bunch of options out there and I wanted to keep OE style switches (not a fan of how the Switch Pro control module looks). Took a while to find the right fit for me, and I know I'm not going to run anything close to 12 accessories, but the Overland Equipped Auxiliary Power Kit seemed to be the best option to accomplish this while matching my style. Installed it last night along with the Brite Box Fogster module and am very happy with how tidy it all looks so far. Hopefully I can start connecting some more stuff to it soon. Will be adding accessories along with a custom MESO switch panel and AOB switches.

 

Made a little progress on wiring that chase light this weekend but one of the pnp harnesses I received was pinned incorrectly, so the interior is still in a bunch of pieces until that gets replaced. But a least these cool little seat bolt covers showed up. The driver side power seat required a couple cuts with the dremel and some additional 3M tape from what it came with but the install was painless. It's so nice when an install goes as planned.

It drives me nuts with how many non-existent little things this truck should have come with as standard. Seeing those exposed bolts every day really bugged me. Looks so much more finished now.

 

Another smol mod completed last night. Threw on the smoked AVS low profile window visors. They feel pretty decently made and I dig their styling with the little ridge towards the bottom. However, in true spirit of installing aftermarket parts on this truck, this install did not go as planned. I had to remove and retape about 80% of the surface area in order to get the double-sided tape to not be visible once installed. Very clean now and the AVS logos wiped off immediately with Goof-Off aerosol. I then applied a quick coat of Butter Wet Wax to them to fill in the random marks they showed up with and restore the shine to the area where the logos were.

 

Yanked out the craptastic OEM y-pipe last night and replaced it with the Borla. I chose this option simply because I don't like the sound with the URD and the AFE doesn't reroute around the transfer case. It wasn't quite as friendly to install as I was expecting but overall it is a pretty nice setup. I like that it has proper ground and transfer case clearance, allows for increased flow and came with all the necessary heat shields. The only downside is that I have to source a new gasket between the y-pipe and catback. The instructions said to reuse the stocker but it absolutely would not fit over their 2mm wider piping. So far the exhaust note sounds a little throatier and seems like it's revving up smoother/easier. I'm still waiting on some more electrical components to arrive so I can wrap up that forever-taking project (have half-done wiring chillin in the engine bay and a bunch of stuff unplugged) so I haven't driven the truck with the Borla yet, but I don't notice any leaks even given the gasket fiasco.

I didn't take any installed pics because it was dark asf by the time I was finished, but at least we can all ewwww at the stock piping.



===Updated===

Acquired the proper gasket for this last night. Fits absolutely perfect. Borla should include it with their kit because the stock 60mm gasket (that they say to reuse) does not fit over their 62mm piping.

Gasket needed between y-pipe and catback:

Felpro 60512
ID: 62 mm (2.44 inches)
OD: 78 mm (3.07 inches)
Thickness: 5 mm



Installed and clean asfffff. Truck sounds great - seems a little beefier during accel and noticeably quieter on the highway.