2002 Tacoma SR5 Complete interior restoration

So we recently picked up a tacoma at auction... without checking the interior (my mistake )
The exterior of the truck has paint fade on the hood and roof but other then that it's in surprisingly good shape. The truck has 225k on the odo and has an issue with shuddering when the transmission is engaged. (Have a mechanic looking at it tonight.) Once I saw the interior I wanted to kick myself! It was TRASHED. Positively disgusting. Every type of food, chips, snacks, imaginable, hundreds of papers, condom packages, you name it.

First step:
I started off by sweeping the leaves and other garbage out of the bed, then emptied out the interior. Moved the truck into the shop and began scrubbing the seats. Surprisingly, the interior pieces and seats came right back to life! The driver side seat however is damaged, so it will need replacing. If anyone has a source for seats, or a solution please let me know.
I'm not going to bother even touching the paint since this will be a work truck for whoever buys it.

Next up I ripped out both seats and continued vacuuming, then stripped the interior carpeting and pressure washed it.

I'll continue to post updates as I move along!








Above: Driver side door (currently)
Below: Passenger door, looked the same as drivers, this is after I cleaned it. The stains in the well beneath the handle are gone now as well.




I would've liked to get more of the stains out, but they're tough.

 

I'll post more photos of the truck later today. Wish I got some photos before I started cleaning it, oh well

I'll organize further posts better as well.

If anyone is interested I have an '06 Tacoma that we picked up on the same day and I can make a thread of that as well. It's coming along
beautifully!! Seriously, the paint came right back as soon as we buffed it, the headlights, taillights, interior, etc. look AMAZING and it runs perfectly, even with 285,000 miles..

 

Nice work!

I used this stuff on my 08's farm truck / previous owners must have spilled bong water or spit chew on the floor carpet. As reviews say it does wear in high friction areas like where your feet hit it getting in and out and around edges of floor mats. However I prefer it to my old stained carpet. The wear areas can probably be touched up without pulling the carpet. For a work or farm truck I'm not sure if it's worth it, but can make it a little better looking. I used 3 cans on my regular cab carpet. I probably could have had a little better coverage with 4, but went easy in places like under the seats and floor mats.

$15 Dupli-Color HVP106 Vinyl and Fabric Coating Spray Paint - Flat Black - 11 oz Aerosol Can

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000...e=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=CVA2VK7VFV43XEJW1119&th=1

 

That stuff will probably come in handy, thanks for the link!

 

Jeezus. I wonder what the PO's house looked like. That grip is pretty bad.

 

I dread to know... This is by far the most disgusting car I have ever worked with. Huge props to toyota for the durability of the interior though! Lesser cars wouldn't have stood a chance.

 

At least he/she used condoms. I wouldn't want this person creating copies of itself.

 

How much did you pay for it? I'm guessing you have a dealer license, lol.

If you really wanted to, you can buy new carpet for about a hundred bucks on rockauto.com

 

I've got a really nice set of 60/40 seats with the center console. Removed from my truck about 3 years ago with 100k on the clock. Only removed to install suspension seats. They've been in my garage wrapped in shrink wrap for the last 3 years...thinking I might eventually use them...

 

How much do you want for it? PM me.

 

I managed to get a lot of the shit out of the carpet so I'm not terribly worried about it. More concerned about finding a new drivers seat. And I paid way too much, $1,900. Won the bid at like 1,500 and the dealer tried to negotiate on the auction block. He saw that I didn't check out the interior which was a dumbass move on my part. I saw ooh tacoma only 2 grand I'll take it! I briefly considered just keeping it as a work truck, but I'd rather dump it at this point. I'm honestly hoping to break even on this one. With auction fees I'm in $2,200 w/ another $250 to replace plugs, coil, and O2 sensor, and the cats going bad so the CEL might not go away.. We'll make some money on the '06 taco we got. It has 281k and runs like a charm! Interior is perfect and the AC blows colder then my brand new Nissan.

 

How do you go about buying a car from auction? As far as I know you need a dealer license from the state. That's not a bad price for a a tacoma

 

I picked up my current 03 last month and the interior was pretty nasty. Pressure washing the carpet was pretty amazing. I actually wondered why someone put a tan carpet in a truck with a gray interior. It actually was gray, just really, really dirty. The upholstery was almost black in some spots. Totally clean now after some time with the carpet steamer. I've been helping a friend of mine with flipping some cars and it's really amazing how nasty some people keep their vehicles. And I thought my ex wife was bad!

 

Almost every used vehicle I buy the first thing I do is move its interior to my driveway and pressure clean it. Carpet and seats. Usually the results are amazing.

 

I thought the exact same thing! Imagine how surprised I was too find out the interior was actually gray, lol! The upholstery in my truck was also black in a few locations..

 

You are correct, the process for getting a dealers license is extensive and you need to jump through many hoops, however if you are serious about buying/selling cars it can be done. Basically you need a location (many prereqs need to be met for this. sign visible from 50 yards, display area, office area, etc.), surety bond, garage liability insurance, fees, fingerprinting, business docs, etc. The location is the trickiest part, everything else will fall into place. It is VERY easy to screw up at the auction also (like I did with this truck....) so take your time, do your research, and be careful!

 

Right on... thats some intense cleaning. If I pullled the carpet out I probably would of just bought a new carpet kit as there pretty cheap:
http://www.tacomahq.com/1357/replacement-carpet-toyota-tacoma/

It might be also worth while to find a donor truck (with a rusted frame) and cannibalize it for parts. You can make all your money back by selling the high value parts online:
https://hudsonvalley.craigslist.org/cto/d/2002-toyota-tacoma-2wd-parts/6191992888.html

 

Oh wow I didn't realize it was that extensive. You basically need a shop to have a dealer license?

 

In Florida yes, you can work around that by subleasing someone else's shop. A friend of mine does it through a local mechanic that he is close with. The only location requirement is a lease that's in your name. So you can work out an arrangement where you sublease someone's shop for $1+ basically. It just needs to meet zoning and other regulations for an auto dealership.

 

Wow. Didn't realize you had to take that much effort. Is it worth it?