2007 DCSB TRD-Off Road. Long, Slow, Unorganized, and Unnecessary DIY

2007 DCSB TRD Off-Road 6 Speed Manual
Bought in May 2020 with 87k on it
Been meaning to start this thread for a while so I can keep track of stuff, get advice, and have people yell at me if I'm about to set the truck on fire with the electrical work.

Main goals/uses:

• Slowly give it features of a 2020 without paying for a 2020
• Moderate off-roading
• Get me to snowboarding and back
• Camping
• Cross country road trips

Current mods:

• 2.5" Lift with Bilstein 5100s (stock springs)
• Heavy Metal Suspension rear 2" AAL
• CBI Bed Rack
• Pelfreybilt Hidden Winch Mount
• Smittybilt XRC 9500
• Spyder headlights and tail lights
• Raspberry Pi Car computer/stereo with 10.1" touch screen
• Sound deadening doors, roof back wall
• Misc Electrical:
  • Auxbeam ditch lights
  • Blue Sea auxiliary fuse box
  • Viair 400H Compressor
  • Optima Yellowtop
• DIY Roof Top Tent (iKamper Skycamp 2.0 copy)
• Truck bed switch panel and fuse box

Current projects:

Camp kitchen
On-board water system
Raspberry Pi Car-puter system (Here's where some unnecessary stuff comes in)

• Done - SunFounder 10.1" Touch Screen
• Done - Wireless Car Play (Carlinkit dongle)
• Done - Audio
• Done - Backup camera/sensor
• Front/dash Cam
• Side mirror turn signal cameras
• Blind spot sensors/warning lights
• OBDII info
• Altitude/pressure sensor
• Gyroscope
• Standalone GPS

Side Mirror Defrosters



Eventually:
Light bar
URD Short Throw Shifter
Awning
Prinsu rack
Interior LEDs
Dual battery + Solar
Power rear window
Remote start
Skid plates
Rock slides

 

Here's the install of my Pelfreybilt hidden winch mount with the Smittybilt XRC 9500,
With the help of the @bajafresh writeup:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/pelfreybilt-hidden-winch-mount-install.323943/





Get the bumper off



Get the crash bar off and slap on the brackets, winch mount, and winch



Definitely got a bit carried away with the Dremel when cutting out the slot.. but I've gotta replace the winch line soon anyways, so I picked up a fairlead with a slightly bigger footprint to install when I get to it.

 

Some miscellaneous electrical:


Optima Yellowtop with some mil spec lead terminals, and the temporary home for my Blue Sea fuse box and breaker.
Eventually going to clean it up once I get moving on the dual battery and solar setup, but I had some scrap sheet metal laying around and I wanted to start wiring things up.
(ignore the stray hot wires floating off into the firewall, they have since been more neatly put into a wire loom)



This is where the Viair 400H lives now. Re-wired the switch to get rid of the inline fuse since I've got the Blue Sea. Melted the stock switch with a soldering iron in the process, so I added a slightly beefier switch because I didn't feel good about the stock one not having a DC rating on it anyways.


Auxbeam ditch lights, $20 on Amazon. Honestly seem pretty damn durable so far and they do what I need them to do. I was planning on ripping them apart to put some extra potting compound in there as a precaution (rated at IP67), but they seemed beefier than I expected when I received them, and honestly at $20 for the pair I'd rather just buy a new set if one or both happen to die.

 

Raspberry pi Car-puter so far:

Stereo when I bought it. Kenwood DPX500BT. Now partly Frankensteined into the new setup for now.



Raspberry Pi 4gb and Carlinkit dongle to give me Apple CarPlay. Raspberry pi is running LineageOS 18.1 by Konstakang https://konstakang.com/devices/rpi4/LineageOS18/ which basically turns it into a tablet with Android 11 on it, with some extra customizable features that are fully unnecessary for a truck, but why not



I didn't want to dive fully into the DIY stereo system yet, so for now I'm basically using my Kenwood stereo with my Raspberry Pi as the input/controller, and that way my steering wheel controls still work without any headache. Eventually I'll be adding a DAC and DSP and amp to get everything cleaned up and all in one system, but for now this does what I wanted. But I didn't need the double-din sized stereo and the CD player all taking up room since I wanted to tuck it away, so I tore it apart to make it smaller. Removed the CD player portion but was stuck with the faceplate PCB at this angle because of the connector orientation.




It was impossible to find a connector/extension that would work with their proprietary connector, so I took a dremel to it and turned it into a 90 degree connector. Used some standoffs to secure it to the other PCB/housing, and later on I closed in the whole thing with the pieces from the original enclosure. Just bent them all in my vice, so it's not pretty, but nobody knows but me so that's fine.







Also took the dremel pretty heavily to the double-din dash piece so I could mount the touch screen to it


Picked up a buck converter and a cigarette lighter with an on/off button to clean up the 12v input and power it for now until I get the rest of the system together.



Mounted everything to the double din using some stand-offs and a lot of trial and error and more dremeling. I ended up relocating the buck converter later on, so now it just lives hidden away with the Kenwood stereo behind the touch screen. Desoldered the volume knob and extended it out with some wires so I can still use the knob with the touch screen. They're absurdly beefy, but I didn't have any long enough scraps of thinner gauge laying around and wanted to just get it done while I had the free time.


Did the rest of the tearing out as needed so I could run all the wires and have the Pi in my center console, that way it's super accessible for now so I can keep adding on and working on it. Also happened to be running some wiring for the side mirror defrosters, so it was pretty ugly for a bit.



Made a little false bottom for the center console with some scrap 2x4 chunks. I was thinking airflow and cooling might be an issue, but so far the only time I had the Pi overheat was during a 6+ hour drive, and that was before I added the more heavy duty cooling case with two fans.




And here it is:


I've got some grand plans for one day redoing the entire dash, shrink down the clock/hazard/airbag block since I don't need the clock there (ideally without screwing anything up in the process) and slimming down the whole center piece of the dash, but that's for a much later day, and I'll change my mind at some point anyways.

 

Did a marathon of sound deadening over the weekend, got all 4 doors, back wall, C-Pillars, and roof.

For the process I followed what @Crom did for the drivers door.
Sound Proof Drivers Door
"

1. Remove interior panel, trash plastic weather barrier.
2. Clean the door skin with water, rubbing alcohol.
3. Deaden outer skin with 100% coverage with butyl mat.
4. Frost King duct insulation 100% coverage over the butyl mat on outer skin.
5. Clean and grease window lift motor gears, (optional)
6. Seal holes on inner skin,
7. Add some deadner mat on inner skin
8. Add some foam on inner skin
9. Hang Mass Loaded Vinyl (MLV) sound barrier.
10. Trim down Styrofoam on interior panel.
11. Replace interior panel.
12. Done.

"


Materials that got all of it done, most from Amazon:

Noico Black 80 Mil 36 Sq Ft Car Sound Deadening, Butyl Automotive Deadener Restoration mat and Noise dampening Insulation

Noico Black 80 Mil 36 Sq Ft Car Sound Deadening

Noico Black 80 mil 18 sqft Car Sound Deadening Mat, Butyl Automotive Sound Deadener, Audio Noise Insulation and Dampening

Noico Black 80 mil 18 sqft Car Sound Deadening Mat
2x

$25 Frost King FV516 Duct Insulation & Tape, 1 1/8" x 15 ft, White, Foot

Frost King FV516 Duct Insulation & Tape, White

$12 US Energy Products (3MM Reflective Foam Insulation Shield, Heat Shield, Thermal Insulation Shield Radiant Barrier 16" x10ft 12.5sqft (One Pack)

US Energy Products (3MM Reflective Foam Insulation Shield, Heat Shield, Thermal Insulation Shield Radiant Barrier 16" x10ft 12.5sqft
- or just one more roll of Frost King

$130 Trademark Soundproofing Mass Loaded Vinyl 1lb - MLV Soundproofing for Wall Sound Barrier - Sound Insulation - 4' x 10', Covers 40 sf - Made in USA

TMS Sound Proofing Padding for Wall – 4 x 10 Feet Mass Loaded Vinyl

Noico Red 150 mil (4mm) 36 sqft (3.4 sqm) Noico Liner Car Heat and Sound Insulation,Heat and Cool Liner, Self-Adhesive Closed Cell Foam (PE Foam)

Noico RED 150 mil 36 sqft Сar Sound Insulation, Heat and Cool Liner, Self-Adhesive Closed Cell Deadening Material
Nashua 3" Foil Tape from Home Depot

$7 Dorman 700-077 Splash Shield Clip - Toyota Large, Black, 20 Pack

Dorman 700-077 Splash Shield Clip


100% coverage with the 80mil mat


100% Coverage of frost king. I used some spray adhesive on it as well, didn't trust the stickiness of the stuff already on it



Sealed up the holes. I skipped out on filling the holes with HDPE for this and just hoped that enough of the mat stuck on around the holes would hold it. We'll find out if that was a poor choice or not.


Not show, but I did some coverage with the Noico Red closed cell foam on top of this before the MLV.

MLV coverage:



Repeated that for the other three doors with a ton of hours and shredded my hands and arms pretty good.


Back wall got 100% coverage of the 80mil mat:



Greg not realizing that we aren't driving and there isn't anything interesting outside:



Didn't get any pictures after this because it was late an had a few beers at this point and just wanted to get through it, but the back wall got 100% coverage of the 80mil mat, then 100% Noico Red foam, then MLV held on with the foil tape. The roof got 100% 80mil mat, 100% Noico red foam, and then 100% Frost king because overkill.

Bought a $20 decibel meter on amazon so I could see the before/after. Before the inside was around 76-80 dB on the higher end on a normal freeway drive, and afterwards I'm looking at around 66dB. Definitely a noticeable improvement, and now most of the noise I hear is just engine noise. I ended up with a good amount of extra MLV and insulation, and some larger scraps of the 80mil and noico red, so I'll probably add some down on the floor/firewall next time I pull out the dash and console.

 

Finally finished up my DIY roof top tent based on the SkyCamp 2.0, and tested it out over the weekend down by Hood River.

I originally was going to make some updates of the progress along the way but that didn't happen, and I didn't take nearly enough pictures throughout the process, so here's a summary of the build.


I wanted a SkyCamp 2.0, and don't have an extra $4,000 to spend on a tent, so that's essentially where this started.

Main Goals:

• Functioning tent
• Not $4,000
• Large enough for myself, significant other, and 85lb dog
• Fully water proof
• Easy/quick to set up
• Look like it could at the very least potentially be a real professional product and not DIY
  • I don't want it to just look like I threw a shitty wooden box on the roof
• Somewhat slim so it isn't way above the cab roof
• Hard shell so it can eventually have either a rack or solar panels mounted to it

Materials:

• Structure
  • 3/4"x 6 Common Board for the sides
  • 3/4" Plywood for the main base and fold-out base
  • 5/16" plywood for the shell upper surface
  • 1x2" Common Board for inner structure
  • 1/4"x3 trim (not sure on the material, somewhat plastic)
  • Marine Epoxy
  • $40 System Three Wood Flour, 5 Qt Tub, Brown
    Bucket of Wood Flour
  • Ohuhu 8.5 FT Aluminum Telescoping Ladder, One-Button Retraction Heavy Duty Extension Ladder for Home, ANSI Certified Collapsible Ladders with Safe Slow Restoring for RV Roof Loft Silver
    8.5 ft Aluminum Telescoping Ladder
  • Heavy stainless steel hinges
  • Misc SS hardware
  • 5' SS piano hinge for the rear hinge
  • $14 VITAM AMO Weather Stripping Seal Strip for Doors/Windows 18 Feet, Self-Adhesive Backing Seals Large Gap (from 5/16" to 15/32"), Easy Cut to Size
    Weather Stripping
  • Anndason The Latest Adjustable Self-locking Buckle Toggle Latch Clamp 4012 (6PCS) (Style 4012)
    Toggle Latches
  • $19 ARANA C16-04445 4418 Gas Struts 17" Shock Springs 17" 55 LB/245N Lift Supports SL36-60 for Leer Camper Shell A.R.E Truck Canopy SnugTop Topper Window Box Lid Cap Top Replacement Parts, 2Pcs
    Gas Springs
  • Gas spring mounts
    $16 JR Products BR-12553 10mm Angled Gas Spring Mounting Bracket
    Upper and
    $10 JR Products BR-1020 10mm Flat Gas Spring Mounting Bracket
    Lower
  • 1/8" Coated wire rope with ferrules
  • Some miscellaneous turnbuckles, screw eyes, adjustable links
  • Aluminum conduit with 90 degree bends
  • Aluminum L Channels
  • Aluminum strip
  • Zinc coated hardware for fastening any aluminum pieces
  • Wood Glue
  • 1 1/2" Exterior screws
  • Finishing Nails
  • Paintable caulk
  • Shit load of paint. primer, filler primer
  • Rustoleum High Performance Enamel
• Tent
  • $104 Ottertex Canvas Fabric Waterproof Outdoor 60" Wide 600 Denier 15 Colors Sold by The Yard (10 Yard, Charcoal)
    600 Denier Canvas
  • $7 Selric [1500Yards / 36 Colors Available UV Resistant High Strength Polyester Thread #69 T70 Size 210D/3 for Upholstery, Outdoor Market, Drapery, Beading, Purses, Leather (Grey)
    Selric UV Resistant Thread
  • $10 Leekayer 2PCS #10 40" Heavy Duty Zippers for Sewing Separating Large Plastic Zippers Black Tape with Double Pull Tab Slider, Sleeping Bag, Boat, Canvas, Cover, Trampoline, Dog Bed,Tent (40" 2pcs)
    Heavy 40" Zippers
  • 1/2" Wooden Dowels
  • 1/2" SS Lathe Screws
  • $6 EKEV 1/8" × 25 ft Elastic Shock Cord Bungee Ropes - Black Heavy Crafting Stretch String from 10 25 50 & 100 Foot Lengths
    1/8" Elastic rope
  • $9 Gear Aid Seam Grip WP Waterproof Sealant and Adhesive for Tents and Outdoor Fabric, Clear, 1 oz
    Gear Aid seam sealer
  • All American Carpet Tiles Victory Residential and Commercial 23.5 x 23.5 Do It Yourself Carpet Tile Squares – 9 Tiles Per Carton – 34.52 Square Feet Per Carton (24X24, Carbon)
    24" carpet tiles

For the main shell construction I made a border of the 3/4" Common board. I cut a bit of a contour in it partly to give it shape and partly to give some extra vertical room for the ladder. I cut some channels in to add 1x2" cross pieces for the inner structure. Added the 5/16" plywood in a few different pieces and used finishing nails to hold in place. Didn't have a router, so I took a jigsaw to all of the edges set to 45 degree cuts, and then belt sander to smooth everything out so give it all a bevelled radius. Then tons of sanding to get it all at least somewhat smooth.



Base of the tent is pretty simple and straightforward. Two pieces of 3/4" plywood cut to size with some hinges on it. I went with the thickest hinges I could find, hoping that it would leave enough of a gap so that there would be room to leave the mattress inside when closed. When folded out, it's just about the size of a queen sized bed, minus an inch or so on either side of the fold out piece. Aluminum shown below is just seeing how I'll add some support later on.




Patrick Remington has a great channel for DIY roof tents and has a whole build process for some clamshell type or just fold out soft tents. I followed ups process for the sealing of the shell and base with layers of marine epoxy and using a wood flour epoxy mixture for some structural bevels on the inside and sealing cracks or imperfections on the outside. I had to really glob on the wood flour putty mixture in some areas because I went a little deep while cutting/sanding the edges of the main shell. This definitely made it a huge pain in the ass to sand smooth afterwards, but was worth the extra effort.


Laid out everything for the epoxy



After sanding the epoxy a bit, I added some extra epoxy to some areas that I sanded a little too deep, and then screwed up by not waiting long enough for that to fully cure before adding a layer of filler primer. That made the filler primer wrinkle pretty heavily, which lead to endless sanding and re-coating. I don't have a picture of what it finally looked like after the endless sanding, priming, re-coating, and enamel coating, but here's the first really ugly layer.



Added the gas springs, and connected the shell to the base with the piano hinge


Built the internal hoop for the tent with the aluminum conduit and 90 degree bend pieces. The coated 1/8" wire rope with stops and ferrules is there so that when I unfold the base of the tent, it pulls the hood open with it to stand the structure up. Also added the aluminum ladder at this point by adding some hinges on it and fastening those to the smaller piece of the base, so that I can use the ladder to open it up.

The smaller piece of the base is supported on one end by the ladder, and the other end by an aluminum strip that is attached to the bottom of the main base. You can see the end of the strip in the picture below just underneath the black hinge at the bottom of the picture.







Added 24"x24" Carpet tiles to the base, hoping to use it as a poor man's anti-condensation mat. I also added another 1/8" coated wire rope connecting the base of the ladder to the CBI rack. I partially added it since that ladder is the main support for that end of the platform and I don't want to risk it getting kicked out somehow by a dog or something else, but it also helps to keep the ladder at the perfect distance to keep the fold-out portion of the platform level with the main piece. I also added a small aluminum L-channel to the front edge (where the ladder attaches) to give a little extra strength to that edge and prevent the wood from getting crunched by the ladder over time.




Not pictured well except for in the finished product, but I added weather stripping to the buttom edges of the shell. The sides compress against the base, while the front and back are flush with the bottom of the base, so the stripping is compressed against the aluminum strip on the front, and just between the hinge for the back. I used the 1/4" trim to added a border around the entire lower edge of the shell. Had a few reasons for this, it hides the weather stripping and prevents wind from pushing through, it gives the whole thing a clean and consistent edge around it, and just for aesthetic purposes. I had to use a heat gun to help form it around the round corners, and held it in place with finishing nails. I caulked the upper seam where it meets the shell, and then added the final layers of gray enamel spray paint to the whole thing so it would match.



With the structure finished, had to learn how to sew next which was a hefty learning curve for someone who has never sewn anything at all ever, especially on a project that is not straight forward at all. I picked up an older Singer machine from a neighbor who was getting rid of it, and just started doing things.



Not even really sure how to go about documenting the process of the sewing. I tried to do it methodically, carefully, structured, but yea it was essentially just a dumpster fire and I had to just go for it.

But here is the basic summary

• Sewed the main shape of the thing
• Main door flap and sewed on the 40" zippers
• Triangle vent holes and covers
• Windows on either side
• Zinc plated Grommets on the corners of the door flap and window flaps for awning rods
• Added the wooden dowels in the bottom seams for the door and both windows to help weigh the flaps down
• Added a skirt around the whole thing to hide the edges of the wood and help direct the water off of the edges so it doesn't pool
• Added a panel with an elastic band that I could stretch around the hardtop. I'll be adding a support for the center of the fabric to make sure nothing pools, and I wanted to make sure the water would roll over the top instead of seeping in between the fabric and the shell
• I attached the fabric to the base with 1/2" SS lathe screws along the seams
• I tried to order some "replacement part" awning rods from CVT, but it was going to be $30-40 in shipping plus the cost of the parts, so instead I opted to get some $3 1/8" aluminum rods from home depot and bend them with a vice, hammer, and vice grips. My roommate has a CVT tent so I basically I just copied those and added some raindrop deterrent bends in it
• I added some loop-toggles for the windows and doors so I can roll them up and keep them in place if I don't wan't the awning out.
• Mosquito netting was added with velcro and hot glue, which did not work at all. Most of it came off after letting it sit in the sun for a day, so I'll probably end up having to hand sew that on because I don't want to take that fabric off ever again
• Sealed all of the seams with Gear Aid Seam Sealer

First atrocity just trying to get the fitment right for the main shape:








----------------------------------

Finished product:








Added a ramp to get Greg up in there through the side window:









Successfully tested it out in down by Hood River.




Lessons learned:

• I still don't know how to sew
• The canvas fabric is a huge pain to work with. I will eventually make a V2 fabric shell, and will likely go with some ripstop instead
• I need to leave a lot more room around the edges, it's a pretty tight fit to tuck all of the fabric in when shutting it
• Making the fabric fit to the custom shape of the frame and hoop was a huge hurdle. Instead, I need to just make the fabric fit the general shape so that it can attach correctly, then resize and position the hoop to fit the fabric.
• Hot glue doesn't work so great at adhering to the coated interior of this canvas
• Velcro is also just kind of a pain when it comes to opening/closing. Even though zippers are still not the easiest for me to do since I'm new to sewing, they're definitely the better way to go
• Although it's super slim when closed which I like, I could definitely have used another inch or two of vertical space in there for storage
• For the hinges on the base I'll likely switch to something these at some point. I was hoping to find some of those earlier on but had no luck. The memory foam for the mattress compresses a bit so I can still fold it up with it in there with the current hinges, but it's a little tighter than I'd like.

Was it worth it?:

• If you REALLY enjoy DIY stuff, and learning things you don't know how to do yet, then yes. If you don't, just go buy one. I enjoy building stuff and making DIY versions of real products more than the average person does, and it was an excuse to pick up sewing as a skill and some of the epoxy/woodworking aspects too. Even then, I got to a point where I was a little sick of it and just wanted to get this shit done so I could move on with my life and actually use the thing.
• After tons of trial and error buying supplies and making changes or wasting things, probably spent close to $1000. Could probably bring that a little closer to 750-800 now that I actually know what I'm doing. Still a decent chunk cheaper than the real thing so I'll take it, but it was a lot of hours

 

Truck bed auxiliary fuse box and switch panel

Wanted the option to run my Dometic fridge direct to the battery to have it run overnight, and figured if I'm going to run the electrical anyways I might as well add some switches back there.

Got this panel for it:

$31 FXC Waterproof Marine Boat Rocker Switch Aluminum Panel 5 Gang with Dual USB Slot Socket 3.1A + Volt Meter Blue LED Light for Car Rv Vehicles Truck (KG0149-5B Blue)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B081KZKGP5?ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

It happens to fit almost perfectly on the angled portion close to the tailgate



Started cutting holes



Found a spot to tuck a way the 6 slot blue sea fusebox:


The panel came pre-wired with everything on a common power and common ground, but I wanted to stupid proof my future wiring additions and rewire each switch to a separate spot on the fusebox. The panel also has LEDs that are on just for when the panel is powered, which I don't want, so I took off that wiring. Each switch now has separate wiring from the fusebox, and then the cigarette socket, USB slots, and voltmeter all share common power/ground.




Installed the fusebox by the taillight with some wire loom:


Wired everything up to the engine bay auxiliary fusebox and took this chance to do some much needed cleanup of the wiring there.
Before:


After:



And here's the finished product:

 

Love your work Rob... you are a very capable man!! are you retired and enjoying life and projects?

 

Thank you! I wish I could say that was the case but I'm quite a few decades from that, just an engineer with some occasional free time