Bandido's Bad at Taking Pictures '03 DC Build

By chance where did you order the gbs? Is it the horizontal one?

 

Ebay, it's not the horizontal one.

 

So with a few of my Various mods being completely Reset, I'm now basically re-planning the build... I use the truck as more of an extended duty daily, and really should probably just buy a Raptor since I'd then have more time to do things besides work on the several project vehicles I have... but wheres the fun in that?

Also since I'm starting over and what not... I might bother to re-jigger the build thread to be more cohesive.

Headlights-

Old setup: ACME HID 55w projectors
Current Setup: Factory with Foggy lenses
Planned: Polish and Re-clear lenses, Morimoto MLED 2.0 Projectors ($500)​

Roof Rack-

Old setup: DIY extruded AL "prinsu" style, wrapped roof matte white
Current Setup: None
Planned: New Lower-Profile DIY extruded rack - painted sides, wrapped roof matte grey. ($300)​

Sound Deadening - big change here...

Old setup: Factory asphalt pads; 30% killmat 80mil coverage (roof, doors); 50% Noico Foam coverage (floor, doors), MLV 90% floor only
Current Setup: Factory asphalt pads
Planned: Remove factory asphalt pads; 90% Amazon butyl 80 mil coverage (floor, doors); 90% amazon butyl 50 mil coverage (roof); Siless 157 foam 150% door coverage, 100% roof coverage; Siless 314 foam 100% floor coverage​

Audio - another big change here...

Old setup: Sony single din head unit, stock speakers, Kenwood KSC powered subwoofer
Current Setup: Sony single din head unit, stock speakers,
Planned: Boss audio CarPlay headunit (mold into dash), CT sounds CT150D amp, Front door: CT sounds Meso 6.5" 3-way component system (mount 3's into dash), Rear door: CT sounds Neo 6.5", Kenwood KSC powered subwoofer​

Suspension -

Big plans here still, but I don't know when I'll get around to implementing, Raptor 3.1 Live Valve shocks front and rear, SDI e-click controller for raptor (still need to buy), +3.5 DIY front setup, then either a GX or FJ rear axle with probably 3-link; I also would like to incorporate a standard or aftermarket balljoint rather than uniballs up front, or ballistic uniballs at worst case; as uniballs really don't live a long life in the northeast, even without the PTFE liner. I've been working on the kinematics and sourcing parts for this at bottom dollar when I can for the past year and a half, so hopefully the build will actually happen this winter...
​

 

Rickety Rig is back on DD duty for me now.
Fiancée drove the Tundra for a work trip, so this is just in time.


I definitely need to Paint the bumpers, also going to stop by the steel shop and get an I beam or large rectangular tube to see if I can DIY some frame straightening.

 

Did some redneckineering to straighten the frame some. I got it from about an inch out to around 1/8" out. Visually it looks good, but the camper top doesn't sit flat on the bed unless I put a washer or two under the back left corner. I also have been looking back thru pictures of the truck, and the front bumper has indeed set almost exactly the same way the whole time...
I was really struggling to get any more twist on the frame with this setup, I might borrow a buddies hi-lift and try again as the sketchy jack setup was the limitation here. Bed was completely disconnected while tweaking, I didn't pop the cab bushings tho, not sure if I should have.

Stump and strap held it down really well.

Welded a section of 1x4 flat bar I'd used for header flange heat sink to this junior beam and it was really stable. Still a bit sketch tho lol.

 

caught covid again, which has had me work a lot less than usual this week, and meant I wasn't out adventuring, working on a project car, or doing yard work....


made a lot of progress on the front end for the Live-valve conversion. Confirmed a modified shock tower is required, now wondering if changing the antidive or even the front spindle would be worth it or not...

might scan the front frame clip I have to really make sure I have the points right... Amazing how massive these shocks are and how small they look on a raptor!

 

Waiting on the last few items to build Front headlight build, since I bought shrouds for "mini" and these projectors need 3in shrouds, kinda wish TRS had a built in compatibility checker....
Morimoto MLED 2.0, amber "demon eye" and if shrouds never show up, I'll print something out.

Trying to decide on painting the bowls Matte Grey or Black.
I also got a ceramic headlight restorer... probably I will do this rather than buy a new set of headlights since I have a lot of old OEM sets.


I've also been talking to @CharlieTaco who is an absolute certified audiophile and is struggling to recommend speakers that don't blow my entire budgetHis recommendations are for an easy to tune High quality setup... but I'm too cheap, and don't like the A-pillar pods required for the easy tuning.
Having the tweeters and mids on axis to the driver makes tuning easier, and lifted up higher "raises the sound stage" which I guess mostly means reduced interference from things in the car...

This generic "on-off axis" chart helps to really visualize why speaker placement has such a big impact on sound quality... and why the OE Taco tweeter placement isn't very good, optimistically around 60deg off axis, with the woofer being in 80-90deg territory... but the higher frequencies are effected by this phenomenon significantly more... meaning the tweeters and Mids REALLY need to be placed well for quality sound.
have a look at my PPT

First, I took a quick sample from the internet just to look at how more modern and more luxury vehicles arrange their speakers...

One thing that immediately jumps out is most modern vehicles (even non luxury ones now) Put the tweeters and Mids in the dash firing at the windshield, this means the listeners receive the second order response, reflected off the windshield effectively ON axis. the 2nd order response and distance the sound travels means this is difficult to tune, but otherwise accomplishes exactly the same thing as custom A-pillars with a lower visibility impact, "raising the sound stage" and removing interferences that may reduce the clarity of the higher frequencies.
*next slide

Copying the super simple LS diagram... Red means tweeter, yellow is woofer, orange is midbass, green is subwoofer, I drew out the old setup I had, what I think is the common way to do a 01-04 D-cab. then my take on how to replicate the 2 different styles of "luxury vehicle" I observed, as well as my understanding of the "ultimate" setup.
I was dead set on trying to french some 3.5" speakers into the dash until I realized how much of a PITA that would be to tune, and knew I wouldn't have the patience, so the selected option has a little more going on than the basic setup...

And here's what I plan to do, unless I get talked out of it... with the addition of some T4R tweeter sail panels, I'll make the front door panel replicate the GX470 with a 3 way door setup... and a wide range (but not full) speaker in the rear.
This with the low profile sub under the drivers seat should provide a much better experience than the old setup.
The 4r Sails alone offer a major improvement (higher, pointed at occupants) over the Tacoma tweeter placement, the mid location (mids will be active 300hz-6khz (1500/4.5k crossover) isn't "optimal" but the Passive crossover in this kit has a +3 and +6 dB settings for the MID... so this should work out pretty well!

Probably won't start doors till June tho

 

Fiancee went to a Taylor swift concert, so I took advantage to use our oven for my retrofit.
Did some test assemblies, had to cut a bit off the bottom of the shroud.

Chrome had to go, hit quick with a 320grit sanding block, then a few coats of primer followed by a few coats of black.


A few hours of drying, hen assembled. Demon eyes tested.


I'm missing a connector to finish this up, so it will be a minute before these are actually on the truck.

 

Looks mean, nice work!

 

Had a quick minute to get started on the speakers, this, like everything I do will take a while...
Bought some 4runner sail panels, after measuring the tweeter grill, I bought a different set of tweeters than I originally planned as they would fit better.

4 runner uses a .75 in tweeter, partial plastic grill.


Cut the grill out completely and finished with a barrel sander.


Then fit the tweeter in... The fit is snug, but I will secure it with a glob of construction adhesive or hot glue.


I should have time to get a lot done over the next 2 weekends

 

Had a few minutes this morning to install the headlights, the ground switching module hasn't shown up yet, so only DRL and low beam are wired up.

Looks super good imo! I'll aim them and see how much brighter they are on the road sometime this weekend!

 

I've seen a couple other builds do that same thing with the speaker placement as you have drawn up. Haven't listened to a setup like that in a 1st gen, but I bet it's night and day difference.
Having the tweeters up high like that is key. Moving the mids up too I can imagine helps that much more. I need to do that on mine. Makes a big difference as compared to just having some coax ones in the factory spots.

 

I've been in a 3g 4R with factory stereo setup, and it wasn't something that stood out to me at the time... But my ears aren't super sensitive to quality sound I've learned. Hopefully this time with a lot of changes impacting sound quality all happening at the same time I'll notice the difference

 

Going to aim my headlights tonight I noticed something strange...
These are fucking RHD beam pattern!!
Not sure if this was my mistake or The Retrofit Source's mistake, but I don't even see where RHD is a configurable option!! I'll definitely be messaging them Tuesday... Probably I should have caught this when test firing... But I didnt and now I have some unuseful headlights.

 

Had a burner of a weekend...
Something is up with the fan circuitry, seems like it's on the switch side, so I decided to do some much needed mtc.

Cam tabs are finally getting all the fix!
I elected to DIY my own gusset/delete kit.
Also serviced the UCAs with some comh16t uniballs that were much needed.

Fiancee helped on teardown.


Rh UCA bolt was seized, so I had to rent a tool to replace this uniballs.


Plasma table was turning and burning, still a lot of dross on the SS cuts tho.


This was the first project that had me using my new fab table... Very excited.


End result, I used stainless for cam deletes and it feels like I only tacked all these brackets on, but considering how the oe tabs were held on, idc! Truck feels 1000% better, this double cab (frame) probably needed this 5+ years ago!

 

Did you replace the bushings at the same time? Do you suspect the cams were moving around before to affect the ride quality?

 

I replaced a control arm (which came with new bushings) on one side, but didn't even think about control arm bushings they're around 4 years old I think?

Some of the cam tabs were flat... I thought I gusseted them years ago, but actually only gusseted a single cam and with my skids on I never really looked at the cams/tabs.

 

Took the weekend to do some soft roading with some rebelle rally women this weekend, definitely a different pace from how I prefer to hit trails, but the navigation skills are unreal... Positioning themselves within a few feet of a gps coordinate with nothing but a compass, scale, and paper map.

Previous years podium finishers rig, they say both the wheeling and navigating here in KY is much more difficult!!


My fiancee is signed up and set to participate in this '23 TRD Pro Sequoia, it impressed me a ton, and the operator/full size combo made for quadruple takes from the little bit of traffic we saw on trail.
She caught just a little bit of damage, the approach angle is very lacking! She's used to driving her Tundra, so was very comfortable in the rig, but her partner dailys an s550 mustang, and really had a lot of learning to do behind the wheel!

The octane orange got a lot of custom pinstriping!!



Rickety Rig feels good, front shocks feel ready for a rebuild tho. Also had a new slave cylinder this trip, and a special heat shield, but after a few hours driving, the clutch pedal didn't feel 100%, I suspect the exhaust proximity may be an issue.

Also I averaged 18 mpg including 30mi wheeling, ~2hr ideling and pushing 80 on the highway trying to keep up with the more modern vehicles... Not quite half a tank and 160mi on the clock! not riding it out to 7k rpm every other stoplight, or playing rally car on gravel roads really has an impact!! or my fuel sender is going

 

Damn 18mpg?
I'd take that any day.

 

I haven't done a full tank on the highway yet... but the .69 5th and 2GR are a potent mix