Had to Gut Interior Due to Stop Spread of Mold, What Mods Would You Do While In Here??

We got a wicked snowstorm a few weeks ago, so of course I wanted to take my Tacoma out of the garage where it had been sitting since hunting in November but when I jumped in I noticed that the whole interior was covered in mold, Oh No!.

I'm super grateful that the snow came when it did because I haven't found much damage that can't be scrubbed out but this has turned into one of those projects that keeps getting worse as you dive in. Initially I thought I'd just have to pull the seats and scrub the carpet but everything I removed had more mold behind it so I just kept removing parts until everything but the dash was lying on my garage floor.

I've sprayed everything down with a vinegar solution to stop the spread, then used tons of carpet shampoo and a brush before wet-vaccing it all out and drying it in my garage. This has worked pretty well and I'm down to just the passenger seat and about half the trim pieces left to clean before reinstalling.

Before I get it all cleaned up though, is there any cool interior mods anyone suggests? I plan on getting some cool fabric for the door panels and I would love to build some storage solutions into the space behind the seats or on the roof of the cab since space is at such a premium in a regular cab. I know the headliner is too weak to hold anything but is there a Molle panel that could be fastened to the roof? Maybe an upgraded rear-view mirror/dome light? Any ideas are welcome!

I broke a couple trim fasteners in the process, I'm going to blame the 20yr old plastic lol, anyone know where to find the little doo-dad that attaches the plastic box around the seatbelt mechanism or the bigger round fastener that holds the trim under the climate controls/radio in grey?

Last question, I needed to pull the chicken bars off the cab pillars and was super careful to use the right type of screwdriver, the driver's side came off way easier than expected but that lulled me into a false sense of security and I stripped the hell out of one of the passenger side screws. Anyone have a good method for getting that screw out of there? Damn thing came out half a turn then welded itself into the threads.

 

Sound deaden the doors and rear wall.

Mass loaded vinyl the floor.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/raam-mat-vs-dynamat-xtreme-my-impressions.16247/

https://adventuretaco.com/sound-deadening-a-1st-gen-tacoma-mat-foam-installation/

I used a product called raam mat which was nice but it’s not online for some reason right now (web store isn’t up and running). The toughest part was scraping the stock insulation off the floor.

 

Ooh I forgot to mention that I plan on putting sound deadening on the floor and back wall. I'll have to research the amount needed for a regular cab.

 

Typical “sound deadener” on the floor will yield very little results.

This type of product effectively gets rid of resonance by stiffening up a body panel that otherwise vibrates resonates.

The floor of our trucks is already pretty stiff given all the bracing, seats bolted to it etc.

The best product for the floor is mass loaded vinyl. It will cut down on the frequencies coming from that part of the cab.

The doors (notably the outer door skins) and rear wall is where the sound deadener pieces will be incredibly effective.

 

Anyone disassemble the dash of their rig before? I'm thinking about trying to get behind it to clean out vents as I can see some suspicious looking growths inside them too. How hard is it with the passenger airbags?

 

stock interiors has some great carpet replacments, I did mine and love it!

 

Thank you Madjik, my doors already have some on there that I believe the PO installed so I'll look into getting enough for the rear wall and some mass loaded vinyl for the floor.

 

I'm contemplating this, it is my backup vehicle and mostly used for hunting in the fall. My concern is that it appears that the clips running on the side of the carpet are used to hold the floor trim in as well, would I just cut those off the carpet?

 

I'd suggest hunting down the water source that was feeding mold.

Then move on to the mods.

 

@xtremewlr put vinyl in his old truck I believe, maybe could answer.

 

Just curious, do you know what caused the mold? Is your garage damp and un heated?

 

Water source was living in the Pacific NW, truck was stored in my garage and everything was dry inside.

 

No I don't, only thing I can think of was that it was damp inside after hunting and then stored with the windows rolled up, my garage is un-heated but not particularly damp. It lived for a year in my garage without problems while I was saving for headers, but the windows were cracked

 

Sorry.......not dry.

Consider leaving the windows open and running a dehumidifier when stored in the garage.

Although, I suspect the mold will return due to a leak making the carpet wet. Have you checked 3rd brake light? Many reports of these leaking.

 

What clips are you talking about? If you go vinyl, the door tread molding will hold the edges in place, especially if you are adding sound deadening.

Check the link in my sig, "Sold my Taco". I've got a ton of pics in there from when I swapped in the vinyl flooring in that truck.

 

I'll check there, thank you for the heads-up

 

I think he's talking these white clips

 

Gotcha. I did not reuse those for the vinyl floor. It never moved once installed either.

 

Those are the ones!