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

Good to know, thank you, I'm pricing out vinyl flooring now.

 

My plan is just throw the old carpet on top of the vinyl outside of the truck and use it as a stencil, thing it;d work?

 

OP,

So sorry that happened to you. One thing I did want to point out that might be helpful. There is a product called Jomax that you can buy and spray on surfaces with mold. That stuff is a miracle and I have used it several times. I know you cleaned thoroughly but might not be a bad idea to go over with Jomax just to be sure. That stuff is ridiculous!

Here is the link:
https://www.rustoleum.com/product-catalog/consumer-brands/jomax/jomax-mold-and-mildew-stain-remover

 

Order from rock auto

 

Thank you! No worries, I decided to go scorched earth on this problem so anything I tools I can add are welcome.

 

Rock Auto is where I got mine from. Good stuff. Just have lots of spare blades for the box knife. Take your time and it will come out nice. Cut less than you think you need to as well. It's easier to remove a little extra here and there than try to fill a small gap because you cut too much!

 

I hear you. Mold is no joke. I use the Jomax on everything and it is amazing. Spray it on and it does all the work.

Your project though is really interesting. Two things I wonder about for you. First, there was a guy on here that put in a vinyl flooring. I think he bought the piece from someone online. I can't remember but it essentially gave him a wash out flooring that they have in some jeeps. Might be a good option for you.

The other thing I am curious about ... and I have never seen anyone do it ... but I wonder if a mold resistant spray foam would be a good idea. We spray foam attic walls, etc. I am about to spray foam my basement walls. I've seen kits to do this but I never really saw it done in a truck. Probably a dumb idea but the thought occurred to me that it might be an option for you. Just thinking out loud.

 

Just ordered it from Rock Auto, not as spendy as I thought!

 

Not very well, IMO. After looking at it and laying the carpet over, there was too much potential to mess up and cut too much. Better to start from the back and work forward and leave as much extra in there as you can until you start putting trim back in place. cut way less than you think you need to and slowly trim a little bit at a time until if fits and the trim covers it.

 

They carry good stuff. I was very happy with mine. Even considered doing it in the 4runner. Still might at some point.

 

Rust never sleeps and neither does mold. If applying Jomax, I’d wait a little while before sealing it up. (Painting contractor).

 

Did this awhile back - cleaning out the AC evaporator:



I'm not sure if it's just my truck, but Toyota missed a good idea by not putting a cabin air filter in the HVAC. I got to this by just doing some general cleaning since I was tracing wires from the cruise control that I wanted to uninstall. It seems likely this stuff is restricting airflow. It sits right where the fan blows into.

To get to this point I already had the main dash panel off and removed the blower motor housing. It might be possible to do even with the main dash in the truck.



I also redid the weak foam seals with this stuff. It's advertised as holding up to extreme cold no problem; I hope it can handle heat...



It fit the seams well width wise and made a much tighter seal.



The foam in the blend door was falling apart so I hosed it off. I started to cut out some new foam to coat it, but it sealed pretty tightly and since I live in sunny Southern California I don't have to worry about a lot of cold air getting in when I don't want it to and I almost never use AC...

I washed the blower motor with a powerful spray bottle and piping hot water making it rotate like a water wheel while I held a big tray under it. Came out pretty clean. I anticipate some better airflow and hopefully quieter operation.



I went from this:



to this. The red and green ovals mark a connector and a brass colored bracket that I removed when re-installing the blower housing. If I did it again I'd remove them before removing it to make it way easier to get out. The plastic that holds the connecter had a plastic plug that goes into the sheet metal that wouldn't come out without too much of a fight so I cut it with a razor knife so there was still a hole in it I could zip tie it through to the sheet metal...

 

gj. Most def need to do some a/c maintenance on my 02.

 

That looks great! I think I'm probably due for a deep clean under there too, what was the process for removing the dash like? Any major pitfalls I should know before I tear into it?

 

Major is disconnect the battery and give the airbags time to become safe to work around, but besides that just attack the major panels and glove box and it's not as bad as it looks. I'd recommend possibly checking for play in your steering column while you're at it on this video since it's easy to remove the dash and wheel and have more room to work at the same time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsOptgpfshg

 

Thanks! I think my plan of attack on this project is going to be to check for ingress of water, finish cleaning the interior pieces strewn about my garage then get the truck back in safe and start tackling the dash while I wait for my new vinyl flooring to show up at the end of the month. I'd like to get my taco back on the road by Mid-April for turkey season. Of course my VW TDI daily decided that now was when it was going to throw it's annual electrical fit over the weekend so I have to spend time troubleshooting that now too lol.