Squeaky Penguin's (Trip Reports) Build Thread

The irony is he's "tired of working on it"
yet ready to "start another build".

 

Beautiful place and great picture. Caught me lurkin... is this near Escelante National Monument (I checked out the meeting point).

 

Can you elaborate on sound deadening my truck for $200? Every time I've looked it would be way more than that.

Thanks for the insight. Won't even put 10k miles on my DD this year, including a 2k mile trip to MN a couple weeks ago. Only a couple mile commute to work. Owning it has been nice for working on the truck, but don't know if it's necessary at this point.

Fixing things is annoying, but I enjoy building.

This build is nearing completion, nothing else I really want to do to it, I think that's part of the loss of interest.

That's in Grand Staircase Escalante - Alstrom Point

 

I think the RAAMAUDIO kit for a 1st gen exerted cab is about 235 bucks. Jordan did it @Madjik_Man and I've been in it helps a ton.

 

I'm surprised you care about sound deadening

The price has gone up $40 since I ordered it but all you need is package #1 from raamaudio to make a significant difference:

http://www.raamaudio.com/package-1-...s-ofensolite-iuo-peel-and-stick-41-625-sq-ft/

$160 + shipping.

Plus there's a 5% coupon on TW somewhere.

That was enough to do my rear wall, rear quarter panels, both doors and kick panels. And still have some left over. Probably could have done the entire firewall as well.

Of course I don't have the sporty muffler you have, so maybe it won't work

 

Did you do your floor?

 

I did not.

Using raammat or ensolite on your floor would yield very little to no results.

Best material for the floor is mass loaded vinyl.

 

Thank you. I figured there must have been a reason you didn't mention your floor. Also planning a front clip conversion to 96-97 and I know that you're the man for that too. I'm going to satoshi the grill so would any ebay grill work do you think if I get the rest of the oem stuff except headlights I'll probably get the ARB's. Thank you again.

 

Yeah any grill would work. Also check out rockauto for the grill. I paid something $33 for mine.

 

Might have to give that a try.

Tires and random wind noise are louder than the muffler at highway speeds anyways.

Giving consideration to making my truck more comfortable before more drastic measures.



Also, after some research, trading the WRX straight across for a 2nd gen wouldn't get me one as new and with as few of miles as I would prefer. Also not sure if what I could sell this pile for would completely fund the build. I've had my taste of car loans and debt, not adding anymore.

 

I'm not in the know...

Thinking of moving into a 2nd gen and building that up?

In my experience the sound deadening I did made a very significant difference.

Tire/road noise drastically reduced.

Can't do anything about wind noise and the glass though.

Before getting Judas Prius my Tacoma was my only vehicle. I couldn't have a conversation with a passenger on the highway it was so loud. Let alone use Bluetooth for a work phone call.

Now it's a pretty damn quiet cab. Very comfortable audibly/aurally.

Plus the music sounds much better - a nice benefit/factor for me.

 

Yeah, been debating consolidating both my vehicles to one 2nd gen and building that in a bit of a different manner than this thing.

I can't hear anything on the highway - so damn noisy. I usually fix that by turning up the music, and then I really can't hear anything.

 

Nice.

Does this mean Old Brett and I can ridicule you mercilessly?

 

I'd do the roof if you can as well. The roof flexes a lot and stiffening it up would help the low end kind of woofing/coupling that can happen on the high way. I've been meaning to do mine for a while. Just no time with work right now.

 

So, exactly what you do already?



Good news is if I install sound deadening I could clean the interior at the same time.

 

I think going away from having a DD will be detrimental to your adventures. While it is a pain to maintain two vehicles, you can always have the truck ready to rock for your next adventure. If something goes wrong on an adventure, you can get it home and deal with it when it's most convenient for you and not need to rush to fix it. Also you don't need to tackle a project in one sitting because of it being your only vehicle. My dd is on it's last leg but I for sure do not want to go back to dd'ing the truck. Ideally I'll be getting a CPO Corolla that will last me 5-10 years and not need to work on it at all. I get that these trucks are not comfortable for long distances, mostly because of seating, but the fact that you do actually have your build in that happy place of being "done" and just needing to maintain it is huge.

 

Be careful cleaning these things is a rabbit hole, done two of them now. Once you see the grime and nast that comes up with a carpet extractor you start questioning if it is safe to even breath near it haha.

 

Truck survived a Morrison-Goose. Napa is giving me a new power steering pump. Thinking this thing will stick around to see a few more trails.

IMG_1218 by brettbjorgum, on Flickr

IMAG0363 by brettbjorgum, on Flickr

IMG_1232 by brettbjorgum, on Flickr

 

Oh what the shit. You were 30 mins from me and didn't let me buy you beer!!