Worklog - Road RagE II (2007 Tundra)

[PS-RagE]

Slight update: the green wire from the monitor harness is an active high back-up indicator.

[PS-RagE]

So a cold rainy weekend means no camping trip and thus an "excuse" to get some work done on the back wall/subwoofer.

Keep in mind, I am not a bodyman and just going with things I have done in the past based on information pulled from the 'net.

Anyhow, with the back wall removed, I covered it with green painter's tape. Previous experience has shown that fiber glass resin will not stick to this:



Next, I tightly stretch polar fleece around it doing my best to ensure it follows all the contours:



And now I soak it down with fiber glass resin:



Once the resin has dried, I pull it away from the plastic and I have a form to work with that gives me the basic shape of the back wall (minus the subwoofer section):



So once again, I completely gut the rear section of the Tundra including the temporarily installed radio components. Once the seats are out I replaced the bolts back in their holes both to protect the holes as well as to not lose the bolts:



This weekend's main job is to get the wall completely roughed in. That means working with fiber glass inside the truck. This stuff is the stickiest, messiest material of all. If any of it comes into contact with the interior, it will be ruined and have to be replaced. Therefore, I am not taking any chances and sectioned off the rear of the truck with two layers of a heavy plastic drop sheet:





So with a test fit of the new back wall and some trimming I have my two pieces placed:



Now I have to figure out how I am going to keep the wall in place before I join it to the subwoofer enclosure.

So with a pot of coffee on and the Symphony X discography in shuffle mode on the iPod I'll see if I can have this done today.

.

[czechm8]

That's a pretty sick ride, man!

[Ohiodish]

Looks good, you may need 2 pots of coffee... I bet this portion of your install will take some time. Fiberglass = lots of time, sanding & more sanding. Then after all that work; it's hidden behind the seat. I applaud your effort. Without a doubt the best A/V Tundra ('07) system I have seen.

[Ohiodish]

I forgot to ask... How far back will your seat go? Will it slide all the way back and what about tilt?

[PS-RagE]

Originally Posted by Ohiodish

Looks good, you may need 2 pots of coffee... I bet this portion of your install will take some time. Fiberglass = lots of time, sanding & more sanding. Then after all that work; it's hidden behind the seat. I applaud your effort. Without a doubt the best A/V Tundra ('07) system I have seen.

Hopefully by tomorrow it will be strong enough to support its own weight so I can pull it out. Then I can work on it a little each evening before I go home at night.

Originally Posted by Ohiodish

I forgot to ask... How far back will your seat go? Will it slide all the way back and what about tilt?

The small seat will still have its full motion. The large seat is going to lose about 6" of travel.

[PS-RagE]

I decided to reuse the factory mounts and fed a bolt back through it. When this piece is done, it is going to be really heavy so I may not have to bolt it in place at all but if I do, this mount will be handy as it will give me some side-to-side play for adjustment.



Again using the fleece, I make an angled bridge between the MDF subwoofer enclosure and the fiber glass back wall. The fleece is simply hot glued to the wood but in order to keep a straight line at the junction to the wall I screwed down a metal bar.



The fleece is soaked with resin and once it has hardened the first layer of glass is applied.



Next, the sides of the wall and the sub enclosure are bonded together. I need this to be as strong as possible before I remove it from the truck. It has to be a solid and inflexible so as not to change shape while working on it outside the truck otherwise it won't fit right.





As I kind of expected, when I removed the metal bar from the top of the fiberglass bridge I found that the top of the bridge was not bonded to the wall.



This actually works out in my favour as it lets me make a last minute adjustment to the back wall.



Now I just have to add a second layer of glass to all three joints and once hardened I can finally get this thing out of my truck! I know most people would shudder as I drilled holes or snipped harnesses but this part was the most nerve-wracking to me and I'll be glad to be doing the rest of this on a workbench and not in the truck!

.

[tooldud]

Wow! I just read the whole thread. Really nice work. Back in my 20's I had a job in car electronics installion. I installed some 2-ways and alot of car mounted cellular phones. I drilled many a roof holes for antennas. I look forward to the rest of the install. Thanks for the thread.

[ZX10R]

Dont know if this was asked or if you already mentioned it, but can you use 1 antenna for the Nav and Sat systems or do you have to use individual antennas.

Thanks.

[PS-RagE]

If by "sat" you mean XM or Sirius then: no, you must use individual antennas

[ZX10R]

Thanks for your answer. Looks good by the way.

[DevinSixtySeven]

Beautiful, and clean! That's quite a pile of toys at the beginning of the thread ...amazing they all fit . Nice job, I'll be following your thread for sure ...

-Sean

[zukiman]

So far your truck is looking awesome and is inspiring me to spend more money than I want to...

Couple questions...
Was there not a factory backup camera plug in the dash that would hookup to the factory NAV with backup camera option where you could hook into for the Alpine unit instead of using the one in the overhead? From what I have gathered from this forum, all the wiring for all accessories are pre-installed by Toyota so I would think that it would be back there???

Second, I have looked for a permanent mount GPS antenna without luck, even searching your part numbers... is this item still available?

Third, I am considering the Blackbird PMD-B200 as my navigation system for a couple reasons, double duty portable GPS and plug in to the W205 and you now have on board NAV and it also comes with factory bluetooth, plus it is about $1000 cheaper than the DVD NAV system. Did you consider this at all and if you did what made you go with the DVD NAV?

Thanks in advance...

[PS-RagE]

Originally Posted by zukiman

So far your truck is looking awesome and is inspiring me to spend more money than I want to...

I know that feeling - wait till you see the next update......

Couple questions...
Was there not a factory backup camera plug in the dash that would hookup to the factory NAV with backup camera option where you could hook into for the Alpine unit instead of using the one in the overhead? From what I have gathered from this forum, all the wiring for all accessories are pre-installed by Toyota so I would think that it would be back there???

The factory nav is a factory option because it uses a different harness. It seems there are three different styles. Check this thread: http://www.tundrasolutions.com/forum...r-2007-tundra/

Second, I have looked for a permanent mount GPS antenna without luck, even searching your part numbers... is this item still available?

Check with a local Motorola Two-Way radio dealer. This sort of stuff is not typically available on-line.

Third, I am considering the Blackbird PMD-B200 as my navigation system for a couple reasons, double duty portable GPS and plug in to the W205 and you now have on board NAV and it also comes with factory bluetooth, plus it is about $1000 cheaper than the DVD NAV system. Did you consider this at all and if you did what made you go with the DVD NAV?

Thanks in advance...

There are a few reasons actually.

First off, I do not trust "quick connect" type devices. It is my experience that they break far too easily when docking and undocking. Also, with time the connections get sloppy resulting in intermittant operation.

Secondly, I was told the N872 has more advanced features and I'm a sucker for gadgets.

Unfortunately, I live so far north that the maps are sadly out of date. The "advanced features" only work if the device has detailed information about your location. So I mainly use my fancy navigation system as a scrolling map whose roads often end before you reach the end of them. I understand this is a problem with all of these things. It will be helpful when I go to the bigger cities.

Anyhow, I understand the B200 is not shipping yet. It is in limbo with my SPX17PROs

[MARINE_WINGER]

Rage - Im dying to see the completion of your sub box project...Hows it coming?