Gary Lewis

Jim - Yes, there are places molded into the Highliner, but they are for 4" speakers, which will be the upper midrange and tweeters. But George and I are talking about the possible inclusion of 6x9's in the door for bass. I'm not quite sure where the vent is in the '87 and later doors, but IIRC it is in towards the rear of the door. The pic below shows a possible place to put a 6x9. But the horizontal line near the top of the center circle is my best measurement on where the bottom of the window is. And the circle is the magnet, which protrudes 3" from the mounting surface. But the window is only 2 1/2" inside the door. So that mounting position is suspect. And it assumes that the '87 door pockets would clear the speaker if it is mounted to the outside of the inner sheet metal of the door. But if it would work there's ~4" from the inside edge of the door to the fabric of the seat. Obviously that's not ideal. Now to work on the door lock linkage as I just got "locked out". Luckily the window was open, so I stood on the step bar, reached the inside door handle and bolt laying on the floor, re-attached it to the release mechanism, and was able to get it to open. Just. The rod that pushes the lock open bowed pretty badly.

George - Thanks for the offer on the door pockets. My doors don't have any vents so I'd have to cut them to use your pockets, but then I'd have to reinforce the door as I'm afraid that would take out some strength. However, I'd probably almost for sure want to cut the tweeter out as it doesn't make sense to have the highs coming out down there. As for installing the 6x9's where they are on Brutus, I looked at doing that and it would really take a lot of cutting and I don't want to do that. Instead I'll try the 6 1/2"s in the doors and see how they sound. And then consider placing the 6x9's in the lower part of the door as well. Do you have a picture showing where the vent is in your door? I mean the metal part of the door where you'll put the 6x9? I want to see what is there in my door to make sure there won't be interference.

Take Janey to Ron's for a chili-cheeseburger with homemade fries! Ummm! Lol!!!! We are standing in line to vote literally across the street from Ron’s and as I pulled this up Janey said “A bowl of Ron’s chili sure would be nice!”

Yes, a not uncommon problem after someone tries to manhandle the door lock without disconnecting the linkage. What is your plan regarding getting the linkage away from the outer door skin? Easy peasy. With both door panels off I'll pull both the driver's and passenger's door links and make the passenger's side a mirror image of the driver's side. At least I think that'll work since the driver's side works perfectly.

This is the third day in a row for rain. It has been off and on, but mostly on. However it started in earnest last night and rained literally all night. And still raining. Awaiting the light of day to see how far out of its banks the creek on the back of the property is. And it is "up to" 43 degrees. So no way I've had the truck out for a bit. But if I get the doors finished tomorrow maybe we can take it for a ride on Saturday when the weather is supposed to be dry and in the 60's. Maybe get to listen to the 6.5's in the dampened doors.

My Sony speakers have been in the doors for several years and aren't rusted nor otherwise damaged by rain - unlike the Edelbrock intake that was corroded from the daily rain in Florida. So I'm not seeing the need for the Boom Mats. Just thought I'd ask.

That's a nice "kit"! Wish I'd have found something like that for Big Blue.

That is some SERIOUS wind! Yikes! Glad you are safe.

Hard, rather than well, used. It doesn't appear to have a straight panel, but is said to be solid otherwise. Perhaps a candidate for being a donor for a 4wd swap?

Excellent job, Andre! The new engine looks fantastic, and the steering column work had to have helped a bunch. But I don't agree on the diagnosis on the windshield wipers. As shown in the schematic below, the wipers should only be getting power in Accy or Run. So if you have power to the wipers and the radio when the key is off then there's a problem either in the wiring or in the ignition switch itself. One test for the ignition switch would be to pull the connector off the switch when the key is off and there is still voltage on the radio or wipers. If the power goes away then the problem has to do with the switch. Did you adjust the switch with the instructions shown on the page at Documentation/Electrical/Ignition and the Ignition Switch tab? Maybe it is just out of adjustment? Anyway, good luck in Spain. We are reading here that cases of COVID-19 are growing rapidly in Europe, as they are here. Stay safe!

Yes, glad you are safe! Prayers answered!

Not to clutter your thread too much, but I did post some pictures from that trip to the North Shore of Lake Superior in a thread about my motorhome on FTE if you're interested. Beautiful pics! Love them!

Ok, I'm watching and making comments as I watch: As said, I've been to Animas Forks. In fact, was close to there 2 weeks ago as we went up that way in my buddy's X7. Probably could have gone the whole way but he didn't want to. 10:20 Steep Section: Doesn't look too bad with the gear ratio I'll have. But hard to tell w/o being there - especially on the narrowness. I'm not sure I want to tackle The Wall. I'm pretty sure BB could make it with the winch, but the graunches when the Toyota's undercarriage hit the rocks was UGLY. But I do want to see it, and maybe after a few days of running the trails I'll want to tackle it. And I agree that their handling of the winch lines wasn't smart. If I hook the winch up it'll be to pull me over. I'm going to have to put together a collection of Youtube links to send to my brother so we can talk about what we want to do, and I think this one will make the list. Thanks!>

So you're running a bolt through one threaded piece into another? That's not generally the way things are done. You can't get the two pieces tight against each other. The bolt / mirror / door skin / rivnut will all be tight together, but the brace will be loose on the bolt threads. It can't go anywhere because it can't slide on the threads and it can't turn because there are two bolts through it. So maybe it's fine. But it's not really kosher. You could drill out the threads in the rivnut to get everything tight. But I certainly wouldn't blame you if you don't want to do that! Or you could drill out the brace and put nuts on the back side of that. But that would likely require longer bolts, and getting in to get nuts on might be a chore. Or you could leave it as is and be happy that it ain't goin' nowhere even if it might not be tight. I agree it isn't kosher. But it appears to have worked as the brace does appear to be tight against the rivnuts - I've pulled the window run away and tried to move the brace. Nada. And there aren't enough threads on the screw after going through the brace to even get a nut started, much less tighten down. Plus the screws are stainless torx head, so aren't common. Given that, I decided to try. And while the screws went in, I could tell things were in a bind. Which is why I came up with the new process. It might be a bit better. We shall see. But I don't want to drill the rivnuts out. With the Loctite I don't think the brace is going anywhere, so will leave the driver's side alone.

Progress! Little steps and eventually it all comes together. (I keep telling myself that, so might as well pass it on. )

Praying for y'all, George!

Jim - I doubt the manufacturer would tell you to cut them up. But the instructions I posted are from Crutchfield. And it makes sense. The Boom Mats, and all the others surely, have a tiny volume. Far smaller than what a 6 1/2" speaker needs in an enclosure. And while they aren't sealed, the foam will impede the sound waves and act like a small enclosure. So I'm sure Crutchfield's instructions are the right approach.

Ha, I'm sure it is. This one is an extreme example, but it's not that uncommon to see them like this. This one may have been used at a commercial fish or lobster plant and had salt water on it all the time, or maybe it had salt spreader on it, but either way, it's pretty bad lol. Man, that is AWFUL!

Jim - I'd forgotten about those braces as they are not easily seen. Fortunately they are completely intact on Big Blue, so there's no problem. But thanks for reminding me. Shaun - There's a hollow sound to the un-treated door. And a "dead", almost wooden, sound to the treated door. As for the brace I made, thanks guys. It puts just enough pressure on the outer skin so it can't move, and surely has to stiffen up the mirror. But I'm going to try a different way of installing the next one. On the first one I tapped the holes first and held them up against the back of the rivnuts and ran the screws in. But the threads weren't perfectly lined up and the screws went in kind of tight. This time I'll drill both holes but only tap the rear hole and will then install the brace by turning it down on the end of the screw. And when it lines up with the front hole I'll run the tap through the front mirror hole and then tap the brace. That way the threads should line up properly. On another note (), I've been chasing a rattle in the passenger's door but couldn't find it. Today as I was working on the door I heard the rattle and traced it down to a loose rivet holding the window crank mechanism on. It has now been replaced with a 1/4-20 bolt and nut. Problem solved. David - Do you remember the conversation about the lock linkage? Well, I'd bent it some but that hadn't fixed the problem. But today as I was cleaning and installing sound deadener I found the issue - the linkage is rubbing the outer skin of the door. That's an easy fix, but it'll make a huge difference as it has been a pain to have to get in on the driver's side and cross over to open the passenger's door for Janey - and at times even that wasn't always quickly successful. Last, I did get the passenger's door cleaned up outside and in, and got the first layer of sound deadener on. But didn't get it heated up, which makes it easier to roll out, so that will have to wait - probably until Friday as we are running errands tomorrow. And then I can add the 2nd layer of deadener, my new brace, and then the brace across where cut the door. (Get that, John? )

Got the driver's door done and am starting on the passenger's door. But thought you might like to see & hear the results. First, checking over my stash of sound deadening material I found that I will have some left over. So I put a second 12 x 20" layer right in the middle of the door's outer skin. Then I created a "brace" to go between the bottom two screws of the mirror and the front window track. It is threaded 6 x 1.0 mm and the mirror screws go into it after leaving the nutserts in the door. It is just long enough when coupled with the piece of hose to put some tension on the outer door shell and should stop the shell and the mirror from vibrating as the window track is pretty solid. (Yes, I used a teeny bit of Loctite to ensure it doesn't go anywhere. ) Note that there's a 1/4" step in the brace to clear the window's channel as it comes down. Here are a couple more shots of it, and I can supply dimensions if anyone is interested. And then I thought I'd see if there is a difference between the driver's side since it is done and the passenger's side, which only has the factory sound deadening. Here's the driver's side, the "after": And here's the passenger's side, the "before". Note that the sound difference isn't too dramatic if you don't have much bass, like if you are listening on a phone. Trust me, in real life there's a huge difference, and my sound system here in the shop comes pretty close to replicating it.

Not bad, but the fiberglass is a bit of a turnoff. However, most people won't know or care.

Good job, Jim! I missed the extra tags. Good video, George & Nick. But even better, Brutus appears to be smooth and powerful. And quiet. Well done!

Thanks, George. What I'll do is once I get the doors lined with sound deadening I'll put the Sony 6 1/2's back in and go for a ride to see what they sound like. It is now cold enough we can drive with the windows up as I don't have the A/C going yet, and that will let us see how the system sounds. Do you recommend using speaker baffles? If so, what about doing what Crutchfield recommends? "In many applications we recommend that you cut a hole in the bottom of the baffle, or remove the entire bottom of the baffle, to maintain good bass response while still protecting your speaker from dirt and water damage."

Yes, beautiful. But I'm with you, Dane. Why so many options and no tach? And I was hoping for fog lights, but no. Not even an underhood tool box.

Congrat's!!! Such a good feeling. But take it easy and save your back.