Building a Toyota that fits Douglas

[DouglasVB]

I haven't brought wires through the firewall yet. The plug you mentioned does look like a good place to do it. I'm still deciding how I'm going to mount the auxiliary fuse block in the engine bay. I'm also waiting for the guy who 3D prints the switch plate replacement panels to have a run of panels of the type that I need for the lower left hand switch panel position.

Maybe this weekend I'll figure out the aux fuse block mounting issue. I think I'll have to design my own mount because I haven't found anything that I can buy that doesn't require relocation of the clutch fluid reservoir.

 

[allen.wrench]

Gotcha @DouglasVB. Having the clutch reservoir there on the driver side does make it more challenging. Having an automatic trans has that advantage, lol. But as I think about this, I can picture in my mind (I have a weird brain) a similar plug on the passenger side of the firewall and the manual trans should have a big empty space just like the automatic trans on the passenger side. Right?

I'll double check what I'm picturing when I have a chance the next few days and report back.

Allen

 

[DouglasVB]

There are some kits to put second batteries in that empty spot on the passenger side. I've seen a few people also stuff fuse panels in there. But I haven't seen a bracket anyone is selling to put the fuse panel on that side. Probably it would have to be custom.

If I make a custom bracket, I should be able to fit it in on the driver's side and avoid the clutch reservoir. I just need to take some cardboard to make a simple template and then port that into CAD and send it off to a manufacturer. Or use this as an excuse to buy a combo sheet metal break and shears from harbor freight

If you do find a good bracket, please let me know!

 

[allen.wrench]

take some cardboard to make a simple template and then port that into CAD

Technically speaking as a professional engineer, CAD = Cardboard Aided Design haha

I'd lean towards buying more tools. Especially if they're tools with clear capabilities that can be used on future projects.

Definitely will let you know if I do spot a good bracket now. I remember seeing some brackets a while ago but I had my (automatic transmission) engine bay in mind so I don't remember if what I'd seen a while ago would work with the clutch reservoir. All the same I'll do some surfing, I am curious.

Allen

 

[allen.wrench]

Def another access on the passenger side

Allen

 

[DaveInDenver]

Look carefully at the other side of the firewall before punching through.



i used a similar spot on my truck to pass through a pair of power wires and an antenna coax but it has to take a sharp bend to clear the ECU.

It's completely doable but I couldn't fit anything bigger or more stiff and you'd have to be careful if you wanted to drill the hole larger or do some other machining operation.

 

[DouglasVB]

I might be tempted to use the various bungs in the floor pan to get wires through for certain things. That's where the Toyota wiring runs (through one of the floor plugs) to have an automatic tailgate power lock. I know because I installed it on my truck

 

[allen.wrench]

@DaveInDenver I didn't know the ECU is there on the passenger cabin interior side of the firewall. I will be careful if I do route in that area. I had thought the passenger side would be good for lower power stuff anyway, like radio coax, since it'd be further away from the main fuse blocks on the driver side.

@DouglasVB have you looked at these guys for a manual transmission extra fuse box?

Auxiliary Fuse Block Bracket for 3rd Generation Toyota Tacoma (2016+) UPDATED DESIGN

Brushed aluminum fuse block bracket for 3rd generation Toyota Tacoma (2016+). Mounts 6-circuit or 12-circuit ST Blade Fuse Block Systems from Blue Sea Systems.

overlandequipped.com

Allen

 

[DouglasVB]

I've been meaning to email them to see what's the clutch fluid reservoir relocation bracket looks like.

There's another one I've got in my bookmarks I need to email who says they've got another solution for manual transmissions but I haven't had time yet to do that.

Something I've been contemplating more recently is making a bracket to hold a one gallon air tank and a fuse panel in that empty passenger side area of the engine bay. There's a company that makes a bracket to hold a compressor and air tank there already so I might be able to modify their bracket or make my own.

I've been sick so I haven't had much time to make progress. Ugh.

 

[DaveInDenver]

@DaveInDenver I didn't know the ECU is there on the passenger cabin interior side of the firewall. I will be careful if I do route in that area. I had thought the passenger side would be good for lower power stuff anyway, like radio coax, since it'd be further away from the main fuse blocks on the driver side.

To be clear, my memory isn't good to tell you which ECU is back there on the firewall. It might be the 4WD that's right behind the glove box there. But there's something.

FWIW, I just made a bracket to hold a 6-position fuse block with some sheet aluminum. It's a one banana fab and cost was next to nothing since I used salvaged material from the bin and bolts from the junkyard collection can.

 

[DouglasVB]

To be clear, my memory isn't good to tell you which ECU is back there on the firewall. It might be the 4WD that's right behind the glove box there. But there's something.

FWIW, I just made a bracket to hold a 6-position fuse block with some sheet aluminum. It's a one banana fab and cost was next to nothing since I used salvaged material from the bin and bolts from the junkyard collection can.

That's a nice fab job! And that's right where my clutch reservoir is bolted

It looks like you're using two lead acid batteries with a blue sea systems link. Have you found that to be a good setup for you?

 

[DaveInDenver]

That's a nice fab job! And that's right where my clutch reservoir is bolted

Yeah, this little bracket is somewhat unique to 2008 or older manual V6 that opted not to get VSC/TRAC since the fluid reservoir for the brake and clutch is shared. So I don't have a separate one like you got. Rather Toyota put a large hose on the side of the reservoir that feeds the clutch master.

In 2009 it wasn't possible to get any Tacoma without the the electric master cylinder/booster for traction control so the remote reservoir like you got is standard.

Mine has the old school vacuum booster and where you're thinking of putting stuff on the passenger side I have an octopus ABS pump. So you win some, you loose some.

It looks like you're using two lead acid batteries with a blue sea systems link. Have you found that to be a good setup for you?

That was the dual I used to have. Short answer, no, that set up blew chunks. I went through 3 Odyssey warranty replacements in less than 3 years and the weight cracked my fender right along the reinforcement for the core support. Using an ML-ACR never was optimal, I had a hard time keeping both batteries healthy.





I would avoid repeating my mistakes in this case.

I punted, put back the lightest group 24 I could find and run a battery box in the back now for the fridge. That's nicer anyway so I can move the fridge and battery to a bear box rather than have to carry a super long extension cord. Plus the battery box has a solar controller and a DC-DC so I have a range of potential charging sources. In fact the box is currently torn apart for a LiFePO4 upgrade so weight will decrease and capacity will increase.

 

[DouglasVB]

Maybe this plate is an option... It gets mounted to the J hook for the battery and sits vertically in front of the battery. There is quite a bit of room there.

The downsides I forsee are 1) PITA to check the fuses (have to pull the plate to see them), 2) will need extra wire so the plate can be easily removed to check fuses or whatever.

But installing any plate in the "normal" aux fuse location (behind the battery and in front of ABS brake module) also requires excess wire so it can be removed when doing work on any of the stuff below or around that location.

Has anyone heard of Egis Mobile Electronics before? They sell some similar stuff to Blue Sea Systems except it's less expensive and claims to be made in the USA.

I'm thinking that I'll either use the two Blue Sea Systems 6 circuit fuse blocks I have or get a 12 fuse block split from Blue Sea Systems. That'll allow me to have a few always-powered circuits (see my old post on potential aux circuits) for the dash cam, the anti-rodent device, and whatnot. Then the rest can be on switched power. I'm thinking of using a Blue Sea Systems low voltage disconnect with remote override switch to turn on and off the switched loads.

The switched loads would include the light bar (10 amps? need to check) , heated seats (20 amps -- I'm installing these heated seats before fall), future radios (15 amps peak per radio max transmit but usually much lower), and a potential future aux power port in the rear of the cab (10 to 20 amps). I'd sort of like the compressor on that circuit as well but if I recall correctly, it needs 80 amps total while the low voltage disconnect I'm interested in is only rated for 65 amps continuous.

I don't think I posted this before. This happened in early July.

 

[allen.wrench]

I like the idea of using the space between the batter and headlight since that space is largely useless. But agreed about the down sides.

Could quarter turn fasteners work, or god forbid maybe velcro?

I've never heard of Egis. Maybe they're alright.

Nice mileage bro haha

Allen

 

[DaveInDenver]

It's open space, just think about access, both normally and during an emergency. Like a master breaker or kill switch that you can't get to is pretty useless. Also I like to think about what something can hit. Like how can a widget move when you're bouncing on a trail or in an accident? You usually have to at some point just trust hold downs and rubber boots but you do what you can to minimize risks anyway.

Don't know Egis either but looking at their products they're like most other brands in that they don't appear to be a manufacturer. The actual OEMs for most of these breakers, solenoids, fuseblocks are usually Cole-Hersee, Littelfuse, Eaton, Bussmann.

For example you see this 6 ckt block with grounds in a lot of places:

https://www.amazon.com/Circuit-Waterproof-Indicator-Waterpoof-Automotive/dp/B096Z1WNLW/ref=sr_1_3

https://www.amazon.com/Way-Fuse-Block-Negative-Bus/dp/B08GJTS2Q2/ref=sr_1_15

The exact same one is $29 at PowerWerx as is $9 at Amazon.

https://powerwerx.com/fuse-block-6circuit-ground-led

I found that out the hard way *after* thinking the PowerWerx one was a bargain comapred to Blue Sea. The Blue Sea one is slightly nicer but probably not 4 times better to justify the price. I hate supporting evil empire Amazon but I also won't spend 3 times the cost AND pay for shipping. They even have similar part numbers sometimes.

Egis is slightly different but similar enough that I'd think came from the same place. But even if not, is it really worth $34.70 over ~$10? I dunno.

https://www.egismobile.com/shop/8025b-rt-fuse-block-6-circuit-w-ground-bulk-pack-4950#attr=

 

[DouglasVB]

I always wonder about the non name brand stuff if it's going to give me grief down the road. But if it comes from one of the big OEMs originally and isn't just a factory seconds thing with low quality material, that's alright.

The heated seat kit arrived today. It's a required item before fall

 

[DaveInDenver]

I tend to buy OEM when I can figure it out. Like Blue Sea sells the marine rated battery fuses, which are actually made by Cooper/Bussman MRBF (literally the series). You can buy them directly anywhere that is a distributor for usually a little to a lot less than Blue Sea. Like $9 vs $17. When you get them under the Blue Sea part number they even come with "BUSS" stenciled on the side. It's not subtle.

 

[allen.wrench]

I installed the Guild Outfitters 400w harness on Sunday. Worked out well enough and I'm happy with it.

While installing I played around with its ground wire. Confirmed if the harness' ground wire is touching ground then the inverter button lights up 400w, and if the ground wire gets pulled off ground then only 100w is lit up. But touching the ground wire back to ground does not reactivate 400w light. I had to cycle the inverter button completely off and back on before the 400w came back. It was annoying to cycle because of a delayed reaction of the button.

My conclusion: I'm not going to bother adding another switch to manually choose between 100w and 400w. Doesn't feel worth the hassle. I'll use the brain power to consider the power draw of what I'm plugging into my inverter.

Oh and my harness came with an extra outlet that has an LED but also doesn't light like yours @DouglasVB . After I installing everything, I was testing the final thing. I plugged in my fridge to this outlet, and it just popped apart. Very fortunate I was able to fish out the part that fell inside the console. Without having to take apart the console and I pushed everything back together. Will see how long it holds up. On top of that, I saw on the inside of the outlet the LED isn't hooked up to anything! Those extra two pins on the outlet appear to be the LED power pins, but again they're not hooked up.

Instead of a manual 100w and 400w button, I feel I'd prefer to get this LED hooked up. Not ideal but a 12kohm resistor from the 120vac to feed the LED with ~10mA would prolly work fine. But if my appliances are working when plugged in, then whatever. Lol!

Allen

 

[DouglasVB]

That's interesting that there's no power to that LED! How odd.

 

[DouglasVB]

The only things I am missing now to get on with finishing the compressor install, installing heated seats, installing a forward facing cam and anytime backup cam, putting in a switch to turn on/off the 400 watt inverter mod, and 2WD-LO mod are:

1) where to put the aux fuse block and such. It's becoming clear that I'll have to build something unless I want to take something like the Slee compressor mount or the MORE ARB tank and compressor mount (or the VIAIR version). I'm trending towards the MORE solution because I want an air tank somewhere on the vehicle anyway. I would need to drill some new holes to put a fuse block and such in place of the compressor but I don't think that'll be the end of the world to achieve. The ARB tank looks much sturdier than the VIAIR tank but I'm not sure if it actually matters that much. The VIAIR tank is way cheaper and actually in stock versus the ARB tank which seems to be out of stock from ARB but some resellers/authorized dealers claim to have it in stock. I think the VIAIR is a steel tank while the ARB is aluminum. There are some differences as well in where the ports are located. Either way, I'd want to have a drain plug in it that I can attach a string to so I can blow the tank down occasionally.

The alternative is I fab up my own piece of sheet metal to do the job. But by the time I buy tin bending equipment and a piece of aluminum sheet metal of the right size, it'll be just as cheap if not cheaper to buy from MORE and modify it from there. Otherwise I could design something and send it off to one of the online sheet metal fab companies but again that probably is going to cost as much if not more than buying the product from MORE.

Really the only question here is if I go for the ARB or the VIAIR version of the mount and air tank. The VIAIR will save me $100 up front as long as it's an acceptable design.

2) an expanded lower left switch panel. The only place that seems to make good quality replacements (this guy on Etsy -- he also supplies the several online retailers that sell these) is currently replacing his 3D printers with better ones and is behind on coming back online to resupply the type I need (I need Type H on that Etsy page). I talked with him a few months ago and he was expecting to be in production again this week.

The other thing I want to do is have additional buttons in the overhead console. It isn't strictly necessary for now if I can get #2 above taken care of. But eventually I know I will want more buttons. It looks like I can buy a used overhead console from a truck that had a sunroof but no SOS button and gain a left button plastic. The right side would be sunroof controls that maybe I could repurpose into something useful. Otherwise Meso Customs makes a 6 button replacement. I'm not planning to renew the SOS subscription when that runs out at the end of the year. Of course Meso Customs has been on backorder for several months on any of their switch plate replacements.

I've also looked at what can be done with the overhead sunglasses compartment area. If I had an auto transmission truck, crawl control and whatnot would be located there. One or two people do make 3D printed inserts to put buttons up there but they're printing on FFF printers with low resolution and are not finishing the surface to something that looks OEM, and they look weird and don't have the size of buttons I want (short Toyota OEM). It's hard to tell in that last link what's going on, so check this out instead (for a completely different button system).

I'll never actually use that sunglasses compartment for sunglasses.

Currently my overhead sunglasses case area has this in it:

Yes, it's a plushie taco. My (who got it for me) thinks it's hilarious.

Oh I also got a pair of "Seat Jackers" for the passenger seat for my 's comfort. And I got a front multi mount panel to put a quick release on for a fire extinguisher. I still need to get a fire extinguisher of appropriate size. I'll mount all of that up maybe later this week when I get some time.

I also got a wireless Apple Carplay / Android Auto dongle that works with the head unit pretty much seamlessly. I've been looking at how to split off a USB port from the one in the dash and locate it in the glovebox so I can hide the dongle but still get easy access to it. Some people were successful on older generations of the head unit and there are some cables available so I think I might be able to kludge together a solution. Worst case, I might be able to use an aftermarket USB dash button plug, move the existing one behind the dash, and use a USB splitter so I can plug in a phone directly or a USB stick on the dash.

The stock Qi wireless charger continues to suck. It only keeps the phone at the same charge when I am mapping and it overheats my phone when I'm mapping and also playing audio from my phone. A company at one point sold a drop-in replacement that was reported to be better but they haven't sold it in several years. Otherwise a few people have replaced the stock unit with a charging puck that they cut and glued into the existing unit. Some even used MagSafe-style chargers. It's fine charging off of the center console port but I'd much prefer to be able to toss my phone in the cubby and have it charge even if it is slower than a wired connection. I use an Anker charging puck to charge my phone overnight and it's great. Maybe Slee will eventually manufacture a drop-in replacement like they did for some LC models.