Upholstery and Interior tips while building a Prerunner

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funinthesun95
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Upholstery and Interior tips while building a Prerunner

Post by funinthesun95 »

Here are some Upholstery and Interior tips, I have learned while building a Prerunner...Some may apply to you and others not so much. I had a hard time with this topic when it came to info for my self, so here you go to start.

I am not an expert, just a guy trying to make the correct decision with research and people’s feedback with things that they used and it work or it did not work.

1. Don't think your stock plastics, carpet, door panels, headliner, or door trim are trash.
A. painting, wrapping and trimming to allow stock interior parts to be reused can make your truck look sharp.
B. carpet can be extended and trim edge added to clean up seems and cuts. Don't get sloppy or you will not have this option. Custom carpet price wise can range. Depending on the quality of carpet you use DIY or labor and area needed to be covered $450-$1200 I found.
2. Don't Think that the common stuff that is used in the custom interior market for example: Hot Rods can't be used in your Bronco or Truck. I would say think about your use and the time line of "deal with it again factor". The statement "one time and done" sometimes means it never gets done is that ok? Also it is an off-road vehicle ....so never... will not happen! Just saying
3. Insulate any place you can whenever you can.
A. everything metal or aluminum will be load. Even if you wrap it....yes it will be load. Mixing in other material on some aspect of the build can help with cab noise. Again Prerunner not Race Truck.
4. Remember to leave yourself a place to run wiring or access to area in the main places you will be covering.... floor pillar roof.
5. Keeping it comfortable is the goal. Everyone definition is different and that is ok. If you have the ability to ride in a Bronco or Truck similar to what you think your end goal is....do it
That is a good way to find your baseline for your interior needs. Interior comfort can even be used for picking suspension and shocks mods you think you want. All of this has an impact on the Cab.

Oh, make sure you don't have intercom headsets on when you get that ride and have the opportunity to test your future baseline...... Smoke and Mirrors Boys and Girls

They help a lot.




Willie
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Re: Upholstery and Interior tips while building a Prerunner

Post by DMbronco »

Great post Willie- and perfectly timed for me.

Interior will be my next move.

Thinking i will have whoever ends up with the job use marine grade carpet to help with durability.

Great point re: suspension and shock consideration; one reason I stayed under the bed with the shocks.

I had Richer and CHO build the cage off of the Autofab pieces to keep both body and cage on poly bushings to limit noise.

I also used a ceramic microsphere containing product to help with noise and heat before I Dynamated.

I topped off with mass-loaded vinyl to limit noise.

Did all this in the doors and on the roof too.

Anyone have recommendations on shops in the San Diego/ Southern CA area please list them up.



I
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Re: Upholstery and Interior tips while building a Prerunner

Post by ChaseTruck754 »

Agreed on the good post.

A bit of a side track here though - what ceramic, microsphere product did you use Bray & would you recommend it?
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Re: Upholstery and Interior tips while building a Prerunner

Post by DMbronco »

Hey Steve,

I first heard of a ceramic microsphere product called Lizard Skin.

I found something similar from Al's Liner for cheaper.

http://alsliner.com/shop/heat-and-noise-reduction/

I brushed it on and then did the rest of the stuff at the same time, so it's hard to say how much it improved the noise.

I think it helped with heat.

I used it on the roof, bed, floorboards, trans tunnel, and inside the top.
Nice to work with- It has a slight texture and is off white in color.
You can paint or bedliner over it. or stick Fat Mat to it like I did.

One thing for Bronco and OBS guys- you can really improve the feel and noise of the doors by dynamatting the inside of the outer door skins-
those doors are 'tinny' from the factory. I also cut out the stock plastic liners and replaced them with MLV while I was in there.
Much better.
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Re: Upholstery and Interior tips while building a Prerunner

Post by ChaseTruck754 »

Thanks for the info Bray. Those are both products I've researched & looked at, and I always ask any of the guys I know who do any sort of liner like that their opinion of the stuff. Al's is cheaper & guys seem to be happy with it, so that was the way I was leaning. My plan is to then cover that with a spray on bedliner material. I've been looking at the Al's liner or the Upol Raptor liner for that stage.

Good info on the door skins too.
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Re: Upholstery and Interior tips while building a Prerunner

Post by robertcrav »

Lizard Skin offers two products, one for heat the ceramic, and another "bed liner" type material...they can be used together...inside or under the truck
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Re: Upholstery and Interior tips while building a Prerunner

Post by ChaseTruck754 »

Correct. As does Al's liner. Al's is just a bit cheaper. From what I have heard from a buddy who used the Lizard Skin stuff he chose it because it will not give off toxic chemicals if it catches on fire. Supposedly most, if not all of the others do. I'm assuming this may be part of the price difference. He was using the stuff on a dedicated prerunner that is well used in Baja and all over. It's something I need to look into & think about on the Al's liner route. Not that any of us ever want our vehicles to catch fire, but it is a possibility.
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Re: Upholstery and Interior tips while building a Prerunner

Post by funinthesun95 »

I rocker U-Pol Raptor Spray on two vehicles so far ..... like Bray I covered it with Mat ....it worked well. I used it on the outside firewall tranny tunnel bottom of the floor and inside floor doors roof. You can color match it as well.

I am a fan of price point and lots of uses...... Like everyone that has posted. I did my homework as well. All the produces talked about so far will work well for our use and I would also use any of them.

I have never looked at the formula of any of these produces, but put enough on and you will be fine. I picked U-pol Raptor due to a fire/ flammable testing they did and price.
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Re: Upholstery and Interior tips while building a Prerunner

Post by funinthesun95 »

I was just reminded in seeing Aaron sheet metal work being done. It is good to copy ford and use some kind of silicone (I am not sure that what they used but you get the idea) or spray on isolation on all seems before you lay mat pad carpet...etc. I know John (alpinejd3) just did this maybe he can let us know what he used?

Again, I personally accomplished this with spraying raptor spry. If you don't plan on spraying the tube, it would be good to do something with all welded seems and look at factor seems to help with cab seal. Just because it looks like it has a seal does not mean air is not coming in. This will help with long term dust heat Etc. It is never perfectly sealed but it helps a lot.
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Re: Upholstery and Interior tips while building a Prerunner

Post by funinthesun95 »

AC/Heat, Ducting and addressing Dust.

I am going to be filtering the air in my current truck with my AC/Heat unit.

An in cab air filter can be added to your vintage air units as well.

When pluming a AC/ heater unit air ducts, I prefer to us hard line for ducting as much as possible... the flex line corrugated style collects more dust and is harder to clean vs the smooth I have found. I have also found with the hard line style, I don't have to re visit (adjust) as often after trips.

For the stock AC/heater guys you can also add an in cab filter to the system if you want.

The biggest reason for this for me is once dust gets in the cab and it will. Catching the dust with the filter ( or more then one) and blowing cleaner air will help keep the cab dust down and you convertible.
It has been talked about before that sealing the cab for no dust can be done, it is hard as hell, but it can be done.

The filter simplifies some of the flaws of a 20 year vehicle with old door seals and window seals .... The filter just is a way of making my life easier. Clean the filter often....ok..... and run your AC and heater to help have clean cab air.....ah OK

The last add on option for filtration is to run a Parker pumper with filter in your cab with or without hoses to filter the air. If you use the hoses you can strategically place them in locations to direct the air and help circulation. No hose is fine as well.

This option can also be simple and works well. It really can be any air pump with a filter to accomplish the grab the dust task. You put the pump on a switch and party. The cab is getting dusty, turn on pump.
With all the KOH IG Pictures it reminded me I needed to post this and update my new truck.

Depending on air volume the pump pushes and the time of uses, determines how fast your cab air gets clean. Also if you do this it will help the cool air move around helping comfort.

The bottom line is I get in your vehicle to leave the dust and be comfortable... not to be sitting in dust and be uncomfortable.

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Re: Upholstery and Interior tips while building a Prerunner

Post by damon1272 »

Wille
Good post on the parker pumper. Considering doing this myself as I will be running a vintage air unit. The parker pumper uses a masco fan with 150 cfm. Any knowledge of the factory fan cfm? I was thinking that two pumpers would be best to serve the whole cab of a bronco. The Vintage air units draw only from the interior of the truck. Was thinking the pumpers would create a positive pressure to help keep the dust at bay.
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Re: Upholstery and Interior tips while building a Prerunner

Post by BDKW1 »

DMbronco wrote:Anyone have recommendations on shops in the San Diego/ Southern CA area please list them up.
Find out who JD fab uses, he's mobile and does a lot of the pre-runners in north county.
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Upholstery and Interior tips while building a Prerunner

Post by cs_drums »

BDKW1 wrote:
DMbronco wrote:Anyone have recommendations on shops in the San Diego/ Southern CA area please list them up.
Find out who JD fab uses, he's mobile and does a lot of the pre-runners in north county.
I’ll second this. There interiors always are super nice. I think last time
I talked to Dave he said the guy is always super busy.


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Re: Upholstery and Interior tips while building a Prerunner

Post by BDKW1 »

cs_drums wrote:I talked to Dave he said the guy is always super busy.
I think his name is Victor? And yes, he was always booked.
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Re: Upholstery and Interior tips while building a Prerunner

Post by funinthesun95 »

damon1272 wrote:Wille
Good post on the parker pumper. Considering doing this myself as I will be running a vintage air unit. The parker pumper uses a masco fan with 150 cfm. Any knowledge of the factory fan cfm? I was thinking that two pumpers would be best to serve the whole cab of a bronco. The Vintage air units draw only from the interior of the truck. Was thinking the pumpers would create a positive pressure to help keep the dust at bay.

yes 2 in a bronco cab would work well. I have not done my research yet on per unit CFM and whats best. The second option in a bronco or big cab truck is add a second AC units but again that fixes the cool air and circulation but not the dust.

the two pumpers would collect the dust and also move the cool air to help the vintage unit keep up with the 100 degrees roasting your truck metal body......hah

basically helping with reflective heat from drive train and out side temp by cool the floor tub depending on how you mounted it. Again this would not be the coldest air but cooler then out side and help the AC unit in the cab cooling. They are not something you need to run all the time ether.
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Re: Upholstery and Interior tips while building a Prerunner

Post by funinthesun95 »

I am glad some guys know some places for people to start looking. If a shop sticks with one guy that is a good sign. Ask the reference about any flaws, remember everyone has them, it just about can you deal with that flaw.


Interior can be done in different stages. It is a long term investment if done correct. Some of the custom things done hold up to desert and some not so much. Using a person that has done it before is a good idea but could cost a little more but not all the time. This is in no particular order of stages.
1. Insulation and carpet quality should be taken into consideration. If you or your buddies will spill oil on it often because you load it up with crap for pre running and Baja……. buy cheaper stuff so it cheap to replace. If the use of the vehicle is only a fun family wagon and dust is your biggest concern quality carpet is worth it. The insulation you use and pad will also help the carpet last longer but the pad soak up liquids if spilled on. Getting gear oil smell out of carpet and pad sucks. Doing cheaper carpet and doing light color is fine as it is cheap to replace or patch. I would use a darker color personally. If you glue it down it is not much fun to pull out. But it gives it a clean finish non sloppy feel when in use. Also remember like your house most of the time the stain is in the pad and the carpet can be saved.
2. Head liner (stitching or no stitching look)
3. Wrap Dash (stitching or no stitching look)
4. Wrap tubes with pad or no pad Velcro it used or zipper
5. Wrap or cover panels and doors (stitching or no stitching look)
If you are getting prices ask and compare apples to apples the best you can. Calling most shops they don’t know what they are getting them self into. The price can change quickly be ready when you pull up or be ready for bad or lazy finishes if quote was low. This has only happened to a few people and most shops just never touch our pre runners again….hah

Things that can save you money if you have the time are …
Pull parts then take to shop
Prep truck yourself
Insulate tub and roof yourself.
I don’t know how much this really saves you but my guess is around 400-1000 depending. I can tell you how long it took me to do. Example…The dash is a pain ....you have to install it then do cut outs, wire it, then pull it and take everything out then wrap it then install each thing again, then put dash back in.....sucks

Just do 3 part Pod style dash….hah
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Re: Upholstery and Interior tips while building a Prerunner

Post by funinthesun95 »

damon1272 wrote:Wille
Good post on the parker pumper. Considering doing this myself as I will be running a vintage air unit. The parker pumper uses a masco fan with 150 cfm. Any knowledge of the factory fan cfm? I was thinking that two pumpers would be best to serve the whole cab of a bronco. The Vintage air units draw only from the interior of the truck. Was thinking the pumpers would create a positive pressure to help keep the dust at bay.


So my boy Brandon got me thinking, I need to do some more research!

OK, boys this is what I found

Boats use blowers to do a few different things and for 30-45 bucks (they sell ones for more but at that point you buy a Parker Pumper was my thought) you can get a 3 inch or 4 inch inline blower at 130-250 CFM. You would need to add a filter. It could be on both side or one side would be fine. AMP draw is based on CFM range is 2-5 amps.
The body it plastic as is the fan. Boats battle bumps like us but not the exact same way....but this would work.

So for let’s say 60 bucks you could put together a nice cab filtration unit mounted up High or down low.

I will do this so we know if it a good idea......hah let’s see what I come up with. West marine https://www.westmarine.com/engine-blowers is a local and national boat parts retailer and has the units in stock, so I can go look at them and figure out the best unit for my space and needs. You can order these on line all day as well.

I also found a post or two about 16 race car guys using these to make Parker Pumpers for the race car. I thought that was interesting.

Last thing would be you could add this inlne to the rear air ducts of your bronco to help push the cool air to the rear passengers, if you had kids for example. Your buddy's who gives a shit.....JK
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Re: Upholstery and Interior tips while building a Prerunner

Post by ChaseTruck754 »

Yup. Parker pumpers are pretty much just a glorified squirrel cage fan (Like a heater blower motor even) with a filter on it. Way back when I was building my ranger the plan was to build my own setup like this vs. buy a Parker. One can be built for a LOT less.
Now how much air volume/cfm is needed to pressurize a bronco cab enough to keep dust out I am not sure of, but 2 @ 100-150 may be a start.

A very quick google search to try & show what I was planning to use landed me on this - which may work well. It's compact in size and puts out 130 cfm for $22 or so!
https://www.amazon.com/SEAFLO-Electric- ... ower+motor

You then just grab a cone type air filter off a rice rocket or similar with a 3" opening/mounting, and an AC vent type reducer or splitter, or PVC reducers to get to dual hose outlets of smaller dia. for the pumper hoses.
If just pressurizing a bronco cab you could leave this side open, but you may want some sort of a trap to catch anything caught/blocked by the filter.
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Upholstery and Interior tips while building a Prerunner

Post by cs_drums »

So I looked into a blower a while back to pressurize the cab. I found a larger unit on McMaster Carr but I don’t remember the specs. I was planning on pulling air from out side through the largest flat square oem style filter I could fit on the inside of the beside. I haven’t done it cause it yet because I got hung up with the pros and cons and which out weighed what.

Pro- pressurized cabin keeping dust out
Cons- pumping in hot outside air so it’s working against AC unit.

I never thought of pulling and filtering the inside cabin air.


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Re: Upholstery and Interior tips while building a Prerunner

Post by funinthesun95 »

cs_drums wrote:So I looked into a blower a while back to pressurize the cab. I found a larger unit on McMaster Carr but I don’t remember the specs. I was planning on pulling air from out side through the largest flat square oem style filter I could fit on the inside of the beside. I haven’t done it cause it yet because I got hung up with the pros and cons and which out weighed what.

Pro- pressurized cabin keeping dust out
Cons- pumping in hot outside air so it’s working against AC unit.

I never thought of pulling and filtering the inside cabin air.


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I was thinking bottom part of center console with same filter idea you have, it would have a cover of some kind .....cover with steel screen to hide it. if I insulate the floor well enough then heat might not be a issue.

we will see how this works out.

I may stay Parker pumper, I have been doing a Pors and Cons list. but I could also add hoses to this style unit and it the same thing.

At that point it comes down to cost and worth my time or just buy what already does the job.
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