[FJ Florida]

2011 Audio Mod - Part 1 of 7

Part 1 of 7

Part 1: Goal, budget, and component selection

I have completed my upgrade to my 2011 FJ's sound system, and I am happy with the results.

My goal was to retain the stock single CD head end unit, not add a subwoofer(s), and not add an amplifier. (Edit: I changed my mind later and added a modded factory sub and a small amp under the driver's seat to power it.)

The sound quality is very good in my opinion, and I only spent about $125 on speakers, $100 on undercoating, and $75 on Dynamat. It isn't Earth-shaking sound, but is is good, clean sound with enough solid and punchy bass for most people as well as very nice midrange and treble too.

I started with the basic 2011 FJ 6 speaker sound system, which consists of:

Single disc in-dash head end unit
Steering wheel audio and bluetooth controls
One pair of 2 inch "sort-of" tweeters in the dashboard
One pair of dual cone plastic frame (yes, plastic) 6x9's in the front doors
One pair of vibrating "exciters" making unbelievably bad sound by vibrating the headliner

Ouch. Look at the attached pics of the factory 6x9's. What on Earth is Toyota doing? It's a paper dual cone speaker with a fabric surround glued onto a plastic frame! I have never seen anything like it. The magnet is about the size of a quarter.

The construction of the 2" dashboard tweeters isn't so horrible, and Toyota even put crossover capacitors on them. They don't sound so good though.
The vibrating headliner "exciters" are garbage in my opinion. Since I have no speakers in the rear pillars, I can fade all the way to the rear and hear only these headliner vibrators. They are awful.

I cut and capped the wires in the A pillar to kill the "exciting" headliner vibrators (junk). Be aware that in the 2011 one red wire in the A pillar powers the +12 volt for the map and dome lights while the other (twisted in a pair) is the vibrating exciter piece of junk. When in doubt, nick the insulation and test for +12 volts. If +12 volt is there, you can carefully tape up the nick with professional quality electical tape and you have not cut the wrong wire. Update: On the 2011 basic six speaker system, you can simply unplug them from the back of the in-dash unit.

New speakers:

Rockford Fosgate Punch P1692 6x9 coaxials - $64.99 per pair - front doors

Rockford Fosgate Punch P132 3-1/2 coaxials - $39.99 per pair - in dash

Why did I choose these speakers? Short answer: they are very well built and well engineered at a very good price. Long answer (read on): that means they have things like durable rubber surrounds, heavy frames, rubber anti-rust protectors around the magnets, decent efficiency that is not overstated by super bright tweeters driving up the sensitivity rating, and the attention to detail to run the tweeter wires around the magnet and through the center pole piece rather than piercing the 6x9 cone to get power to the tweeters. I also knew that not only was this wire routing good engineering, but that it would allow me to cut the tweeter wires easily if I wanted to (and I did), leaving me with what pretty much is just a 6x9 mid-bass driver. Also significant in my choice it that the tweeter is reasonably small and will have little effect just from being physically present. Compare that to some 6x9's where there is a 2 inch "mid" and maybe one or two more "super tweeters" in the center almost completely obstructing the 6x9. That's not just physics, it's a no-brainer. All of these advantages and benefits come at a very reasonable price with the Rockfords.

I also knew from previous experience (and a little physics) that they would not be overly bright. They definitely do not lack highs, but they are not bright. With an interior as reflective as the rubber and plastic FJ, you don't want screaming highs bouncing all over the place.

I knew the Rockford 3 1/2's would match the Rockford 6x9's in timbre due to their almost identical construction. Timbre matching is important. I also knew I could engineer the crossovers and attenuation properly while still maintaining a suitable impedence (above 4 ohms total).

-FJ Florida-

 

[FJ Florida]

2011 Audio Mod - Part 2 of 7

Part 2: Front door panels

First, remove the door panels and set them aside. I brought them inside to work on them on a soft, carpeted surface to avoid any possible scratches. You have to really rip the panels off. The clips on mine were unbelievably strong. Take out the screw behind the door pull handle and the screw behind the door open handle. Then punch the center of the plastic retaining clip at the front of the door panel to release it, and remove the clip. Now get ready to pull - hard. There are 9 plastic clips on the inside of each door panel. Be careful. Using your hands, pull the bottom of the door panel away from the door. The clips will begin to pop. Work your way up until all of them are free. On one side of my 2011, two clips were missing from the factory, and all but one of the rest shattered. Lovely. However, the other side was fine! The Toyota dealer provided me with a set of replacement clips since one side obviously was defective. Once you have the door panel loose, reach behind it and and gently pull the lock and door handle cables out of their sockets by rotating them forward a little until they slip up out of their sockets through the grooves, which you will see. The last thing you need to do to release the door panel is to disconnect the power window and lock switches. I found that the easiest way was to press the clip that holds the entire switch assembly into the door panel, push the assembly up and out of the door panel, and then disconnect the wiring harness.
I took the opportunity to add a little more sound control to the insides of the plastic door panels. Pic attached.

Fiberglass insulation is a popular audio sound absorbing material. I have been using it in cars for years. Because fiberglass insulation can produce dust that is irritating to the skin and nose, I cover it with polyester fiber batting that is available at any craft shop or the craft section of Wally*Smart. Although this step is not strictly required, I have found it to be beneficial in reducing dust over the life of the vehicle, and for anyone particularly sensitive to fiberglass dust, I definitely recommend the extra protection against the possibility of dust.

When I cut my fiberglass to the size and shape I need, I then cut a layer of polyester fiber batting to the same size and attach it to cover the exposed fiberglass with a little hot glue. I also used a few dabs of hot glue to stick the fiberglass to the plastic door panel. On the upper piece in the pic, I gently pulled the fiberglass apart to make 1/2 the thickness because there is not much gap at the top. Update: I removed the fiberglass I originally had inside the door panel. Too much fiberglass was overdamping the speakers.

If you choose to use fiberglass insulation anywhere in your truck: NEVER install it in locations where it may get wet, like inside the doors behind the speaker. Wet fiberglass smells awful, grows mold, and causes rust very quickly. It is safe to use it in sealed dry places like under the rubber floor liner in the interior, above the headliner (oh I wish I could drop that headliner easily to put some insulation up there for thermal protection - this is Florida - and to kill some additional wind noise too).

I was having a bit of a problem with the door panel inserts vibrating and rattling with all the bass from the new Rockford Fosgate 6x9 speakers in the doors. In the pic, you will see an outline of the door panel insert and a fabric sound control mat that the factory installed over the back of it. I gently pulled the fabric mat loose from the bottom and folded it upward to expose the clips and three screws that hold the insert in place. I cut to fit and installed a layer of polyester batting between the door panel insert and the door panel and reinstalled it. Make sure you cut slits in the poyester batting to allow the door panel insert clips to push the batting all the way through the clip holes. I did not do this the first time, and the rattle continued. I had to cut new pieces of polyester, slightly larger, and make sure the clips caught them and pushed them through, resulting in a much tighter fit and preventing the clips and the panel insert from vibrating. I reattached the fabric sound control mat exactly as it was from the factory with two dabs of hot glue.

I did apply a little Dynmat, but not much. I put a little around the metal cutouts for the 6x9’s, and I put a little on the plastic door panels as well. It did make a difference, but it was not a huge difference.

Cut the wires to the tweeters in 6x9's to turn them into bass/mid drivers only. To do this on the Rockford Fosgate P1692's, gently remove the rubber seal that surrounds the magnet. Gently peel the Rockford Fosgate stickers off the back of the magnet to expose the wires. Cut the wires and tape the ends to make sure they are insulated. Replace the Rockford Fosgate stickers. Replace the rubber seal that surrounds the magnet. Perfect. I could not even tell I had done it. Like it matters when they are in the doors, LOL. Update: The highly restrictive and reflective opening of the grille in the FJ door panel is a pain in the neck. Reflections and pressure bounce right off of it and right back to the speaker and there is nothing to absorb any of it. Plus, the 6x9 being converted to a mid/bass only still leaves the tweeter sitting in the middle, which is not a big deal at all, but it isn't optimal either. The 6x9 has no benefit from a phase plug or dust cap because of the tweeter. None of these are large issues, and they can be addressed pretty easily. Get a piece of the 1/2" green colored foam rubber that I am using for the daming pads in the dashboard (see later posts) and put a tiny bit of damping in the center of the speaker between the speaker and the grille. I traced 1-3/4" circles on the foam rubber and cut them out. Then I did the same on a small piece of the same heavy, dark, soft upholstry fabric. A little hot glue applies the fabric to the foam. A little hot glue applies the round damping pad to the tweeter housing. Works like a charm! See pic. Use heavy soft black fabric or black felt over the foam rubber if you prefer black, but you cannot see the deep blue color I used through the factory grilles.

The next step is to remove the crummy factory 6x9's and use the mod listed here to convert them to a mounting adapter for aftermarket 6x9's. http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/foru...08215-how-install-new-6x9-speakers-doors.html However, if you are not into drilling into your doors, I saw a pair of Toyota Tacoma 6x9 adapters that looked like an exact fit to attach aftermarket 6x9's with no drilling on ebay, after I did the drilling of course. If you use the factory speakers to manufacture your own brackets, just be sure not to overtighten the 2.5" screws that mount the new speakers to the sheet metal of the door. Overtightening could distort the speaker frames. Oh, and make sure you do hit the sheet metal with all four screws - I had to angle mine out a few degrees to make sure all four screws hit metal.

I didn't use aftermarket wiring harnesses. I did observe, online, the polarity of the Crutchfield wiring harness though, to make sure which side of the Toyota factory plug I should solder to the + terminal on the new speaker. I ran a + and a - wire from the terminals on the Toyota plastic speaker frame to the new speakers' terminals so I could use the Toyota factory plug to plug the new speakers back in. If you don’t want to do this, just buy the Crutchfield wiring harness adapters, but be aware that the plugs may have changed in the 2011 vs prior years. The rear speaker plugs definitely changed for 2011, but I am not sure about the front door plugs.

Mounting the new 6x9's was easy. Just follow the pictures and directions in the post. http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/foru...08215-how-install-new-6x9-speakers-doors.html However, when I was finished installing the speakers in the doors, the door panels would not go back on. Toyota has molded an oval-shaped flange onto the inside of the door panel that I guess is supposed to fit snugly against the factory 6x9. The Rockford Fosgate 6x9's I put in had a thicker face plate on them, so I had to remove about 3/8" of this oval flange using a Dremel cutting wheel. See attached pic. I used masking tape to guide my cutting to keep it even all the way around, and I cleaned up the cut edge with a little sandpaper. Yes, the trimming was on the inside of the door panel where no one would ever see it, but I wanted it nice and clean anyway. After timming and a little clean up with sandpaper, this time the door panels fit back in place perfectly. Whew!

So, I turned on the system and I realized just how bad the dashboard speakers are. Very little from the dashboard. So, out came the dashboard "sort of" tweeters and their associated mounting brackets.

-FJ Florida-

 

[FJ Florida]

2011 Audio Mod - Part 3 of 7

Part 3: Dashboard speakers

I chose Rockford Fosgate 3 1/2" coaxial speakers for the dashboard to match the 6x9’s. Timbre matching is important, and I thought they would match well. They do match, and with very slight modification, I got them to fit perfectly in the dash. This setup becomes a quasi-three way system with the 6x9's providing the bass and part of the mid, naturally rolling off in the upper mids and highs due to the wires to the tweeters on the 6x9's being cut, plus being off axis near the floor, plus the natural inductance of the 6x9's voice coil.

I did have to grind a slight arc into the plastic of the dash to get the 3-1/2’s to sit down far enough in the dashboard to clear the factory grill covers. See pic. Oh, you will need to pry off the rings of plastic that are attached to the back of the factory grilles. They are melted to the grills on the back with three melted plastic tabs. Just pry/cut them loose. You can see what they look like in the attched pic. Once they were off, I decided to put a little black speaker cloth over the back of the grill to keep out any debris and to provide a bit of sun protection for the speakers - this is Florida.

Once you get the 3-1/2” speakers to sit down in the holes far enough, you can twist the mounting tabs on the speakers a little so you can reuse one factory screw hole and the other side can be screwed very securely to the thick plastic in the dashboard to get a nice secure installation. See pic. You can move the second metal screw clip from the factory over to your new hole for an even more secure mount. Also, you will need some sound absorbing material to put in the dashboard behind the speakers. Update: Originally, I used a piece of fiberglass insulation to put behind the dash speakers. This absorbing material turned out to be wrong for this application. What worked much better was two layers of very heavy upholstry fabric on each side of 1/2" thick foam rubber cut to 6" x 8-1/2". I used dabs of hot glue to hold layers together. I got the thick soft upholstry fabric at a local fabric shop from the remnant section - 45 square feet for less than ten bucks. I will keep the extra for future installs. Sound absorbing (damping) material behind the new dash speakers is critical to help control the back wave from the speaker and to help control the speakers' transient response. No damping material = bad sound. Overdamping (fiberglass) = bad sound. If you don't want to make damping pads similar to what I am using, you can try using an old soft bath towel cut into 1 inch wide strips. It may settle and compact itself after a while though, especially if you do a lot of pounding off road. When installing damping material of any kind, do not crowd the back of the speaker. Always use identical amounts of damping material on the left and right sides. I have been asked about the foam "baffles" that fit behind speakers, almost like an enclosure of sorts. I have used them in the past, promptly removed them and thrown them in the trash, and I do not recommend them at all.

I got some tough black fabric tape ('gaffer' tape = strong durable stuff), and I used it to create a better seal around the dash speakers. I carefully trimmed pieces of it to cover up the odd shaped holes in the dash and then cut a circle in the middle just barley large enough to allow the magnet to go through. The black cloth tape is not an ideal seal by any means, but it was easy and inexpensive (more money for other FJ toys), and it works fine.

Update: Sealing the odd-shaped factory opening in the dashboard is absolutely critical to the sound. I redid this seal 4-28-2011, and I will post how to do it right along with pics in a new post because I am out of room for more pics with this post.

At this point, I turned on the system and I figured out pretty quickly that it needed two tweaks. 1) Solder a 3.3 ohm audio-grade power resistor to the + terminal on the dash speaker. You can get these resistors online at PartsExpress.com. 2) The other end of the resistor was soldered to a PAC brand bass blocker which then connected to the factory + wire, as identified on the back of the factory tweeter. After a few weeks, I noticed the image drifting left to right, and I determined that the PAC brand bass blockers were not close to each other in value. I only used the PAC bass blockers because I was in a hurry and they were available locally. I will never use them again. So, I went to PartsExpress.com and ordered a high quality pair of electrolytic crossover capacitors to replace the PAC bass blockers. I also bypassed the new electrolytic crossover capacitors with a 1 microfarad film capacitor, which is an old trick to get better sound from an electrolytic capacitor.

The total impedence of the dash speaker unit at this point is 7.3 ohms (4 for the speaker plus the 3.3 ohm resistor). I chose 68 microfarad capacitors, so the rolloff begins at about 320 Hz. The resistor provides about 5.25 dB attenuation for the dashboard speakers to match their level to the 6x9’s.

The resistor/speaker/crossover matching turned out to be perfect, but only after five or six tweaks that I need not go into here – a variety of capacitor and resistor combinations just did not come out accurate. Now it really sounds very good considering I am still using the factory in-dash unit. I intend to keep it actually. I am not using any bass or treble adjustment at all.

-FJ Florida-

 

[LSU]

I have a 2011 also, but mine has the UP upgrade. I'm reading the spec sheet for the 2011 FJ.

Here is toyota's description for the regular and upgrade.

AM/FM CD player with MP#/WMA playback capability, six speakers (two in headliner), xm radio, auxiliary audio jack, usb port with ipod connectivity and hands-free phone capability and music streaming va Bluetooth wireless Technology.

JBL am fj 6 disc CD Changer with mp3/wma playback capability 11 speakers including subwwfer, XM radio, auxiliary audio jack, usb port with ipod connectivity and hands-free phone capability and music streaming va Bluetooth wireless Technology.

Neither list the output of the head unit. I have the JBL, and it really sounds pretty good. I'm still trying to understand exactly where all of these speakers are. I've seen in a previous post that there are possibly 4 in the headliner now.

 

[FJ Florida]

2011 Audio Mod - Part 4 of 7

Part 4: Killing road and engine noise

The next step was to kill some road noise. I looked underneath the rear bumper of my 2011 FJ, and to my surprise, Toyota had applied no undercoating to the sheet metal. There were a number of things under there that I didn't want to spray with aftermarket undercoating to deaden the noise, so I decided to do it from the inside (changed my mind later and did it anyway - see below).

Remove the five screws from the trim piece that holds the cargo area liner in place at the bumper and gently pull it loose with your hands. It is clipped in place firmly even without the five screws. Next, use a socket wrench to remove the two bolts holding the front cargo tie downs and the plastic bar that holds the front of the cargo area liner in place right behind the back seat. Be aware that there is another plastic clip, which of course shattered, in the center of the plastic bar that runs behind the seats.

Carefully slide the carge area liner over the rear cargo tie downs (or remove them) and remove the liner. You will see that Toyota did put shredded fabric padding under the cargo area liner, but it does very little to kill the road and rear axle and exhaust noise in my opinion.

Fortunately, you are now down to the sheet metal. Apply eight square feet (2 pieces) of Dynamat Extreme to the sheet metal and press it tightly into all of the contours of the metal to get full contact. I paid $52 for the pair of Dynamat sheets at a local car audio shop, which was a good price considering some online stores want $80.

Reinstall everything and enjoy the quiet! I was shocked at how much noise was coming from the cargo area.

I didn't really like the Toyota cargo area carpet mat and I certainly didn't want to pay for it. I found a nice rubber-backed black carpet mat that was almost the perfect size at Homer's Despot. It does not slip because of the rubber backing, and it has a ridged pattern side-to-side that helps keep anything back there from sliding around. I trimmed a little bit off one side, and now it fits perfectly. Cost about $18. The rubber-backed carpet mat also helped kill more road noise. It actually looks quite nice I think. The only thing missing is the FJ logo and the associated price tag, LOL.

I put some DynaMat in the doors, and it made a little difference, but not a huge one. What did make a huge difference was my other project - undercoating.

A friend and I put my new FJ on a lift, dropped as much stuff as we could from underneath it, papered and masked off what we could not drop (like the brake lines, drive train, fuel tank, and some wiring), and sprayed the whole underside with heavy rubberized undercoating. We managed to get about 98% of the sheet metal coated, except behind the fuel tank of course.

I am very disappointed that Toyota did not undercoat the sheet metal of the FJ. It definitely is much more quiet now, and less road noise means I hear more of my music more accurately.

Now, if I just had the time and energy to drop the headliner to DynaMat the roof. Rain drops sound like marbles hitting the roof. Ugh.

-FJ Florida-

 

[rjones58]

I have the 2011 UP upgrade(JBL). What kind of door speakers come with this setup or are they the same as the regular stock?

 

[FJ Florida]

2011 Audio Mod - Part 5 of 7

Part 5: Testing and evaluation

I am very happy with the sound. It isn't very loud, but what is there is good. Peak sustained SPL with music is 90 dB with 8 dB of dynamic headroom. The highest instantaneous peak SPL I can achieve is 98 dB near the driver's listening position. 90 to 95 dB sustained exposure can result in hearing damage. The system is efficient enough to work fine without an added amp, unless I want hearing damage.

I would do this system exactly the same way again if I had it to do over again. I fluctuate some days between wanting to attenuate the dash speakers more or less with different resistor values. This fluctuation is due to the recordings, not the system. The system illustrates that some of my recordings stink while others are great. That's what accurate systems do. They play what is on the disc, like it or not. Bad disc = bad sound. Good disc = good sound. For truly bad recordings, fortunately I can use my studio monitors and my PC to fix them up a little and make them sound more like what the audio engineer intended to put on the disc. Really, seriously, did the audio engineer intend to have a complete hole in the frequency response caused by ... crummy studio equipment ... a bad day at work ... ear wax ... a band that insisted that the cymbals be removed after the recording was made ... or any of the other options that result in a bad recording that gets sent to disc anyway. My favorite test recordings are the direct to two-track audiophile recordings. No mixing. No monkey business. Just good mics going through good equipment going straight to disc. Gee, if a direct path like that isn't accurate for testing, then what is? Well, I do have my set of spot and warble frequency test discs and my sound pressure meter to measure the frequency response of my systems, but without a good recording ... garbage in = garbage out.

I am certain that I could do better with an aftermarket head end unit and a quality amplifier, but if I were going to do that, it would be a complete re-engineering job, and I would probably want at least one subwoofer. My goal was to get something reasonably accurate from the stock 2011 head end unit without spending a whole lot of money. The 2011 stock head end unit isn't going to win any awards, but it isn't garbage either. I did not set out to build a perfect system. I set out to build a reasonably accurate one on a budget using the stock head end unit. It is do-able, but it definitely is not easy. I considered it a challenge.

I just did my final set of measurements on the system. I was pleasantly surprised. As it stands now, I have ended up with about 3 db of bass lift centered at about 80 Hz to help combat engine and road noise. The -3 db point is about 45 Hz. The rest of the response curve is reasonably flat but not perfect, approximately + or - 2 db from 160 to 16,000 Hz, with no real nulls or spikes. There is a 2 dB dip centered at 2kHz, but it isn’t too bad.

As far as listening rather than measuring, the snare drum has a nice sharp transient crack. The bass drum has the proper balance between the "thump" of the drum and the "pat" from the beater compared to the real thing. String bass is smooth across its range - no holes on certain notes. Trombone has an appropriate bite. Both male and female voice are OK. Cymbals are silky, not tinny. The insanely high treble is there, but it isn't in your face or fatiguing.

I don't have any rear speakers (yet). That rear pillar location looks like an awfully tight fit. I don't want to pay for the Bazooka brand speaker kit. I may try to squeeze another pair of the Rockford Fosgate 3 1/2" coaxials in there.

Total cost for this project was around $300, including the speakers, Dynamat, the undercoating, and renting a hydraulic lift for three hours to do the undercoating job.

Here are links to the parts:

Cargo area carpet mat: Enviroback Charcoal 60 in. x 36 in. Recycled Rubber/Plastic Rib Door Mat - 60-443-1902-30000500 at The Home Depot

Rust-oleum 248656 “professional grade” undercoating: Rust-Oleum/15 oz. professional undercoating (248656) | | AutoZone.com

68 microfarad electrolytic capacitors: 68uF 100V Non-Polarized Capacitor

1 microfarad film capacitors: 1.0µF 250V 10% Metal-film Capacitor - RadioShack.com

3.3 ohm resistors: Dayton DNR-3.3 3.3 Ohm 10W Precision Audio Grade Resistor

A pic of how to wire the crossovers is attached. You can just hot glue the crossover components to the back of the speaker. One end of the resistor is soldered to the positive (+) terminal of the speaker. The other end of the resistor is soldered to one end (which end is irrelevant) of the large electrolytic capacitor. The other end of the large electrolytic capacitor is soldered to the positive (+) wire of the factory speaker wiring harness. The small film capacitor is soldered to both ends of the larger electrolytic capacitor (again, which end is which is irrelevant). Finally, the negative (-) terminal of the speaker is soldered to the negative (-) end of the factory speaker wiring harness. See attached pic.

Rock on! :rocker:

-FJ Florida-

 

[FJ Florida]

Anyone ever use a product called Peel & Seal? It's an aluminum-faced self-adhesive asphalt/rubber sheet that many people online say is almost identical to the original version of DynaMat. However, a 6" x 25 foot roll of Peel and Seal is only about $17 at my local Lowes store. Hmmmmm ... that's quite a bit less than the over $50 I paid for 8 square feet of Dynamat last week.

Update: I got a roll of Peel & Seal at Lowes, cheap. I thermally tested it in a 300 degree oven. It eventually curled and shrank, but it never melted or softened. I installed a little in test locations in the FJ to see how it holds up over time. It is rubberized and seems almost identical to the original Dynamat from way back when.

Update: As of 2/26/2013: After almost 2 years, I have had no problems with the Peel & Seal that I stuck in various places for testing, like the backs of the plastic door panels.

-FJ Florida-

 

[SpeedRye]

Do you have any pics of the cargo mat that you used? I'm just curious if it's the same one I used...

 

[Philo]

FWIW, used RAAMAT in my Tacoma and will be doing that in mky FJ soon. The stuff is great and cost me about $200 for my entire truck. The stuff is great and easy to use.

 

[FJ Florida]

FWIW, used RAAMAT in my Tacoma and will be doing that in mky FJ soon. The stuff is great and cost me about $200 for my entire truck. The stuff is great and easy to use.

No problems with it melting in the summer? Geez, it rained today, and the sound of the rain beating on the roof has me wanting to disassemble the entire interior trim to get the headliner out and DynaMat the whole roof.

I used DynaMat extreme in the cargo area, and it made a huge difference but it cost a huge price (IMHO) to match.

-FJ Florida-

 

[FJ Florida]

Do you have any pics of the cargo mat that you used? I'm just curious if it's the same one I used...

Here ya go. It's hard to see in the pic, but it has ridges that run left to right. Those ridges help keep stuff from sliding around. The rubber backing keeps the mat from slipping around. Add a black "milk crate" from Wally Smart, and for about 14 bucks you have a nice mat and a place to toss miscellaneous junk, and both match the interior color very well. If I had "FJ" embroidered on the carpet, I would have the ultimate carpeted cargo area mat. Gee, maybe I can get that embroidered ... LOL!

I deliberately cut the carpet mat larger than the factory mat to cover more area, including the plastic angled piece that runs parallel to the back seat. The more area covered the better for me. When I trimmed it to fit, I rounded the back corners to look better than just a raw square edge.

I also deliberately did not cut out holes for the four cargo tie down hooks on the floor of the cargo area. If I need to use them, I'll take out the mat. Otherwise, they might scratch something I am transporting.

-FJ Florida-

 

[Philo]

No problems with it melting in the summer? Geez, it rained today, and the sound of the rain beating on the roof has me wanting to disassemble the entire interior trim to get the headliner out and DynaMat the whole roof.

I used DynaMat extreme in the cargo area, and it made a huge difference but it cost a huge price (IMHO) to match.

-FJ Florida-

nope...it gets hot in Florida but it get hot here too...over a hundred and I never smelled a thing. Nothing melted...it works great.

 

[FJ Florida]

nope...it gets hot in Florida but it get hot here too...over a hundred and I never smelled a thing. Nothing melted...it works great.

That's good to know. My family had (gasp) a Pontiac back in the late 70's and it had some rubber/asphalt/tar whatever the heck Pontiac was using back then sound insulation that melted after a few years and ran out from behind the kick panels and got all over the carpet and people's clothes. It was just awful! Family never bought another Pontiac after that melted tar experience.

I may go to the local home improvement shop and buy a roll of the Peel & Seal for experimenting. I'll put a piece out in the sun in the summer and see what happens. Hey, I can always use it for the intended purpose - fixing roofs and gutters - if it doesn't turn out to be suitable in the FJ.

-FJ Florida-

 

[SpeedRye]

Here ya go. It's hard to see in the pic, but it has ridges that run left to right. Those ridges help keep stuff from sliding around. The rubber backing keeps the mat from slipping around.

Yup, that looks like the same stuff I used! It's so multi-purpose and it matches the interior almost perfectly. Heck, it almost makes my subwoofer invisible.

 

[FJ Florida]

Yup, that looks like the same stuff I used! It's so multi-purpose and it matches the interior almost perfectly. Heck, it almost makes my subwoofer invisible.

Yep. That looks like it. I see it used all over the place for entry way door mats at commercial buildings and other high traffic locations. It is tough stuff, and it is almost a perfect match in color.

NICE cargo area shelf! I am very tempted to do that myself, but unfortunately, there are times when I want the back seats to fold flat so I can use the whole space. Yeah, I know they don't really fold flat, but close.

Is that cargo shelf you built removable at all?

-FJ Florida-

 

[SpeedRye]

haha, it won't budge 1/16" in any direction. it's removable with a sawzall and that's about it. i'd considered not doing it for that very reason, but in the end, i can still fit my air compressor and full sliding compound miter saw/stand in there like this if needed. at that point i'll probably just grab the work truck though. It's very much worth it to nearly double my storage space. heck, it's nice being able to throw a 4-foot level back there now and have it sit flat. for me, the trade off is so worth it.

 

[SpeedRye]

In the 07-09's the right rear was white/neg.--red/pos. the left rear was yellow/neg.--black/pos. I can't tell you on the newer model, but maybe they left the wiring the same at least.

I'm in the process of doing an aux. speaker for a CB and putting in the center console with it perforated to allow sound through. I think I decided on cutting out an 'FJ' logo instead and backing that with a black fabric so you couldn't see the speaker. Your rear pillars may be too high profile for this kind of advertising though. I'd probably go with a 5.25" or 6.5" speaker that comes with their own grill in the rear pillars. Paint the grill to match the interior and you have great full range sound from a protected speaker that doesn't stand out too much. I've read in a few areas where people have done this and there seems to be room but you need the stock blank panels to cut out for the larger speakers.

 

[fjman1000]

In the 07-09's the right rear was white/neg.--red/pos. the left rear was yellow/neg.--black/pos. I can't tell you on the newer model, but maybe they left the wiring the same at least.

I'm in the process of doing an aux. speaker for a CB and putting in the center console with it perforated to allow sound through. I think I decided on cutting out an 'FJ' logo instead and backing that with a black fabric so you couldn't see the speaker. Your rear pillars may be too high profile for this kind of advertising though. I'd probably go with a 5.25" or 6.5" speaker that comes with their own grill in the rear pillars. Paint the grill to match the interior and you have great full range sound from a protected speaker that doesn't stand out too much. I've read in a few areas where people have done this and there seems to be room but you need the stock blank panels to cut out for the larger speakers.

My 2011, the right rear D Pillar speaker cables are as you've indicated...red/+ and white/-. The only problem is when I connected a 4" Polk speaker and power on the head unit, nothing comes out. No sound. I've checked the fader and verified the connection but nothing. I think Toyota left the cable but may have not connected it to the head unit. Can anyone else verify this on their 2011 6 speaker unit?

 

[BillK]

Just installed rear speakers on my 6-speaker 2011 - like you, no sound.

Time to tear them back out and hope I can get a refund.