Audiolust's 2010 Salsa Red Build thread

Hello Everyone!

Looking forward to being a part of this community! Had a wonderful experience over on an Xterra forum and am hoping to find a similar community here. Just picked up a 2010 Tundra with 224k miles on it (was nerve racking to me), but it was a New Mexico truck. Hard to find a truck like that here in Missouri with zero rust underneath it at 11 years old. Had the interior color combo I liked, dark brown and tan. And the Salsa Red Metallic paint that I have always enjoyed on larger trucks. Stomached the mileage and am mechanically inclined enough to do an engine swap when the time comes, hoping this thing makes it to 400k before that happens.

I've built or been a part of builds anywhere from classic muscle cars, street trucks, to an apocalypse ready Xterra. By far the most fun I had was in the Xterra. But obviously found the best practicality in my truck. The truck was 20 years ago, it was time to go back. The goal of this build is to have a seriously capable overlander that can handle moderate trails if the size allows, but moderate trails will not be its purpose. It's a family vehicle, so daily drivability is still a must.

Just wanted to start with a preliminary post, I have a lot of goodies on order. Some much needed refreshing needed to occur.

Installed:

Coastal Offroad High Clearance Front Bumper
Rock Crawler Black Rear Bumper
Morimoto XB Amber Sequential Headlights
Morimoto XB Fog Lights
Diode Dynamics SS3 Pro SAE Fog Lights in white
Diode Dynamics Stage Series 30" Combo pattern white light bar
Badlands APEX 12k Winch
Factor 55 Fairing, Extended Flat Link
2018+ Sequoia TRD Pro Grille
OEM Painted Black Handles
OEM Door/Window Seals
Husky Floor Liner
Interior LED's
4 OEM Door Seals
4 OEM Window Belt Seals
Folding Hard Bed Cover
RRW RR7 17" Wheels in Matte Bronze
Valhalla 1/4" aluminum full set skid/cat protection
Accutune Fox 2.5" Mid Travel with DSC and Remote Resi Front and Rear Shocks
Icon RXT Rear Leafs
JBA UCA
New OEM LCA's
Tech12volts Remote Start w/ MyCar
High Carbon Disks
Ceramic Pads
Joying 10" OEM Style HU Replacement
CSF Aluminum Radiator
OEM Fan Clutch
OEM Water Pump
OEM Belt Tensioner
OEM Thermostat
New Rubber Hoses
OEM door and window seals
Katzkin Leather Seat replacements
CaliRaised Molle Bed Side Inserts

Delivered Pending Install:

PowerStop Stainless Brake Lines
Brake Caliper Rebuild Kit
PRV Audio 8" Shallow Bullet Mid Range
PRV TW100SD-4 Tweeters
Dayton Audio PR75 3" Full Range Drivers
Kicker 46CXA800.T Mono Amp
Kicker 48TCWRT122 12" Shallow Sub and Passive Radiator
AudioControl D6.1200 6-Channel DSP Amp
Full Sound Deadening / Sound Proofing


On Order: N/A


Parts List:

Front and Rear Lockers
Re-Gear if needed after 35's
Onboard Air
Rock Sliders
Aftermarket Exhaust when replacement is necessary
Custom Bed Rack


Day she came home.

 

Cosmetic Updates 1.0 Completed.

V2.0 will be after front, rear bumpers are added (spring), lift is installed (hopefully late winter) and new wheels and tires go on (spring). For now its been sufficiently refreshed.


Reserved

 

Reserved

 

First few days driving the truck noticed it was absolutely blowing through gas. Maybe 7-8mpg tops.

Checked filters, were replaced from dealership. Reset the ECU in case it just had some horribly stored curves, no change. More cleaning was in order....

1. Ran Seafoam through it once. Immediate improvement, getting around 13mpg now, miles of white smoke.
2. Took a look at the throttle body. Probably the worst I've seen. I don't think it was ever cleaned in its 220k history. Took about an hour of scrubbing.
3. Going to replace all plugs this weekend
4. Going to swap out oil for Royal Purple 5W-20, hope the added detergents get a chance to clean up the 220k of age.
4. Going to run Sea Foam gas tank additive and premium gas for awhile and hope it gets a chance to clean itself a little more, Not going to mess with coil packs or injectors unless necessary.

The truck had an extensive service history, which was one of the reasons I bought it with the high mileage. Some things just slide by it I guess. Overall I am satisfied with the MPG now. I was expecting 12-13, hopefully the plugs get me another 1mpg. It has Duratracks on it which I don't like, but they'll get me through winter. Hopefully with slightly more neutral AT's I can pick up 1 more MPG.

 

Got a chance over the weekend to dig into detailing the truck. Paint is a little more rough than I noticed on the lot. Most of which I think can be corrected. New Mexico sun really did a number on the paint, plastics and rubber. But, Ill trade that for a pristine under carriage. I think it was a farm or desert truck. Carpet was absolutely caked in mud/sand.

1. Pulled out seats.
2. Steam cleaned for 9 years
3. Wife cleaned the leather, a little more worn than we though and some areas had repair upon closer inspection. Guess we'll just have to get Katzkin or Leatherseats.com kits!
4. I don't know if the previous owner was a tobacco chewer? Had what appeared to be a crystalline brown tar substance, absolute pain to remove on the plastics, had to go a near full strength rubbing alcohol to remove it.

Noticed the door seals were all bad. The window belt seals were essentially gone from rot. Instead of replacing a $24 lower passenger door seal or going to Toyota for a $.94c seal retainer clip they decided to put a screw through the seal. Starting to wonder at this point if I made the right decision. But if its a farm truck it also makes sense, you just make it work. Have to remind myself of the clean engine bay, and spotless undercarriage...

Ordered all 4 OEM door weatherstripping seals, window belt seals and the passenger side lower door seal.

Front Driver before, hard to tell but the carpet is nearly solid mud with some fibers.



After, looks like carpet again.

 

Yesterday I worked on the exterior a little more.

1. De-badged and de-stickered the truck, looks so much better.
2. Not going to be much hope for the roof. Clear coat is missing on 50% of it. I knew this before we bought it. Was able to get them to come down quite a bit from what they were asking because of the paint condition.

I will get in to a full clay bar, correcting and polishing this weekend to see what I am really working with on the paint. There have been a few touch ups (poorly), that will need to be corrected. I've decided for now the roof is just going to be vinyl wrapped in gloss black. Eventually I will correct the small dings and dents, and then have it repainted. But that's not going to be anytime soon. a 5 year vinyl will stop the top from progressing until that comes along. Rest of the clear coat is good to go.

Black Rock Crawler bumper, headlights, fog lights, grille should all get here by this weekend.

 

Today I am going to vinyl wrap the chrome caps on the mirrors gloss black. Cant justify the cost of OEM Mirrors/Tow Mirrors at this stage, I don't trust the fitment of aftermarket units. I have black vinyl left over from my SHO that will be enough to do the caps.

Also going to get under and treat the very few weld spots with some rust converter that have started to get brown surface rust on them. At some point before the winter I will undercoat the body and frame before winter.

 

Didn't get a chance to do vinyl today. Or put in the new fogs like I wanted... I was taking the chance to get the rust converter done on the undercarriage welds so it was one less thing to do this weekend when parts get in. Underside was going great. Started passenger front, made it all the way around to driver side without a hitch, except for the actual hitch which is a mess, but I'll deal with that this weekend when the bumper is off. Got to the driver side front and noticed a stream of dried rust running down on the front driver plastic wheel well. Weird....Opened the hood....great, had to remove the battery.



What a mess. I swear the previous owner must have left the corroding battery in there till the thing just refused to start. Thank god I bought a bunch of different wire wheels.



Overall was not to incredibly pitted. But it was something that needed to be done ASAP. If anyone has a good recommendation for a battery tie down and tie down rods with a good rubber insulator on the hooks I am all ears.

On the plus side, dashcam and black handles arrived while I was working outside.

 

Been an interesting few days.

Spark plug change found out I need to replace the valve cover gaskets and kit. Oil getting into the spark plug sleeves. Previous oil change by someone did not tighten down the oil filter housing nut, and did not orient the filter tube correctly so it has blown oil everywhere above the skid plate...Need to clean off the lower block, its apparent that there has been a coolant leak, likely from the water pump but it looks old. Going to scrub off the crusty remnants and hope it was a previous problem. Otherwise it looks like I'll just do a full cooling system refresh with a new pump, thermostat, fan clutch, aluminum radiator and hoses.

I ordered the wrong front door handles, with the keyhole on the passenger side. And non matching color paint codes. Re-ordered so they all match.

FedEx damaged the Rock Crawler bumper, go figure, I've never had a good experience with FedEx. But the seller was nice, sent them pictures of the bumper in the driveway, with the FedEx guy, and the damaged box. They're charging FedEx and sending another one.

 

Long day of paint correction yesterday. Overall it looks like it saw a lifetime of no wax and automatic carwashes. Pretty poor condition. Sun has ruined the clearcoat on the roof, and starting to come off on the hood. Did what I could to bring it back to its original luster on the rest of the body. Eventually I will get it repainted in Salsa Red, but for now this will do.


Before:




After:




Roof had no hope. Scraped off as much of the peeling clear as I could, below is pre-scraping to give you an idea of the condition. Wiped it down with alcohol and through on a black vinyl wrap on the top to protect it from further deterioration until new paint is in order. The black will at least go with the rest of the truck once all the black updates are on.

 

Headlights, Grille, Fog lights done today.

New door weatherstripping arrived for inner seal and window belt. Mirror caps and matching door handles should arrive on Thursday. Valve cover gaskets are in. Floor mats should get here Saturday.

Thread posted in stock Fox 2.5 resi/dsc was available, ordered from Bilstein Lifts So hopefully next week those get here.

 

Hard charger. I like it! Excited to see where you end up!

 

New door seals, window belt seals put on. Cleaned up the window door tracks with silicon lubricant and turned them back to black. Got new black vinyl on the doors in between the windows to replace the fading pieces that were there.

Ordered Icon RXT Rear leafs. Waiting on confirmation from Bilstein Lifts that the Fox order has gone through, then new OEM LCA's and Timbren bumps will be ordered to round out the suspension for now.

 

BilsteinLifts did not have the Fox's in stock. Got in touch with Accutune, ordered a set through them with the Adventure tune. Super helpful and responsive, happy to give them the business.

 

Replaced the rear bumper with the replacement sent after FedEx damaged the first in shipping. Black door handles, and mirror caps added, sun strip added, Dash Cam to be installed after strip has had sufficient time to dry.

Exterior updates minus the big items slated for spring are complete (Front/Rear Bumpers, Wheels/Tires, Lift install (when it arrives))

 

Nice! By far my favorite color of the Tundras.

 

OEM LCA's and JBA UCA's arrived yesterday. Dash Cam installed. Floor mats are in. Now it's just a suspension waiting game.

Picked up some canvas. Going to make a full rear seat-to-floor-to-up the back of the front seat covers for the dogs. Canvas is waterproof so itll contain any mess they may bring into the truck while protecting the interior and giving them more traction than they have currently on the leather seats.

I'll get pics and a step by step done of the process if anyone is interested, it'll be a learning experience for myself but seat covers are way overpriced for the generic coverage you tend to get.

 

Looks great

 

Started the valve cover gasket’s today. Everything in pieces. Covers are clean but I’m going to have to figure out a way to get the passenger side back on. It was way too difficult to Tetris out of there to get it back in without gasket seal issues.

i was planning on painting the covers but if i can’t get the reassembly figured out to be a little smoother there’s no point, the coolant lines will tear up Amy finish i do.

 

Valve covers are back on. Overall not that bad of a job. Icon RXT Springs arrived, just got the shipping notice from Accutune, rear Fox DSC's are on the way.

 

Another hiccup. Ordered two Key/Fob all-in-one combos and was having them programmed/cut. When we realized that the dealership only provided us with the Valet Key, which was also extremely worn.

So now I am in a predicament. I went back to the dealer and they agreed to give me a credit to a lock smith to have a new key made. I have never used a locksmith before, but I essentially need a new key "cut" to use on the locks, as well as have it programmed as the master.

I am hoping that is something a locksmith can do, something along the lines of undercutting the old worn key and slowly filing it down so it works on the existing locks to use. But I have no idea.

 

The truck looks great. Really like the vinyl wrap roof.

I recommend calling a few locksmiths for the cut/program. I bought a combo fob for my Acura and the 1st locksmith screwed up the cut, basically did it backwards. The 2nd locksmith cut correctly but couldn’t program. It was a bit of a shitshow...

 

When I had my spare key made, the locksmith didn't even need my key. You should be good to go. Used my techstream to program it myself.

 

Man that is great news, thank you for the replies, and so fast! I have to take down my other post now

 

Took some time today to prepare for the locksmith next week. Rear tailgate was all but frozen shut. Using the handle felt like you were going to break it and you had to simultaneously pull the tailgate down to get it to release. Needed an obvious cleaning of all mechanisms.

Side latches couldn't really take any good pictures of as they're a contained unit. Driver side latch was the main culprit. cleaned with brake cleaner and them saturated with silicon spray. Actuated the latch about 30 times and it became buttery smooth again. Repeated for passenger side.

Tailgate handle looks like it was greased at some point, probably factory but with the desert dust and New Mexico heat it just turned into a pseudo clay. Removed it all and lubed up the parts with silicon spray. I will just respray once a year and keep the tube grease off it.

Tailgate now works with 1 hand like it was brand new.

 

New serpentine belt went in. Everything is in on the suspension except for the front shocks. I believe in Accutune that they will deliver an early Xmas present

Almost pulled the trigger on Icon Vector 5's for BF, but there is some potential turbulence coming up with employment and my company mandating vaccines. So those are on hold for now until those rough waters are navigated. Being responsible is boring some times.

 

Yeeeeeep. Being nice doesn't get you liked. It gets you used.

Niiiiiiiiiiiiize work!!!

Stay frosty.

 

New updates! Accutune has shipped the front shocks! Also work has dropped all COVID requirements so the project is back on track!

Upcoming orders include:

Method 313 17" wheels (Black)
315/70/17 Cooper AT3 GTX
Coastal Offroad Front Bumper
Katzkin Leather seat replacements
Starting Stereo build

 

Completed the ATF flush today posted on the forum. Truck was shifting hard, especially around corners. Coca-Cola pretty much came out. Not a hint of red. Shifts buttery smooth now. Should have done it when I bought it.

 

Do you have a link for the process you used? I need to do this ASAP and have seen some different ideas on how it should be done.