What I love, what I hate: My 21 platinum build thread (Now supercharged)

More goodies. Gave up on the factory HU weeks ago and pre-ordered the new Sony ES head unit. It finally shipped this week. @PNWTundra2021 is gonna beat me to the install but I'm still excited to finally have it! My complaints about the factory HU are it is so damn sluggish and the screen is not as responsive to touch inputs as I would like it to be. As well, I continue to deal with this issue where every once in a while I'll start the truck and not get any audio output. Everything has power, but no audio. So, instead of trying to fiddle fart with the factory gear I'm going full aftermarket. The XAV-9500ES provides for a 10.1" screen which perfectly fills out the available space in the factory hole. Along with that, the feature list on this deck leaves nothing to want. It's a legit, thought-of-everything head unit. Hopefully by the end of next week probably over the Thanksgiving weekend I will have some time to get it installed. @PNWTundra2021 gets his in tomorrow.

 

@CrashRat are you going to end up using Maestro to interface with other aspects of the truck? When I looked into replacing HU in my 1794, i basically came to the conclusion that it was going to be a real hassle b/c you'd have to use Maestro too, and I didn't know what I was doing in that realm.

 

@dandrilla I am going w/ Maestro now that I am using the ES. Used the PAC to integrate into the factory system and that was flawless. I unfortunately have the same issues w/ the factory head unit as @CrashRat and decided to replace it the minute the ES was announced. Should be interesting to see and hear the difference!

 

@dandrilla basically what @PNWTundra2021 said lol. it does take Maestro and a steering wheel interface - lots of little boxes back there in the dash behind the head unit - but now I will be getting rid of my PAC interface after factory JBL amp. More info on the head unit: https://www.sony.com/content/sony/e...receiver-to-its-premium-mobile-es-lineup.html

 

I can’t wait to see this stereo completed. I got the JBL stereo thinking it was going to be like my 2018 Tacoma, what a disappointment it is! This looks like it’s going to kick ass! I’m really interested to hear your opinion of the sound deadening job as well since I’ve always wanted to do an entire vehicle from top to bottom in Dynamat, not just for the stereo, but for the road noise decrease as well.

 

Man, there is nothing like it (the sound deadening). Everyone comments about how quiet the ride is. It's a freaking ton of work if you really want to do it 100% - but the difference is night and day. I'm a very competent and experienced tech with all the right tools and I'd say it took me a good 20 hours between first screw removed to last screw back in (keeping in mind I did two layers).

As far as the stereo goes, @PNWTundra2021 is really going to have it together. He has audio frog separates, and his installer is working on a center channel for him too. I sat in his truck a few months ago and I'm still really thinking hard about replacing my door separates with audiofrogs. My setup sounds good, but his sounds FANTASTIC! I keep trying to draw that line in the sand though that says I'm done spending money on this truck lol.

 

Every time I think I want to keep my 2021 stock, I find a build thread like this talking about 5.29 gears, superchargers, and a worked valve body and the angle on my shoulder says: “put the phone down! You don’t need this!”

Then the devil chimes in from the other shoulder: “this is what they make credit cards for!”

 

Many years ago I had a 2000 Civic that I did a JDM Type R B18C swap and two JL audio W3’s in it. Those early 2000’s Hondas were such thin metal. I did dynamat on the floor, doors, and trunk, and it made a substantial difference as well. It was a lot of work though, but I enjoy projects like this now that I’m not wrenching for a living. Everything from the exhaust drone to bass notes sounded much better. I have yet to do a roof though.

The Tundra is already fairly quiet compared to the Tacoma I’m coming from so I imagine after a full sound deadening job, it must be amazing. I wish I could ride in that thing! Nice work!

 

Man, I’m not usually a fan of silver and I’m not usually a fan of fender flares but this truck just looks sick! That picture where you have it parked on the snow bank the paint looks so clean and sharp. I’m REALLY liking it!

Question about the resonators you used? What type of exhaust are you running? Looks like the TRD Pro tail pipes. But you added resonators on top of this? I scanned through the build thread and I can’t find much information on the exhaust.

 

Lol! Exactly the battle I'm currently having with myself too. When is enough finally enough. As my mentor Yoda would say, "There is no need! Only want!"

Thanks! I have a Gen 2 and Gen 3 Tacoma as well, and agree those trucks are far noisier.

Thank you! Yeah, silver isn't usually my favorite color either but with the right accents it looks really really good on the Tundra IMO.

I'm running the TRD tips from my old Tundra but this time I'm using a center section from http://dirtydeedsindustries.com/. Previously I had the TRD center. I like the Dirty Deeds sound a WHOLE lot better than the TRD one. I think the difference is DD adds a crossover pipe whereas the TRD one does not. DD also includes a couple of tuned resonator pipes to "tune out" the drone frequency. Consequently, towing is far more comfortable on the ears now too. The difference between these two muffler sections is quite shocking honestly. My only complaint about the DD one is I got the 10" which is still fairly reserved. Wishing I had gone a little smaller for more of that great noise output but at the time I was also not wanting to sacrifice towing comfort. Now though, even though it's slightly louder than the TRD exhaust it's still almost too quiet. The tone and pitch are so perfect I can't help but want even more of it to share with the world lol.

 

Lmao as long as you're on these forums that's going to be very difficult. Hope you and @PNWTundra2021 keep us updated on the stereo install, I'm very interested

 

I just listened to some sound clips and now the exhaust that I swore I wasn’t going to replace, an exhaust system with 700 miles on it, is getting replaced for that system. Holy crap does it sound amazing! A lot of aftermarket options sound raspy, that sounds fantastic!

 

lol yeah, it sounds so much better than anything else I've ever heard on our trucks. Keith Carty, owner, is extremely knowledgeable and tests all this stuff out on his own 2012 SC Tundra. He says single exhaust has always dyno'd better than dual in any setup he's ever tried. The only exception would be if you're planning to go SC, then you're flowing so much air the dual exhaust no longer matters. I personally like the look of dual exhaust better than single though so even if my plans didn't include SC I would probably still have gone dual. Welcome to the club though, there are a lot of raving fans of the BAM on here!

 

Well, slight change of plans. I'd posted earlier that I was going to have Lithia Toyota in Springfield, OR do the SC install - their price is only $700 more than I can get the SC for from Magnuson, so the value is great - but over the last week or so I have really been wrestling with the idea of turning the keys over to someone else for any part of this build. Currently, the truck is 100% built by me and it's sort of a personal point of pride to keep it that way. So, I decided to go ahead and order the SC direct from Magnuson and will be doing the install myself. Current lead time 8-10 weeks.

 

I've been humming "all I want for Christmas is my super charger..." ever since placing my order but Mag confirmed late last week the earliest I can hope for tracking numbers is first week of March. Ugh!

 

whoa

The tear down and build blew my mind

Then the loaded Tacoma

Then Falcons and Hawks

-observations from a mostly stock guy


Very cool

 

Did they give you a reason why? I'm aiming to install mine over the Christmas holiday/January the latest.

 

Thank you! It has been a lot of fun to build, and a lot of fun to enjoy.

Blamed it on demand and supply chain issues. But then I saw this morning that Westcott already put one on a 2021 last week so now I'm a little bit pissed lol

 

More updates on the shop for anyone who's interested in keeping up. After three days of grinding and cutting with progressively finer grit pads, they have two more passes to make after this before it's done. Final polish will be 1500 grit. It already looks absolutely phenomenal and I'm so glad I did it. My building permit expires on 12/16 so I don't think I will have any more updates on the Tundra itself until after that. I have a lot left to do before I'm ready for my final inspections.

 

That looks great.

 

How is the new headunit working out so far?

 

I don't think I'm going to have time to install it until after 12/16 unfortunately (that's when my building permit expires and I still have a lot to do) but @PNWTundra2021 got his installed already and has nothing but awesome things to say about it!

 

Seriously, your garage looks better than most houses.

 

Sub for sony head unit. With the kenwood 1057 having no inventory in sight, the sony could be a great option.

 

I have to say, the Sony ES is an excellent choice if you are planning to replace the stock Toyota unit. Sound and features are incredible. Jesse at Audio Northwest knocked the tuning out of the park and we could not be happier with the result!

 

Thats nice looking. I just wish they would make the screen border more narrow. There should be no need for a 1.5” border

Does the sony have the “mood” light which glows under the screen to illuminate the console area?

 

Thank you! It has been a very rewarding (and sometimes frustrating as I was texting @PNWTundra2021 over the weekend lol) four years of building it. I realized Friday I screwed up my upstairs tub rough-in so this weekend had to rip up a section of floor to fix it. Fortunately it just involved peeling back some LVP and cutting up a section of subfloor but still. I measured like 15 times before I set it in the first place and somehow still got it wrong! Once it's all done though and I can just sit back and enjoy it, OMG I'm going to be such a happy dude. Everything out there is exactly where I want it to be.

 

@OGDark Knight it sounds so good you don't even notice!

I have not found any back lighting options but it really blends into the dash nicely.

 

Awesome shop and awesome Tundy build.
Dayummmmmm!

 

Thank you! I have been building cars under the sketchiest and craziest of conditions all my life. Having a legit car-guy work space with all the bells & whistles is something I have been looking forward to all my adult life, and it's finally almost here.