how hard is it to tear the dash apart? i ask because i want to clean it up and paint everything black. im also thinking of changing the cluster display backing/color. does anyone know of a website that has anything that'll fit an 85 cluster with factory tach? the green is boring.

lastly, i need to find some new seatbelts for the driver and pass sides(already have center) as they are old and worn. looking for gray but black is preferred. does anyone know of any shoulder belts from other trucks that would bolt in?

 

what about using different bulbs in the dash?.. i myself love the green glow, i need to make mine brighter.

 

Its not too hard to take apart, just a bunch of screws and a few 10mm bolts if I remember right. If youre going to paint everything black, be sure to prep very well, and expect some scratches over time. I did this myself and I love the black dash on the 1st gens.

As for the dash lights, red looks awesome with the black dash!

 

Be careful with step 5, you can dent the dash, there are spring clips you need to depress. The hardest bolt to get to is in step 7 behind the vent.

 

threadjack: does anyone know if second gen dash fits into first gen trucks? center console on 4runner is a little thrashed, that might be a sweet replacement..

 

red was my first thought... how do i go about this though? iirc, the bulbs used to light the cluster and heater panel are just plain white. what gives it the green color is the backing, is this correct? could i just paint the backing red or something?

as for the dash scratching, vinyl paint should prevent that for the most part. the stuff is VERY tough and can pretty much paint damn near anything, granted it might take a few coats as it is very watery. if i dont like how that turns out, i could always just use bedliner spray.

 

There are multiple writeups around on how to change the dash color. In a nutshell, the bulbs in the dash are white with a little green rubber covering that gives them their green color. By replacing these with red bulbs, you have a red dash!. The climate controls use a different bulb, and to turn these red i kept the original white bulb but took off the front of the panel and backed it with red 'taillight repair' tape that was a translucent red. Dont forget to cut out the spots for the little blue arrows otherwise they will look purple.

 

Its not hard to remove the dash, I just finished removing the stock brown dash on my 85 truck and replaced it with a complete gray dash new ruber floor mat and new bucket seats. you can remove the dash in less than an hour, there are a couple of hiden nuts and bolt that you have to get to, but over all its not that hard. one thing i would recomend to you is while you have your dash out of the truck, is to remove as much of the heater duct and fan motor assembly as possible and clean them out, you will be amazed at how much dirt and crap that that you will find in there. the ducts in my truck were full of dust and dirt.

 

sweet myyota. thx for the tip. was already planning on cleaning anything out that i could get at while that space had access. quick question, any chance you have some gray shoulder seatbelts (driver and pass. side)?

arugh, and i need door panels in decent shape.

 

No, I don`t have any gray seat belts, im still looking for those myself, and i also need one more arm rest, those last two things and my interior will be complete. I can tell you that the gray interior looks a lot better than the brown.

 

in what shape are your brown door panels? are the arm rests in decent shape as well? if they are i'll buy them off of you. let me know of their condition and your price. thx.

 

Sorry man, i sprayed the door panels to match the new interior, door panels are all but impossible to find around here, and the arm rests were cracked and wasted so i threw them away. I go to pic n pull almost every weekend and thats were ive found all my interior parts, is there a pic n pull or something like that near you ?, if there is start making trips there once a week if possible. some weeks you will find nothing and some weeks you hit the jack pot. ive replaced my dash, head liner, bucket seats, sun visors and other minor interior parts. it took me about two and a half months to gather almost everything and it was worth it when i got it all swaped in place. if i knew how to post a picture i would show you a before and after picture.

 

yeah theres one nearby, jus real busy with work. i'll have to make an effort to do so.

when you replaced your headliner, did you have to remove your windshield?

 

No, you don`t have to remove the windshield, look behind the sun visors and you will see a piece of ruber moulding running across the front edge of the headliner, this piece just pulls off and there is a lip there that the front of the headliner is glued to. you do how ever need to remove the rear window to replace the headliner but its not hard to do

 

awesome!!! could i just replace it with a piece of fabric or would it be easier to pull one in decent shape out of another truck and install it in mine?

 

quick question for 4rocker. i got my new gage/inclineometer. i noticed on the gage that only 3-4(cant remember) bulbs were covered with the green rubber, all the others were just plain white. do i replace the green covered ones with red and leave all the others alone?

 

I don`t think replacing the headliner with fabric would work, the headliner has three steel bows that hold it in place across the cab and is glued around the edges. you could probably have one custom made but it would probably cost more than its worth.

 

ok how do you remove the rear window? i have a sliding unit.

 

Getting a sliding rear window out and back in is not an easy job. when i did my interior i replaced my solid back window with a slider, getting the solid window out and back in is easy, but the slider is a very tight fit. how i did it was to work a small screw driver under the window seal and carefully start working the seal and window out, once the window/seal are about a third of the way out then you can push the rest of the window out real easy. getting it back in is alot harder, it took me about two hours by my self to get it back in.

 

simplypv- It's been awhile since I did my gauges, but if I remember correctly There are 3-4 main bulbs in the cluster that are green, and those were replaced with red bulbs. There were some other bulbs for the indicator lights and turn signal indicators that I left their original colors (I think the colored indicators have a good contrast with the red gauges). Try doing the main bulbs in the middle of the cluster and plug it in to see if you like it.

All of the clinometer bulbs were switched to red, and the climate control bulb was left white, and the taillight repair tape was used on the back of the slider panel to give it the red color. The climate controls match the gauges perfectly.