Does anyone have any original ideas to help make the interior of some of our older 4Runners look a little less dated?

So far I've got a tan interior with black heavy duty floormats, a black leather steeringwheel wrap, and a cd player that matches.

The interior is just so boxy and dated, I feel like I'm stuck in the 80's or something.

Has anyone had any custom work done?

-Keith

 

I haven't had any custom jobs done, but I have been thinking about that as well. I do have a '99 limited with the leather seats and all, and I still think the interior looks pretty good, but I have been tossing the ideas around of chaning it. Alot of the body panels have scratches from snowboard edges, etc. I was thinking of pulling out the panels, sanding them a bit, and trying to put a new color on. Some of the leather has water damage, so I was also considering getting the seats rewraped in katzkin. Thats something you could think of... Just my ideas. Peace.

 

It's funny you mention that, two things got me thinking about needing to do something with my interior...

A) On of my friends flat out said my Runner was awesome on the outside but the interior sucked

B) The article in Truckin's SUV magazine about the Katzkin covers for their project Sequoia

I was seriously thinking about doing that because I have cloth seats and I think it's look way cooler, but money is tight at the moment and it'd probably cost alot.

I even toyed with the idea of swapping out the whole dash for a newer one, but it's totally impossible to find anything that will line up even close to the original dashes instrument cluster and a/c vents.

-Keith

 

If it was me I would....

Get white guage face
Put in two sliding seats, instead of the bucket (unless that's something you have to have), and these seats could be some real nice Cordoba or other bucket seats
For the dash, if you were willing to work on it for a long while, you could do custom brushed aluminum trim pieces here and there (I would make one to go over the heater switches) and you could use some vinyl paint (or are they plastic?)
Make some custom shift boots (if you have manual) and paint plastic shifter base to match dash
Ditch the steering wheel cover and get an actual steering wheel
New pedals/pedal covers
Install some tweeter pods on the dash
Paint the door panels, or have them restitched and such, again, matching the dash, and with trim pieces accenting anything aluminum or your seat colors
Paint all your vents brushed aluminum color, or accent color


And those are my ideas that I can think of right now. I think doing the vents, dash, and seats would make instant impact on the look of the interior, and if done right, wouldn't look tacky.

 

Me?? I kinda like it, but I really would love to find an SR5 bench seat and dump the buckets.. I like a bemch seat myself.. and I could seat all 6 of us... Hmmmm.

 

hmm new black and dark grey leather with matching door inserts. carbon fiber or brushed aluminum dash kit (got that), new gauges that actually work(lookin for those) all interior panels re painted to match new black grey color scheme, and blue interior light job done and some sick stering wheel and pedals would round it out. that would look sharp. also you could switch it up and put in some ricaro or sparco racing seats that match for the ultra pimp factor

 

Nobody gives buckets the love! I'll trade anybody my 60/40 front seat for some decent buckets! I slide all over the place when driving fast/ offroading.

 

Oh don't get me wrong.. But I do think a 2nd gen 4-Runner would look pretty sweet with a bench seat up front..

 

The bench seat idea is great, but I don't know how well it would work since the console extends between the bucket seats. The bolts probably won't line up either, which means I'll have to put holes in my floor. I might take some measurements to see how things would fit because a bench would be pretty badass.

I'm also not so sure about painting the dash, the entire interior is tan (seats, carpets, everything). I was thinking about getting a black dash cover that would go along with the black instrument panels and beazles as well as the floor mats. I had never considered painting the vinyl though, so I'm going to rethink things with that possibility in mind.

While I was driving to class tonight I was thinking that It would be cool if the center console and shifter extended up into the dash instead of braking apart. I'm going to see if I can find a picture of the console area and photoshop something up...

-Keith

 

White gauges is a really good idea in my opinion.

 

I intend on getting white guages, but I'd like to change all my green lights to white or blue all at once.

I saw the post about changing all the cab lights to blue (see: "I've got the blues"), but i'm not sure if it would work for a 95. I believe that the buttons are tinted green, so I'd have to figure out a way to sand off the tint from the back. Maybe I'll take apart some of the dash this weekend and see what I can do.

I think I've also decided that I might get my seats reapholstered with leather, and then replace the fabric in the doorpanels with similar material. I think that white guages with black trim/seats and tan interior will look great.

-Keith

 

Curtains are nice. Especially on the back window so they swing around. I would do that.

 

3rd Gen's have a similar issue. If you read the thread closely, you'll notice they did the light sanding method on some of the switches.

I'm planning to convert all of my gauge and switch lighting to amber and will be reworking the trim panel around my instrument cluster to incorporate my Inclinometer where the center vents are and a bunch of extra switches near the stock locations. I want to have these behind some kind of door since they will be for things like the compressor and ARB's.

I'm also itching to change my console to a Tacoma model. I haven't found one at a salvage yard yet...

Too many projects - I need winter to END!!!

 

You just use the pick-up shift plate (in fact, the stock one would look fine once the rear half is gone). I would have to dump the rear heater, but I never use it.. The only draw back is I have leather.. (but a wet oakie on the bench would be nice!) maybe a top to match

 

After I do the guages I'm thinking I might order one of those carbon fiber kits for the dash. Are there any other options than carbon fiber and woodgrain?

Once that's all done I might order black Katzkin covers and replace the fabric patterns in the door with black too.

I'm stuck with the tan to some degree, but when I get it done it will look alot better I think.

-Keith