Pitchblack Motorsports - 2010 Sequoia rally support and light adventure rig

irish44j

Well-known member
And today I finished it up, with all the carpeting done and hinges installed. Came out pretty good I think, for $100 and a couple days' work:

All closed up. I notched the right side to just the right size to stick my Rotopax 2-gallon water jug. I know all the cool overland types strap these to their roof racks or other places outside their vehicles so everyone can see them, but this is really just easier-access here (interior volume being the advantage of a huge SUV.....and it kind of tucks into the "indent" area in front of the rear AC uptake anyhow where not much else fits. IDK why I even bother carrying it, frankly, since I have a 7-gallon water tank on the roof. But it was a Christmas gift and it's good for cleaning up after a rallycross or if I need to put water in a radiator or something.

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Both compartments open. The middle one I'm using to stash sleeping bags, air mattress, tarps, and other bulkier items that I don't use often:

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The rear compartment is for more frequently used stuff. Ratchet straps/tiedowns, jumper cables and power cables to my trailer winch, recovery gear, and my air compressor:

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You can see there were some notched areas I cut out in the first pic, and those are so I can still access the factory tiedown eyes

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With the middle-row seats folded down there's a 4-5" gap. The seats have these nifty "flaps" the fold down to bridge that gap with the OEM 3rd row seats in, but it turns out my platform is about 1" too high for those to sit flat (which is mildly annoying that I miscalculated on that). So I made some flaps of my own that will sit flat and bridge the new box to the front seats.

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As you can see, they're hinged (I only installed the one middle part so far since I need to get a couple more hinges, but the outer ones are the same). When the seats are in the upright position, these just hinge up and sit against the back of the seat.

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So pretty happy with how that all turned out. I think it'll make the truck even more useful for various things I do with it.

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irish44j

Well-known member
The top-mount setup for my Yakima water tank has always mildly annoyed me, both from a functionality and (honestly) cosmetic point of view. So I moved it down to the side of the rack where it's easier to reach and not sitting up on top, so now I can put plywood up there on Home Depot runs and have better access to my left side tiedowns for whatever I put up there. Nothing too exciting, but just tweaking previous projects.

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plus, now it looks like I have a rocket launcher on the side of the truck lol

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irish44j

Well-known member
Nice looking rigs. What are you finding for real world fuel range? Towing and non-towing?

Towing I average about 11mpgs (10 if I'm dealing with mountains, 12 if I run 60-65mph consistently). Not sure of total range, it's a 26-gallon tank so I suppose somewhere around 260-280 miles if I took it to empty. When towing i rarely go below 1/4 tank since I like some safety margin when I'm in the middle of nowhere. I'm usually pulling around 5000lbs between the trailer, racecar, and spares/gear.

Not towing....most of my not-towing mileage is local driving (to Home depot) or some occasional wheeling so hard to give a good average. I'd say it's around 16 for high-speed highway (70mph+) and maybe 14 for general around-town stuff. I'm sure the awning, water tank, rack, and Load Range E tires do not help with mileage, nor does my heavy foot lol.

So with some very long towing trips (DC to Maine next month for New England Forest Rally) coming up, figured it was time to pull the trigger on a stereo upgrade. The truck came with a fairly nice touchscreen Kenwood unit (with stock JBL stuff), but it's always annoyed me because 1) it doesn't have Android auto so I can't run Navi off my phone and 2) it doesn't have a "actual" volume knob. I despise stereos without a volume knob. But, this isn't a daily driver and rally is expensive so couldn't spend thousands on a really high-end unit. Instead, I spent around $500 and took a flyer on a Chinese Joying 10.1" android unit after seeing one on a Sequoia facebook page. A week later it arrived. The quick and dirty of what it came with for $500:
- 10.1" unit (basically a tablet)
- full plug and play wiring harness and CANBUS decoder for the Sequoia
- a backup camera (though I didn't need to use it since mine already has an aftermarket camera installed0
- dash kit for the Tundra/Sequoia (perfect fit)
- VOLUME KNOB (apparently added for the newest version after many customer requests)

Here's a link to where to buy it, in case you're interested: https://www.joyingauto.com/joying-2...inch-ips-screen-android-car-audio-system.html

In any case, installation was super-easy, everything fits great physically. A few things;
- it has a LOT of features. Like, so many I will never use
- good screen quality and low glare in direct sunlight compared to the Kenwood
- tons of custom adjustments, including button color, active display, and the ability to program "secret" buttons on several parts of the screen
- the sound is actually really good - better than the Kenwood by a good bit - and has a LOT of adjustments for those who are putting together custom systems (I used the stock JBL stuff)
- you can get a dongle for OBD2 but I didn't since I have Torque Pro on my phone anyhow
- it has a card slot for a SIM so it can run internet standalone from your phone (or use bluetooth/wired/phone hotspot)
- All in all it seems to work really well

My only issue at the moment is lack of steering wheel controls working. I know they work for others with this unit, but the P/O was running a Maestro RR data decoder with the Kenwood and did some strange things with some wiring, so I'm still trying to figure out what he did so I can restore the steering wheel functionality. Not a huge issue for me since I'm used to not having steering controls on all my old 80s cars anyhow, but I'll take care of it eventually. Anyhow, here's some pics

The old Kenwood
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The new hotness
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and a gratuitous rally car pic from last weekend, just because it's more interesting than stereo install pics....

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AggieOE

Trying to escape the city
Loved reading what you've done with your Sequoia. It looks like the perfect tow rig and overnighting unit. That head unit upgrade looks clean and as if it was always there!
 

irish44j

Well-known member
Loved reading what you've done with your Sequoia. It looks like the perfect tow rig and overnighting unit. That head unit upgrade looks clean and as if it was always there!

Thanks, trying not to go too overboard and just do the things I need (plus, I have multiple other car projects that limit my budget!)
 

irish44j

Well-known member
I'm assuming that because of the shorter wheelbase, you can't put a Tundra 38 gal tank in it. These guys say they have a fuel tank in the works for the 2nd gen Sequoia:
GEN 2 Sequoia keeps up with all of the Toyotas Fall series Ep.2

Interesting. Though I'll be honest, it's not a huge concern of mine (and probably not worth whatever it would cost). When towing I find that I like to stop every 3 hours to stretch my legs and back (not as young as I used to be!) and take a break, so that lines up pretty well with a full tank getting towing MPGs. And since I'm in the east, it's unlikely I'll ever be out a hundred miles from civilization like some of the real overlanders out in the big expanses out west.

Still, bookmarking for future reference :)
 

irish44j

Well-known member
The rallysprint we had planned to do got cancelled due to weather, so had to find something else to do with that money and decided to do a tow rig upgrade that's been a long-time coming. The Sequoia has 177k miles and 12 years on it and the original radiator, like most OEMs, has plastic end caps that are prone to crack (my buddy Mike Golden's Tundra has cracked two of them in two years' time and he switched to Koyo). So figured I'd pull the trigger on a Koyo aluminum radiator (and new hoses) so I don't have to worry about the radiator any more - and get more cooling capacity to boot.

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The job was pretty easy other than a few cracked plastic clips. Took about an hour, and refilled with fresh NAPA Asian Red,. Still a very sweaty job on a 101-degree day. In retrospect I should have done the thermostat housing while I was in there, but I can always circle back and do that down the road at some point.

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I also switched my phone service to Google Fi, which gives you multiple free unlimited-data SIM cards as part of the deal. This Joying Android head unit in the truck has a SIM slot so put one in there, and now the unit has full standalone 4G/5G (independent of my phone) so it can run Spotify, Google Maps, movies, or whatever and my phone can do its own thing :) So that's a nice long-haul upgrade for the rig as well. I really like this unit - the sound is pretty damn good and it has a ton of features. Really pleased with it for such an affordable price.

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irish44j

Well-known member
Jumping back a few weeks, we did a long-haul tow (14 hours each way) to Maine for New England Forest Rally. Not much to say about the truck other than I burned nearly $800 in gas all told (not including the gas for my co-driver's Tacoma that came with us to use for reconnaissance runs). Sequoia towed great, no issues, and though I had another crew guy with me I did the entire tow myself without issue both ways - this truck tows really nicely and without the occasional white-knuckle occurrences that occasionally were the case with my 1st gen (mostly due to its undersized brakes). We were loaded up with about 5k on the trailer and another 500lbs+ in the rig, plus the roof box with a bunch of foldup chairs and our pop-up shelter.

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And a few pics from the rally , just for fun. We finished this time (DNF'd in 2018) about mid-pack so that's pretty decent for a 37-year-old rally car in one of the toughest rallies in the country :)

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Some random rally guy a bit further up the pack from us....
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our buddy in another e30 didn't fare so well
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MR E30

Active member
Nice work on the Sequoia!

From R3v to here at Exped, glad to see you're still getting your hands dirty.
 

irish44j

Well-known member
Nice work on the Sequoia!

From R3v to here at Exped, glad to see you're still getting your hands dirty.

thanks. I'm still in the e30 game, but most of my build threads for those (and a few other projects) are over on Grassroots Motorsports forum these days, since my e30 build threads are full of other non-bmw projects as well.

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irish44j

Well-known member
Really enjoyed reading your posts. Great job and keep us posted.

Thanks, wish I had more exciting (or just "more") stuff to post more often, but the car-project budget has to split between 6 different vehicles so I have to space things out lol. Such is real life I guess :)
 

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