well i gutted my box today just to see what it looks like and deep clean it and guess what i found. RUST on my floor. it wasnt that bad but still. i got it all off now i have to primer and paint over the metal. oh i also found 28 cents in spare change. lol.

whoops triple post any admins wanna delete 2 of them?

only saw one other....its gone now...

is this what yours looked like gutted...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/dgHotLava/PICT0730.jpg

kinda, but i didn't start with the dash yet. all my seats are out no carpet from front to back. imma start takin off the headliner and dash in the morning and snap a few pictures if any one is intrested in seeing a fully gutted xb. lol. im the kind of person who likes to take things apart and HOPEFULLY put it back together.

Please do! I'd love to see something like this before attempting to disassemble the whole dash or carpet, etc. There is a tech thread on taking apart just the center part of the console and I found it quite useful.

nice avatar stacktrayce

ill try to do a write up when i put it back together if any one is interested. first i gotta go get primer and paint in the morning to paint over the bare metal when i took of the rust so i might not be done until tuesday.

yes, most def do a tech quality write up : ) good luck w/putting it all back

if you found rust take it back to the dealer and have them pay for it. it happened on my moms 98 corolla and they fixed it no charge. it is under warrenty

it was minor rust so i got rid of it pretty easily

I am sorry but what is the point of doing this? i mean besides the curiosity point of finding out whats underneath what was the purpose?

I am sorry but what is the point of doing this? i mean besides the curiosity point of finding out whats underneath what was the purpose?

The reason why I gutted my box was to reduce almost 200lbs of unnecessary dead weight so I can drive it faster, save gas, and not have my friends keep hitting me up for rides. And one day put in a roll cage.

nope just curiosity and bordem.
:crazy:

to dynamat....
run audio/video wires...
to see if i can improve any enginerring in the car...
and because i can...

i actually went further than this pic...front carpet out...rear doors out...
i left every thing from the belt line up alone... for now.....

Alright makes sense... lots of work though! Looks great! Let me see that roll cage later!

I am sorry but what is the point of doing this? i mean besides the curiosity point of finding out whats underneath what was the purpose?

The reason why I gutted my box was to reduce almost 200lbs of unnecessary dead weight so I can drive it faster, save gas, and not have my friends keep hitting me up for rides. And one day put in a roll cage.

That's crazy talk. You should have bought an MR2 if you didn't want to give friends rides, and if you wanted to go fast. ;)

I agree. One of the best things about the box is the fact that it has so much interior space because of its shape. :) Removing the rear seats and installing like a flat aluminum floor would be pretty sweet though (like a cargo hauler). Wrong platform for caging and racing... and so is an MR2 btw heheh. MR2 sounds cool in concept, but unexciting in person. The celica gts engine would've still been torqueless, but at least it'd have 180hp at redline and surely would have helped. Pretty sure both btw will be discontinued this year due to poor sales... ok back on topic. :doh: I'd strip mine for dynamatt, put in cabling and get an x-BOX hooked up with a flip down LCD. Lots of room for some serious ICE! ;)

hmm...yeah thats kinda what my box looked like a couple friday's ago.... tho i didnt take the dash apart... but all the seats, caprets, door pannels headliner... all pulled out.. put in dynamat extreme bulk kit... got all 4 doors, spare tire well/cargo area, rear quarter pannels(below both windows) rear hatch, rear seat floor area... about 1/2 the roof, covered (ran out of dynamat.. used all 36sqft) ... also ran audio wires down center of box to cargo area while things were torn apart...
did take some pics of the install... t-dot? hotboxn??? care to post them??
would have to say difference in road noise is about 20-30% quieter.. probably would be more but front floor boards has some styrofoam already down and didnt really wanna try removing that and the carpet/padding up the front firewall...

i couldn't do a write up because i had to put my car back together fast because i forgot i had an interview to go to. doh! but i did take a quick pic before i started to put it all back together.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/silverxb/DSC03144.jpg
the hardest part was reinstalling the rear seat bolts on the side. all in all took me about an hour and a half to get it back to normal.

and this is what i did with the left over paint that i used to paint over the sanded area where rust used to be.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/silverxb/DSC03142.jpg

installed
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/silverxb/DSC03143.jpg
what to you guys think?

Sorry to hear about your unexpected haste in reassembly. Does anyone have more complete pics/dirs about disassembly and reassembly? Especially with regards to the full dash?

stacktrayce if you have any questions ill try my best to describe the process without pics. in regards with the dash i might be taking that apart sometime this week. the only thing i don't wanna take apart is my headliner because i have a sunroof and the people that installed it kinda glued my headliner to the car.

the hardest part was reinstalling the rear seat bolts on the side. all in all took me about an hour and a half to get it back to normal.


yeah, i had a bit of trouble with those bolts too...
nearly cross-threaded or stripped them...

One of my main questions is how to handle the carpeting. I have never dealt with carpeting before. Is there a special tool to get it out all in one piece? What holds it in place when you put it back in? I want to deaden my floor but am worried about the carpet and now about the rear doors...

StackTrayce.

I've got the same Qs. There's a technical on stripping a tC, but I would love one on the xB. I'm a noob to the whole "working on my own car" thing, and the FAQs have been an unbelievable resource.

I'm going to be taking apart my car too soon, to do a full dynmat i think. Maybe i will make a write up..

Count me in, I'm thinking aboout putting Dynamat or eDead on the floors under the carpet, thanks!

ok imma try to describe all the steps i took to disassemble my interior. i might have forgotten some things in this tutorial so bare with me.

All the tools you need is a flat head and phillips head screw drivers, needle nose pliers, allen wrench [i forgot what size],12 mm socket, 14mm socket, and 14 mm wrench.

Back Seats:

First you have to take every thing out of the cargo area. like the storage bin and spare tire. To take off the back of seats there are 2 14 mm bolts, 1 on each side of the car, I took those off first. Next i took off the back part of the seats. At the bottom where the seats split are 2 hinges on the back. I found it easier to fold down the seats to remove these bolts from the hinges. The bolt on the the small side is a 12 mm and the one on the large side is a 14. Now you could just pull them out and set it some where. The bottom of the rear seats are held in place by clips. So you just pull up on each side of the seat to pop them out. When you take it out make sure you unhook the rear seat bottom from the black bar. removing the black bar is also simple. They're just held in place by 4 12mm bolts. now ur back seats are totally removed.

Rear Panels:

First i took off the middle panel, the part where the latch for the hatch is. There are 2 circle tabs that you have to take off. I used a flat head s/d to pry them loose and pulled them out with some needle nose pliers. now you pull up gently so you don't break the clips on the bottom of the panel. next take off the door little door panel. now on to the rear panels. On the rear panel there are 4 allen bolts 2 on each panel. and the seat belt anchor bolts. After removing the bolts just pull gently on the panels and make sure u don't lose any of the clip because if you lose them the panels ill be loose after installation.

Rear Carpet:

The carpet is seperated into 2 peices one in the rear and one for the front. now that you have taken out the back seats and panels the rear carpet come right out. make sure you look for any of the black round clip things cause i didnt and now i have a bunch of holes in my carpet. after the rear carpet is out take a break cause u deserve it.

Front Seats:

The front seats are held in place by 5 14mm bolts. 2 in the front and 3 in the back. There are plastic covers on the rear bolts that you have to pull off. While unbolting the driver seat remove the jack while ur un bolting the seat. after the seats are unbolted pull them out of the car. I chose to pull the seats out through the back hatch cause its safer. If you choose to take them out from the front doors you have to watch the railings because they can and will scuff up your door panels and every other panel that it comes into contact with including paint.

Front Carpet:

First take off the plastic peice that is between the center console and the dash. its held inplace with one of the black round clip things on the passenger side.after you remove the clip just pull the peice straight back. Now take off the center console. It's held into place by 2 clips in the front and 1 screw in the back inside the rear cup holder. Next remove the door sill panels. look at the white clips that hold the wires you will notice that the carpet is also anchored to these clips. next take off the kicker panels which is held in place by a little plastic nut. now take off the seat belt covers. its easy just pry one side out and the whole panel just comes out. after that you have to unbolt the seat belt anchor which is held in place by a 14mm bolt. now for the carpet. first look for any more of those round black clips. i can only remember 3 off the top of my head right now. there is one on the hump under the driver seat, another one in the center of where the rear seats used to be, and one in the front on the right side of the gas pedal. now unhook the carpet from the white clips that also hold the wires. now just pull out the carpet and find all the spare change that you have lost over time.

thats it now look at all the space in your car.


comming soon:

next time im bored ill try to remove the intire front dash. maybe some time this week. so stay tuned. this time ill try to take pics to put it with directions

Thanks so much, this will be very helpful! The bit about black round clip things and now having holes in your carpet worries me though. Could you tell me a bit more about what the clips look like and where some of them are? Maybe some tips on how to deal with these types of clips in general? I'm new to messing around with the interior of my car and really don't want to end up snapping clips or having stuff flap about since I messed up due to lack of experience.

the black round things that look like screws that hold things in place. make sure u take them all off first because if you just pull on the carpet they will just fly off from the force. just use a flat head to pry them up and pull them out.

Nice write up, I'm thinking of adding a secondary 12v outlet in the cargo area, while you had it apart did you happen to notice which side had a cable for power? Something that can be tapped into? Thanks

--- those sound kind of like the grommet thingy's that hold the top front grille in place, no?
Awesome how-to, thanks! :bow: It sounds like I'll have to borrow someone's driveway to lay all this stuff out...I wish I had a driveway, and a garage, too, come to think of it!

When you put it all back together is it pretty much straight forward? Were you concerned with getting it back together and not having your box as safe as it was before you started?

aB
the black round things that look like screws that hold things in place. make sure u take them all off first because if you just pull on the carpet they will just fly off from the force. just use a flat head to pry them up and pull them out.

it was easier putting it back together because i already knew where everything went. just gotta put all you bolts in one place so you dont loose them.

Very good write up THANKS. Will post pics next week when i EDEAD my rear floor and hatch.

i just did the same thing, but im not quite sure where u used 14mm socket though? All the bolts I took out for the rear seat area were 12mm, then there weere some 20mm that held in the seatbelt, and a bracket for the rear seat.

i just did the same thing, but im not quite sure where u used 14mm socket though? All the bolts I took out for the rear seat area were 12mm, then there weere some 20mm that held in the seatbelt, and a bracket for the rear seat.
14mm is for the sides of the rear seat backs...
front seat mounts...


i did not use a 20mm anywhere, 17, 14, 12, 10...but no 20..