Initial Fitting of the Passenger Side Panel

1st generation Toyota 4Runner, planning to make replacement rear passenger side panels.

I traced out the driver's side rear panel on a 1/4 sheet of 5mm plywood along with marking a number of holes corresponding to the plastic push pin locations. Panel was cut out with a jigsaw, holes drilled and then the panel was test fit in place. I had to open up a few of the holes to line up the the threaded inserts I'll show in the next video. Later, I'll use this panel to trace out the passenger side panel to save time.

I found I needed to create a wiring chase behind the B-pillar for the cables running up to my rear view camera and Android Auto display screen. For that, I cut a 5/8" (16mm) wide slot in the plywood and then covered that with another piece of plywood scrap that was glued in place.

For a finish, I used 2 coats of an outdoor waterproofing fence and deck stain and will apply 2 coats of the same dark brown exterior paint I used in back.

The storage compartment trim piece was painted in several coats of black enamel paint, allowing that to soak into the sun damaged plastic and fully cure. Then several coats of bed liner spray was applied over that to give a durable and uniform finish. I later painted the seat belt trim plastic in a flat black enamel as well to protect it and match the color scheme in back.

Materials / tools used:
5mm plywood cut to match the factory side panels.
1/4" - 20 threaded inserts and screws to replace the factory plastic push pins.

Killer Toy Tops:
https://killertoytops.com/

Some web archive links to soft top companies mentioned.
Kayline Mfg.:
https://web.archive.org/web/199904281...
Specialty Top Co.:
https://web.archive.org/web/200108190...

#4Runner #softtop #seatback