My Build- need some advice!

Hi everybody,
I just bought my 2000 tacoma 3 months ago and have started to tweak it to my liking. There are a few areas that are definitely screaming for attention. In particular the wheel wells. The previous owner installed a three inch body lift and now the engine bay and frame rails are exposed to mud and road grime. A friend suggested buying some black "crazy carpets" and pop riveting them to the back wheel wells to stop some of the grime accumulation on the frame and fuel tank, any thoughts on this?

I do intend to purchase some fender flares, depending on the manufacturer they claim to have about 6 inches of over lap into the wheel well. I will still need to come up with something else for the rest of the wheel well. Do i bite the bullet and buy the stock ones or is there an aftermarket alternative?

Here is a run down on what i have done to date.
-plastic bedliner removed and replaced with a spray on.
-optima red top battery replaced motomaster crap- still need to come up with a more elegant solution here. The terminal on the "red top" are opposite to what was in there before and i do not have enough play in the wiring to reach- so i ended up buying some cheapo- extendors to work with for the time being
-cold air intake
-new synthetic fluid for everything. diffs, transmission, engine. purge greased the drive line, and purged/replaced the coolant.
-new spark plugs
-new transmission filter

-living in canada i have begun to winterize it for the coming months. i've got a set of winter tires coming soon. (Kumho KC-11's in a 31*10.5*15)
-Built a white puckboard inlet blocker (This helps get the vehicle up to operating temps quicker, and keeps it at a better operating temp for highway driving in sub-zero weather)
-Installed a inline coolant heater. (Draws from the block drain, and through convection circulates the coolant through the block giving you an even amount of heat... as opposed to a block heater which will only heat a small portion of the oil. Seemed like a better system to me... IMHO)

Anyways- any suggestions from you taco afficiandos would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance
Taco newbie
Kato

 

Welcome to TW!

I believe that they make things called "gap guards" that cover the gap left when you put a body lift in.

Body lifts aren't very popular around here(on TW) because of the safety issues. If you wheel your truck or was to have a wreck you risk the "pucks" that give the body lift ripping through the cab floor and that is no bueno.

 

all the stuff you want is on ebay.

i'll look the dude up if you cannot find em.

 

Thanks for the info- the only potential hit i found on ebay for gap guards was for a 95 tacoma. i think this will work for my truck, i think it is 95 1/2 to 2004 that the styling stayed the same. Anyone know if this holds true for the wheel well geometry?

 

Any suggestions for fender flares? I found a canadian company call jungle fender flares that will sell me a set of fibreglass(?i think) flares for $250.00. Will this be worth while?

 

why didn't you just buy the right battery in the first place? with the reverse terminals, they aren't hard to get. which by the way for your truck is a 34R

 

Holy crap- the snake oil salesman at the local auto parts store had me convinced that the 34 was my only option. After reading your post i phoned him this afternoon and ripped him a new one... problem solved as of 15 minutes ago thanks for the tip!

 

anytime, glad to help