dzlpwrd's tacoma resurerection

How did you get it back with a clean title? Do you mean clean as in you owe nothing or clean as in it wasn't salvaged?

That's amazing how far it's come.

 

this is the factory sunroof. this is the reason i didn't change the whole cab. kind of crazy huh?

 

before i put the bed on i decided to paint the bottom side to help prevent rust. the flares and flaps are on it.

 

i know for a fact that this adds atleast 25 hp to this truck.

 

the insurance company paid me directly and i paid the credit union that held the note on the truck. the title came to me with no mention of salvage it just says maine state certificate of title.

 

next i painted everything under the truck (including me) black. i am hoping that this will preserve the frame for a couple years.


i painted everything i could get to with a brush, then did touch up with a poof can.

 

another picture of the front.

then the rear.

 

at this point i decided to put on the front bumper and front tire just to see how it was going to look. the front bumper had to come back off when it went to the frame shop.

 

now it was time to build the exhaust. i rounded up some old powerstroke parts and started cutting and welding. the big fat rusty muffler is the original the one in front is the first one i used.

this is the 2.5 to 3 adapter i got from my local napa store.

 

next i cut my header pipe and welded it to my 2.5 to 3 adapter, cut both o2 sensors out of the old exhaust drilled holes in the new pipe and welded the sensors in place. if you think that looks like a converter housing welded to a 3 inch pipe, thats because it is. 1500 miles on the truck since i put this exhaust on and still no check engine light.

 

wow this is a good thread!

 

after all the diffrent curves and joints were welded i painted the exhaust black and installed it on the truck.

i used all the factory mounts/hangers with the rubbers.

my arch over the rear axle came out better than i had expected.

 

the 3 inch pipe takes up quite a bit of space but fits nicely.

the tip looks cool but i was not happy with the amount of turn down i had on the end. so after i drove it for a while and got sick of how loud it was i replaced the muffler and turned the pipe so that it comes out just about flat.

 

so now the exhaust was finished it was time to put the bed on and be done with the assembly. i used my engine hoist to lift the bed and set it on the frame. only to find out just how bad the frame was tweeked from the crash. with the left front bolt in place the bed hit the cab and on the right side there was about a 4 inch space.

it looked like i could loosen the bolts on the cab and twist it but i finaly realized the frame was bent too far and would need to be pulled back into line.

 

so i sent the truck to the local frame shop. steve the owner told me the rear of the frame was about 3 1/2 inches to the left, but everything moved right back into place. another thing that happened in the crash is the spring seems to have stretched. it measures 1/2 inch longer from front to center bolt then the other one. it shows up very well in this picture the axle looks pushed back.

 

so this is how it came out. i feel that it is satisfactory considering the hit it took. i still have not changed the spring because i am thinking about lifting the truck and do not want to spend extra money for another spring. just before the truck was crashed i ordered the trd stickers for it. amazingly i still had them when the truck was finished. the flares i got from a friend whos truck went back for the frame recall.

 

you saved that Taco

 

so now that the truck is road ready, i dont say finished because it will never be finished there will always be something else that i think it needs. i decided i should have a cap for it. one of my friends that had his truck go back to toyota because of a bad frame, had his old top laying on the edge of his lawn. i asked him what his plans were for it and he said, if you want it take it. so i went and picked it up the other day this is what it looked like.

the grass around it was taller than the cap not to mention that he had been mowing the lawn and just covering it with grass.

 

the things i get myself into, but if its free then its for me. all the glass is good and it has no cracks.

it took me about 2 hours with the pressure washer to get it clean. the spiders living inside were less than impressed with me.

 

so i had the same guy that painted the truck paint the cap. in the meantime while i was waiting for the cap to come back i decided that the truck needed a lift. so i built my own 3" front spacers from a picture i found on ebay. eventually i want to buy a set set of billistien for it. for now i spent $10 at my local fab shop to have them cut the pieces of steel for me, then a few minutes with my welder and its lifted.