Black BAMF 311 Taco Build...

Thought I'd join the rest of ya and post my 2003 Tacoma PreRunner Build...

2003 Toyota Tacoma V6 SR5 PreRunner

I'm the 2nd owner... Purchased April 2009...

Here's a few pics of when I brought it home...

This Taco was the Best lookin truck on the lot, so they had it parked inside for special Taco Treatment...



Raining the day I took it home...



So, for those who don't know me... 311 is my favorite band... my bday happens to be a day before March 11th, took a cruise, go to concerts and the numbers 311 happen to follow me around wherever I go... On the drive home from the dealership, I swear, I no more turned onto the interstate, looked down and saw this! Great Sign of a good thing!!!



yea, that's my neighbor's Black Taco across the street... he's since moved and bought a new Bad Ass Tundra Limited... Probably cuz I had a better lookin truck than his at the time... he sure showed me... lol



head lights in these pics look clear, but didn't last very long... fogged up really quick and I replaced em with shitty Chinese parts... lookin to replace that bad investment later on...

Damn, even at stock, it looks good!



Soon after buying my new truck, my cousin moved from Virginia and we started a new Party Rental Biz... Moon Bounces, Water Slides, Tents, Tables, Chairs, Games, etc... www.BreezeBounce.com Good thing my Taco has a payload of 10,000 pounds so I can tow a trailer full of wet water slides...

 

My first truck I've ever owned, so I had to personalize the plate! Don't have this license plate anymore... I save all my plates, so it's hanging on the wall, so don't care if I post this pic...
I hate advertising, especially for blood sucking dealerships (even though I got a killer deal on my Taco!)... so pealed off the letters and rode around with 'a sin' cuz it WAS a sin to have this great of a truck!



oh yea... check out the expiration date... lmfao



Yea, I'm a loser...

But I love my truck! and I let everyone know it!



eatin Taco's in the Taco... before I peeled off the pin stripe and debadged...



Let's see, turned over to 100k at the beginning of this past summer 2011...



of course I took this pic... sorry, it's an obsession... 100,311 miles on the BAMF 311 TACO!!!



And one of the Best pets I've ever owned... The 311 Taco Golden Retriever, Shea... RIP... Best Dog ever! Took her wherever I went in my Taco... passed on over the summer...

 

Aight, enough with the preliminaries and onto my build...

Not exactly sure where it started, but I think it was my head lights and HID Conversion kit... Soon after I got my truck, the headlights started to fog up and that shitty walmart 'defogger' kit didn't do much at all, so I just replaced the entire head lights and put in HID's while I was at it...

Purchased the kit off ebay... think I had the 8000k 35 watts at first, then decided those were too blue and sucked during a rain storm, so switched to 6000k 55 watts much later on... Probly been thru half a dozen sets of HID's in the past year and half... not sure what the problem is, but these lights burn out fast and they are about $40 per set each time, so need to do some research and find out what the hell is wrong...

Okay, so here's my install of Black Mesh Grill Craft insert with Hella Black Magic 500's...

Whole thing took about 4 hours, but we were really just taking our time to make sure it was done right...
Enjoy!

BEFORE...




Cut out center with JIG SAW and smoothed edges with a DREMEL...


Here's the exact tools I used... Those clippers worked great for the odd angles and edges...


Dremel worked GREAT to smooth out edges! Top really won't show as much as the bottom, but I smoothed everything out just the same...


Painted everything behind mesh grill Flat Black with HIGH TEMP FLAME PROOF spray paint I got from Advance Auto Parts...


Hella 500 Black Magic's...



used existing holes for mounting brackets on either side of hood latch... painted them black... the last thing I wanted to do was drill and then hit my radiator.. that would've sucked royally! I had 2 horns, so I just took one of them off cuz it got in the way...

Oh, and before I forget... I had to saw off one of the clips on the grill assembly because I needed it for the mounting bracket on the left... My grill is still supported by 6 clips instead of 7, so it's not going anywhere and still very secure!



Hella's installed!



4 screws and the grill was installed... just make sure you PRE DRILL the holes with a drill bit... the whole time I was installing this, I was afraid of cracking this entire assembly... a lot of people used a sawzall to cut out center, but I think that was overkill... a simple jig saw works great!

 

Nice grill!

 

just a pic of the screws that secure the mesh grill...



my work station and the mess of tools... we drank a lot of beer too! (not pictured)



reattached grill and secured all the cips... and yes the lights are new... I did those a few months back... I bought em with black reflectors in the light assembly and got em off ebay!!! came with parking lights and lower turn signals!



everything put back together... HID's with Hella Black Magic 500's



Here's where I put the switch for the Hella's... I had to make a trip to Radio Shack cuz I wanted to be able to turn the Hella's on whenever I wanted and not just when the headlights were on... The red switch just had two plugs on the back instead of a third that came with the Hella 500's to go to the Light relay switch... a lot simpler than messing with the light relay box... did that before and just takes more time... Oh, and if you're wondering what that mic is by my steering wheel... It's a COGA PA system so I can yell at people on the street... LOL Probably not legal, but it makes something like 60 different animal sounds, cat calls, songs, etc... still a lot of fun!!!



that's me and my 311 BAMF TACO in my warehouse.... wow, I look like I could use another beer... haha

 

So the BF Goodrich A/T's were a getting a little bald, so I figured an upgrade was in order...

Ordered some Mickey Thompson Baja MTZ's...

and I wanted some alloy wheels too, but also wanted to keep the wheels OEM cuz I've had some bad experiences with after market wheels in the past...

Looked at a bunch of 4 Runner wheels and finally decided on FJ Cruiser Trail Team Edition Black wheels... couldn't actually find the black wheels cuz Toyota won't sell anyone the wheels anymore except if you actually have an FJ Cruiser Trail Team Ed... So I had the parts/accessories manager, Ralph, out in Mesa, AZ at Earnhardt Toyota use his paint guy to powder coat these... Bought the silver FJ wheels on ebay... Got a great deal on wheels and tires on ebay! A lot cheaper than local tire shop...





I guess I'm the imposter... Oh yea, sorry these are out of order... Since I was going for blacking out my Taco, I ordered some Black Out Covers for my headlights... Looks sick with my Hella's on during the day...



wheels turned out great! debating a lift kit... maybe a little later down the line...

 

another 'out of order' pic, but I still like it! taken down the street from my house... I must've done the HID conversion not long after I got my truck...

 

so yesterday, 2/5/12, I installed a 1,000 watt 4 Ft CB antennae... The week before there was a Tacoma World meet up in Navarre and everyone had a CB, so I bought one at the flea market... Then, this past week, upgraded the antennae, wiring, and installed a louder PA speaker from Radio Shack under the hood... I've got pics on my camera, but left it at my warehouse... I'll load em later on... I also spray painted my door panels black... got tired of cleaning the shoe scuff marks, so what the hell... I think it looks better anyway! again, pics on camera, I'll load em tomorrow or sometime this week...

 

I love the wheel and tire setup and the whole black theme you have going on. Great build so far!

 

So, my neighbor has a Silverado and installed a Nathan Air Chime Train Horn on his truck...

Needless to say, I was hooked!

So, I did some research and decided to install a train horn on my truck!

And let me tell ya somethin... It's LOUD!!! 150 psi (a gun shot is 120psi...)

Here's a few pics of my install...

I finished NEW YEARS EVE (1/31/11) and drove around that night while people were shooting off fireworks blowing my new train horn...

One of the Best investments EVER!!!

Here it is... The Hornblasters Shocker 232XL





No longer have a spare tire...



mounted air tank to inside back bumper...





Compressor is directly behind my license plate and really loud when stopped at a red light...



decided to use spare tire metal bars to hold train horn... cut square 2 ft plywood board to fit in middle of two bars... and of course I spray painted them BLACK!!!



Mounted horns on plywood board...





didn't want to hook up to steering wheel horn, so just hooked it up to a momentary button...



got a couple camera SD cards, so gotta find some pics of the horns installed under my truck bed... when I find em, I'll post...

 

thanks bro! it's always something... If I could find black interior, I'd swap it out in a minute! just started painting inside door guards with Rustoleum black undercoating... did it last night and turned out great! got high on paint fumes while driving around today tho... lol a little airing out and it'll be fine...

 

New Train Horn on the BAMF 311 TACO... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE-v_v6HLWk&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S77X7z3nBAc&blend=1&lr=1&ob=video-mustangbase Horn Off between Nathan Air Chime and Hornblasters... pure awesomeness!!!

 

So I figured I'd post a few pics of my truck in the mud... Tacoma World Pensacola/Fort Walton area meet up on Eglin Reservation running along the power lines... after meeting everyone and seeing their builds, it definitely spawned some ideas of future mods to come...



Felt kinda left out with 2 wheel drive, but I think the Taco handled it pretty well... The tires helped I think! Only had to get pulled out twice...

 

Train Horns survived Taco World meet up and the mud...

Good Times!








and here's my switches... red button under cig lighter is momentary button to blow train horn... the red cover switch is the on/off for the Viair air compressor... and the red switch on the right is for my Hella Black Magic 500's...

 

Tryin to think what else I've done... I debadged the Taco this summer... Used those plastic 'razor blades' and fishing line... Also, took off pin stripe, waxed the hell out of it, but you can still see the stripe and some of the left over lettering...

Oh, and just a word of advice for anyone with Black Paint... DO NOT use Walmart's Black paint wax kit... not sure the exact name of it, but it was around $16 and completely ruined my paint... I think it stripped off my clear coat (especially on the roof and hood) and now I'm in need of a new paint job... I'm sticking to regular Turtle Wax from now on, even if it takes longer to get the white leftover dust off... The whole reason I bought the black paint wax kit was that it wasn't suppose to leave residue behind... instead, it took my paint off... Might write a letter and see if they'll paint my truck... I'd like a flat black anyway... Having a black truck in Florida isn't the smartest decision I've ever made, but it's on the list of things to fix...

 

Im jealous. U definitely have a bamf taco

 

Very clean build! I can't wait to see where it goes...

 

Damn that is one sweeeeet Taco!!! Nice job on it man....and I thought my truck was blacked out lol

 

Dude I grew up in Nebraska and saw 311 several, several times from 1990-1994.

They used to play at this bowling alley all the time, (The Ranch Bowl) and they even played in a "battle of the bands" competition at my high school.

All this was way before they were even famous and still a little local band!

The train horn is sweet, my nephew would love that.