FIGHTMAN'S SPEEDWAY BLUE TACO

As she sits today, November 15th, 2014





*Disclaimer: Tacoma World, is a horrible place, which forces me to spend all my extra money on this truck! If you're anything like me, hide your wallets somewhere, and never pull it out again!! This is intented to be a mild build, you won't see much armor on this rig, but should be modded extensively when finished.

















Location: Ontario, Canada
Name: Rob
Username: Fightman80
Vehicle Name: Bruiser
Year: 2005
Make: Toyota
Model: Tacoma Double Cab, Long Box
Trim: TRD SPORT
Color: Speedway Blue
History: Other than the Trim package, she was an old man's truck, with Chrome Nerf bars to match. I have done all of the work listed below myself or with the help of some good friends.

\/ Mods \/

Interior:
-Black vinyl and leather accents on the door panels
-Dash Cluster LED's swapped to blue, w/ Carbon Fiber Gauge pods
-Carbon Fiber wrapped center console and window switch panels
-Black WeatherTech Floor Liners
-LED dome lights/map lights/Blue footwell lights, cubholder lights, and center console light.


Exterior:
-OEM Rain Guards
-OEM Tow Hook
-OEM Trailer Hitch
-OEM Trailer Wiring (4-pin)
-4 OEM Tie Down Cleats
-Tri-fold Hard top Tonneau Cover
-Fightman-toshi Grill Mod, w/ OEM "T" and "TRD" badge painted Gunmetal
-Partially De-badged
-Windows Tinted


Lighting:
-100Watt driving lights in the grill.
-Fog light anytime mod
-LED Tag lights
-LED Bed lights

Drivetrain:
-Stock (for now)


Suspension & Tires:
-3" Skyjacker lift
-285/70/R17 GoodYear Wrangler Territories

Under the hood:
-Painted Engine Cover
-TRD Oil Cap and Coolant Cover
-LED Under Hood Lighting

Audio:
-Pioneer 7"DVD unit

Gear and Other:
-Tow hitch with 2" Ball mount
-Ratchet straps
-LED Flashlights, Electrical tape

In Progress:
-Regular maintenance

Future:
-It Never Stops
-Smoked LED Tail lights

I had been on a search for a 2nd Gen, Quad Cab, Long Box, TRD Sport Tacoma for some time. After many years of admiring from afar... I finally found the truck of my dreams!

I spent the last few weeks trying to convince my wife that we should by a Taco, instead of a Tundra. I took her for a test drive in a few last week, and had her hooked! HA HA!

We drove 300km's East and spent the night in a Motel so that we could test drive a 2005 Speedway Blue TRD Sport with the Double Cab and Long box! Found this one at George Jackson Toyota in Renfrew Ontario, with just under 95000km's on the Odometer!

When I got there, I found the truck to have NO rust, was exceptionally clean, and in Immaculate Condition! The truck belonged to a a man in his 50's, and he maintained it meticulously! It was Dealer Serviced since New, and a nice light coat of under coating over everything under the truck, including all the doors and panels had been drilled to spray inside as well.

I did however find a couple of small dings, and a couple of dents on the driver side rear bumper. After playing hardball with the Sales Manager, I was able to get them to pull out the dents out of the rear bumper for no charge!

Aside from that... the truck came equipped with a Bug Deflector for the Hood, Winder Visors, Nerf bars, and I was able to get them to throw in a hard top 3 piece Tonneau cover for only $200.00 on top of the original purchase price!

Anyway... enough with the blabbering.... here's a few pics from the day I bought it...











I'm extremely happy with this purchase! The truck runs like a dream, and the service at George Jackson Toyota was GREAT!

On the second day, I kept things simple, and just washed, polished, and waxed the truck.









I also spent some time detailing the interior and all the black plastics on the exterior and the tires.



The back seat is setup for kiddie duty!




And a parting pic



Oh... and as I stated before... North Eastern sections of Canada, have excessive Road Salt applications... so many vehicle owners around here, will spray their undercarriages with an Anti-corrosion coating... I use motor oil... this guy used something different.





Regardless of what you use.... the results speak for themselves.

1st Project I did on this truck was tinting the tail lights. I hated the pink tinge they had from stock, couldn't afford to buy replacement aftermarket ones, so I opted to kill a day's worth of my time, and do this!



Here's my writeup:

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2n...s-tail-light-tinting-project.html#post7409414

 

Looks ghetto to me. Makes it hard to see your brake lights, and is dangerous.

 

Thanks for your input, but the tails are really not as dark as they look. I've always been against dark tinted tail lights, as I also find that they could be dangerous. However, when shopping for this truck, the tail lights were always a point of concern for me, as I really didn't like the pink tinge they tend to have. That being said, I drive a Toyota because I like to work on them, and rather than throw money at them, I like to do my own work, and modify things myself, rather than buying the most expensive toy to add to it.

My 1st option was to tint them, and as such, I decided to do so, without going too dark, and compromising safety.

As you can see, with only 3 light coats of tint... they are still rather bright, even during the day.

Daytime Running lights:



With the brakes applied:



I appreciate your concern, and thank you for your input, but as we all know, when it comes to modifying vehicles, opinions will vary. I personally don't think it looks "Ghetto", but do find "altezza" style, or chromed out tail lights to be less attractive than stock or smoked lenses. However, that being said, I would NEVER go on someone's build thread and tell them that their mod looks "Ghetto". Especially when the O.P spent the better part of 12 hours performing this mod.

 

So, I like many of you, have noticed that my overhead display didn't work in my Taco. After searching throw the "Second Gen Tips, mods and more" thread, I found the link to the overhead console repair thread. I followed the write up step by step.... and got her working!

Here's some pics for those of you who haven't seen how to do this.

As you can see.... the overhead console is not working:



First thing to do, was open the Sunglasses holder, and take out the screw that holds that end to the roof.

Next, I squeezed my fingers to the front of the console (near windshield), and gave it a good tug to release it from the clips. Once I got it down, I unplugged these 2 connectors:



Next, I removed the 3 Torx screws that held the module in place:



I then found the 2 "510" resistors that were disconnected and then soldered them back to the board:



I then put it all back together.... and now it works!




Overall, really easy fix... and I didn't even know how to use a soldering gun! If I can do it... anybody can.... so get your Overhead Console working folks!

 

Alright... so I had one small beef with the fog lights setup on this truck. As like many other Manufacturers, Toyota opted to make it so when the High beams were activated, the fog lights would go off. After doing some research here, I found this thread:

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/214484-diy-fog-lights-high-beams-brights-free.html

I then decided that this was my fix, and got going on it!

First I located the relay, and used some small gauge wire to connect these two contacts in order to perform the mod:



Then I plugged it back in... and enjoyed my handywork! lol!



And a parting shot!

 

looks good man, i gotta tackle that temp display thing soon

 

i dont think your taillights look "ghetto"......lol

when i bought the truck the owner had bought altezza taillights, so that was the first thing that had to go, so i tinted mine as well.

 

x10000000 Look's ghetto!!!

J/k mine are tinted as well. I used vinyl wrap for mine instead of the paint(didn't even think about it) and recently removed the 3rd brake light tint back to original. I was a little hesitant at first but did it and loved it. I am, however, a little concern now about visibility when I have vehicles behind me and the brake is applied hence why I removed my 3rd brake light.

Do you have any other plans in the future? Lift? De-badge? Paint the badge black? I painted my badge black as well and got the TRD decal in black/grey and thought it looked great! But I removed my badges and IMO it looks way better now.

Haha also for the temp gauge..mine went out and was dead for about 3 years before I decided to look for a solution. Soldered it back on and lasted for about a month before it went out again and haven't touched it. Will have to get back on it sometime in the near future.

Keep us updated on your build and congratulations on the purchase!







Don't forget to check out this thread if you haven't yet!

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/23620-speedway-blue-thread.html

 

Thanks for the compliments guys! I'm really enjoying this truck, and am constantly thinking of new things to do to this thing! lol!

I'm planning a lift, some bigger tires, new wheels, some badge mods (most likely keep them chrome though), a grill mod with more auxilliary lighting behind, some HID's, LED bulbs in the the cabin, LED Licence Plate lights, probably upgrade my headlights, and gonna dress up the engine bay some, and some interior dress up items too!

I'm sure there is more... if not... I'll find more! HA HA HA!

 

Well, got some goodies in the mail today! Got my LED's for the Map and dome light, and also got a new shift nob for the automatic shift lever.

First thing I did was get the LED lights in the map light unit. To do this, I used this thread:

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/lighting/148569-map-light-led-installation.html

Seemed pretty straight forward, but the OP found it to be pretty difficult, as the map light bulbs are a little tricky to pull out. Someone later posted on the same thread, a map light "How To" video from Youtube, which illustrates the use of a "pick" to pry out the bulbs. This method seems to work the best, and eventhough I didn't have the same kind of pick, I did have a pick used for cleaning nuts (from the cutlery drawer in my kitchen). I was able to pry open the lens itself, and the bulb with ease, it literally took me less than 5 minutes to do both lights.

Here's some pics of the process:

The pick I used to pry open the lens cover, and the bulbs out:



Used the pic to pop oven the lens cover in the top and bottom left hand corners of the lens in this pic:



Once the lens was off, I was able to use the pic to reach behind the shroud, and pry out the stock bulb:



Here's a comparison pic of the LED vs the stock bulb:



I then did the dome light, using the same pick to pry open the lens cover, the bulb was easily removed, and the LED was inserted in it's place.

I don't have any night pics yet, as it's currently daytime, but I'll add some in the coming days, to show you the brightness of these bulbs.


Next thing I did, was replace the stock shifter knob. I did this with my 98 4Runner as well, as I find Toyota makes some lame shift knobs for our trucks. I did find some nice TRD knobs from the FJ Cruiser and such on E-bay, but I wasn't paying $80.00 or more for a shift knob!

I did find this carbon fiber/chrome knob that I liked, and ordered it the same day I ordered the LED's. I went with Carbon fibre, as I liked the look with our Grey Interiors, and plan on either painting out some of the trim panels black, or covering them with more Carbon Fibre in the coming weeks. More on that in upcoming posts!

Here's a pic of the stock knob:



Unscrewed it from the shift lever:



screwed on the rubber sleeve:



The knob has 3 tiny screws that secure it to the rubber sleeve, this allows for a multitude of applications for various vehicles. Once the screws were locked down, I screwed on the chrome sleeve over the bottom of the shift knob, and called it a day.



Overall, I'm pretty happy with the look! For the price, it's a nice little addition to the truck, which makes it different... which is what I like!

 

Alright, so I got around to getting some night time pics of the lights.

Pic of the dome lights with the Map lights as well:



A shot of just the map lights:



Overall, pretty happy with them, however... I did have some issues with them. Seems as though, 1 if the wedge style lights I got from the one seller, doesn't work. This is problematic for me, as returning them would not be worth the trouble or money to do so, in order to get a new one. I wouldn't recommend this seller, but do have some recommendations to pass on.

First of all, don't buy from the people I dealt with. The product seems a little inferior, as I have bought LED's from E-bay before, and have had good success with them. Only 1 out of 2 of the lights actually worked, and the solder job was not very good. I would recommend buying some that are of this style for the map lights:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/19072576221...iewitem=&sspagename=ADME:L:OU:CA:3160&vxp=mtr

Next, the dome light LED I bought, is not very bright. In the pic below, you can see that the interior of the truck is rather low lit.



This bulb, is tubular in shape, with 1 conical end on each end of the bulb, which is supposed to fit in the stock light housing. However, this bulb is too short for our setup in the Tacoma, and I had to modify it to fit, by using the stock ends, and affixing them on top of the conical ends so that the bulb would actually make contact with the socket in the housing.

I recommend buying a 48 LED panel like the one posted here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Set-Light...r-/230817584635?forcev4exp=true&forceRpt=true

I've bought a set like this before for my 4RUnner... and it is like turning on the sun when those are on! I've got a set on order, and will be replacing the cheesy bulb type I have, for one of these. THese come with different adapters, so you can use them in nearly any vehicle, as long as the lens is big enough to accomodate the LED panel.

Again, what I have installed, is much better than the stock setup, however, if you purchase the items in the 2 links above, you will be much happier!

 

Nice truck!!

 

Nice truck and it's looks like new on the inside very clean, congrats for your new truck

 

thanks guys! I bought the truck from a Toyota dealer, and they put a ton of time into detailing it for the sale! It's pretty clean looking inside, but does have a couple of blemishes. Still pretty good for a 7 year old truck though! lol!

 

Got the 2 front windows tinted! Was going to get it tinted to match the back, but that would have put me past the legal limit, so I opted to go a little lighter. With the lift and tires I want to put on this thing, I don't want to press my luck with the police, and get tint tickets!



Overall, pretty happy with it! Kinda weird thing I noticed though.... on the outside, the tint looks lighter then the back. However, while inside the truck, it's darker than the back??? I guess that's the difference between factory tint and after market tint?

That being said, I'm kinda happy it's not as dark in the back, makes visibility at night a little better!

Stay tuned for another little update in the next day or so.... got another little project started!​

 

On the back their is no tint, it's the window color

 

Nice Truck! Looks like you got good plans! Goood job on getting a long bed! And you will receive many comments about the color!
Check out m my build sometime!

 

Ok, so I saw a thread on here, where some of you guys had painted the engine cover on your Tacomas! I loved the look of this mod, and decided to do mine as well!

Now usually, I like to be the odd man out, and do something completely different. However, one of two of you came up with a Red/black paint scheme, and I fell in love with it!

Here's my stock engine cover:



Here's a pic of it masked off and in the painting stage:



Here's a shot of it complete:



Bonus Pics:

 

Alright, so I'm a big fan of the Tacoma interior. However, after seeing someone's build thread, and finding out that you can wrap some of the trim panels in Vinyl Carbon Fiber ...... i decided to give it a go!

First thing I did, was remove the center console shift bezel. To do this, I pulled on the back of the cup holders (located under the Heater controls), they simply popped right out. Then, I reached under the shift bezel, located the two clips, and pushed up towards the roof of the truck.

Once out, I found this:





Looks like this truck has been submerged in water at some point!! It's been running flawlessly since I bought it though, so I'm assuming this was all addressed prior to the sale..... :0


Anyway, after freaking out a little.... I moved on to the doors. Now, I sourced out a few threads here, on how to do take apart my interior. One I found particularly helpful, was this one:

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/2755-diy-leather-arm-rests.html

I didn't go with Leather for my arm rests, but this gave me all the information I needed to complete this mod.

This thread goes through the entire procedure on how to remove the door panel and arm rest, and also includes directions on how to wrap it with Leather. ( I may end up wrapping mine in leather soon...)

I followed those directions to the letter, but used Carbon Fiber Vinyl wrap to do everything. After many long hours, measuring, cutting, wrapping and heat shrinking, I finally finished my front doors and center shift console bezel.

Here's a few pics of the process:

DOOR PANEL REMOVED:



DRILLING OUT THE PLASTIC WELDS FOR THE ARM REST:



AND A SHOT OF THE CARBON FIBER WRAP:



Now on to comparison pics!

BEFORE:





AFTER:






Overall, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. However, I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and am not that happy with the arm rests. I may strip them in the coming week, and wrap them in black leather.....

Let me know what you guys think!

 

Nice! Yeah, if you order some wet okole's (which you should) theyll send you a 4x8 sheet of neoprene for like 40 bucks.