Chenbro's Second Silver Taco Build

This is the second Toyota Tacoma that I have owned. I bought it in May 2009 and it wasn’t long until I got the urge to mod it beyond what I had done to my first.


Most recent pics:





Performance
TRD Supercharger!
URD 2.85" stealth pulley

Audio/Visual
Kenwood DNX9960 headunit
Alpine PDX-F6 4-ch amplifer
Alpine PDX-M6 subwoofer amp
CDT HD-62US Gold front component speakers
Diamond Audio 6.5” coaxial rear speakers (cannibalized from the first truck)
JL Audio 13TW5 13” slim subwoofer
Custom subwoofer box and amp rack
Backup camera in rear view mirror and headunit
Gauge cluster LED swap
Interior LED lighting (map/dome/HVAC backlight)

Suspension/Wheels/Tires
King 2.5 extended travel front coilover shocks with 700lb springs, remote reservoirs, and compression adjusters
Total Chaos Uniball UCAs
Total Chaos Race Uniball LCAs
Total Chaos swaybar-compatible spindle gussets
Wheeler’s Front Superbumps
King 2.5 14" travel rear shocks with remote reservoirs and compression adjusters
Archive Garage rear shock relocate
Archive Garage rear shckle flip
OME Dakar rear leaf packs w/

$81 D29XL Leaf Spring

D29XL add-a-leaf
All Pro U-bolt flip kit
Timbren rear bump stops
SCS SR8 16" wheels
Cooper Discoverer ST MAXX 255/85/16 tires
EBC slotted and dimpled front brake rotors and EBC Yellow Stuff brake pads

Armor/Recovery
BAMF plate bumper
CBI Offroad hi-clearance rear bumper with dual swingouts
BAMF sliders
RCI Metalworks skid plates (front IFS, transmission, transfer case, and gas tank)
Boztec Rear Diff Skid
Warn 9.5xp-s recovery winch
Factor55 ProLink Winch Thimble
60" Hi-Lift jack
4xinnovations Hi-lift jack mount

Lighting/Electrical
Off-Grid Engineering Dual Battery system
LS460 projector retrofit w/ 35W 5000K HID bulbs
Baja Designs LP8 driving lights
Rigid Dually pods
Vivid Illumination 50" curved light bar
Rigid Chase lights
Switch-Pros 8100
Cobra 75 WX ST CB radio
3' Firestik II CB Antenna
ARB CKMTA12 "Twin" On-board air compressor (replaced ARB CKMA12)
DieHard Platinum Group 31M Marine Battery
Vivid Illumination 50" radius LED light bar
Rigid Dually D2 (driving beam) LED pods on CBI ditch light brackets
ARB 50L fridge/freezer

 

When I was in college I bought my first Tacoma. It was a silver (Lunar Mist) 2001 Access Cab. In the end, it had the following mods:

• ARB front bumper
• Toytec Ultimate Lift Kit for first gen with heavy coils in the front
• Kenwood XXV-01D head unit
• Kenwood KHD-CX910 “Music Keg”, hacked to accept larger storage
• Diamond Audio Hex H600s 6.5” front component speakers
• Diamond Audio 6.5” coaxial rear speakers
• Diamond Audio 8” subwoofer
• Eclipse 5-channel amp

On the trail:




The day she left me:



Turns out the shop that installed the lift kit didn’t torque the U-bolts enough, and I didn’t know what to look for or to check it after a week. Fortunately my attorney was in the truck with me when this accident happened and got all the insurance headache sorted out. Lessons learned, I was a lot more paranoid the second time around.

 

The first mod I did by myself was changing the LEDs on the gauge cluster. I felt that the orange/red was a bit monochrome and outdated, and reminded me of my first gen. A simple swap from orange to white gauge numbers was all that I wanted. No need to go crazy with colors!



Upgrading the audio system was the next major mod I did. My truck is my daily driver, and at the time I had a 30-minute commute each way to work in heavy traffic on a 2-lane road. The stock JBL system with satellite radio was ok, and I tolerated it until I had saved up enough money to build out a new and improved one.

The first order of business was to build the sub box and amp rack. I was sold on the JL Audio 13TW5 after going to a local shop and listening to it. It wasn’t until it arrived on my doorstep that I realized how huge the thing was.



I pulled out the stock JBL sub and rear panels and, after a lot of measuring and cutting, built my custom sub box and amp rack out of ¾” MDF. I left two of the child seat safety anchors intact, just in case some day there is a little chenbro in the world.



The spade bit drilled holes inside the sub box are a bit of a hack, but they were necessary to clear the spider on the JL 13TW5. The holes were sealed with silicone and the entire outside of the box was sprayed with Line-X for a little more strength, sealing, and aesthetics. Here is the entire assembly with subwoofer, amps, crossovers, and wiring:



I did some sound deadening to the interior of the cab. I have some leftover material though so some day I might go back and add some more to the doors. You can see my DIY rear speaker baffle in this pic, as well as some of the wiring runs.



Because the truck came with XM, I had a small XM antenna on the roof of the cab. I wasn’t going to need that anymore and decided to put the GPS antenna for the headunit in its place instead. This required removing the plastic housing from the aftermarket GPS antenna, but it did fit and works great.



The JBL system proved to be a little more challenging for wiring up the headunit, simply because not a lot was known about it at the time. Searching on TW I was able to figure it out, including getting imagery from the rear backup camera into the headunit.

 

A few months after the audio install, I got a job in New Jersey so that I could be with my then-girlfriend-of-9-years and now wife, who was in medical residency. Naturally this meant that I should install a front bumper! By the way, I don’t recommend doing this without getting heavier springs in the front first.




Look at that stance! ARB with stock offroad suspension:




Moving day:




I rode around like this for a while, saving money for a lift and a wedding. But I ordered a HomerTaco satoshi grille:




Finally, the lift was ordered and installed. BIG thanks to JLink for the help. I still don’t know how many beers are enough to thank him for it, so I just keep bringing 6-packs over whenever I stop by his place.







The stock size tires look a bit small, but in the spring I’m planning to get bigger ones. In the meantime, it’s more reading around TW to see what I like and what others recommend.

 

Silver ARB looks awesome! Looking forward to seeing more of this build.

Matt

 

You have a real clean truck in person! I look forward to seeing SJ pewp wooder slung all over it.

 

Nice build thread Davis!! It's cool to see all the details


Edit: this line is awesome!- "Finally, the lift was ordered and installed. BIG thanks to JLink for the help. I still don’t know how many beers are enough to thank him for it, so I just keep bringing 6-packs over whenever I stop by his place."

 

Looks good man. Subbed

 

Thanks for the support, guys!

It's true though. I really felt like I was just there to hand you tools and beer that day

 

great build page so far Davis! that sound system sounds great! u gotta move onto different types of music...not thrift shop

 

I only played that for you guys because it has more bass than the crap I normally listen to!

 

I have to admit, after hearing you play it, it was the first song I played after I finished installing my new headunit and speakers

 

great build page Davis, inspiring me to start one

 

Thanks! You should make two build threads, one each for your old and new truck. Then close the thread for the old build

 

Really like the silver man. Thought about doing this on mine. Like the way it looked on the land cruiser too.

 

Oh crap, I forgot to upload the latest photo that I took:

 

nice build so far!!! did you order the bumper painted or did you get it painted? i want color matched but for the right price....

 

I took the bumper to a powder coater to get sprayed, so it's a close match but not exact. Probably would have been cheaper to have it painted but I didn't want to have to deal with touching up paint chips all the time. Mall crawler mentality, I know

 

Gotcha! I'd get it bedlined paint match now that you bring up chipping... Hey dual purpose...