Ladies and Gentlemen, the Enigma Build!

Ladies and Gentlemen without further delay I give you the one, the only the "The Enigma"

Hello everyone my name is Carlos and I am the proud owner of a 2016 Tacoma TRD Off Road that I purchased after my VW Jetta TDI blew both input and output shaft seals on the transmission
I was looking at getting a Tacoma way before my car ever bled out (lol). The car going out only sealed the deal. So I drove the car straight to the dealership that had the Quicksand color Tacoma OR and made a deal, which started this journey into the modification unknown. lol

My first modification like many started small with a little usefullness and aesthetic intent. I started by swapping out the the factory bulbs for Innovative 100w HIDs. I must admit I did not expect that much light output since I was a little skeptical about the HIDs being true 100W. Let me tell you, these lights are bright enough to hard boil your eye balls if you stare at them long enough lol.


These great results were the snowflake that started the snowball effect of modifictions. Following that I tried to take it slow by swapping out my grill for a nicer looking one. So, I liked and found one that I liked from @HerT4R and decided to purchase it. It was an amazing looking stainless steel grill that was heavy enough to be used as a weapon lol. It was bare steel which I didn't care to much for, so I quickly rushed it over to powder coating and soon it was returned an amazing flat black.
I enjoyed the look of my truck, but I wasn't satisfied with the way it looked. It just was not representative of me and the type of person I am so I continued my modification addiction per say. This time I added a light bar from Cali Raised and a set of Rago mounts to hold it in place. I purchased this set from @ragofabrication. After multiple failed attempts at completely getting all the whistling and vibration out of the Cali Raised light bar. I gave up on it and said is time for a better quality bar. So I removed the light bar and mounts and ordered a Rough Country X5 50" light bar and in the time that was getting shipped. I had the Rago mounts sent into powder coating to get a new coating in YGY. The light bar came in and the next day the mounts where done so I wasted no time in mounting that bar up and taking the truck for a spin to see if the bar lived up to all the hype and let me tell you, it is no BS the X5s patented design doesn't vibrate or whistle one bit. To add the cherry on top the bar has the same height as a dual row light bar, but it incorporates a 3rd row in between the other 2 rows. This in turn increases the lumen output of the bar substantially. Now, I had a nice grill and a nice amount of light, but I still want satisfied so I decided that mild modification were not going to satisfy the look I was after and that I would have to look into heavy modification if I was to achieve the look I really wanted. In came @JT@Bajakits. We got to talking about suspension options and I finally decided on one, but this modification was going to need some company. So I got in touch with a promoter from a company called Pitbull Tires and asked if he knew a way I could possibly get some type of sponsorship discount or something along the lines. He made a few phone calls and two hours and $1000 later I had 5 Pitbull RockStars in a 35x12.5R17 on the way. These arrived relatively quickly to my amazement. 4 came via freight and 1 came via FedEx. Now I had tires and a MT/LT suspension in place that were to be mounted. Now I needed fenders to accommodate such a suspension and tire combination as well as wheels. The fenders I was lucky to find when I ran across a thread from @McNeilRacingInc. The fenders came in a +6" and looked amazing. I had to wait a week to fit them do to work, but as soon as I was able to I went right to work on fitting them. The fenders lined up with out a problem and I must say they are by far some of the nicest fenders I have seen in awhile. After, fitting the fenders I took them over to painting and had them painted 4v6 to match the truck. During this time mounted an RCI skid plate with a drop axel option that I purchased from @Joshp767. The painting process took a day or two (can't recall) and the following day I was eagerly installing the fenders to see how they looked. I knew these fenders where going to call for a nice bumper to match. I shopped around, but with a time constraint I went with the fabricator who had both a full replacement bumper and a short lead time. This ended up being a big mistake that cost me a huge amount of time to sort out. Luckily for me, while in my moment of desperation @C4 Fabrication came to the rescue. I spoke with Caleb and asked if by any chance he happened to have a bumper in stock that I could buy. He said he only had his prototype if I was intrested, but that it had ditch light cut outs and he wasn't sure if I would like it. So he sent over some pictures and it was love at first sight. (with the bumper, lol) I purchased the Overland bumper from C4 and it soon too was at my door step accompanied by a set of C4's Rocksliders. I immediately took the rocksliders over to powder coating to be coated in YGY powder. While in the mean time I went to fit the bumper and fenders up and see how they lined up. Unfortunately the bumper was substantially smaller when compared to the fenders, so I got in touch with Miller Off Road and had them fabricate and weld me extensions to the bumper so that it would match the fender lines. P.S FYI bare steel will flash rust with the slightest rain lol. After not being able to agree with my previous powder coating company on a price to do my bumper. I went on the hunt for a new one to do my bumper in YGY. I found another company with great expert people, exceptional service, price, and a quick turn around time. (Dominguez Powder Coating) They took care of powder coating on my bumper. In the mean time my rocksliders where completed by the first company and ready to be installed, so I quickly went to work on installing them on the truck. I also took this time to install a Mobtown tailgate kit, a Switch-Pro, and a flush mount for the Switch-Pro that I got from @XPOTRPR While the bumper was in powder coating. I went to work on getting lights and a winch to mount on the bumper. After comparing winches and checking reviews I decided to purchase a Smittybilt X20 12K lb winch with synthetic rope and wireless capabilities. As for lights I chose Baja Design Squadron Pro stud mounted in a spot pattern for the fog lights, for the ditch lights I chose Baja Design Squadron Pro flush mounted in a fog pattern, and for the front I choose a Baja Design 20" Onx6 in a Racer Edition pattern. (@Baja Designs) The bumper was finished around the same time as it took the Onx6 to arrived. At the same time I was informed by JT that he had found some true beadlock wheels for my truck. He sent over some images and I decided to purchase 5 wheels. After speaking with JT, I went to work on mounting the bumper, winch, and lights and get everything wired. Unfortunately an unexpected thing came up cutting my mounting and wiring time short. So, I only mounted the bumper that day and mounted and wired the lights and winch the next. After this came the hardest part of this whole project. The part of having to find someone to transport my truck and tires to Anehiem, Ca. to have the suspension and tires mounted. The first broker that I chose to transport the truck I found ended up not being able to meet the time frame I gave them. The second broker I found was able to meet the deadline with ample time. They sent two guys who were awesome, they took the time to load the truck on the second deck to help keep thrives from looking underneath the tarp in which my tires where wrapped, as well as set my truck in the middle of second deck to keep road debri from damaging the truck. It was nerve racking to wait to find out if the truck made it okay or not. Luckily everything went well and the truck and tires arrived safe and sound.
Soon after the truck arrived, JT and his team started working on the truck and the progress pictures started coming in. These were extremely exciting to see, since I could see the truck coming together, the way I had imagined it. Recently I received a few pictures of what I believe is the finished product from JT. This is funny because 5 minutes prior to receiving these pictures my wife had asked if I heard anything about my truck. (I swear sometimes I think she a witch lol) So here she is boys and girls enjoy!

* Update* 10/7/16*
Found out those are pictures of the truck 95% complete. Almost done, still have some minor rubbing due to the massive size of my tires.
*Update* 10/17/16*
After much anticipation here are the studio pictures of the Enigma machine. One step closer to her final build.

*UPDATE* 10/18/16*
4.88 Nitro Gears are in. Now, all I need is the truck to get them installed.
*UPDATE* 12/22/16*
The gears are now installed thanks to AllOut Offroad. They helped a lot with the sluggish acceleration and getting the truck past 4th gear. This was done earlier I just added it now. Today, I did install a Hypertech InLine Speed Calibrator. This took a bit of adjustment. To get the speed accurate I had to put the tires at 43in. The nice thing is that doing this allowed me to find out I can tune the Inline on the fly. So, I just left the USB plugged into the module and tucked next the cluster, with the USB end coming out underneath the steering column so that I don't have to remove the dash and cluster to adjust the tire size.

Future projects include the installation of 4.88 Nitro Gears (ordered), matching bed sides from @McNeilRacingInc, a bed cage fabricated by Miller Off Road w/ through the bed 16" King 3.0 Triple Bypass that I already purchased from @JT@Bajakits, a 6 piston and 13" brake kit with cross drilled rotors, and either a snorkel system or a twin turbo system with dual snorkels which ever comes first of the two or maybe both if I upgrade from one to the other.

*As of right now it is looking like it will be a single snorkel to start, because at the current moment, there is no 3rd Gen tuning software available and without this the company building my twin turbo kit cannot make the kit without going to a universal ECU which would mean bye bye luxuries lol. Sounds like I will have to see what I can do about having a company make me a tuning software. Problem will be proving there is a market for 3rd Gen tuning software.

For those not intrested in reading my long spill here is just an item list. In no particular order.

-Innovative 100W HIDs
-Unknown grill from @HerT4R
- Roof lightbar mounts from @ragofabrication
-50" Rough Country X5
-+6" Fiberglass Fenders from @McNeilRacingInc
-Tailgate Reinforcement Kit from @Mobtown Offroad
-Overland bumper from @C4 Fabrication
-Extensions for bumper from Miller Off Road
-Rocksliders from @C4 Fabrication
-Skidplate from @Joshp767
-Baja Design Onx6 Racer Edition 20" lightbar
-Baja Design Squadron Pro Stud mounted
-Baja Design Squadron Pro Flush mounted
-Switch-Pro
-Flush mount Switch-Pro mount from @XPOTRPR
-Pitbull RockStars 35x12.5xR17
-All of following were purchased from @JT@Bajakits
•Boxed Upper Control Arms
•Boxed Lower Control Arms
•Custom Heat Treated Axles
•Heims, Monoballs, Misalignments
•Extended Brake Lines
•Steering extension
•King 2.5" Performance Race Coilover w/ remote reservoir and compression adjusters
•King 2.5" Bypass Performance Race w/ 10" stroke piggyback (FYI watch for the sale of these after the bed cage is installed)
•Under the axel Leaf spring pack
•Shackles
•Spring plates
•Perch mount
•KING 2.5" Bumpstops with cans
•KING 3.0" Triple Bypass w/ 16" stroke
•TRD Pro shift knob purchased from @OhioTaco68 (Not installed yet)
•4.88 Nitro Gears with master kit from @Despized

 

Sorry added the missing pictures after several failed attempts at writing this excerpt of my life lol copy and paste seemed like a good idea unfortunately the picture have to be reloaded every time. Oh, well It's fixed now

 

Holy cow! Lol. Looks good and ready to race!

 

LOL thanx. It's almost there, it still need the 4.88 gears because I can bet right now it's probably going to be a slug off the line

 

So what is your final cost to this point..?? Nice looking truck by the way...!!

 

To be honest. i really enjoyed the whole story lol. Truck looks great.

 

I have to check again to get you an accurate. I know I had wrote it on here once. It is somewhere in the low to mid 20's if I am not mistaken. Let me get home and I find it

 

That's awesome to hear. I didn't want to do simple build thread with pictures and list. I wanted to try to tell more of a story.

 

What i like is that you did the build in 1 post...not 1 post every month...because that's aggravating.

 

from a Jetta to this beast... OP balls officially dropped.

Nice job!

 

LMAO thanx. The Jetta was a necessity since my old job was 73mi one way.

 

Found it here it is:

Right now not including labor I have $23,748invested in the truck

 

The best part is the suspense of seeing the pics of the truck. I'm reading the post on my phone and as I continue reading, I became more anxious to see the pics.

Read the story folks! Only then will you enjoy the pics

 

Jellibelli, I am.

 

Bad ass truck bro.
So what happened with the VW? Were you part is that buyback ?

 

So does this make me peanut butter lol

 

What's the intent behind these mods? Do you plan to race the truck, or are these mods done for weekend fun/your enjoyment?

 

It lost both seal at the input and output shaft. Yes, I still was part of the buy back just as a qualified seller instead

 

Because



Probably for both race and looks

 

I've said it before...but you have a sweet ride