What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

Oh I know, my mom works for a trucking company and they use dash cams. Saved them more than once because "Big trucks are always the bad guy"

 

and you can use them for your offroading adventures lol

 

My mother was waiting to turn onto a street from a shopping center when this man walked in front of her car, grabbed onto the Mercedes hood ornament, pretended to fall, and started yelling about how she hit him when he obviously faked it.

Everyone behind her saw it, and didn't give into his bullshit. He yelled something about suing blah blah blah. He denied an ambulance and when he gave his story to the cops the cop told my mother 'Yeah he's full of shit, we see this a lot.'

He ended up winning the insurance money. About six months later we get a call from a detective, the guy is being investigated for insurance fraud. My mother's testimony was enough to put him in jail.

Point being, dash cams can prove people are full of shit and save you from being framed for something you didn't do. Her car didn't have a dash cam at the time, but if we didn't have eye witnesses and the cops weren't so understanding this would've ended up with a different ending.

 

Gotta find something sleek and small for the Taco, I'm a huge stickler for anything in my line of sight in the adventure vehicle, I'm even removing the center rear view mirror because it is useless with the tent on anyway.

 

I love my rear view mirror, I use it as a vanity mirror most of the time because the geniuses at Toyota decided the driver doesn't deserve one. Yet the passenger gets one anyway.

My Gentex 313 is pretty cool since it has the garage opener, outside temperature, and compass.

 

I was gonna say you should rig one up to the front of your review mirror, but then I got to the end. I guess you could try and put in the the empty spot though.

 

My phone and map tablet handle the compass pretty well and I just use the IAT Pid in the Ultragauge to get an idea of temp. Wouldn't mind having some homelink buttons for my garage though.

 

That was kinda my thought, I can use the mount most likely and since I have the pleather headliner I can use the mirror mount base to run wires through.

 

There's a post on this forum somewhere where someone took a Cadillac Homelink module and put it into their headliner. Pretty sleek but I like the mirror opener better, I'm used to it because our W210 had the same thing.

I have my Scangauge set to report IAT as well, it's about 10 degrees off from the temperature on my mirror. The mirror is always 1-3 degrees off from the actual forecast on my phone.

Actually it could be because of my cold air intake sucking in engine bay air - should just name the damn thing hot air intake.

I don't care what people say about CAI's, I love mine. It looks and sounds great. I know it doesn't do shit for power gain but CA wouldn't let me cut a hole in my airbox to do the deckplate mod so I had to pay several hundred dollars for a damn CA CARB CERTIFIED sticker.

 

Mine is about 4-6 degrees off unless it is super cold out, back when I lived in Eastern Wa and we'd have -10 to 10 degree days and nights it was almost spot on. I'll probably just get an old homelink module from a Maxima and put it on the side of the center console since it's all hollow back there. I think the best part about that CAI is the pipe, the rest doesn't do you any favors in the MAF life dept or engine life dept. The pipe though is very nice and doesn't heat soak as easily. I'd cut it down to make it fit up to the stock airbox and fender inlet.

 

I hate my aftermarket intake deal, it looks cheap to me, which it might be, have no idea what brand it is, it gets dirty really fast (oiled), one time this winter I opened my hood on the mountain for some reason and the filter deal was covered in snow, no good. But the noise doesn't bother me.
Would much rather a factory intake box and tube if I could find one...

 

I'd offer you my spare but it's for a 4cyl

 

I installed my long travel which included replacing my cv axle I just don't know about adding a new boot.

 

"Must be nice". Im sure there is plenty breakin it.

 

Another thing about the stock setup is just it was too damn quiet, at least for me. I think there was a sound dampener in there - the airbox flow just seemed so restrictive.

I still have mine in a box in the garage, if I change my mind. The intake SCREAMS when you're on the freeway. When I was hauling my differential and transmission up the Sierra-Nevada from Reno, I couldn't even have a conversation with my friend because the truck was absolutely screaming bloody murder.

It's funny, everyone was doing 70 in the left lane and I was left doing 30 in the truck lane with my flashers on because the truck couldn't go faster on the 14% grade going up the mountain range.

 

The stock setup is actually very free flowing and has nothing in the path of airflow, but there are two helmholz resonators that quiet it down. Those are the bladders that hang off of it. That's why I like the CAI pipe but I despise its filter, both for air draw location and design as it is an oily coarse bastard of a filter. The 4cyl is almost dangerous with the A340 behind it, it just skims too much power off the top and the stall RPM of the converter might be too steep as well. We have a buddy with a 4cyl automatic that goes wheeling and has had to back up large hills because reverse is geared lower than 1st and 1st was causing the trans to overheat cause all the 4cyl could manage was to stall the trans with the torque converter. :/

 

I have a unique situation with my transmission.

When my flexplate crapped itself I brought the transmission shop my A340E torque converter to replace the A340F since it has much lower mileage. Both of us were unaware the A340F on the transmission was warped which broke my flexplate in the first place. The owner told me the stall speed was different on the E versus the F which would cause 'improper shifts' and recommended me to keep the A340F torque converter.

I did, and you can see how that ended up. We ended up putting the A340E torque converter on and I honestly can't tell the difference having driven with both of them.

 

I didn't think they'd even bother having different stall RPM since they're basically the same truck. Wonder how much different it is.

I have to figure out what I'm going to replace the muffler in my Tacoma with. I love the sound my current one makes but it is too drony on the highway and it's starting to have rust holes now :/ I got an 18" Magnaflow from @drr but after measuring it, it looks like it'll fit my Land Crusier much better and that one is also rusting out and in need of replacement. With future turbo in mind I'm thinking a 20" Magnaflow for the truck so all I have to hear on the highway is spool.

 

If you did that work, I am sure you would have no trouble re-booting an axle.
I think the re-booting would not be too tough, my concern is getting the axle in and out.

 

If you have two medium length pry bars (~24") and a rubber mallet you'll have no probs getting them in and out