Mateo's 1995.5 Tijuana Teal Build & BS

Truck as of 7/29/19
Debating on calling the truck the Blunicorn.



Welcome to the rambling that is my build thread.

There’s a ton of story, maintenance and background info to go over when a truck is almost 25 years old, and boy, I get pretty long winded. This build thread is an attempt to track the history of this pretty dope 1995.5 Paradise Blue SR5 Toyota Tacoma I bought at a Honda dealership in 2017.

Current State of The Blunion:
1995.5 SR5 4x4 Toyota Tacoma Extended Cab - 127,XXX miles
Manual Trans - 3.4L
Manufacture Date of 05/95
MINT AF

Suspension
King 2.5 Ext travel Front Coilovers
Total Chaos UCAs
OEM LBJs - replaced at 109k
Fox 2.0 extended travel rear shocks
Wheeler's 8 Leaf Pack - 2 leafs removed
Wheelers extended rear brake lines
Plastics Guy Front Bumps, Superbumps Rear
DayStar Greasable Shackle Bolts

Exterior
32x11.5x15 Cooper AT3 XLT
Stock 15" OEM Wheels
Custom Satoshi grill with 1990 4Runner emblem
Hella Headlight conversion & Relay Upgrade (80W Halogens)
Removed vintage side decals & tailgate badges
Removed chrome wheel trim
Camper Shell (currently off)
BAMF Weld On Sliders (sitting in the garage)

Interior
Wet Okole Seatcovers
Kenwood double DIN
Custom RAM Mag phone mount
Nissan Patrol Shift knob
Leather steering wheel wrap

Notable Maintenance
Full Suspension Rebuild @ 109K
Valve Cover Gaskets @ 120k
CV's @ 124K


The Story
TL;DR I traded in my 3rd gen for this truck in 2017. No ragrets.

Rewind to a simpler time. It's 2017 in the beautiful PNW, & the bank owned my 2016 TRD Offroad that was giving me anxiety every time I took it off road. The condition of that truck was simply too nice for me, and also drove like a hot TuRD. After putting roughly 50k on that truck, I never really connected with it. For about 9 months straight I'd been looking for a 1st gen, V6, 4x4 Extra Cab with preferably under 100k miles. I test drove many: a S/C 2002 listed for 15k (water intrusion was noticeable), and a few other less notable trucks. Being on the far west coast, trucks such as these typically are in the 14-17k price range, especially those newer than 2001. I couldn't find anything that quite fit the bill, and I was creeping up on a nearly $600 registration renewal.

One morning I find this 1995 Tacoma just posted on CarGurus. It's like an hour and a half away at a Honda dealership, but the details are pretty interesting. 1995 Tacoma, 3.4L , 4WD, 106k miles...no price & no pictures. I really didn't know what to think at first. I probably scrolled past the first time around, but within the next couple hours I looked at the ad again and it registered that this could be a pretty cool truck. Gave the ad a call, and harassed them for photos. I wanted pictures of the frame and underbody, pictures of the interior, and pictures of the truck as a whole (obviously). It was listed in the ad as "blue" which is probably the icing on the cake, I'll get to that. Anyways, they send the pics over, and within like an hour I'm leaving work 2 hours early to drive down and take a look.

When I got there...you can pretty much take a look for yourself. Turns out the truck was a single owner (older woman), garage kept, grocery-runner. It was traded in due to her difficulty using the clutch pedal for a new Ridgeline. Zero rust underneath with the exception of the exhaust. Interior damn near flawless, and I felt like I was in a time capsule. While all the mechanical features are great, I feel like the color is the best part of all. My roommates BF had another 1996 paradise blue tacoma for a while that I thought was the coolest rig. For me to find this one was just beyond lucky. The Honda dealership I bought it from installed a new timing belt, water pump, and washer fluid container before I picked it up, which was included in the price of $8,200 OTD, no expressed warranty

I wish more than anything I could have met the previous owner. She took absolute immaculate care of this truck from undercoatings to service at the same dealership for 20+ years. Wherever you are, thank you so much. It's my goal to keep this truck running for another 25 years. I hope your Ridgeline serves you well.


Misc. Pics



When I first bought it

 

beautiful gem!! i wish mine was this clean. subd for build

 

$8,200? You made out like a god damn bandit. I audibly gasped when I saw how clean that interior was, seriously. That truck was fully loaded when it was new it has the 'Limited' trim which was very rare Pre-2001.

 

Yes! That thing is gorgeous. Someone in my neighborhood has a beat up little one in that color and I love it, vinyl sides and all.

And a fresh timing belt? Yeah that’s a solid find right there. Congrats.

 

holy crap dude thats bad ass!! Welcome to the Paradise Blue Club. That thing is so damn clean!!

 

Thanks guys!! I’ve put about 800 miles on it so far with zero issues. I’ve yet to put it up on jack stands. there’s a bit of a driveline vibe I still need to diagnose. I seriously love this truck, glad there’s a few other people out there who appreciate it as much as I do

I guess I did my first “mod” yesterday. Took out the previous 10+ year old Clarion stereo and installed a Kenwood Double Din, magnetic phone mount/charger mounted to the oh shit handle, and backup camera. I guess I had gotten used to a few creature comforts.

 

Couple more updates, nothing major or shiny yet.

I managed to cleanly route my backup camera fixed to the license plate, and also wrapped my steering wheel with a Wheelskins leather cover. Also installed Hella H4 headlights with Osram 80/100W bulbs. Fluid-filmed the underside yesterday to keep this thing as rust free as possible before it moves down to California.

I'm going to be doing the Satoshi grill in the next month or so, I ordered my mesh thru @HomerTaco and will be using the 1990 4runner/Pickup "TOYOTA" badge. I haven't seen any 95-97 with that yet, I'll hopefully be one of the first.

My 1971 Datsun 510 has been getting the bulk of my $$$ lately, and until its daily-driveable the Taco won't get too much thrown at it. I anticipate around July or so I'll be ready to do suspension and tires, likely going Kings all around with SCS F5s.

 

You lucky guy! Awesome find.
Take some Meguiars PlastX to the gauge cluster cover. I use it on a microfiber lens cloth. Makes the plastic cover look like new.

 

Wow that thing is clean. The engine bay looks amazing. What is done to your 510? Those are rad lil cars.

 

I've gotten to the point with my other project that I can now finally afford to do some suspension modifications! I've been taking the truck out a ton on the weekends and its a blast to drive, I can't imagine how the improvements will be. Here's my list so far, I appreciate any feedback.

Front:
King Extended Travel 2.5 w/o Resi's
Total Chaos UCA's
Prototype Bumpstops

Rear:
Wheelers 8 Leaf Pack, likely with 1 leaf pulled.
Fox 2.0 Extended Length Shocks
Extended Brake lines
2.5 degree shims
Bump relocation

I went with the extended length fox in the rear because they are progressive like the Kings, and offer 3 inches more travel w/o having to relocate my rear shock mounts. I personally like having my tire under the bed, and I don't want to have to worry about tires rubbing a shock body if mounted outboard. I'm still thinking about 33x10.5s, 33x12.5 might just be too wide for my taste. The problem is there are very few manufacturers that make either a 15" rim or 33x10.5 tire that I like besides KO2.

 

I used the Plasti-x and it worked AWESOME thanks for the tip

 

Well the eventual build is becoming a reality. Just waiting on the UCAs and some free time off work to install the suspension.

I’m going to run 33x10.5x15 Ko2s for a while, I have a .75” spacer to mess with as well.

In the mean time, my @HomerTaco mesh finally showed up! I jumped on it this 4th of July and I think it turned out awesome. I’ll post some more pictures of it on the truck soon.

 

Liking the interior, super clean n that grill is badass

 

Thanks man! The truck grows on me more and more each day, interior and all

All I know is it is for sure an SR5, the sunroof makes me think it had all the optional add one your heart could get at the time.

 

Couple more shots this morning, got too dark last night. Looks badass if you ask me.

 

Were did you get those vents that go next to the headlights?

 

They're a part of my stock grill. I dremeled out the back surface and replaced with the mesh.

 

The time has come! This thing is about to have more $$$ in upgrades then its KBB value, but I plan on driving the truck until it’s FUBAR.

The list:
OEM LBJs
TC UCAs
King front shocks no resi - extended travel
Icon 1.5” 3 leaf AAL
Fox 2.0 Extended Travel
Diff Drop kit
Extended rear brake lines
sway bar delete

I also might go with Cooper AT3 XLTs in 32x11.5x15. They’re lighter than the ko2s, $50 cheaper per tire, and seem to be an aggressive all terrain that’s quiet on road. Cooper just released them a couple weeks ago, so I’ll keep people updated.

 

Well that wasn’t too bad at all! I guess the experience from my last truck made things a lot easier going thru this install, did the entire thing by myself spread over 2 days and about 10 hours. Forgot that I’d need a real puller on the upper ball joints from the spindle so I had to take the datsun out for a pitman puller. Also gave me an excuse to resupply the Oat Soda’s.


Overall, I’m super happy with how it came out. I dropped the front Kings about 1” from where they came, alignment tomorrow morning and new tires next week. The truck currently has a bit of a bro lean, I decided to go aal until i found the right camper setup. The dream is coming to life!