jacobrippey's 1995 V6 Swapped Tacoma single cab build

Thanks John! It was awesome hanging out with you at c&c! Your truck is legendary!

 

Got to meet some people from TW and Instagram tonight! It’s always fun meeting cool new Toyota people!

 

Glad your settling in.

Your missing out on epic snow conditions in Colorado

7 feet of snow at breakenridge since March 1st alone in the last 9 days

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nfVbbTSE_z4

 

Can’t shovel sunshine

 

Caught the Offroad bug and had to hit the trails. Went mudding...here’s to 3 hours of fun for 3 years of crap falling in your face. (Pic is before my truck got caked).

 

It’s been a while since I’ve done anything to the Tacoma, so I decided to start the arduous task of re-wiring the lights. My last set up was sketchy, so I decided to find a plug and play harness/relay setup. Couldn’t find anything directly for a first gen Tacoma, that would be affordable, so I went to the dark side...Jeep parts.

This rough country lighting setup was the ticket. (Link: https://www.roughcountry.com/mlc6-m...Y3g9LhNFntV77ByZjAvuwkQk2vacAbioaAmbgEALw_wcB)

I re-used some brackets from my faulty cruise control motor, and wallah! I still have to finish running the wire, but the hard part is done. The beauty is that it can work with my Paranoid Fab switch panel (https://www.paranoidfabrications.co...st-gen-tacoma-din-switch-plate-6-switch-holes).

More updates to come!

Edit: the location of the relay box has been fiddled with to look a bit better.

 

When you replaced your steering rack, did you go with new OEM or a Chinese/refurbished? Have you had any problems? Mine's leaking slowly and I'm debating which to go with.

 

Went with a rebuilt unit with a lifetime warrantee. The rebuilt ones kept breaking, and I believe that they ran out, so they sent me a shiny new one. Not sure if it’s oem or not. It’s held up pretty well though.

 

Did you weld all along the outside of these plates? Or just every 12” or whatever was close?

I see all the inside holes are welded and was curious if you welder the complete outside edge too?

And did you strip the paint on the back side too?

 

We ground down the paint on the frame before welding. We also welded the sides of the plates on, in Addition to the holes in the plates.

 

Hit a milestone yesterday! 250k miles!

 

Do you remember where you got yours?
They are not available on the CBI website.

 

They were from the CBI website...I’d give them a call and see if they have them in stock.

 

I missed the steelies look, so they’re back!

 

I am so going that Steelies route! Looks great! (Chiago turned me on to your build)

 

It seems to make the truck look tougher. I’ve always liked the steelies look.

 

Update: my truck was starting to run a bit toasty, especially on the freeway and up inclines. Decided to finally switch out that single core radiator for a beefier 3 core Champion radiator. It has made about a 10-15 degree difference so far. Can’t wait to take it up into the mountains and try out the improved cooling capacity.

Also, @1997tacomav6 has an incredible truck and awesome write up on this radiator swap. Here is the link: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/champion-radiator-aluminum-3-core-swap.543859/

 

Can I see more pictures of this ? I am wondering how it would look wioth doors closed and everything Thanks.

 

The plaid door panels disintegrated on me. So, I found a set of newer 01-04 Tacoma door panels. Do they fit? Yes! Are they plug and play? Nope! Plugs into the passenger side just fine. Drivers side will mess it up. Had to source a drivers side 01-04 door harness. Plugs in; but when you push the lock button, the dome light comes on. Fix it by unpinning the gray wire on the under the dash plug, and putting the L/B wire in its spot. Works like a charm! Thank you to @nzbrock for the guidance in wiring this.

 

Glad you got it figured out! Now I realize that you swapped the whole door harness, so that’s why you only needed to do that pin at the IH2 connector. I was thinking you just swapped the switch.