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

I'm in the middle of replacing my valve cover gaskets, and the coolant bypass pipe. I have two questions I need some help on.

1) On the passenger side VC, I thought it was leaking around the half moons. As I dug into it, I realized it wasn't leaking from there. It looks like it's leaking from around the cam, but its hard to tell. I tried to get a picture, but it was rather difficult. It's more apparent on the bottom side. I may try to get a better picture tomorrow. I can't tell if its leaking from the VC in that area, or if its the cam seal. I did have a head job done on this side due to a burnt valve, I guess it could be the cam seal? How hard would it be to replace that seal since I'm in this far? obviously I'd have to take the timing belt off. Any opinions?

2) The last picture, the gaskets under the tape, the manifold gaskets?, do I need to used a thin layer of FIPG between the gasket and block? It looks like there is some there now, but its orange, I bought the black FIPG. I looked in the FSM but I didn't see it specified.

 

I have 2 95.5s. One has a good frame, and the other, well, see below.

Started on my rehab today. Promised myself all Winter I would get it done before really hot weather.

Pulled shell and bed and assessed damage. I knew I had a lot of rust and a significant crack at the rear of the LH leaf mount. But, numerous other locations turned out to be cooked as well. No donor frame, so I'll be making repair sections.

Bed Bolts: front 2 broke loose with 3/4 drive air impact, middle 2 broke the weld nuts loose and twisted loose, and the rear 2 needed 60 amps of plasma coaxing.

LH rear


Say hello to my little friend


Uh huh



This was my main concern over the Winter. Just forward of the LH rear spring mount.


A few more glamour shots






Spare tire cross brace is much worse than it looks


this bracket is completely loose from the frame



160,000 miles of midwestern Winters.

Even though I have already repaired the bed a few years ago, I may put a flatbed on it.

 

2 down... now for the wiring.

 

looking good!

did I hear you say that those are out a BMW?

 

I definately see what you mean with the seat height. We ended up just rolling with it and welding the mounting tabs to the base of the BMW seats this time. It's my kid's T4R and he's only 5'7" so it works for him. He's actually stoked about the seat height.

If I do this swap in mine, I'm definately going to have to figure something out, as I'm about 4 inches taller than he is. Feels a bit cramped for me.

As for the wiring. So far it seems to be working with just power and ground. I don't think the memory fuction on driver's side will work, but honestly I don't think he would ever use that anyway. Hot wired, power and ground, the seats are functioning the way they should. I just need to wire them permanently now.

 

Yep. 330i seats.

 

nice! i don't think i'd go with BMW seats myself... but maybe a set of king ranch seats are in my future? i'd imagine they'd be kind of a bitch to fit though, given that they're coming from a full size. certianly seems like a cheaper alternative to my idea on getting Katzkins leather. and maybe more comfortable too. looking good though! i'm especially impressed that you got the wiring working

 

The seats were only $250 for the set and the rails are really close to the same width apart as our trucks. Also, the seat belt fits in the BMW seat belt latch. Makes swapping not that difficult. Not sure there's enough room for a full sized truck seat in there. You're working with really limited space side to side.

 

Mine were from a 2011 328i. They would work with just power and ground when you first hooked them up, but after making the initial adjustments and about 30 seconds or so, they would freeze, and until you disconnected the power, they would not move. Glad it's working out better for you!!

 

I'm not out of the woods yet. We'll see how it goes when it's actually hard wired. Jumping it off the battery, we weren't staying with constant power the whole time. Hopefully it'll stay this way once it's all wired up. But I'm done dinkin with shit today... wiring sounds like a perfect job for tomorrow lol.

 

not sure what to do now lol

 

do you have a link where I could buy one of those mounts??

edit: disregard, I found your previous link!

 

i was actually going to see how well my buddies factory is350 seats fit... now you make me really want to. lol

 

I let the truck sit in the garage and went out to watch the shenanigans that is Memorial Day weekend at Moonrocks.

 

I run 06 STi seats in my truck.

 

and you kept original hardware/rails?

 

So, I kept my original Tacoma rails but ended up using the Subaru ones for a year. I recently swapped them over because the fitment wasn't exact so it tweaked the sliding rail enough to give resistance.

I would have changed them out, but I had a friend looking for Subaru rails and he gave me money.

Picture added to previous post so you can see them

 

That road salt gave your truck leprosy. If you’re rehabbing the truck I’d follow the build thread.

 

you should see the frames that come into work up here in in indiana..

 

https://www.ebay.com/i/193311398216...6KkDPXxzgGAf5UA2WpwngfGvS_TwyZUxoCvvoQAvD_BwE

Any1 know if these would fit?

do you think $400 is a good price for a pair of 06 sti seats?