Stevotivo12's SexyTaco build

Is this the archive kit?

 

Archive kit, deaver springs, and Fox shocks! But yeah Archive did all the frame parts

 

Nice im still saving for this but possibly smoothies. What size tire/wheel and backspacing to work with both the bypass and oem fenders?

 

Tires are 255/85r16s on 16x10 custom steelies with -19mm backspacing and a 10mm billet spacer to clear the brakes. Biggest issue is fitting the shocks outside the oem leaf spring mounts but inboard of the wheels and tires, from oem you need at least a 1.25" wheel spacer I believe

I'm also running ARP studs due to the spacers and heavy wheels

 

I actually wanted to run 255/85r16s so the wilwood kit was out because their only options were for 17" and up. My stoptech kit came with aerorotors which also have forged aluminum hats and steel rotor rings so I didn't see a huge difference in performance that warranted changing the whole setup around to run 17" wheels and different tires

 

Interesting. Thats like a 4.75” bs with 3/8 spacer maybe. So approximately 4.3 bs? Or am i way off. Didn’t think that would be enough to clear especially for a bypass. More power to ya though

 

other way around. Its 2.75-3ish" backspacing with the spacer. Stock offset is +30mm with 4.25"BS on a 7.5" rim, mine are -19mm (-.75") on a 7" rim, plus another 10mil (.4") spacer, meaning the offset is gonna be -29mm minus 6mm for the difference in wheel width, so total would be ballpark -35mm off stock backspacing. Since stock is 4.25" and 24mm=1", my new bs would be right around 2.75" maybe 3" just because a lot of times there can be manufacturing variances from the specs with custom wheels

 

Gotcha thanks. Planning on keeping stock bedsides

 

How do you like the Deavers? Thinking about getting those with fox 2.5 in the front and 2.0 w/ resi in the rear. Shout out UVille 2 hahaha!

 

Love them, definitely the right choice for my setup. That's awesome man you're in uville this year? But yeah they're stupidly comfortable. You don't notice anything on the road and can easily handle terrain/pitch changes without unsettling the body the way the stock springs do

 

Are you running quad retrofits? I see they are project Rs but not much else about them? Are they true quads - all 4 on at low beam and all 4 flick have the internal high beam as well?

 

By that definition, no. Not true quads, mine are imposter quads, in that I have to pull the high beam to have all 4 on but that's how I run it offroad!

 

OP your signature says DCLB MT. Those do not exist. Yours is a DCSB.

 

Thanks, fixed it

 

Another day at the DIYG, another truck mod completed successfully! This time around, she was in need of some new spark plugs and I decided to upgrade to Ripp ignition coils while I was in there and replaced the OEM Denso spark plugs with their brand new iridium TT line spark plugs.

Overall, the install was pretty straightforward, if you have an aftermarket intake nothing needs to be removed, and only a couple wire looms and two brackets need to be loosened and moved out of the way. You will need:
10mm socket
12mm socket
Spark plug socket (3/8 iirc but feel free to call me on this one, just make sure it has the rubber insert for holding plugs)
Variety of socket extensions including one at least 10" long (to get plugs out)
Screwdriver for ignition coil wire connectors
Spark plug gap tool
And some anti seize lube helps next time around

I did the passenger (read:easy) side first. Here's a picture to give you the general idea:
Pretty straightforward, use your fingers around the back of that silver bracket right in the middle to loosen the two plastic clips holding the main wire loom and ignition coil wires down. They push together from the sides, you'll feel it. I tried plastic trim tools and all they do is snap the clips in half on the way out so learn from my mistakes on that one!

Next, use the 10mm socket to loosen the bracket, and either the screwdriver or your thumb on your non-dominant hand to hold the clip in while you use your dominant hand to pull the connectors for the ignition coils, and whatever the silver cylindrical thing is, maybe the horn? Idk. Make sure to pull connectors out by the body of the connector, carefully avoiding the wires. They can be brittle, don't want to turn a simple plug change into a wire harness repair day!

Now use the 10mm socket again to loosen the nuts holding the ignition coils down. I chose to remove them one at a time and replace before moving on, but that's a matter of person preference. Once removed, use the spark plug socket to remove the spark plug (pro tip: use the plastic protector from the new spark plug to grab the old one out of the socket if your engine is hot).

Next, use the spark plug gap tool to gap the new spark plugs, the new Denso iridium tts use a 1.0mm gap but a quick google search for "xxx spark plug gap" will yield the results you seek. Don't forget to dab some anti seize lube on both the spark plug and the ignition coil bolts, and reinstall in the opposite order.

Now, the fun (challenging) part, the driver's side:

Quickest way to tackle this side is to remove the vacuum hose I've replaced with the bright red hose, and use your 12mm socket to loosen the bracket located directly behind the intersection of that same hose and the brake hard line going into my red ss brake 'soft line'. It has one 12mm bolt threaded straight into a nut-sert on the intake manifold and one but which holds the brake line on the bottom of the bracket, it affords you the most space to remove both fasteners.
Next, disconnect the wire connector which is also anchored onto that same bracket, it will be underneath the side of the intake manifold and has another clip fastened directly to the engine block. If you are using new or reusing stock coils, carefully use a plastic trim tools to dislodge it. If you are installing Ripp ignition coils don't worry about it, the wire doesn't have the slack to reuse that clip anyway but the coil will hold it away from the block if you route it over top and it does have enough slack to move back and forth a bit in that configuration. Youll you'll also need to twist the random piece of foam sound deadening material behind the intake manifold around so it's facing the firewall to get room for removing the third coil, but it jams in that position nicely. Continue disconnecting the connectors for the three ignition coils, and then perform the same removal and reinstall process as the driver's side. The first coil will need some finagling to get out, if you turn it around as you pull up you'll see where you have the room to get it out. The second and third ones have plenty of room to get out.
That's it! Have yourself a nice cold beer, toast your buddies if you have help, and enjoy your slightly increased fuel economy and sense of accomplishment!

 

Do you notice any difference with the RIPP coils?

 

@Ice8 Throttle response is a bit better, and rev hang is slightly less common though it still happens every once in a while. The big thing I've noticed is that there seems to be more torque down low because I back up my driveway on a daily basis and before she used to lug awfully going up the driveway to the point where I'm getting thrown back and forth in the seat sometimes, and now it's much calmer doing the same thing with the same inputs. There's a little more grunt if I'm in a relatively high gear and floor it as well. Overall, I'd say using reverse and the throttle response are the biggest pluses but at $400 I'm not expecting anything life changing. It was mainly just time to replace and I figured I'd take a shot on an upgrade too while I was doing the work

 

Good to know. I just did my plugs a couple weeks ago and was mulling it over. I may consider it as my next little modification.

Thanks

 

Wrapped up another trip to the DIYG, this time around it ended up being very short and sweet. I went in to swap my 'transmission isolator bushing' (TIB for short) or transmission mount for a stock one packed with 3M "window-weld", which happens to be liquid 80 durometer black polyurethane in a tube. I let my polyurethane job dry for a week before install but honestly it was fully cured in under two days I just didn't think I had time.

As it turns out, install was actually incredibly straight forward. This job could be done with a jack and some wood blocks on the ground but I decided to take her in to the garage and use a lift just to make it easy. First step is to support the transmission between the front cross member under the engine and the rear one where the TIB is located. I used a transmission jack with a wooden blocks but a regular jack with a wooden blocks would work on the ground. Next, there are two round supports going from the TIB cross member to the frame, both held on by 4 13mm bolts. Remove three of the bolts, grab the bar, and remove the last bolt. Repeat for opposite side.
Now, remove the 4 TIB bolts which fasten it to the cross member.
Next, remove the two inner cross member bolts holding it to the frame using a 14mm wrench on the nuts and a 14mm socket on the bolt heads. Now remove one of the outer bolts in the same fashion and drop the cross member so it's at an angle and held on by only one bolt, and loosen the final bolt.
In my case, the cross member had rust bonded itself to the frame so I didn't have to catch it, but it may be loose at that point so I wouldn't position yourself in its way
Now, you should have clean access to the 4 14mm bolts holding the TIB to the transmission. Remove them, and replace the TIB with your new DIY'd polyurethane one. The TIB should point forwards when reinstalling (learned that one the hard way, too).
Reinstall the cross member first. In my case, I had to pry it quite a bit to get it fully in place. I did this by installing one outside bolt, then on the opposite side using a steel punch on the outside bolt hole I pried and slid a bolt into the inside hole and this offered just enough leverage. It would be easier to use a second jack or something like that, but not entirely necessary.
Now, reinstall the 4 cross member into TIB bolts, and the two frame to cross member tubes.

After all this reading you may be wondering, why? What's all this worth? For me, it came down to a lot of small NVH-related oddities that had developed over time. This was my first manual vehicle I owned for any real period of time, and it was definitely my first new vehicle with a manual. As such, I have noticed that over time things started to change as far as shifting characteristics are concerned. Where my truck used to have a very solid feel when shifting and little noise or movement, over time and probably through some admittedly rough shifts at the beginning, I started to notice a delay of sorts between when I would release the clutch and when I could feel power coming on. I also noticed that when reversing slowly and taking the truck out of gear there was often an audible 'clunk' noise which sounded like the transmission snapping back into normal position when unloaded. Since my truck has nearly 80k miles and it was my first manual vehicle, I considered it normal wear and tear to be needing some new transmission bushings but I didn't want to throw in the same old stock bushings, but I also couldn't find an aftermarket replacement designed to utilize all stock mounting points, a failure of the market IMO but an opportunity to DIY something decent. I watched some videos others had made on improving the rigidity of stock bushings through the use of polyurethane products, and thought this would be my best shot at getting what I wanted.

Turns out, my suspicions were right on. This mod did not increase NVH in any noticable way, but it did eliminate 99% of the noises and tactile issues I mentioned while firming up shifts and overall making shifting more predictable. It's probably the best $80 upgrade period for a manual truck and I would recommend this to anyone who sought out a 6 speed Taco. It honestly even makes the truck feel faster although I obviously know that is entirely the feel of it and not indicative of any actual performance increase, but to me that's more than enough to spend 80 bucks and 45 minutes wrenching with some buddies! Hope this helps anyone who is interested in improving their driving experience in their truck!

 

of course I'm intrigued but man i wanna see some pics. at least of the poly part you're making.