Project Panda

So I joined back in May but never posted anything but I think making a thread about my progress would be cool. I have a 1999 Standard Cab Tacoma, the base model of the base model. I bought it off my boss for a good deal and have owned it for about a year and a half now. It came with a lift kit, bulged fenders, custom exhaust, and 32s so I thought it was an awesome looking truck.

Lo and behold sooo many things were wrong with it when I bought it. The steering wheel was off center and would shake at any speed, tires were worn, brakes were non-existent, paint was faded, and most of all - the suspension was shot.

Over the past year I spent a lot of time rebuilding my little Tacoma to make it the better and have been making good progress and just wanted to share what I've done.

 

Welcome to TW

 

Thank you for the welcome.
Alright so to start off I bought the truck January 30th 2019. Looked good, nice old “baja truck."

 

I first took care of the driver door handle because it wouldn't close and lock the truck correctly. I was able to get one through an auto parts store so it was a pretty convenient find.

 

Starting to work on my Tacoma Feb 5, 2019
Went ahead and installed the handle and moved onto basic maintenance that the internet told me to do. Followed some article about making a Tacoma re-reliable again. I did a Synthetic oil change w oil filter, belts, power steering fluid, and coolant flush I believe. I had done all the work myself because I wanted to 1. Learn obviously and 2. Be able to brag that I work on my own truck hah.
As far as doing everything myself I was able to find out how malnourished my new old truck was. The oil was thick, coolant was like rust sludge (and only like 4 cups of coolant sludge came out), the belts had been growing teeth, and there was no power steering fluid from what I remember. I wish I had taken more photos but I have one of the belt.
After finding out that the truck was not really taken care of I quickly started looking into how to properly flush everything and bought the manual to get everything done properly.

 

Late Feb 2019 - The Detail
I got all the basic maintenance done and my Tacoma was "coming together" for me and I felt like a wizard being able to figure out basic maintenance and the door handle mechanics, so I moved onto the next immediate concern - looks.
The paint was very faded and I had jumped to the assumption that I was going to have to take it somewhere to get painted but after playing with some compound and a polisher I realized that wasn't needed. I bought some more compound and went onto polishing the whole truck with it and I was amazed that the paint was actually near perfect. I ended up buying a better polisher and a detailing kit and went ham on it for another month doing panel for panel until I got every inch of "dead" white paint off.
It was a process that made me more and more proud of my truck because I thought it looked so good the more I got done with it.

 

I cant find a old photo for a before and after whoops.

 

Next process was the brakes on my Tacoma and I had done brake pad replacements in the past so it wasn't such a biggie. In the process of removing the brake pads I was shocked to find that the pads were on the verge of being completely gone as well as the rotor having grooves like the desert dunes out here. After seeing the condition of them I obviously opted to replace both the pads and rotors and made absolutely sure that everything was done to spec. Have necer had an issue with the Brembo Rotors and Duralast Pads thankfully.

 

I also eventually detailed the engine bay too around the same time that I did the brake maintenance.

 

Welcome aboard new member

 

5 lug build?? Looks sick man

 

How does it get up and go on the 32s? Stock gears?

 

Welcome to TW!

 

It’s on 265s now but when it was on 32s it had 4.56 gearing and it would pick up easily but it would never be able to get past 65. I believe it was built previously to get up dunes and it could. Even with 265s it can’t get past around 70 on stock gearing too though. The 2RZ just doesn’t have enough power to push tires this big imo.

 

Welcome to TW!!

Interesting history on truck, looks first class!!

 

I wouldnt say that the 2rz is lackluster, it still puts down for what it is. The 3rz is only like 10 more hp and ppl build their 6 lugs way heavier than our 5 lugs without "too much" haggle. 4.56 is just super high gears for that tire size and a MT. Ur looking at more like 4.10s for ur sweet spot with 32s. With that, youd get ur rpms down and your top end back. But tbh, if ur planning on building the 5 lug more, keep the gears.


Someone likely threw the 4.56s in for the future if they were gonna do long travel. Most peeps with LT and 33s are running that gearing on our 5 lugs. Thats another 1k-2k lbs weight and bigger diameter from the tires. U go lt with those gears and that truck would be sick. Check out JD fab, u can get lt for just over 2k without the shocks online. (If u want to build more).

Here's some 5 lugs with big tires pushing their 2rzs.
Welcome to tw btw

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/oh-boy-let-me-tell-ya-bout-my-1995-toyota-tacoma.599854/


https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/5-lug-long-travel-baby-truck-build.578578/


https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/5-lug-long-travel-2rz-turbo-build.332111/

 

Welcome to TW!