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

Popped an SRunner front sway bar onto old Trudy today..



2mm really makes a difference!!

 

Man that Tacoma looks awesome

 

Thanks! It's about to be in pieces for a bit of suspension and cleanup work

 

Debadged my 03 Tacoma. The sides came off easily in one piece but I didn’t expect those rear ones to be just painted raised stickers. They were a bitch!

 

Fuckkk Cali emission laws. Seeing cats for like $120.

 

That's what I just spent on a CARB approved cat, starting to think they're only expensive within the state itself haha

 

Speaking of cats, I have always gotten the intermittent P0420 code. Usually comes after wheeling, being in low range and once I clear it and go back to normal daily driving it never comes on again. I always attributed it to my cracked in half muffler reducing the back pressure in the exhaust system. Truck has seen heavy rust but I haven't seen any holes on either cat. Was going to replace the exhaust finally and do a bed side exit, is there any value to replacing the cats as a preventative? Or should I just swap the hardware and call it good? Both 02 sensors were replaced recently because of another code I was getting.

This question is for any of y'all really lol.

 

If the piping is solid before the second O2 sensor then that's not your issue. O2 sensors do only what their name says, they react to O2 content. They don't care about pressure or flow. Whatever is in their path, they will read. If you have air leaks before them, they'll pick that up (especially bad if its a leak before the upstream sensor since that one controls fuel mixture in the engine). If you're getting a recurring 420 code, its from a bad cat or a bad sensor, simple as that if the piping isn't just riddled with holes. I'd replace them (CATS) if it was mine, but I don't really like my truck smelling like a tractor for slow speed wheeling. The time at which the code appears is purely coincidental, has nothing to do with 4LOW. It occurs whenever the truck runs an emissions drive cycle (conditions met are; engine time on, time at certain speeds driven, not racing the engine, outside temp), the drive cycle is when it measures because it knows the baseline for those driving conditions, that's why it seemingly comes and goes at random, can't always run a drive cycle every time you drive.

 

I know it has nothing to do with 4wd or 4low but for some reason, wheeling trips are what trigger it. I haven't wheeled in like 6 months, daily drove the truck to the gym, all the way to Maryland to get my motorcycle, etc. Nothing triggered the code. Take the rig snow wheeling, bash the rev limiter a bit, do 4 low crawls, and the code pops on on the way home. It should have absolutely nothing to do with it, but it's happened for as long as I've owned this truck. Don't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to replacing them. At this point even though it looks like a shit box from the body, I am making every attempt to make it look really clean under the hood, and on the frame. If that includes replacing a 20 year old exhaust system fully then so be it. Also considered gutting the cat and running the URD simulator just to never deal with the code again, but I don't care either way.

 

So if you could get your guys opinions on the matter. When i was doing my motor mounts on the drivers side i had to pull the oil filter to access one of the bolts. In do so some debris may or may not have made it onto the filter housing while the filter was off. I did spray it off and tried to clean it up with break cleaner.
So I'm going to drain the oil. My question is .. should i try just running a extra quart or two through the motor with the drain plug out in hopes that it will wash away any debris that may have gotten into the oil .Or should i just pull the pan and clean it?

 

Nice! What suspension are you going to put on it? Looking at options for my '96 in the near future

 

I'm getting ready to take the bed off and clean up my frame, going to cut all the suspension mounts off and cut in/weld on mounts for Chevy 63 leaf springs and some buckets for 12" shocks (going to french those into the frame as well so they don't poke up in the middle of the bed. Rather have them poke into the wheel well since I won't have wheels hanging out in there with my Sequoia rear axle. The front is getting an MCM long travel kit. I've been putting off working on my truck for a year now, time to get back on it. Have a lot of cut out parts to beef up the front frame now too, been just sitting on parts.

 

So CA won’t allow you to weld in a cat? Because the universal cats are like $180

 

Caught the sunset in the taco

 

@cynicalrider if it was me, I'd just take a look at them while it's apart and see if it's beginning to clog or if there is any sign of degradation. I'm a cheap ass though...

 

My first factory set did the same 420 code. Luckily truck was still under warranty (wayyyy back in the day). 1st cat had degraded and crumbled, clogging the second cat.

2nd time it happened at around 90-100k I knocked them both out and ran a URD 02 sim. Never an issue since, an if you do, make sure tailpipe still runs to at least the bed and out. This will minimize the exhaust fumes that come from this mod.

Other than that, you get a nice deeper tone and much better flow at highway speeds or heavier loads.

 

Nice wagon in the background. What is that, a Bel Air?

 

That is good for the head