2002 Tacoma for Autocross

I had them set as soft as I could, to the point the front end would start bouncing in the long sweepers from hitting on the bump stops. I tried stiffening them a few clicks to no avail.
The fluid is old and overheated, and the pump was failing based on the whining/bearing noise when I started cranking on it. If I continue to autocross the truck I'll definitely have to look into a power steering cooler.

 

Well, yup. You found the soft limit.

 

This is a really common Tacoma autocross quirk. Mine did it when I started autocrossing. Changing out to new fluid helps a lot.

 

Glad to hear about your Tacoma autocross adventures, sounds like you and the truck did pretty good overall!

My truck seems to oversteer vs understeer, I completely spun out once and power drifted on more than one occasion out there. I noticed when I correct this by counter steering quickly after the rear end slides out on me it seems like the power steering doesnt quite have the pressure it needs and the wheel gets a bit mushy on me for a moment.

As for your understeer I am running a squared tire setup, are you running wider tires in the rear vs front? I think raising your front end without the rear could make matters worse for your under steer, but I am barely getting into tuning myself here admittedly. The rear of my truck sits pretty high in contrast to the front as well, so this is a factor.

Think I'm at a point where if I am going to continue auto crossing on a semi-monthly basis I am may need to get a set of dedicated wheels and tires. My tires are definitely showing some wear after 5 auto-x days attended, and as we know tires are part of the cost factor!

 

I'm sitting on a square setup, same offset front and rear, and same tire sizes. The front is about 2 inches lower than the rear currently since I switched to the 3inch drop block from a 5inch. The barrels of my coilovers are stuck so I couldn't raise them back up to get even with the rear. They're soaking in penetrant currently...

I never really had the back end break loose on me, except for two times of braking oversteer coming into V-boxes.

 

Photo credit to: Skylar Somerville

 

A couple more photos from the race weekend. Captain cone muncher reporting for duty

 

Proper street/race truck stance.

I need to get back out on the track. I miss it a lot.

 

Thanks for the bad ass pics @BananaMan , I have a good idea of how much fun you must have had out there in your pick up!

@Torspd I signed up for the next event in June since this stuff is quite addicting!!

Pondering if I should get some dedicated wheels and tires for these events, some bigger front brakes, rear sway bar, and some other upgrades for little Trudy - OR - if it's finally time to get that Z06 I have had my eye on for years...

 

Be different! My vote is dedicated wheels and tires. After that I'd do the stiffer sway bar based on the body roll I saw in your earlier photos.

 

Keep an eye on your power steering and transmission temps. Aftermarket coolers from derale or others can help. Have fun!

 

Highly recommend the power steering cooler... that's definitely on my to do list.

 

Thanks for your vote for Tacoma wheels/tires! May as well get the Tacoma a bit more up to snuff since finding the right Z06 in under 3 weeks would be a bit rushed.

I am looking at the Enkei RPF1 17x9 +45, nice light 15 pound weight, should look at home on Trudy and fit a wider stickier 200 treadwear 255 tire. This size wheel was local and in stock for $950 a set. The STX class allows up to a 265 tire so I may want to go wider, but havent quite found the proper width/offset combination yet. Open to suggestions..





I could go up another mm in front sway bar with an Addco, and wonder if the rear s-runner sway bar may help. Wonder also if I could figure out the mounting for that thing if possible for the next event.

As for larger brakes, I found Stoptech has quite a few offerings for the old Tacoma actually even up to $2500 front kits. I am leaning towards the larger 11.68" rotor(s) a set of sport pads and adding some stainless steel lines.

Maybe change that power steering fluid if I get a chance too.

It would be nice to build that brace between the leafs.

So much to do and so little time it seems..

 

Sway bars and some sort of panhard bar, or spring perch to axle links. Would definitely help keep the the whole truck more planted. Pushing into the need for better traction.

Tires and wheels will be the easiest and possibly most noticeable upgrade.

 

Tires for sure but with added friction you'll want to look at brake upgrades or change the pad compound that works at a higher heat. Since it's autox it might not exacerbate the brake fade as much as if you were on a road course.

 

Your truck doesn't just roll, it pitches/dives because your springs are too soft. Springs affect most aspects of a car's suspension. Sway bars isolate roll stiffness alone. So, if you only want to decrease body roll without other changes - go with sway bars. If you want to decrease pitch/dive, or change the ride height, or modify how the truck deals with single or multi-wheel bumps, consider changing the springs. One caveat is that springs have to be appropriately damped, so a change in spring rate may also require a change in shocks. Also, keep in mind that it's very easy to adjust the front/rear roll stiffness with sways, which means the handling balance. Toyota did a great job of finding this balance with the SRunner, so I run SRunner front and rear bars.

The 17x9 RPF1 will do great on your truck. The 255 will be a tiny bit bulgy on a 9" wheel, but that's not bad for autocross. If you can still lock the tires up once those are on, you really don't need a brake upgrade. Larger brakes really become an advantage on a road course where you will heat the brakes up much more. Even on a faster course, you only do one run at a time so you would have to be insanely fast to boil fluid...unless your fluid is old and full of water in which case you should be flushing that out regardless. Maybe improve your pads and fluid and get stainless lines. As for transmission coolers, I can see you doing that for tracking but not really autocross where at most you might see 3rd gear.

 

Very good points.

 

Thanks for all the great input! My current tires do seem to lock up fairly easy under hard braking so maybe I will hold off on them larger brakes, they are on back order anyhow and I wouldn't get them in time for the next event.

I have an S-Runner front installed now and it does pretty good, but stiffer would be better. I do have the S-Runner rear sway bar I have been meaning to try out too, did this help out and how so? Any pics or help for the install would be appreciated.

 

The SR rear bar was a pretty big difference. I actually did the rear first and later had to upgrade the front to match. From what I remember from back when I added it, the truck instantly felt a lot more stable with it on and it allowed me to enter corners with more confidence. It's been years since I installed it, so I am used to it and the upgraded performance seems normal, but the truck definitely wasn't cornering this well before that bar was on. You will need axle brackets to hold it to your axle. You can weld them to the axle or use U-bolts to attach them(that's what I did). You install the bar to that first and then do the brackets for the end links. I believe on your year truck, you don't need to drill for those brackets; I read somewhere the 01-04 trucks came with the holes already in the frame. If you have to drill, do that, bolt the brackets in place, and then weld them to the frame. I have pictures and information about it in my build thread. These are the relevant pages:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/matostacos-build-thread.712057/page-2
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/matostacos-build-thread.712057/page-5

The second link will give you more detail.