The Dirt Taco: From Mobile Meth Lab to Righteous Rock Crawler

I would have dropped $13k on it in its condition. At the expected price of repair this could be a nice flip or just a nice repair and drive truck.

 

I don't know about a "nice flip".. you'd have to be quite handy to polish that turd IMO... or find the right sucker.
Then there's the potential for yet unseen mechanical issues. This ain't no pavement princess (like my truck is lol). With that mileage and obvious wheeling scars, it's probably gonna need clutch/pressure plate/TOB love at a minimum.

Edit.. not to mention this story is all over the interwebs now, so if you wanted to hide the truck's history from a potential buyer.. well good luck. He's gonna repair/wheel it most likely lol.

 

you might be amazed at what a good detailer would be able to do to that truck

 

Oh I know, but if you can't do it yourself it's gonna cost ya.
"Shit'll buff out" ain't in play here I reckon.
Look at that stove in rear driver's side door!

Edit... BAHAHAHA! I missed the self tapper on the front passenger fender flare when I first watched the part 2 vid.
But hey, at least the idiot original owner made sure the air dam was on there for the buyer!

 

Interesting, curious to see how it’ll play out.

 

Same here, I kinda want to see this guy succeed lol.

 

Parts list n stuff.. version 1:

Known:

1. 2GR-FKS junkyard engine
2. Windshield
3. Rear window (or center slider portion that's busted)
4. OEM Front bumper (or off road bumper)
5. OEM Rear bumper caps (or off road bumper)
6. Rear driver's door
7. Body work and paint

Likely other stuff, judging by the state of this thing:

8. Clutch/PP/TOB.. check.
9. Shocks/struts/springs/bushings
10. Steering gear.. check.
11. Wheel bearings (this thing has wheel spacers IIRC)
12. CVs/axles.. maybe front diff wear
13. U joints
14. complete lubricant changes in addition to new engine - tranny, diffs, Tcase
15. Maggy repair/maint?
16. Electrical horseshit.. the guy did say there was questionable "aftermarket" wiring on board lol.
17. Brakes all around.

Spitballing

 

that’s really not a scary list. At the purchase price he can easily fix all of that himself in 6 months and end up with a decent net profit if he decided to sell it. The only thing on the list that’s going to be a possible issue is sourcing an oem engine for a decent price.

personally I would sell the maggy and buy a ford ecoboost 2.0L 4 cylinder crate engine and electronics package if I couldn’t find a junkyard engine. An engine swap of any kind would make it basically worthless though.
A little less power than stock with the 2.0, but more torque, a much better powerband and lots of upgrades out there to bolt on and smoke a maggy 3.5 powered taco

 

Hell if he's doing this mainly for channel fodder he could go with a diesel swap lol.

 

Following...

E
****

 

Motor Life Boat Station sweat shirt. Maybe Coast Guard Guy?
No idea what a junk yard engine would cost but doing the work himself I could see him coming in at $15 Grand or so in parts. Having an 18 for $30 grand or so seems not so bad in today's market.
A lot of us have hobbies. I could have easily bought another Tacoma with what I have spent on my Landcruisers over the years. But I enjoy the challenge. I'm sure he is doing this as a fun hobby build. Wish him luck and will be interested to see the rest of the progress.

 

Would've made a great Just Rolled In, Customer States or Rainman Ray video.

And yeah, given the amount of damage up front I'm terrified what he'll find farther down with diffs, transfer case and transmission. Gear hunting will be the least of his problems .

 

Is tri-cities in the high desert somewhere?

 

No, but for some reason there isn’t that many people on here from there. The population of the area is a little over half a million, yet I’ve only seen a few other locals on here.

The tri cities is the part of the north eastern tip of TN and a little piece of SE VA

 

North-easterly border of TN and VA in the beautiful Appalachian mountains.

 

God that thing is nasty

 

If I had the extra cash, the extra time, and the extra (well needed) mechanical abilities; it may be a fun project. Of course, if I had all three, I would start from a MUCH cleaner object than that POS. Maybe give it to the kid to tinker and beat around with (she's 8)

 

Kudos to this guy for taking this project on. If he can end up at 25 to 30k total he made out like a bandit. And there is a good chance at that. The truck has some good components to it, like suspension and UCA's, skids, lockers and supercharger.

I would love to see a picture of the Turd that cause the truck to be that way in the first place. Love to catalog subhumans.