Little Red Turbo Creeper

Hopefully I'll get away with bolts and bushings.
I definitely want to get lower ball joints soon and maybe do some extra maintenance. I have spindle gussets on the shelf and just need to piece everything else together.

I just finished piecing together everything I need for the 13WL brake swap so that's my next plan of attack

 

Sometimes just inspecting under the hood and doing a little cleaning pays off.

Little game of I spy



Well hot damn

Cleaned up nicely, gears are smooth and it matches the 8mm I found on the side of the road in 2010

 

Yucky stock exhaust, can't have that

Stopped by the local exhaust shop that I've worked with over the years and I remembered seeing some Doug Thorley swag and I loved the long tube headers I installed on my 09 but have heard a few issues about fitment on the 3.4's and as it turns out Doug was personal friends with the shop owners. He's actually buried less than a mile away from the shop.
Ended up ordering a set of Doug headers and will have them installed at the shop when they get here.
But since I was already there
We worked up a custom MagnaFlow catback with a resonator








I installed MagnaFlow bolt on cat backs on both of my 2nd Gens but this is the first time I've had a resonator and I am extremely happy with the tone quality and can't wait to see what the headers add to it.

 

Awesome build thread bro. So cool to read all the mods. Wish there were more first gen enthusiasts around me to hang with.

Dont mean to hijack the thread but What UCAs are those? Wondering if they are the same I got.

 

That is a fair question since I never put the Brand stickers on.

They are All-Pro's

 

I don't like it when water gets into the lights




Bust out the drill and a small drill bit. Slowly drill out the very lowest spot you can and let it drain.

I also drilled a second hole in the top of the light to allow air to get in easier and the water drains faster.


I did this same thing with my 1st Tacoma blinker light and a few Honda taillights

Some say it makes your lights burn out faster but I've never felt like it gave me issues and bulbs are easily replaced for the most part.

It wouldn't be difficult to seal off with a plug or even just a small piece of clear tape

 

Here's a couple pictures comparing the Bilstein 5100's I took off and the Bilstein 5125's I put back on... once they gave me the correct bushings.










It also might be worth noting that a set of 5165's I ordered around the same time came with the smaller size eyelets and incorrect bushings.

One set came from Low Range Off-road and the other set came from Wheelers. I contacted both business and got completely different results.



Low Range gave me a part number for the correct bushings and told me to order them.

Wheelers next day aired me a set of the correct bushings free of charge and apologize for the inconvenience.

 

Having a backup camera in the 2nd Gens was nice and I wanted to have that back

Master Tailgaters 4" LCD Rear View Mirror.

This was done before I installed the the Anzo tail lights and the same shop that told me the tail lights wouldn't work did the installation for me.
Paying someone else to crawl under the truck was a birthday gift to myself and I was hoping to have the tail lights and mirror all done that day.

I also had them install some Memphis audio speakers with tweeters in the front doors that day.

I ended up having to drive to a different shop to have the mirror glued to the windshield. The kit didn't come with glue and the audio shop didn't have any on hand but the automotive glass shop just down the road glued it up for free



Before


After

I don't love this mirror, in fact I told my wife I wanted to fill the box it came in with dog scat and return it
They are obviously not made in the US and whoever translated the programming must not speak English.
There are lots of things it's supposed to do but I can't even get it to turn off and on correctly let alone read a memory chip.

Of course the car wash ripped the camera in two the first time I went through but surprisingly its still functional (when the mirror is working) a little electrical tape is holding in together now.


I did try and order a fancy US made handle cameras but the mirror doesn't receive any signal from it at all.


I think there is supposed to be a way to adjust the frequency or something in the mirror settings but it's not very user friendly I'm not sure if the setting needs to be "Left or Up"
Or maybe it's the "Small/Medium/Good" option I'm getting confused on.

I've wondered if you could cut a second gen tailgate skin and graft it on the 1st gens tailgate and use the OEM second gen mirror to run the camera. It's a little over the top but would be cool

 

I met up with a fellow Tacoma Enthusiast the other day, some of you may recognize his rig

Micah is a cool guy with a sweet build and has the Ultimate seat swap upgrade in my book.

He's got a few Instagram and YouTube videos
@overlandunderbudget


Still rocking the P0442 CEL.

 

Ever wonder what would happen if you went wheeling with a carrier bearing that's installed upside down and backwards?

Not much really.
It's still backwards but I did spin it so it's half right


It still vibrates less than the old one did

 

A plate bumper is something I've wanted for a long time so I took advantage of some Black Friday deals

All-Pro Apex bumper with IFS, and T case skids and the gas tank cover from Low Range


It took me a while to get the bumper painted but I finally did.
I notice a mounting bracket was bent during shipment

a quick smack with a dead blow took care of no big deal

Cleaned with rubbing alcohol


Primer


Gloss black acrylic enamel.
I will say it was difficult to get a good even coat on the bumper without over spray everywhere. There are soo many different angles it just made it complicated. I kicked myself a few times for not shelling out the extra cheddar to get the bumper powder coated but I it turned out alright eventually

 

Little shot on the way to see my pop's for Christmas.
(first time in over 10 years)

Now it's bumper time!
Knowing there was a history of front end damage I was a little worried about what I might find.


The frame end cap on the passenger side looked like it was bent just a smidge to me and I figured it might give me a little trouble

And it did. The bolt stripped so I filed the threads some to help it get started and sent her home

Also how ugly is this grille filler, these things are a pain in the ass on 1st and 2nd gens

Can't have that





Chipped the paint a little getting it installed, a second set of hands would have made this a hell of a lot easier.
I'm a little partial to the hook under the truck so I chose to reinstall that with the original hardware


Just having something to cover the bottom of the radiator makes me feel more comfortable



I had a feeling these 3" led blinkers were going to mess with the flasher relay and they did but that's a simple fix

EP35 LED Relay for the win.
Thanks @eon_blue for the quick response and knowing what relay i needed

 

Bumper is on and the Pups were ready to go So I thought I'd explore. The last time I attempted to go down this trail everything was dry and the tall dead grass running down the middle of the the track looked like a fire Hazzard. it was a little ironic when I turned around due to too much moisture. I'm sure it was passable but not really worth ripping up the trail and making the rutts worse for everyone else later on

Before

After


We still ended up driving around the desert for a while and let the dogs run their hearts out.






These lovely horses were very friendly and disappointed I didn't have hey in the bed for them

 

get out there and drive

 

Here's a little throw back


First time ever installing headers, It only took me 11 hours. I don't think my mom knew what she was doing when she gave me the clicker to her 3rd bay garage door.




I should also mention I completely forgot the recycle value of cats and threw the manifolds away




Man this 4.0 sure did run good

Until it didn't

 

Here's another mod I did on the 09 that could be replicated on a 1st gen

I did this after smashing the trailer plug for the second time

 

Back to 1st Gen things.

Made a little progress on the Tundra brakes today.

 

That pizza was so good!

 

Worth the 300 miles?
I know for sure it's worth the 3 it takes me haha

 

time to get busy