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

Got the arb off the wreck. Appears to be mostly straight except the outer corner on the driver side. New brackets and some welding it’ll be good as new

 

You aren't going to get far with that hard 90" turn. Further, the engine can't get enough air out of the engine fast enough due to the headers, so there's little to gain on the intake side without forced induction.

 

Now comes the really fun part.

 

When does she start getting glued back together?

 

1st two pieces are in on Passenger side.

1st piece


2nd piece


They aren't finished welded. But they're in.

1st piece is in on driver side too.

 

Nice!

Is that the .030 wire?

 

wow, that actually looks a lot trickier than I thought, are you using cereal box templates or anything?

 

Yep. We're running it pretty low so we don't burn through the truck sheet metal. But we'll need to turn it up where we are welding new to new.

The new metal is 16 guage.

 

Amazon box actually

 

Yeah I recall, good to hear you had a lot of it too.

I was going to say, maybe run a little hotter or move slower, and dial the wire speed down just a bit.

 

CAD

Cardboard aided design

 

My biggest and only complaint is that the battery only lasts 3-4 hours max. Basically need to charge it every damn time I use it.

 

Quick story that'll serve as a thank you to a TW member on here and provide further evidence of why Tacoma World is such a great community.

In February 2017 by chance I found a set of discontinued TRD Headers for the 3.4L engine at McGeorge Toyota in Richmond, VA. The parts guy was shocked they were there after being discontinued for so long.

There are two types of exhaust systems on the 1st Gen Tacoma - systems with 2 catalytic converters and systems with 1 cat. I believe the 2 cat systems are 01-04, 1 cat 96-00. Mine is a 2003 with 2 cats. The discontinued TRD Headers I had purchased were for 1 cat systems. What this meant was the Y-Pipe on these headers would be too long if I installed them. That left me 3 options.

Option 1. Purchase part # PTR10-89990-18. This was a Toyota TRD corrected Y-pipe that was shortened for the 2 cat systems and the best option. Unfortunately, that part is also discontinued and while the headers occasionally pop up for sale on here and eBay, I've never seen this part for sale. Option 1 was a dead-end.

Option 2. Use the incorrect Y-pipe, remove one catalytic converter, purchase an 02 Simulator from URD and have an exhaust shop booger the remaining cat to the headers. The URD 02 simulator appears to be discontinued. I couldn't find it on their website 5 years ago or today when I searched. Option 2 is a dead end.

Option 3. Have an exhaust shop alter/desecrate a discontinued TRD y-pipe to make it fit my exhaust system. Couldn't bring myself to do that.

So I boxed them back up and put them in a corner of the garage for 5 years. In the past 6 months I've seen people trying to sell used TRD Headers for anywhere between $800-1100 so I was contemplating selling them earlier this year.

Recently another 1st Gen owner, @Lil Puke, had installed TRD Headers (https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...t-gen-edition.138573/page-10756#post-27568565). He has a 1 cat system but his headers had the y-pipe for 2 cat headers. That means he was facing the opposite problem - his y-pipe didn't reach the catalytic converter leaving a gap. He fabricated a piece to correct this. I messaged him and told him I wish that I had known he was installing these before he finished because he had the y-pipe I needed and I had the y-pipe he needed and offered to swap him if he ever got a wild hair to do so.

Now here's where I'm reminded why this place is so great. After a couple replies back and forth @Lil Puke agreed to remove his y-pipe and swap me. Keep in mind he didn't have to do that. He had fabricated a piece to make his headers work and they were already installed. Even though I offered to pay him for his time removing and reinstalling he refused to accept payment, he was just happy to help a fellow TW member out.

I just thought that was a really cool, and selfless thing to do for a complete stranger on the other side of the country and I figured sharing that story would be a better way to say thank you than a PM. Now, five years later, maybe I can finally get these TRD Headers on my truck. See pics below showing differences in length.

 

That's awesome! Glad the community came through, good on ya @Lil Puke

 

Driver side piece 1 and 2 are in

 

You can swap out that battery for a higher capacity one that lasts longer. It's a standard 18650 size I believe. Not sure if it has to be with or without button head though. You can also get a couple so that you could just swap them out when it runs dead and have one on deck ready to go.
https://www.18650batterystore.com/products/epoch-18650-3500mah-usb-pcb

 

Thanks, but it's an 84.

 

Jeebus, how big are you going?

 

35s... for now

 

Oh shit. Good to know, thanks!