Betterbuckleup's 2000 taco build & BS

Some cool shots from my buddies film camera that he just got developed

R1-02927-0022 by Ian Lennox, on Flickr

R1-02927-0015 by Ian Lennox, on Flickr

R1-02927-0027 by Ian Lennox, on Flickr

R1-02927-0019 by Ian Lennox, on Flickr

R1-02924-026A by Ian Lennox, on Flickr

 

Started doing some maintenance this weekend.
Haven't checked the valve clearances in like almost 40k so it's time. I was surprised the exhaust side wasn't that far out of spec. Intake side needed mostly new shims.
Should get them in a couple days and can then move onto some more fun mods



Should be getting a new steering rack today too that I'll hopefully get installed while I'm waiting for parts.

 

Might have an OEM on for sale soon

 

Already got a new OEM one.
Good looking out tho bro!

 

Got the valves adjusted and shimmed for the last time. I don't plan on doing it again with this cylinder head unless I'm swapping it because some of the threads are starting to pull out on the bolts that hold down the camshaft bearing caps.

Scored a LCE 8port supercharger for a good deal, so I spent Friday through Sunday this last weekend installing it with a low boost pulley and some Teflon gaskets in addition to my new steering rack.
Hardest part of the install was getting the lower bolts of the plenum tightened to the cylinder head and routing the fuel line through the SC body. I fought with screwing the banjo fitting and crush washers back into the fuel filter for what felt like an hour. The LCE installation instructions definitely leave something to be desired on many fronts.

Haven't driven it much so far, but not that crazy of a difference as to be expected with the SC for this motor. After I run this as is for a while, I plan on eventually doing a high boost setup with the required accompanying mods. Before that I need to get a wideband sensor and gauge installed.





Inspected the valves while I had the intake off and damn they're so clean you can eat off of them.


Teflon gaskets. One on the throttle body and SC to cylinder head. Benefit is supposed to be heat isolation. Should be reusable a good number of times too I'd imagine.


Had to split the wiring loom to breakout the wires for the detonation sensor and camshaft position sensor. At least I did according to the instructions. I should have just left the camshaft position sensor a part of the main harness instead of almost breaking the connector trying to squeeze it through between two of the intake ports on the SC body.
There was a part of the harness that almost looked like someone had previously modified or repaired or something. There was what seemed to be liquid electrical tape wrapped with blue electrical tape. Not sure if it's factory or not, but that was strange to see.





Had to replace the injector seals after one broken when twisting it



Cleaned 3 years of crud off the subframe while I had the rack off. That was satisfying to do. It was always so grimy back there.


New v old


Swapped the bushings over. I should have got a new set for when replacing the rack. Mine are in decent shape for what they've been through, but the vertical bushing is a bit wallowed out and I should go back in and replace it.


Bled the fluid did a toe only alignment.
The steering is so much better. Dare I say better than it's ever been. Consistent feel throughout turning. It was definitely time for a new rack.

 

That's how you take pics of car shit! Nice to be able to zoom into a pic when you are looking for fine details or markings on a cap or bearings or whatever when building things.

 

Thanks! These are straight off my phone though. Nothing special compared to the folks who take them with their real cameras

 

These phone cams take bad ass pics these days though.

 

That's for damn sure. The best camera is the one you already have!

 

I am curious at what interval you adjust your valves? I did my first on at 135k (too long I know) and have yet to do another and I am at 165k.
I have read that the interval seems to shorten and several folks have noted that their clearances got lower faster than before their initial adjustment. I’m just curious. Thank you.

 

You know, I really didn't need to do them in hindsight. There weren't that many out of spec. The only ones that really needed changing were on the intake side. But everyone has a different opinion on when you should do it. I read online that it should be every 25-35k, but imo that's way too often.
This will probably be the last time I do mine for another 70-90k or something.

The only thing you really have to worry about with the valve clearances is the exhaust side.
When I bought the truck, one of the exhaust valves was ovalized and leaking because I assume the PO hadn't adjusted the valves in god knows how long.

If you ask me, I would say wait another 20k or to check yours. But to each their own.

 

Installed an Innovate PSB-1 Boost and AFR gauge this last weekend. Cleaned up and removed some wiring behind the radio too while I was at it. This is likely a temporary location for it until I get some other things sorted out down the line with the SC. It mounted into that bezel perfectly though in place of the clock. Didn't have to modify anything.





When I went to install the wideband bung, I saw that the downtube was cracked almost all the way around.
Turns out my hack job at welding the crack from the outside of the truck before didn't do shit and the crack just continued making its way around the pipe.

This was my previous repair "attempt". I didn't want to take the pipe out and was being lazy. Basically zero metal prep too when I did it
Lesson learned.





The backside of the pipe



I could visibly flex the whole pipe at that crack and could have likely just snapped it off if I wanted too. Good I caught it when I did.
Had to completely grind off my previous weld on it.

Hopefully this repair holds. Otherwise I'll just get another pipe from the scrapyard or something. I drilled each end of the crack and then ground a groove along it for hopefully proper weld penetration.







Wideband bung placement

 

So after a recent snow wheeling trip to get a xmas tree, I realized my front diff was pissing gear oil out the breather when using the air locker. It's been happening for a bit now, but was kind of inconsistent when it decided to push oil out.
I pulled the diff and sent it into ECGS for warranty work.

I thought it was going to be the bonded seal, but turns out that it was one of the outer seals that rides on the carrier housing. Part of the carrier had a groove dug into it which explains the metal I had been seeing in the gear oil. ECGS's best guess was that the preload was off from the factory from ARB.

While the diff was out, I took the opportunity to do some other stuff:

• front differential mount bushing
• Big 7 wiring upgrade
  
• Lexus front diff drain plugs
• repack CV grease on passenger side CV axle
• re-grease LCA bushings w/ prothane super grease

I had to remove the radiator overflow reservoir to make room for where I wanted to mount the fuse for the alternator.












Found that one of the bushings was torn on the LCA. Fortunately I had some of the old ones I replaced before. Not impressed with how these have been wearing. Hopefully the new thicker lube helps keep them in better condition, but I don't have high hopes.

 

Those LCA's look they were cheap.

 

yeaaaa

at least they look sick!

 

I've been finishing up some preliminary prep stuff before the Haltech 750 goes in soon.

Installed some NGK FR7BHX-S spark plugs. I just did plugs which I'm not stoked about, but these are a couple steps colder than the step 5 OEM spec and are supposedly better for boost.


Installed the methanol pump & filter, 5 gal AEM tank, routed the lines, mounted the relay and wired it to the adapter harness.


We'll see how long this lasts. I didn't want to have to fillup on methanol every tank of gas or so. Hopefully this can last for longer camping trips without having to carry extra or turn it off. Fortunately the height of it worked perfectly so that it doesn't get in the way of my sleeping platform.


Lines routed in and out of the cab to the pump
Where I mounted the relay


Got a bunch of parts to make my own cold air intake since all of the other options on the market for this motor were way overpriced. I was originally planning on just using the stock intake, but I figured might as well give the SC as much air as it can get and remove the factory restrictions and MAF since the ECU won't be using that.

Hopefully the oiled K&N filter holds up offroad with the prefilter bag. We will see.
Overall, the cold air intake costed just shy of $200 in parts that I all got off of Amazon.


Good trick for cutting tubing or pipe straight is to put tape on it to help line up the cut


Deburring




Drill large holes and then taping them for NPT threads is not super fun on this thin of tubing.


Finished first pipe with all accessories and sensors added

Finished product. Happy with how it came out. The coupler between the two pipes rests on the cruise control module which keeps the filter just up off of the sheet metal.

Next up is to throw the bigger injectors and smaller pulley on and then full send!

 

Sweeeeet! Def want to see how you like the meth setup. I had it in the past in a car but it was a janky setup and just went to C16. Never had a nice system.

 

This is my first experience with it. Was originally planning on only using it for the hot summer months, but we'll see how much I end up using it.
I'm mostly curious on what kind of consumption and mileage I get out of the 5 gal container

 

5G will last you a while. Prob weeks.

 

Nice installation of the meth system!