Aesthetic upgrade vs performance?

I’m having trouble choosing a first mod for my 2002 prerunner, where do I first throw my money (which is a little tight)? Do I get a bilstien lift and new tires on stock wheels, research and invest in possibly a supercharger that I guess was a dealership option on some of the 1st gens? Or get some new rims and tires ( wishy washy between the old fj “beadlock” wheels in black for 1000 that are missing the caps or method 305 17” in machined with black lip for 875) my truck is silver if that makes a difference. Other mod suggestions would be great aswell

 

I usually try to go for function mods first. This of course depends on what you want to do with the truck. If you’re not going to be venturing off road and the lift is for looks and the performance engine mods would benefit you more, then I’d say performance. If you’re planning to off road at all…then the lift and tires would be my route. With it being a pre runner, I don’t know how much off road experience you’re looking to get out of it.
Just my 2 cents

 

Tight budget and mods doesn't go very well together. Save once, and do it right, whatever it is you want to do. Thats not to discourage you from modding - thats just to say if you skimp on something now, you'll be regretting it later. It sucks, but its worth it to just keep saving. My advice is don't do any "major mods"/perfomance mods if you're not sure what the end goal is. Ex: a bilstein lift now might not be the best fit for your future heavily modded truck.

 

The words tight budget and supercharger in the same paragraph?

 

Comes down to what is more important !!

Mileage ?? Engine ?

To me brakes suspension steering all up to speed. All the maintenance caught up. Fluids, hoses and belts
,
Supercharger and broke does not bode well

 

i also get strong "i'm gonna keep this truck forever!" vibes from this.

i had that. i was going to v8/rwd-swap my 1994 chrysler lebaron. then i lost my job, car maintenance ate the rest, and the car got carmax'd to pay bills. got a new job, new car, it was PERFECT. then something shinier came out 4 years later. got the new car, 3 months later, someone decided their stop sign was optional, it was a total loss.

have fun with your truck, but remember, above all-- it's a mass-produced item that is entirely replaceable. not all the reasons to replace it will be of your choosing, but all vehicles will meet their demise sooner or later. parts are fun to change, but not everything is worthwhile 5 years later. if money is tight, my personal perspective is to choose "neither". heck, i'm putting off installing my trucks sound system right now because i changed jobs 2 months ago, and money is still tight from the career/tool change. and i have 99% of the parts...

 

Off road is definitely the main goal as I try to do something every week atleast. Wether it be checking out a new spot or cruising in some of the local areas. However it’s also my daily to go to and from work and school so I don’t want to make it undriveable past 65. And I one hundred percent agree that if ima do anything ima do it right and save up, being on budget rn I was wondering if I should snag the deals on either of the wheels or keep saving and get a one of the others I listed. As for the super charger option I know that’s not a mid priced mod and would cost a lot to do right which is where I was debating even considering it especially as it’s not something I would even need as the 3.4 does more than a good job for what I’m using it for and my experience level. I know what my dream end result is and don’t want to skimp on price and end up buying the same parts over and over again everytime I have money to spend. And yes at the moment everything basic service wise is perfect and the I plan to keep a reserve pile of money for any trouble that comes to the car if something breaks. The car has 165000 miles and I do what I can to keep it running for as long as I can and yes would like to “keep this truck forever” and treat it as such. Thank you all for the information I think ima do as follows. New belts/tuned, maybe a brake swap from rear drums to disc, tires, update and get rid of the 21 year old suspension, and then go for looks like rims, racks, lights ect. Thanks again for all the inputs, if there’s anything else please educate me, still new to this and glad there’s so many resources to use to help me make this the truck I want it to be.

 

My best advice; save up all your money. Don't put another dime into your truck, save it, and find another daily. Then mod away. Just like cheap and supercharged don't go together, offroad and daily don't go together. Sure, you can make it work, but at what cost. It won't be the cheap route, thats for sure.

 

Agreed. Buy once, cry once

That means your mods will be well thought out/functional and of a quality that will last as long as the truck itself.

 

That is very well stated

 

Very solid advice! When I used my 85 Runner as a wheeler and daily it was bad. Break it, ride bike to work until I saved enough to fix it and then go break it…repeat the process.

 

Replace what needs done but dont cheap out too much.

You may need new struts / shocks - doing a nice middle-of-the-road Bilstein lift should be good.

May need tires - stay not-too-huge - look into "pizza cutter" sizes. Plan for how youll use the truck. Offroading on MTs is amazing, but could kill you in snow.
OEM rims are tasteful and strong, so the beadlock FJ wheels sounds like a nice choice.

 

I’ve always liked the look of steelies with pizza cutters on them. Not only will MTs hurt snow performance but usually wear out much faster than an all terrain like a wildpeak at3.

 

On a 1st gen Tacoma, no matter what performance mod you do, it's still going to be a dog. You have one of the most reliable engine ever produced by Toyota, but it's never going to feel powerful or be a quick little truck. My vote would be to spend some money on aesthetic mods to make the truck more of your own. Get it to look how you want it to then later down the road, one of the best performance mods you can do is regear.

 

If you have the money, supercharger all the way. It's not a ton of power, but something that you will feel and enjoy everytime you drive your truck!

 

My family had an 85 4Runner that the dealership installed a supercharger on the overwork 22RE 4banger. It sucked so much gas that it left the driver with a feeling that was later called range anxiety.

These are balanced machines, across a number of domains. Fuel useage/tank size is one of those.

 

How have you been maintaining it? On a 2002 you should be thinking only about maintenance, 21 years, rubber rots out, there's potential rust mitigation issues, and even if garaged most of the time stuff just wears out. I totally get the tight budget, same here, but price out and knock off one thing at a time, engine, drive train components, suspension especially LBJ's, tires. That's why mine is completely stock, any money I'd consider throwing at mods goes directly into maintenance.

 

Depends how much money you want to spend I guess. Suspension and lift is always helpful