What Have You Done To Your 3rd Gen Today?

Probably not that big of a milestone for the Tacomas…

100K, baby! Let’s keep it going!

 

Ok took the Taco for a first drive today after The K&N CAI install. Very impressed definitely noticed a difference on idle much smoother Also on and off throttle transitions smoother .
I can feel a difference in added power from The seat dyno lol with the force it pushes me back in the seat. Holys### does it sound good to !!! It’s very loud at full throttle but I love it !!
Also I popped the hood when I got home to make sure everything was snug and good to go still and it was of course. But what impressed me was how hot the engine compartment was but when I stuck my hand in the top of the air box it was like night and day temperature difference it felt cool in comparison even the filter. I’m glad I went with the plastic composite intake pipe vs metal it was cooler to . I liked the looks of the metal one but I was afraid of it being like a heat sink retaining heat.
Anyway very happy with the results and I think it compliments the OTT nicely. I wish I would have went with the blacked out version I didn’t even realize they had one with a black filter and and all hardware including hose clamps. But other then that I’m a happy camper


A trip to the vape shop And a glamour shot although dirty she still looks pretty sexy

 

Thanks for the heads up. Mine’s (RCI skid) going on when I do my Fall maintenance.
Same thing happened to the ‘security’ hardware I got with my Talons Garage cat protector. Total garbage.
Edit: maybe that was Talons intention. Hardware becomes so locked up nobody can get it off.

 

Same thing on the colenite insulator wax. It needs to be heated up and mixed prior to use.
I don't really have a mix. I just add some blacklight, ceramic spray, distilled water and colenite until I have a semi-thick waxy spritz when I squeeze the trigger.

It would honestly be totally fine with just colenite and distilled water.....I'm using the remainder of the blacklight I purchased for my black truck.. I won't be buying that or the ceramic spray again. I'll just stick with the colenite from here on out.

I don't want to hassle with gimmicks that claim to make taking care of black paint easier.

 

If I would’ve known I would’ve put some anti seize on the bolts. In all fairness I live at the coast and the salt air is very unforgiving.

 

Finished with the winch install today. I was hoping to be install my 30” Rigid light bar too but couldn’t get it to fit. My SSO bumper won’t work with the Rigid brackets. Anyone know what brackets I need to get to make it works?

 

The doesn't have any features that tie it to the main frame rails. I ordered the C4 Fab frame brackets and got them after 3 weeks. The All-Pro bumper structure is closer to the frame studs, so I had to trim about 3/16" from the C4 bracket flange to clear the bumper welds:



The brackets test-fitted well after modification. I don't have front shock remote resis, one fewer complication:



Rattlecanned with Tremclad primer and semi-gloss paint:



Installed with longer 1/2"-13x4" stainless bolts and nyloc nuts:

 

thanks it’s the Baja designs xl linkable Tacoma kit.

here is the link to my build page


https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/tyta-trd-toyota-turd-build.706899/

 

I’ll drop my input in here since I’ve gone through all the various tunes. I opted to do it myself since no shops are local, so I purchased the OV tune dongle and license. I started off with their tunes, pretty good overall and a great starter set. You can also adjust theirs which gives you endless possibilities.

Then i decided I wanted to give KDMax a shot, a bit more spicy than the OV tune, but I uninstalled it within 1 week because it felt too jerky to me. It also held gears SO long, wouldn’t shift to 3rd until almost 34mph which made any neighborhood or slow road driving loud from high revs and jerky like someone learning stick and keeping it in too low of a gear.

now I’ve been on OTTs for probably a month and I’m very happy with it. Great power curve and gives more midrange than the OV maps, but upshifts a lot earlier than KDMax on light throttle which is more like how it works stock. It’s all subjective but I decided the only way I’d be happy was if I tried them all myself.

 

Good to know. I may pop under there and put anti seize on the bolts. Just took them out last week before heading to the dealer for the first oil change. No issues but the skid has only been on since June.

 

I tinted my taillights with a light smoke vinyl; I really like the color on the Lunar Rock and it really tones down the chrome. It doesn't seem to block much light based on me just looking at it in the daylight and at night.
Was it easy? Heck no. I should have bought an extra half kit as the second tail is so much cleaner than the first. It took at least an hour per taillight. It's not perfect but unless you look close you won't notice my errors. BTW, the precut pieces are from Bogar Tech Designs on Etsy and they rate it as difficult. You have to custom order the light smoke.


With some of the scraps, I also tinted the turn signals on my mirrors to tone down the shine. That was a pretty quick process.


Next I put a ceramic matte dressing on my tires. I'll have to see how long it lasts.

 

That's what I did with mine. That and I used stainless screws.

 

Even better!

 

Should be good to go then.
Edit: mine was on for a few months before it was discovered.

 

So clean!!

 

Where were you trying to fit the 30" Rigid light bar? SSO sells a version of that bumper with a light cutout.

 

I pulled my skids and hit the undercarriage with some Cosmoline. I don’t miss shuffling skids on and off. Less so when they share mounting points that have to align with one another. Hahahaha.. I gave it a bath afterwards. Now I feel a little better heading into winter.

 

Finished up all the cutting and welding on the Martec Engineering 3 link kit. Now to paint, and reassemble the truck next weekend

 

Nothing today as I up my post count in order to sell off some parts to keep my wife happy, and our office cleansed of tacoma parts. But i did install some DS18 tweeters this past weekend. They sound amazing.

 

What tune did you have before Ed? How did you install the patch? I have 2 too that i didnt install