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

Could be years of oil changes and the subsequent mess, could be the oil pan, valve cover gaskets seeping all the way down, or the oil pressure sensor.

Only way to know will be to clean it up well and then watch for the source afterwards.

 

Saw this. Thought it was kind of interesting. Interesting... but not sure what I think beyond that. LOL.

Anyone else seen these? Was wondering what other people think of them. This may be a good way to get a set of 63s dialed in, unless I'm missing something.

 

so I ran a set of shackles from Iron Rock Off-road like these that I installed on my Jeep XJ. They worked for me

 

chopped it into tiny pieces and stuck in the back of my 3rd gen

 

Wow what happened to it? Was a pretty nice truck you had.

 

29 years in one of the worst places in the world for vehicle rust took its toll. pan, floors, rockers fenders, entire front rad support were all trash. got to the point where i needed a full other truck just to bring this one back to life but a clean 1st gen sell for INSANE prices and nearly dont exist at all. all parts are being sold off. only thing left are the spindles, cv axles, interior, and drivetrain.

this was my first truck i bought when i was 16 and spent a good part of my life driving. definitely wasnt an easy choice. i have nearly the same spec 2023 tacoma and am building it up in nearly the exact same way except supercharger instead of turbo

 

Big brian time





Bought 4 BRAND NEW TIRES for the first time in my cheap bastard life. Scored these mags off craigslist, PO ran em on a gmt400. Had to space em out w the 1 1/4" spidertrax i picked up off c list for a song. Minor rub on the mudflaps at/near full lock but pulled the middle flap screw and it stopped the bad noise.

Anyone recognize these wheels? Saw em on a mighty max down in puerto rico the other week, told my girlfriend there were a set nearby for sale, and she said i had to get em. Would love to know make etc if anyone does recognize.

Coming up on 320k, and would love to hear folks opinions on *decisions* should this 5vz blow up. Options include refreshed 5vz, turbo 5vz build, or tdi swap. After putting >110k on my last first gen w a 3rz, the bump to 190/220tq w the 5vz is tasty. Its within my skills (tho not current budget) to handle the above options. What would you do?

 

Yeah I suppose clean up is the first step…. Been putting it off. Do people just spray brakleen with a catch pan underneath?

Also, here are some pics of the stance. I have the fender trim off to clean it up and new headlights in the mail. Next is a good clean and polish.

 

I'm rocking a turbo 5VZ and it's a good time, it's not cheap but look at it this way, a new truck isn't cheap either.

 

It's cheap compared to a reliable tdi swap

 

And other than fuel economy is a whole lot more entertaining too

 

Opened it up a little.

 

Swapped the compressor today on my climate control project. Next is the hard part: Evaporator and heater core replacement. Kinda dreading that part.

 

Foaming degreaser, gentle scrubbing with a wire brush, pressure wash, rinse, repeat until satisfied

 

Easy option...new supercharger model.

Fun option...turbo


the "i want to spend more money and time and fabrication" option...engine swap

 

Option 3 is neat

 

Installed a leather steering wheel cover from Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B714D5DL

Stitching while bitching . The baseball stitch requires two needles and two threads. The threads are extremely long at first and in close driver seat quarters makes for numerous entanglements and potential knots. As an afterthought, removing the steering wheel could have been helpful. Garage lighting doesn't illuminate the back side of the steering wheel well so the backside holes in the leather are difficult to see.

The relatively large spokes take "dummy" stitches and have a slight amount of pucker. I will look at adhesive or two-faced tape as a way to tamp down the pucker.

This was my first attempt at a leather wrapping/stitching so it took me about 3 hrs to get 75% complete. Finished the balance the next morning.

To me the result is a really good feel and appearance upgrade on the nearly 30 year old steering wheel of my daily reno driver.

I also have a kit in Black for my 3rd Gen 4Runner that I will install when I get another batch of free evening time.

Mike

 

nice price on that!
I have Wheelskins on my taco and 4runner ($66 for equivalent cover). How does the quality compare to the high end wheel wraps?

 

I considered Wheelskins but for the price I figured what the hell and if I didn’t like it I could return it.

The leather quality in my opinion is quite decent.

Today I was able to remove the pucker in the right spoke by putting a few more stitches in the edge to pull it tighter.

Mike

 

Still haven’t finished it, but I got the TRE’s from Toyota today, and I started cleaning and greasing the Hubs.

They were caked with brake dust so I gave them a mineral spirits bath and scrubbed with a scotch bright pad. Pulled them all apart and lubed them up. I also picked up some new hub gaskets from Toyota. I still have to do the outer dials.