2000 Toyota Tacoma Project Truck

Looks like I will need to replace the radiator support on the white one. Is there a way to reuse the one in the green 98? Or should I just buy a new one? They seem preety inexpensive price wise (less than $100). I think though it may reuqire a lot of work on my end just to remove the one that needs to be replaced. From what I understand there are a lot of tack welds?

 

Those AM rad supports rarely fit without shit tons of modifications to the $100 part
If you have a good OE donor, I would use that fur sure

$19 14-Pack Spot Weld Cutter Sets Double Sided, 3/8" HSS Spot Weld Cutter Remover Drill Bits Hex Sheet Metal Hole Cutter Remover for Power Drill Spot Welding

https://www.amazon.com/14-Pack-Cutt...9903aa106fee327280445d807e7efeb2&gad_source=1

 

The one in the parts truck seems completely salvageable. Thats what worries me about these parts on Amazon and Ebay. Ends up being more work. Thanks for the tool reference. It is in my "Tacoma List" in Amazon.

It said to use this for all drilling:

$8 Forney 20857 Tap Magic Industrial Pro Cutting Fluid, 4 oz

https://www.amazon.com/Forney-20857...+lube+for+drilling,industrial,137&sr=1-3&th=1

 

^Hard same^

Reading that gave me memories of working on fourwheelers with my brother when we were teens. Glad yall are having a good time and thanks for sharing!

 

I enjoy watching people bring back the tacos that have a foot in the grave, I did the same thing with my 97 DLX!

 

I had my buddy (body tech) put in an Amazon rad support in my 97, it was "fine" it wasn't perfect. some of the holes that the lamps clipped into needed reamed out a bit. If you feel confident drilling out the one from the part truck and have a ton of clamps... it is doable. I would probably buy the AM considering this will never be a show truck. My truck had a full repaint... TBH, I wish I had bought a new OEM seeing how nice mine turned out. But, that aftermarket (AM) should work just fine.

 

More progress photos. The radiator support doesnt seem too bad in all reality. The LH side is pretty flawless the RH side is definitely bent a little bit but it seems like in all reality, I may be able to pull it out to straighten it. I just need to remove the bracket that holds the radiator support and get it to align better. We also started to take apart the inside removing that completely nasty carpet and unbolting the seatbelts.

 

Oh hell yeah
That core support is fine
Needs some dollie’ng/cold repair….no biggie
-remove everything that is on R apron for access
-get a HF slide hammer
-most importantly, find measurements like this:
This is 96 quite possibly the same



IMO
The worst you will have to do is transfer the crushed brackets from green rad core to white rad core
Rattle can paint bc non appearance

 

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Or

 

While waiting for the Hammer Strike (i ended up getting the one that also removes shafts/axles) I decided to start taking apart the interior. The interior, in my opinion, was a mess. Someone had cut into the dash board, ripped apart the climate control, did their own modifications that was a shit show gone bad.

So taking apart all the way to the instrument cluster was kind of a no brainer since every screw was in plain sight and outside the norms of Toyota conformity. I did follow a post by turbodb that was titled How-To: Dash Trim Removal (1st gen). His was a later model than mine (Post 2001) but the concept was the same and I just followed his exact sequential steps. I followed his instructions all the way to the instrument cluster. From there, I ventured further into removing the entire dash panel and steering wheel. Removing the entire dash panel is way easier if you remove the steering wheel first. I did the panel first then the steering wheel. Next time, I wont. To remove the dash panel there are to nuts that are right behind the instrument cluster. There are also 2 bolts right by the steering column as well. Here they are (1 of each).





Since my dash was so fucked up, half of the screws were missing. The big issue I had was getting around the air bag above the glove box. The easiest way was to pop out the glove box (2 screws on the bottom). From there you will have a black cover that needs to be unbolted (3 bolts).



You will also notice an access panel (this holds the wiring harness for the air bag, its yellow) and another wiring harness that is clipped to the back.


I just popped the entire black cover off (3 bolts) then had easy access to remove the wiring harness that was slid onto the back and also access to disassemble the air bag wiring harness.

From there i was able to disconnect both the air bag wiring harness and unclip the wiring harness from the back.

 

Once these are disconnected and out of the way, there are 2 in plain sight bolts. Since it appears that the air bag was "first mounted" to the back of the dash panel then put in place and bolted, I figured it would be easy to remove the dash panel with the air bag attached to it. Once I undid these bolts (sorry no pic) I also disconnected a large HVAC horizontal tube:



This enabled the HVAC tubing (since it appears to be put together in section) to be disconnected from the dashboard register. The dashboard register just stays attached to the back of the dash panel, similar to the airbag. Then I just went around the bottom of the dash panel and gently pulled from the bottom to start removing it. If I saw a screw or bolt, I undid it. The with gentle prying it just popped right off.

 

The steering wheel was actually very easy. I diconnected the yellow clip from the bottom of the steering wheel (airbag) and also the horn (i think).



Then I found 2 Torx 27.5 nuts located behind some caps on the side of the steering wheel.



These T27.5 screws have a retainer clip in them so they dont fall out, but you do kind of have to get in there to unseat them in order to get the airbag to pop off. Once popped off, I disconnected the wiring for the air bag (yellow).



To remove the wheel, I used a breaker bar for leverage and a 22mm socket to loosen. Then I just kind of heaved and hit the steering wheel to jostle it so that it would break free of the spindle. It just popped right off.



I now have one completely disassembled dashboard.



My next move was to crack open a fresh beer, get the compressor out and blow out all the dust that has accumalated then crack open another beer. Done for the night.

 

Now that I have the instrument cluster and access to the back, I am wondering if I shouldnt replace all those bulbs with LED ones. They seem pretty inexpensive on Amazon (about $10 for a set of 10) however on Rock Auto they are much more expensive. Closer to $3-$4 for each bulb. I know you get what you pay for, but I am wondering if anyone has any insight to replacing these bulbs. Technically I could use the original (NON-Led) for about $1 per bulb. All the ones that are black seem to be the clear bulb. There are 2 smaller grey ones and 2 larger Green bulbs and 2 larger black (clear). These are definitely bigger bulbs. Since I am here, might as well replace them all? There are also a couple with missing bulbs, but I am assuming that these are for features that are not available in my truck.

 

Only thing to watch out for with LEDs is that they tend to have poor diffusion so you end up with bright and dark spots on the cluster. There's a bunch of pictures of people that have done it but the bright spots are what turned me off from the idea. If you want something unique, TEQCustoms makes a Glow Gauge which is an lit overlay with a retro stripe design. They've got indiglo like the old watches and yellow & black. Kind of pricey and you end up with a second dimmer knob though.
Figured I'd mention that since you already have the cluster out.

 

Thanks....I decided to keep it simple. I wwent to Rock Auto and the Sylvania Bulbs are ..75 apiece and they are long life. So for less than $20 I can replace the entire cluster that has white and not worry about diffusion. Now I just need to bird dog the larger ones and the different color ones.

 

Absolute brain surgery. Just a little concerned about those front Jack stands for the safety of all.

 

Those makeshift jackstands though...personally wouldn't get under that.

 

I have solid jackstands in the back that are rated 3 tons apiece, and the front are post pier blocks with straps that are screwed in to a 4 x 10 solid piece of lumber. The 2 x 4 scraps are meant to give the header clearance around the exhaust. I went into the bed of the truck and jumped up and down. Didn't budge at all. I have shored up single story homes with smaller sized lumber. I'm feeling pretty good about it.

 

Removed the bench seat and carpet from the parts car, and I must say. It looks almost new.

 

Then I started to do some paint prep and paint in the cab area where the Factory paint is exposed. I went with black because...you know....black is cool!