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

I personally like the look of VDO gauges the most too, although they tend to match Euro cars a bit better (half the OE clusters are built by them anyway). Only gauges I like equally are SpeedHut and they're spendy but fully customizable which can be nice. Nice setup! I have a little 3d printed gauge cluster in that area too, but mine uses some OLED displays and an arduino to talk to my aftermarket ECU.

 

I'd like to see that!

I ordered one of these Zada Tech OLED gauges to see if I could make it work anywhere. Also kind of spendy, but neat.

https://zada-tech.com/products

 

The ones in my truck (don't have a pic on hand at the moment) look a lot like positioning of yours and are a standard single DIN height and width with four OLEDs. I currently have them set for AFR(petrol), Coolant Temp, Manifold Pressure, and Intake air temp, but they can be just about any PID on the CAN stream.

Here's the other set I assembled for my buddy's truck, they're naturally white OLED displays but I've put a tinting skin of orange on them to match cluster colors. The little standard 2" round gauge faces are just 3D printed PETG, takes like 4hrs to make a whole build plate of them with any design you could want on the face. Single arduino can control up to 8 displays, @treyus30 did all the software research and development for the Arduino and decoding the Haltech CAN stream.

 

That's pretty awesome!

 

Ya'll make me want a Haltech just so I can do nerdy things. Like, the power and whooshy noises would be cool and all, but it's programming it that sounds really fun.

 

Oil pan leak, not a terrible job on the prerunner but I don't want to do it again. Also noticed what looks like the start of a front crankshaft leak or oil pump leak... after doing all of this 3 years ago when I replaced the timing cover.

 

Got some time off work for the holidays so going through the list.
- 30k service: engine oil and filter, diffs, transmission, and transfer case fluids, coolant, thermostat, air filter, MAF sensor, spark plugs, etc.
- Installed seat trim reinforcement reinforcements
- Added a strip of weather stripping to the dash-windshield connection to hopefully deaden the rattle
- Installed the Lutz Auto speedometer calibrator
- Installed the Switch Pros 9100 switch panel

Question for the speedometer calibrator math: I checked my door tag and the OEM tires on my xtra cab are 225/75r15 or 28.3in tall tires and it came with 4.10 gears. I am currently running 255/85r16s or ~33in tall tires and 4.88 gears. This would mean a (33-28.3)/28.3=16.6% increase for tires + a (4.88-4.10)/4.10=19% increase for gears thus a 35.6% total increase from OEM that I need to offset. I feel like thats going to put me way under.

 

I wouldn't base your selection solely on the door tag. My truck also has a 225/75r15 door tag with 4.10 gears, but I think it actually came with 31" tires from the dealer. I say that because I had a 265/75r15 (31") spare with a 1997 DOT code and my truck was manufactured in 1997 for the '98 model year.

Anyway, @turbodb says a 33-tooth speedo gear is perfect with 255/85r16 and 4.88 gears: https://adventuretaco.com/replacing-the-speedo-gear/

 

@warmingupmymind


Yep. 33-tooth is what you want with that combo, for the ODO to be correct. Or, you can use a device like the Lutzauto (see link below), if you want something that is adjustable for any combo. (Full disclosure - I didn't love how mine worked, so I uninstalled it. I would be happy to let it go for a good price ; PM me if interested.)

Also, note that when the speedo is correct (according to a GPS), the ODO is not. They differ by 5-6%, so you need to choose which you want to be correct. I wanted the ODO to be correct, since I care more about service intervals than some "random" speed on the highway.

Details here: https://adventuretaco.com/lutzauto-speedo-correction-device-issues/

 

Hey if you want things to program, I've got plenty of ideas.

 

What sort of ideas? No promises of course, but I'm curious what you have in mind.

I've got a degree in Computer Science, but mostly work with databases and web applications. Never done much with hardware or I/O.

 

Ok, you HAVE to give us the details on that LC locker switch install

 

buy a LC80 dial locker switch, buy a base model clock bezel that has no clock, and hole saw the diameter of the dial switch (use some glue to hold it in place if you like). It’s a 3 prong connector, 1 for power to the switch other 2 prong are for power going to the FR & RR.

 

All I wanted was to paint my wheels before getting the new tires on and now I am replacing both drums/shoes, replacing the passenger side backing plate, replacing the gas tank, getting the gas tank skid and under bed storage powder coated, fixing the leaking diff by welding it shut and replacing the bottom two studs with bolts for drainage.



Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr
Untitled by MJH Creations, on Flickr

 

I found that my truck has had a lot fewer problems since I stopped crawling under it

 

I know I should read that as ignorance is bliss but I wanna read it like you are a bad mechanic.

 

Both can be true at the same time

 

Thanks for the advice 6P4 and turbodb. I actually already bought and installed the Lutz Auto tool and calibrated it to negative 35% trying to match OEM spec but now I see that "OEM spec" is in heavy quotes and may not mean anything. I'll follow your advice and calibrate to get my ODO correct which I agree is more important than the speedo.

 

Changed my oil this past weekend... Didn't have a new OEM drain plug washer on hand, so just used a generic copper parts store one... drip drip drip Tried snugging the plug up a bit, but obviously wasn't gonna give it too many ugg-ahs... still dripping.

Current plan is to catch the new oil into one of those single use alloy baking pans while I quickly change out the drain plug and washer for a new one... I don't like the idea of catching the new oil in the oil drain pan as I have put other stuff in there (brake fluid, brake cleaner, gear oil, etc...), and I don't wanna use the metered container for the ATF to avoid similar potential cross contamination...

Just picked up 20 more OEM washers, so I should be set for the foreseeable future. The circling hawk sales person didn't even try a sales pitch, just gave me "you're probably just here for parts, huh?" "yes sir"...

 

That's kind of amazing actually. I've had three of these trucks and I've never once changed the crush washer during an oil change and it's never been a problem.