Old hat, new truck. Dose anyone do build threads anymore?

So a few weeks back i bought a 95 tacoma for my son(16) for his first vehicle. Toyotas arent new to me by any means, ive owned at least one ever since i was 18. Now we own 6 as a family and i have one for a company work vehicle -ive had a couple of 85 extra cab 4x4 pickups, currently have a 97 4runner thats got a few upgrades, and two GX470s. The goal obviously with this truck will be reliability/dependability number 1, and capability/fun number 2, and looks number 3.

Anyhow this tacoma, its been a interesting tail of discoveries. Bought it knowing it had a bad head gasket -coolant was like a bad coffee, but had no detectable misfire. Previous owner(seller) stated they had just rebuilt the motor, i was skeptical, but optimistic. Stated and provided receipts for machine work, new parts, ect totali g around $5k in work and parts from places all over from lce to carquest... thankfully the vast majority of the stuff was from lce. I get it home and first things first i drain the oil and put fresh oil in it, i want to see what comes out. Oil checks out its all clean other than just being mixed with coolant. Put new oil back in it and now we are gonna see how long it takes to turn into a cappuccino -about 30min, but no oil in the coolant. tear into it and find many things loose and or done (imo) improperly. Now this is my first 3rz, but i am very familiar with toyota and their designs and ways(old ways, and unfortunately new as well) of doing things. This was starting to look more and more like the previous owner(po) didnt know what they were doing... many electrical components were from questionable sources, carquest starter, bosch relays ect... missing, and loose bolts bolts.... definitely not my way of doing things and definitely not up to my standards. But as i dug deeper i start finding little hidden gems here and there -balance shaft delete, chromoly rods, .020 pistons, arp head studs new head all from lce. And so the records are starting to check out, but how do we have a blown headgasket. Plugs all looked fine, and again no misfires so what gives...

Well long story short bought a new oe top end gasket kit, head gets sent out and checked, new valve stem seals, resurfacing and it all comes back g2g, install new studs and reinstalled. Sent the valve cover and intake manifold/runners in to get tanked/cleaned as well, got those back and they immediately went to vapor honing, along with the fuel rail, mafs housing, and throttle body. Got the head back on, installed a new tensioner(carquest old one was a nogo for me) -i work for toyota so i kinda have a thing for some parts being oe. As it sits now we are waiting for those parts to get back from VH and then we will pit the rest of it back together.

Now comes the since im waiting stuff... found out the truck came with 358 gears, and the PO welded the rear diff, i sourced a set of 456 diffs and am swapping those. The interior is trashed, while its all there, its dirty dirty dirty... like nasty everything is covered in a gross oily film that has just attracted all sorts of nastiness. Door cards were removed and door cover seals trashed, new ones sourced and all new interior trim clips. Set my son to work with some soapy water and rags cleaning the insides of the doors. Did i mention this truck was dirty? Yeah mud packed into the frame rails up to the holes, mud packed into the backs of the front fenders and door jams, spent all afternoon the first day with a screwdriver chipping mud out of the door james and hinges. Cleaned those and oiled them. Cleaned the door locks(had new keys cut for it too) and fuel door lock, they work like new, buttery smooth with a precision that youd expect from original toyotas locks. Found a new set of 6.5 Sony explode speakers in the garage, tossed those in -has a ballplunkt bt stereo in it already, put some audio matting in the doors(will probably do the roof as well, and possibly the back of the cab). Replaced all the interior dash/hvac lights, new seat belt latches, new mirro and light, all new shift bushing and boots -more on that later. New pedal pads, new tail lights(old ones were a set of ricy led ugly set...), new license plate lamps and other small odds and ends. Added a inline filter to the power steering system, one thing ive learned is that there are a few places toyota really misses the mark, power steering systems are one, and brakes are another, the other big one for me is backup lights ‍♂️

Things to come still, Corbeau seats and brackets, GX460 front brakes and rear disc conversion, have set of 315 70 17 Goodyear territory mts on order for it that will be going on a set of 5th gen 4runner wheels -eventually we will get something else like some scs f5. it already has a bilstien 5100 lift with eibach coils and some sort of rear leaf not sure what springs in the back, but its not a block lift, tho i may add a 2" block back there to get it back up a bit. Will be putting a 2" front receiver on it and wiring f/b it for a mobile winch set up. PIAA lp550 and 560 lights with a hella h4 headlight conversion and a set of hella ff micro fogs -staying with halogens on those on purpose for their superior ability to melt snow and ice in the winter time here in the PNW.

 

There's a whole area in the form just for build threads.

 

Can you share which inline filter you prefer for the power steering system - thanks!

 

I use magnefine filters, been using them for at least 15 years now. On the ps system i will replace them twice a year, in the transmission application i do it every oil change. -same filter just different applications

$26 Magnefine 3/8" Magnetic Inline Transmission/Power Steering Filter

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0787KWZPS

 

So got some pictures back from the vapor honer today...


I am currently waiting on the throttle body, should be done Saturday. So i guess im putting diffs in it today/tomorrow until its back from VH.

Before picture for reference:

 

Got the parts back from VHing and put it all back together and got it running. However i ran into an issue with the diff swap, when the front lug nuts were seized... ended uo breaking two lug nuts off at the end of the stud with nothing to get back onto them with... ended up drilling out the studs, worked great on the first one, then broke a drill bit on thr second one... the others that didnt snap -because i got smart and stopped trying -i drilled a small ⅛" hole in the end of the nuts and filled them with penetrating oil, and then heated them up with a torch and they all came right off.

 

Follow up on those lug nuts... I was able to drill out and snap off the one as seen in pictures above in the previous post, but that was only one of two... the second one didn't go as easy, I didn't drill it anywhere close to center or straight, and ended up hitting the hub and snapping off a drill bit inside . So after several days of thinking about and try different ways to get it un-fubar'd I stumbled across a die-grinder bit in a draw in my tool box that didn't belong there and it hit me! Try that, and after about 20min with the die-grinder I was able to get the last lug off. Replaced both studs, cleaned all the others, and then chased them all with a dye and applied a light coat of anti-seize, then ran lugs down on them to spread it out.

Now comes the brakes... I got the 5th gen 4runner calipers on, using 4th gen 4runner rotors (this is due to the offset difference -you cant run 5th gen rotors because they won't allow the calipers to mount squarely on the tacoma spindle. So using the 4th gen rotors provides enough clearance).
Rotors size is a huge difference, stock 11 ¹¹/16" vs 13 ⁷/16" rotors. Calipers obviously are bigger 4th and 5th gens share(can interchange) the same pad. Bought all new lines from the "T" fittings out. Currently waiting on new steel braided lines to come in before hooking everything up. Also bought new sway bar end-links and bushings as those were all rotted and rusted out. I'll be getting new CV axles from NAPA as the current ones are definitely showing signs of needing replacement and they aren't originals so not gonna bother trying to rebuild them.