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

if you flush mount it you wont have to fiberglass anything but you will still be able to see all the spots where the guts were at and idk how you would mount it like that unless you made little tabs around the perimiter to screw into the surround and then you would have to have it perfectly fit to the surround, to me it was easier to just go ahead and satoshi mine, i used zipties to hold it in place and snug it up to the grill... just my .02

 

Pic's from my wash/clay/polish/wax last week.



My parking spot at the Warrior Dash in MN this weekend.

 

Looking good!

 

The AAL made all the difference in the dakar leaf pack. Before, when i had the shell on with no other weight it was sittin perfect. But as soon as I would add a couple hundred pounds that shit would squat. Now, with shell and a couple hundred pounds she is still standin tall and ready for the trail. I was draggin my bumper pretty bad without the AAL, and since I only use this truck on weekends for camping/hunting, it was a no brainer.

Completely satisfied now, wish OME made this pack with that AAL already in there. But then I suppose people would complain it's too tall.

FYI....from ground to bottom fender before was ~38 1/4". Now its ~41". I have 265/75's. Also, the AAL surprisingly did zero to the ride, maybe a tad bit more stiff, but nothing more than that. Perfect!

 

If a 2JZ and a 7MGTE will fit in a 1st Gen Taco..you should be able to fit a 12V..or with a little massaging get it in there..

Now the transmission is a different story..you'll have to re-work the hump and your tranny tunnel under dash...not too sure a REAL transmission to hold that good black smokey stuff power will fit under your stock tunnel.


I've always tooled with the idea of how cool it'd be to have a 4BT in my street truck..but the cost outweighs being realistic and money wise in my account. Very far apart between the two...


Goodluck with whether you drop a new 3.4L in..or go and attempt the diesel route..I can tell you it won't be cheap(if done right).
Plus who's gonna drive a stock diesel around? That's for losers

 

The 3.4 is gonna be the route to go... Diesel would be awesome but the little bit of searchin ive done, it would be way outta my price range.

 

Why not a 1JZ or 2JZ?

 

I don't have any clue about engine swaps at all. I have no place to do that type of work if I knew what I was doing. I do all my regular maintenance in the warehouse where I work. I did find a kit to do the 2jz for $2600. That does not include the motor. I just miss my truck . I am tired of driving this dumb HHR.
I am probably just chickening out on doing anything above and beyond simply fixing the problem...

 

Better get on a new 3.4L soon, I'd hate to be stuck in a Hella Homo Rider too.

 

Haha! hella homo rider, thats great!

 

My buddy used to have one, man we put that poor car through SH1T!
Threw a rod and had fried valves at 108k, dropped another motor in it and it just kept trooping along even after hill climbs, mudding, straight pipe with just a cat lol, jumping railroad tracks, ripping the e brake on the freeway, using tow straps to do burnouts, rallying it in fields, jumped a quad jump once with it, urban crawling over curbs and medians, we even drove it on the beach at Pismo lol ,we cut the coils on the struts to slam it hella shitty lol
I remember laying on the ground in the middle of December welding a side pipe on it before the passenge rear tire with a 6" tip lol..scrapin the ground and shit..we'd hit a bump on the freeway at night and see sparks

I must admit, those things are TOUGH cars and we just always called it the Hella Homo Rider..

Eventually traded it in and with brand new tires did a burnout in front of dealership before we got it appraised, the salesmen at the Chevy dealership were just laughing there ass off. I think he got like $2200 for it, and had a difference of $600 on his loan for it.

Good times..good times

 

Dang! Yall beat the shit outta it! This one is my mother in law's and it only has 47K on it. I am babying this thing for the little while I have it. The one thing that is awesome is the gas mileage. I average right around 30 mpg doing 80 on the highway! the blind spots in the hhr are retarded! I am used to being higher than most everyone else...

 

Yeah, he's treats his new Chevy Cruz alot better now.

but that's because we have the 96 4Runner to beat on now..
Beastin.


and yeah stupid pillars are retarded..hella gnarly blindspots

and yeah the mileage is bomb, we got like 30 goin 85-90 no problem.
Going even slower like 65-67..I think we gotten like 35-36

 

I bet that Cruz gets even better mileage. Whenever we go outta town, we borrow the HHR for the gas mileage. My truck gets maybe 16 on the highway. My wife's tahoe gets about the same.

BACK ON TOPIC
Would this "new" reman engine get better mpg's?

 

Tested out my new suspension today, springs are still very stiff.

 

Put my bumpstops in
Far from ride height in that picture

 

Spring under?

 

Well I had a fun day. Color matched my grill, installed an ARB with a superwinch 9k. Also put the camo tags on. OME kit is on back order again. Was supposed to ship last week and now suppose to ship next week. I'll keep ya all posted.

 

Spring under...of course it's spring under