what is up?

hi i'm new odviously , i have a 95 tacoma v6 i use as a work truck . i work for as a subcontractor for comcast in delco , pa . i just started the job and am trying to get the most out of gas mileage. i just turned 100k. and am getting 220 a tank with some rough driving and alot of idle time . i used to be a tech. at a race / general repair shop and was a highly certified at computer diagnostics. ASE mastertech with the L1 cert. but that just means i know my book ish. i did alot of hands on training also. i built a few race cars a few tube chassis's , alot of cages, probably about ten or so rear halfs, ( tubs) . tons of perfect exhausts . I just lost the passion of building my own stuff and now i switched jobs to get back to loving working on cars and building some st rods. i've had my own drag cars my own autocrossers , built my own motors my own trans's (custom ratios. ) built friends race cars. yada yada. i have been a fan of toyotas since i had my first truck 84 toyota p/u 4x4 22r. 275k on it , i crashed it tho. then my dad bought the tacoma in 98 and eventually it made its way to me after a bunch of
bouts with tree's other trucks and boulders. but it still runs like a champ and people stay out of its way. i am lookin for just some good cheap mods just to get this thing running perfect and have honestly no knowledge on whats proven good stuff and mods. i do have a flowmaster on it and a amsoil air filter. i did the t-belt / water pump / tensioners. and i run amsoil synthetic in it. i will probably do 02's as soon as i have some money b/c they are original and they are getting a little lazy (peak to peak its taking about 400ms) but otherwise let me know what to get i will be searching i'm sure for days so i don't ask q's that have already been answered and if you have any technical q's that maybe someone cannot explain or would just like a fresh point of view feel free to ask. thanks alan

 

heres some stuff i have built. or personal cars
this was my baby solid mid 11's all day on pump gas

heres a sbc i built for a malibu wagon ran 9's on a 300 shot

heres a fiero gt40 kit car i did a full tube chassis for

heres a nascar style cage i built for a hill climb scirocco

 

comments please.

 

very nice work on those cars. that cage is gnarly.

 

thanks, i had probably 30 hours in that cage with the gutting of the interior. and all the points in the back are plated where they meet the body. it also has bars that go throught the dash and firewall and swerve around the strut tower and go around the frt of the rad support and tie all into the main cage. its all .120 dom steel the main hoop and halo are .134 wall.

 

That's pretty impressing work dude. Your days must have more that 24 hours, huh?

 

Hey man those cars look great. And I second the bad-A** cage

and D**** dude! Is that the normal thickness of a cage or just what you wanted to go with?

 

the reason we go that thick on the main and the halo was b/c most tech inspections want .120 wall and if you happen to get a insp. whom is a toolbag and checks the thickness on a bend sometimes it can be thinner . alot of good pre-fabbed stuff is .090 but we tend to over engineer b/c alot of the cars i built are driven by the top of their class type who tend to crash alot or take bigger risks. the scirocco was a hill climb car so we tried to think of worst case scenario and built to withstand that.
As far as the gt-40 that cage is all tied into the inside of the passenger compartment . but alot of that was .090 dom b/c it was more for show and less race.
i built alot of tube chassis dune buggies from scratch too they were alot of fun also.
right know i am just tryin to make enough money doing this comcast thing till i can start my own shop and go nuts building stuff. my ideal retirement is building 2-3 cars from scratch a year for car fanatics.
i'm only 25 now tho so i'm trying to take it slow and not rush it .
i have tons of pics if anyone is interested. just let me know.

 

Sweet work! That kind of retirement sounds like it's just enough fun without all the stress! Can't wait to see what you come up with next! Welcome to TW!

 

ahhhhhh. good ole me 6 years ago lol. little did i know comcast would take all my forum time away. ha . still love my tacos tho, got 290k out of the one i started with and 150 on my rotted frame 01 now but i can weld a little so . i'll survive.

 

Welcome!