Austin's 1996 Midtravel Tacoma Build

At the 2012 tacoma world glamis meet:


Lighting:
Natural white LED gauge cluster bulbs
Cool white LED bulbs in corner lights
Clear corners
Clear turn signal lenses
Aftermarket H4 headlights
H4 5000K 35 watt HID Headlights
Interior LED Dome light
License plate LED's

Exterior:
Black Toyota tailgate decal
Debadged factory stickers/badges
2nd gen door badges
Painted skid plate
Exhaust tip
5% tint rear/access cab windows
35% tint driver/passenger windows
Custom made satoshi grille (perforated sheet metal)
Sockmonkey TRD All-Terrain bedside decals
Removed fender "flares" or trim pieces
Sick ass decals on the rear window for that cool look

Tires/wheels:
33x12.50x15 BFGoodrich All-Terrain tires
15" American racing outlaw II rims

Suspension:
Camburg/SAW 2.5 RaceRunner extended travel coilovers
Camburg uniball upper control arms
14" Eibach 600lb springs
Bilstein 5100s in the rear
Toytec 1" diff drop
Removed sway bar

Interior:
TRD leather shift knob
Pioneer stereo
Black velour dash cover
Painted shifter trim/boot black
Painted interior dash trims black

Performance:
Aero Turbine 2525 non-resonated (not really performance )
Regeared to Nitro 4.88s
Deckplate mod

First day it was home. It was love at first site


Had to do some stock offroading of course to break it in


First thing I did was install a flowmaster 10 series muffler, which I ended up taking off after a week and replacing with a flowmaster 40 series. I didnt like either of them and switched to a magnaflow later

I didnt know much about lifts or anything at first, which isnt an excuse but i bought some 3" spacers and found some tires/wheels on craigslist for $250 back in april 2012.


It had the original rear shocks on it, which were way past due. Fixed it with some fresh billy 5100s!


Didnt like how faded the skid plate was so I painted it black with the toyota emblem in the middle


Did the deckplate mod, just without the deckplate dont have any pics of that though and im too lazy to go take one

Then I replaced the original front shocks with 5100s a little bit later using the stock springs at the 2.5" setting. I dont run them anymore though, so I didnt wanna post a pic. And besides we all know what 5100s are on this site haha

Axle wrapped like a mo'fo in the sand!! I used leaf spring helpers and mounted them backwards to reduce axle wrap! It works pretty good! Feels better on the street too, but it's a little stiffer.


Got some hella 500 ff's and mounted them on my bumper. Just a warning for anyone about to buy these, get the FOG light version of these not the driving lights ha


Bought an exhaust tip off a TW member and had my bro weld it on for me


Natural white LED's from superbrightleds.com! They are pretty damn bright and you can still dim them if you want


Needed some new kicks so I went with BFG A/T's. 33x12.50s


Then I removed the gay ass fender flare thingys


New clear corners and turn signal lenses! With cool white (light blue) LED's in the corners


Changed out my stock coils for OME 881s and set the bilsteins on the middle setting. I ended up getting a little more lift and a better ride but i shouldnt have wasted my money and time to swap em. Just for anyone else, get eibachs and you wont regret it.

At first I converted the Hellas to 8000K hid's but they were too blue. So I swapped em out for 6000Ks.


Went through a FM 10 series, 40 series, and 11" magnaflow before settling on an aero turbine 2525! Very happy with it and love it!!


Replaced stock shift knob with a TRD one and painted all the shifter trim and boot black, along with the transfer case knob.


After debadging my truck a couple months ago, it left some shadow from the old badges. I didnt wanna put the original ones on so I got 2nd gen badges instead, and they look so much better!


Then I had to fix the giant shadow from the old reddish colored Toyota tailgate sticker, so I got a black one off of ebay for $15


Painted the gauge needles blue using Hi-Po needle paint:



The taco was feelin a little sluggish so I had to wake it up regeared to 4.88s! Me and my auto teacher did it in my school auto shop. My friend helped me do it too, so I can't take all the credit After I drove it, it was a completely different truck pulls pretty damn good now!






Got new headlights on ebay for $25. They are H4's instead of sealed beams, and plus they look so much better.


I had been wanting to do a satoshi for a while, so I stopped being lazy and spent about 5 hours making one. Took a lot of work but i love how it looks




Sockmonkey TRD bedside decals:



The bilsteins were awesome shocks but they werent enough for me, so I found an awesome deal on craigslist. And I jumped on it! Camburg 2.5 racerunner coilovers and camburg uniball uca's.



Before:


After (and with some new eibachs):


LED License plate lights:


LED dome light, looks so much brighter in person for some reason


5000K H4 HID's





No more satoshi!! Back to the stock look, looks much cleaner!


Future mods:
Rear midtravel
LED light bar
Roll cage
New bucket seats
URD short shifter
Leaf packs
Custom fabbed front/rear bumper
Hella 4000 floods converted to HID

 

minty!

 

Clean truck sounds like a good deal to me.

 

welcome to the club! looks good!

 

You got a GREAT DEAL=how many miles??????????????

 

Clean looking truck.

FYI: Removing the cat on the 3.4L does not help anything from what I understand. There are many others on this site that say the same. Do some searching if you are interested. Save the money and put it to other mods, like suspension lift.
But it is your truck so do as you like with it!

 

Leave your emissions stuff alone and it will run much better.

Lifting only the front will give you about a 1 inch bro lean and if you plan to wheel it, get some quality coilovers and upper control arms.

HIDs wont work in those headlights.

Just get a set of bright ass fogs and brighter headlights.

Pre runner bumpers have many price points, you can have one custom made for around $300.

$4500 was a steal on that struck if it runs well and has no major issues.

Many of us had the same wish list of mods to do and most of us went back to stock stuff after a while cause it was a waste of money.. customize the function not just the look.

Also 32's are what I run and its fine. 33's will rob some power and MPG.

 

looks good and clean man. post as you progress.

 

x2

Im looking to also buy an older first gen.

 

Thanks guys! And yeah I just want a louder exhaust and the cat really quiets it down, so Im not planning too gain any power or anything, just some good V6 roar Right now its at 156K miles, but thats less than its half-way point on miles. One of my friends has one at 310k and the tranny is barely starting to wear out!

Ill keep posting on there! When I have the money I'm definately gonna get some suspension and other stuff but I only get about 320-350$ every 2 weeks from working cause I have school too, but I save half in my savings account so I'll only have about 160-180 to spend every couple weeks. Slow and steady i guess!

 

@Taco Me Elmo

Yeah I saw on here that 33s might be a little too much so I'll go 32s. Also thats what I was thinking with the fog lights and everything once I get the bumper, and I'll mount some lights on there. only some minor exterior mods then I'll get down with the suspension and everything.

 

These are hella micro DE fogs.. they are sweet.. I have since swapped the clear bulb for a slight yellow tint bulb from hella

 

Dammn looks sick! I want that kinda look on mine What wheels do you have btw??

 

BFG Mud Terrain KM2

265/75/16

 

Oh yeah and theres like a weird metal clanking sound I hear just when driving down the road, sounds like a loose washer or something?? Anyone else have that problem?

 

And the search begins! not normal...

 

Try checking the metal backing on your rotors, its just a thin metal shield bend it slightly away from the wheel/tire/rotor, its a cheap place to start and could solve it. The more you can isolate the sound the better to get it figured out.

 

Gnarly bro lean... Check your CV angles... You are lifted too tall to safely use your 4x4.

 

Really? Ill post a pic but i think its my drive way that makes it look more angled than it is.

 

How much of lift did you add total?

I am running about 2.5 over stock.. maybe less.

But I am also using a diff drop kit and my cv's are pretty level.

I plan to go an inch taller or so once I get new coilovers with a softer spring rate so I can use more preload and not get a harsh ride.

As mine currently sits, it is amazing on desert trails and wash board roads.

I am def taller in the rear by at least 1-1.5 inches.. my new deaver 8 pack needs to settle in.