What Have You Done To Your 2nd Gen Tacoma Today?

Is that blue behind your grill? That looks pretty awesome!

 

It sure it

Once I get the horn relocated I think it will be right on!!

I really wanted a SWB truck but had to settle for black (second choice) due to the circumstances. I love blue.

 

I feel ya on that SWB color looks so good.... So did you just go all over that area with paint or what exactly did you do?

 

I just put a pic of the in progress in my build

but short story, yes. I just masked off the surrounding area and went to town on my radiator with the hi temp blue paint. the paint job itself looks pretty bad. It was about 25 degrees out when I did it I'll probably go over it again when I have the grill off to install my light bar and touch it up under better conditions. But hey, who is gonna be looking that close? only issue is I am slightly OCD and it will drive me crazy know it's not perfect....

 

I understand the OCD thing! haha but cool thanks!

 

Dude I love the bro lean, have it myself. I think nose down looks horrible

 

I prefer level but a little bit of stinkbug is fine. I hate having the hood in the way and my headlights pointed in the air with the bro lean, especially when I am wheeling. It's hard enough to see over the hood going up steep inclines as it is.

 

I can agree but it sure helps landing jumps being nose high. I dont know, to each his own for sure but I wouldn't insult you because of your style

 

It just depends on what you do with your truck. I wouldn't want to tow/haul much with your truck (nose high) or jump my truck (tail up).

 

How does being nose up affect landing jumps. I can see how the higher the nose is the more travel you will have to absorb the landing but I don't see why you couldn't just raise the tail to be high as well and have lots of travel on all 4 wheels.

Of course I wouldn't want my nose end to be falling faster than my tail and possibly do a front flip but I don't think how you rig sits on level ground will affect that. That has to do with your front to rear weight ratio and the speed at which you hit the jump and the way the jump and landing are set up as well as how your suspension handles the launch off the jump.

Not bashing just teach me I am hoping to go long travel in the nearish future, so trying to learn what that is all about.

I don't know how well you guys know this rig, but he rides stinkbug and prefers to mob through the desert that way. I know the pic doesn't really show that but he said it does currently.


http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-builds/233960-project-apocalypto.html

 

I prefer a level stance, but I have a tiny bit of rake (stinkbug) right now. I could fix it with some top plate spacers, but my CV and UCA angles are little too steep as it is now and I'm getting used to the stance. Plus, I don't have to worry about looking like a bro if I have anything in the bed...

Put on recovery shackles on my Demello (a couple posts up) and also painted behind my grill and relocated my horns / temperature gauge in preparation for my Satoshi in a couple days. The Demello makes a nice little contained painting booth ;D





Matt

 

To clarify.....I always have 200-300 pounds of junk in my bed.....I currently have my spare tire, a broken trolling motor for the boat, a set of chrome mustang valve covers, a spare battery and probably 50 pounds of trash hehe

 

Did you also paint your radiator? Have a better/more frontal pic of that and what kind of paint did you use?

 

You will always land nose first, engine weight, I have always had a lower rear to make the launch a little more level and keep the nose drop to a minimum in the air. Just my personal findings and in no way am I saying I know all there is to know, I just prefer it and it feels better to me. Everyone will have a different opinion than me and its because that's what works for them. Try all kinds of set ups and adjustments and find what works for you and I guarantee you'll be criticized but in all honesty I don't care if people like my truck, I like my truck. Just my .02

 

Yeah, I understand that. haha. I'm in a mid-level physics class right now and my Professor is more or less obsessed with motorcycles and we learned everything there is to know about the physics of jumping a dirtbike haha. Same principles apply to jumping Tacos, just some differences in the way things are set up and you have a lot less control. haha

And yeah I understand the whole criticism thing... Seems like that is all people do on here anymore is tell others that the mods they are doing are dumb... or wrong... or won't work... Yeah criticism is good here and there but most of what goes on here isn't very constructive anymore... I try not to bash what other people do, I just try to tell them some better ideas or try to ask them their reasoning and such just to help them be informed about what they are doing. If I had know what all is out there, I would have just bought a full LT kit instead of going the route I went...

 

I tried to avoid spraying directly on my radiator, but I just did very light (farther away) coats on the radiator itself. I've heard that it's just fine to do this as long as you don't really paint and put real coats over it.

I just used some leftover flat black paint I had (Rustoleum maybe). I didn't have any high temp stuff (last time I painted it, which was maybe a year ago, I don't think I used high temp either) and I don't think it gets real hot behind the grill anyway. The radiator itself looks pretty black in this picture, but I really didn't paint it that much.



Matt

 

Wow! Any difference on the thermostat?

 

it is 2 ram mount alu diamond plate with 1'' ball and alu 1.75'' short socket arm and the belt clip from my otter box

 

I actually forgot to see if it was blatantly wrong, but I'll check in the morning and keep checking. I moved it to the complete back (closer to the cab) of the driver's side engine bay, right behind the fuse box. There was already some threaded holes in the side, and the horn bolts fit perfectly. I don't suspect the thermostat will be wrong because it's pretty far away from the engine block, but it is now on the other side of the radiator so I'll see if that really affects it.

I typically just step out of my house/truck and I can feel how the weather is so I don't really rely on the temp. gauge anyway.

Matt

 

i followed the mod from this link
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/au...iy-aux-input-2005-2008-factory-head-unit.html

the ram mount is 2 alu diamond bases and a short arm with my belt clip from otter box zip tied to it

the 3.5mm patch cable came from radio shack
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11300827

here is an alternate view