BigOly's 2004 TRD DC "CARGO" build, A New Journey Begins

Thanks bud! My first choice would have been a sweet set of rare gunmetal FJ TRD wheels but they are just too damn expensive So I settled on 2nd gen wheels I snagged off of craigslist and thinking of painting them a gunmetal color.

 

BTW, love the swing out tire carrier on your Taco, I WANT! Also your Samurai build is dope, awesome job! That was the rig I wanted to own growing up as a kid in the late 80's!

 

Thanks! I always liked that TRD badge and figured what the hell...might as well get one. Ill def be keeping an eye out on your build.

 

I finally installed some cheap $25 seat covers off fleabay, the same ones rman808 got. They are way better then what I had before. It will be a long wait till the next Wet Okole group buy but these will do for now.

Before (ghetto):


After (less ghetto):



Search ebay #180963772778 or if not available, just search seller name is seatguards-auctions with the title "Solid Black Front Car Seat Covers Set - Oem Bucket 2 Pc Pair Truck Suv Fas"

 

I have seen a few members here sporting the DEPO oem style crystal clear/red OEM like tail lights to get rid of the yellow. Had to get me a pair cause I figured that most of the bulbs on my tail lights are at least 9 years old. Another bonus is that the DEPO lights came with new screws and a new wire harness. With my setup I also had to tap into the left wire harness to power up to my A.R.E. shell brake light. I think it's a pretty clean and simple install, way easier then when I replaced the lights of my old 3rd gen 4Runner. With the 1st gen taco it's only 4 screws to remove, disconnect the wire harness from the original, plug the new harness in, and you are good to go!

I purchase my pair of DEPOs from ebay Seller: neondials
Do a ebay search "Tacoma red clear tail light" and you can find them there.

Here's a comparison shot between the OEM (with yellow lens) vs the DEPO syle lens.



There are 4 screws you need to remove to pop out the original tail lights, make sure you keep track of where the screws go, some are shorter than others:




Here what the original wire harness looks like:




Here's a shot of the tail light connector (male) you need to unplug:




Shot of the (female), Cargo's female connector that is:




Here's a comparison of the two wire harnesses (old and new):



The final shot of it installed:



Overall look:




Before:



After:

 

Sub'd

I like the look of the new taillights. I was thinking about getting em for my 98-00 body style, but that would just throw off my black/white theme.

 

I agree with you on that! keep that theme going on your rig. I think the depos that I have work better with darker colors. The only thing I could think is maybe tinting the crystal clear part of the depos to get that dark look if you want to keep the OEM look... however I think the tail lights you have right now work pretty well with you build.

 

are they neoprene or just cloth?

 

They are not neoprene, I wish

They are more of a thin polyester like fabric with a very thin non slip layer foam on the back. They feel a bit lightweight and the word "thin" always comes to mind in regards to quality. But they do cover the taco seats pretty well for $25. I also like the way the fabric has a form fitting stitch.

Also, forgot to mention that the back will cover the pockets if you have pockets in the back of your seats. I plan to cut some slits later to make use of seat pockets.

 

yeah i think i'll just wait and get some wet okoles

 

New tail lights look good.

What are you going to do with your old ones?????

 

Thanks man!

I have a family relative that has dibs on my old ones.

I enjoyed reading your blog btw!

 

Enjoying your build...keep it up!

 

Thank you! It does help that there is a wealth of info on TW. It's very addictive!!

 

Really? 2nd samurai? THOSE ARE BOTH MINE!

Sweet looking truck OP, looks great! Keep us posted

Edit: Michael did indeed help a significant amount on the soft top Samurai, and a little bit on the tin top. He was on an internship and didn't have time to spend all summer spending money on a toy truck like I did.

 

Moving from an old 3rd gen 4runner to a Taco has gotten me a bit of separation anxiety. As much as I love the orange illumination in the taco (its actually pretty good at night) I still miss the green from my old T4R. To top it off my CIPA dimming mirror has the green compass/outside temp illumination and I really didn't have the time to take it apart and see if I could switch the color to orange so I decided to go ALL GREEN throughout my center console. To start my green theme going I really needed to change the bulbs on my HVAC controller from orange to green.

Well the problem I read is that the HVAC control has orange paint on the faceplate and most of the illuminated plastic has a hit of orange. I first read on customtacos that the old 4Runner HVAC is plug in play with the 1st gen taco. I also got reconfirmation from this thread by member: wesb1023 that he was able to do it. His reconfirming post here.

So looked and looked and finally scored a used 02 4Runner HVAC and did the swap.

Both HVAC controllers are practically identical:


Here's the orange paint on the Taco faceplate that I was talking about compared to the 4Runner faceplate:


The back of both HVAC controllers are identical (plug and play and you are good to go!):


No night shots yet but notice the green AC and recirc buttons:

 

Thanks man!!

Damn, I love that low custom profile roof rack you got going there!

 

You guys have any videos with these mini rigs in action?

 

If we have any, we don't have anything good.. I bought the tin top thinking I'd be able to take it to school and use it as a DD on campus, so I didn't wheel it too hard. My parents wouldn't let me take the samurai to school so I sold it and bought my taco. Sorry for the disappointment.

 

I'm in love with this newly released 2013 Alpine 147BT head unit ($200) that I acquired and installed today! I love the fact that I can changed the entire illumination display, including the square alpine button (could not do this with previous models), to green (match old stock tacoma), orange (match stock tacoma), blue (alpine original theme), or even red. It's a sick head unit, streaming iPhone on it right now, still haven't had time to played with the facebook/pandora integration and the alpine tuneit sound tuning sharing app.

Here's the Alpine 147BT in by grubby little hands:


Here's a shot of my sweet new Alpine unit installed:


It looks like my green middle console theme is finally complete, woot!:


Alpine display in orange:


Alpine display in blue:


Here's a few pics of my ghetto install-

Prep wire:


Ready to plug male yota harnesses to Cargo's female parts:


Plugged in and good to go!: