MacTaco Build

I got jealous of all of the build pages, and thought I would start my own.

So here we go.

I own a 2006 4.0 L, Double Cab, Short bed, Tacoma w/TRD Offroad Package, and I love it.

I don't have any photos of my truck when it was truly stock, but here it is before I did anything major to it.

I had already installed the grill guard on the front, and it is very strong.
I bought this particular guard because the bend in the plates go well with the lines of the front grill.




You can see in the first photo that I was about to go get my lift and my wheels and tires done, because it is all in the bed of my truck.

I was so excited.

I went from my stock tires to Toyo Open Country M/T 285/75R16.

Wrapped the tires around Eagle Alloy Series 185 wheels.



...And here is what they look like on the truck.







I talked with a few people about different lifts, and what companies were truly reliable. I found a guy who installs about 95% of the lifts on trucks, including the beach rescue F250's here in Pensacola, Florida. He suggested to me the Skyjacker struts and shocks. So, I ordered a new front strut, and kept the stock coilover.



I also got new Skyjacker rear Hydro 7000 Shocks, and the Add-a-leaf.



Altogether, it makes a great smooth ride. Which is surprising because of the meatiness of the toyos.

...

Then I went ahead and de-badged the tailgate, and it looks much cleaner.



Scosche designed a great double din dash conversion, so I bought one, and also picked up a Pioneer AVIC-D3 head unit. It has a fantastic GPS navigation system, and it has the capability to play just about every medium of music there is. I wired up a handy ipod cable under the console.




Went to Best Buy and bought myself a new Viper 5900 alarm system w/remote start. It's pretty handy during the summertime when it's 100 degrees outside. I can start my truck from inside my house, 10 minutes before I leave, and it will be nice and cool when I get there. I suppose the same will apply if I move up north, with the cold.

The alarm is great too. It will let me know if the alarm is going off, on my remote, from about a mile away. It also tells me what kind of alarm was set off(Hood, door, if someone hit my truck, etc.)



I saw a couple threads on here about painting the engine cover, so I thought I would give it a whirl.

I think it turned out pretty well.




I went and picked up the Oil Filler Cap from toyota. It's much nicer than the cheap original plastic.





......to be continued

 

Looks good man!!

 

Very nice! I really like the wheels with that color.

GA

 

Thanks bro.

 

I love the wheels and lift!! Looks awesome! Great work.

 

I do too, I don't think I could have picked a better looking wheel for the way I wanted my truck to look.

 

Looks good!!!

 

Truck looks great... love the Indigo's - too bad Toyota killed it...

 

I love that blue-great truck!

 

Nice work man!

 

So, to continue.

I really wanted to change up the sound of my exhaust, so I did some research, and found the Flowmaster Kit for the tacoma. It looked pretty good, so I ordered it. It includes a 50 Series muffler, and all bolt on piping from the y-pipe back.








Here's a video of it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4r0omA4SZ4

After the installation, there were things on it that I did not anticipate. Such as clearance between the frame mounts, and the leaf pack. There ended up being a lot of rubbing on the pipes. Another complaint I have about it is the pipe running across the rear differential. I understand that it wouldn't be seen if there was a spare tire under the truck, but seeing that I have no need for an undersized spare now, the pipe is exposed. Overall, I was indifferent about the kit. The muffler is fantastic though, I have no complaints about it.

The reason the pipes are bent down, is because that was the sweet spot I found where there was no rubbing. I know, fugly.

Oh well, I change it up later.

 

^^
Not sure if it'll help but, there is a mod you can do to put a 285 as a spare tire under the truck in the stock location. Don't know if it will interfere with the Flowmaster Duals tho...

 

Well, I'm looking at getting a tiregate to replace my tailgate at some point.

And plus, I've already resolved the whole exhaust situation. That's just going to be later in the thread.

 

And so we go on.

Who knew we could buy Hella's at Wal-mart. Woohoo.

Also, I bought and put on a shorty antenna. I can't decide if I like it.



I still need to do some grinding on some bolts so that I can re-aim the lights, but they are incredibly bright.

Here is the relay for it.



and the switch



I also did a couple light diy mods.

Here's my Fog Light Always On mod:





and here is my DTRL mod:





After all of that, here are a few pictures of the lighting.

 

I did a fair amount of research on toolboxes, and was considering just going to home depot and picking up one of the husky toolboxes.

Chris 4x4 gave me some good info, and I appreciate him helping me out.

In the end I went with the best quality in town, and picked up a UWS Low Profile, Black powder coated toolbox. It's more than I expected.





I can see putting an air compressor inside of it in the future.
I hope.

 

looks good. what size lift do you go with?

 

3 inch.

 

So, this was my stock engine compartment.



This was my stock air box.



This was my stock intake tube.



This was my stock header.



...

Here is my new better looking engine compartment.



Here is my new True Flow XDI intake.




Here is my new set of Doug Thorley Long Tube Headers.





Many of you that have the headers know that to get rid of the Check Engine Light, you need to get a hold of an 02 Sensor Simulator.

I ordered the URD Simulator:





Now, to solve my exhaust problem earlier, I went to a reputable shop and had them weld me up new piping from he muffler back. It's a lot stronger, and better looking in my opinion.

Oh. And powdercoated exhaust tips.







I will get a video up sometime soon.

It is intense.
Before, I thought my exhaust sounded mean.
Now it just sounds nasty.

I love it.

Well that's it for now.

 

Nice looking truck dude!

 

damn good build! Ive been looking at headers all morning.. i dont want the sound, i just want the flow.. i like the understated (i've got my hot rod 1965 dodge for the sound and thrill) but the powerful. Your truck is lookin awesome though, congrats!