Night Taco's Build Thread

Hellooooo everyone!

I have done quite a few smaller mods now, so I figured it would be a good time to start up a build thread so as to keep track of everything...

Don't be expecting much, as I'm only 17 and therefore have very little money for mods... so I rely mainly on birthdays/Christmas for most of the major things I do to my truck.

Anyways, let's start off with a little bit of history on this truck:

2003 Tacoma
3.4
5 Speed
4WD TRD OR
Stepside

Bought from Kootenai Motors in Post Falls, ID - I don't recommend them, but that's another story. I'd be happy to share it though if anyone wants to hear or is interested in buying from them.

I'm the second owner of this truck, and it was bought new from Heninger Toyota in Calgary, Alberta where it lived its life up until now

The kicker is that when I bought the truck back in September, it only had 67k miles

So here's the truck back when I got it in September:


The truck was pretty much completely stock at the time. It had a Truxedo tonneau cover, an ugly Toyota bug guard, and a viper alarm system (not one of those fancy ones, but nice to have nonetheless), so I have remote entry and don't have to use the key every time I get in/out. The previous owner also bedlined the middle section of the front bumper.

Here's how it looks now (as of 12/30/16):

I'll go into more detail on what has been done in these next few posts. Hopefully, in a few days I'll be up to date with what I've done. Thanks everyone!

Plans for the near future:
-replace windshield
-fog lights
-raptor lights
-bedline fender flares
-more touch-up paint
-sand and repaint engine skid plate
-new shocks/front springs

Plans for (many, many years) down the road:
-2" lift
-32's or 33's
-sliders
-TRD Supercharger
-front and rear tube bumpers

 

So next came a few maintenance items that needed addressing:

Mainly, the truck was out of alignment, so I got that dealt with.

The headlights also sucked, and I consider that a pretty big safety thing, so I replaced them with some Sylvania Silverstar headlight bulbs for $40. Much brighter down the road and a much whiter light

 

Next came the de-chroming. This was pretty easy, as almost everything on this truck came color-matched black.

Plasti-derp for the grille emblem, the badges on the doors, and the gas cap lock.



The tonneau cover also came off right when I got the truck home. I have no use for it and I don't care for how they look.

 

Winter tires:
265/70/16 Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V2

 

New shifter knob (cheap Chinese one, the screws that hold it in place only stay tight for like a month before they need re-tightening)



And Husky all-weather floor mats, which I apparently never took pictures of The truck came with a driver's side floor mat, but nothing for the passenger side, and I believe rubber floor mats are well worth the $$

 

The stock wheels were pitted and looked more like a Dalmatian than aluminum, so I sanded them down and painted them graphite:



using this:


Much better looking IMO. We'll see how they hold up.

 

While I was painting my wheels, I put the summer wheels for our T4R on my truck for the day:

17's look a little too big IMO

 

Then, off went the bug guard. I was going to leave it on for the winter, but I heard stories of bug guards actually damaging the paint underneath, so I was quick to take it off. There was some fading of the clearcoat underneath the bug guard, but nothing a little scratch repair couldn't handle.

Before:


After:

 

Next came some rock chip repair. Kind of hard to tell in the pictures, but this truck had TONS of rock chips in the front, and many on the sides and especially near the rear fender flares as well. So, I bought some touch-up paint from Dupli-Color and got to work. I put a small piece of painter's tape near every rock chip to mark it.





After a couple hours of work, here's the difference:
Before:


After:


Not perfect, but far better. And for $10, you can't go wrong. Definitely worth the money, and super easy to do. I had never used touch-up paint before this and was nervous at first, but got the hang of it quickly.

 

Somewhere along the line, I also put in a K and N air filter. Definitely makes a slight difference in acceleration sound and power. Maybe not much more power, but the engine sounds WAY happier/smoother under acceleration as compared to stock.

I did notice an increase of about 1-1.5 MPG for the first few tanks of gas, but it's hard to say if that was due to the air filter or not, as the temperatures soon dropped and my gas mileage decreased.

 

I also painted some interior parts black just to add some contrast:

Kickplate:


Fuse box cover:


Coat holder things:


And also this piece here, but I had to repaint it because I scratched it with my leg getting out before it was fully dry (should have waited the full 24 hours )

 

Followed a write-up found on here, and cut new cupholder tabs out of that commercial-type rubber floorboard material for $2 at Home Depot.

Before:


After:

 

Made a quick bed divider/sandbag holder out of 2x4's:

It sits perfectly in between the wheel wells and doesn't move at all

Some serious driveway mallcrawlin'


Bed divider in use, and my mini Christmas tree to accompany the big one :

 

One of my parking light bulbs went out the other day, so I replaced them with amber instead of clear, and they are a much brighter orange now:

 

Just some fun pictures:



Here's my parent's 4Runner that I drove for a year before buying my truck:
I painted the stock wheels and plasti-dipped the badges, grille, middle bumper piece, and rear chrome piece.

 

Well we had a maybe 100ft tree go down this fall, so my truck got put to work!!





How do you guys like the sweet trailer? It was riding on its bumpstops once I loaded it up

 

Some goodies came not too long ago

General Grabber AT2 31/10.5/15
Pro Comp Series 69 Wheels - 15x8, 3.5" BS, -19mm offset




Tacoma dually conversion, anyone?

 

More random pictures:

Next to my girlfriend's parent's T4R:


Taco staredown in the school parking lot:


In da snow:



My truck looks tiny compared to a new F150:

 

I also got some Rigid Industries fog lights for Christmas, so I'll post some pictures (probably later today) of how those look on the truck. I have them mounted, but am waiting until this weekend to wire them up.

 

So here they are everyone! I had to use a carving bit and a wire wheel for a dremel to cut out holes in my bumper in order to fit these where I wanted them. Then I used hose clamps to attach them to the bumper support beam and attached zip ties just in case the hose clamps somehow fail. Much easier than taking off the entire bumper assembly to drill holes. It took quite a few hours for me to install these, but I've never cut into my truck before so I took it slow and was extremely careful to not screw anything up

I later cut out the triangle bumper support thing that was no longer connected.











I'll wire them up this weekend and take some better pictures both in the daylight/at night. Not too bad for my first time cutting into my bumper I think!