SWYPERS 1998 4x4 build

How it sits as of 3/5/16



List of mods so far:

Bilstien 5100's all around
30 inch LED light bar
Led pods
Turn signal relocation
Chrome headlight housings
Clear corners
Leer topper
Trail Gear tube doors
4x innovations quick release door hinges
Uniden 520 in ashtray location
4ft firestik
Rock lights
Shackle receiver hitch
UWS low-profile black toolbox
32x11.50 Mastercraft courser mxt
Fuel revolver 15x10
Magnaflow exhaust
Pioneer stereo and fosgate speakers and 10" sub




This is somewhat of a build thread for my 1998 2.7 4x4 Tacoma manual everything. The truck was passed down to me from my dad to be my first truck, I couldn't have asked for anything better. The truck has quite an interesting history... It even had a bullet hole in the door to prove it. It's gonna be a slow pace build, being that I'm 17 and pay for everything myself. With that in mind, I'd appreciate any helpful Input you have. My truck is my daily driver and used mostly exploring and camping, not much hardcore wheeling yet.

This build thread is mostly to help myself keep track of what I've done to the truck. For now it is driven daily to school, so some of the fun stuff will have to wait a while, since it doesn't get driven off-road as much as I'd like too. However I have good plans for it in the future, but for now it's Mostly boring stuff sadly

Here she sits stock
First off I installed my pioneer head unit, kenwood 1000w amp, and rocksford fosgate sub.

Installed LEDs in the floorboards, and replaced the dome light with an LED bulb. The floor lights are wired to the dome so they turn on and off with the dome light.

I ordered a 31inch curved Light bar for the lower valance and tinted my windows

Had to do a bit of trimming to get it to fit flush the way I wanted it.
Here's the finished product.

...and I Put some plastic restorer on the bumper also, along with giving her a bath, and restoring the headlights so they arnt yellow anymore. I also removed the stock chrome fender flares.
Here's the output...

Ordered some LED work lights to use as reverse lights on a toggle switch, some rain-x, and maglite mounts
Here's the maglite installed

And here's the reverse lights. You barely see them when standing up

Here's the normal reverse light output...

And here's the LEDs. Ps that's my brothers '96 Taco

 

Next on my list is a lift. Anyone got any suggestions/advice? I was thinking about the adjustable bilstiens for the front on stock springs

 

Sweet truck you have there! I love the color too!

I have bilstien 5100's up front adjust to 2.5" on stock springs. I might replace the stock springs with Eibachs pretty soon. If I were to do it again I would have replaced the stock springs from the get go. I'll probably wait a while to do this. I'd like to get a plate bumper with a winch and that will determine what springs I get. The winch and bumper add a lot of weight to the front of the truck. My truck has 175,000 miles on it and the springs are pretty tired. For the rear I have a wheeler's off road Add A Leaf. I frequently carry a lot of weight in the bed of my truck. The AAL helps with this quite a bit. I would like to replace the leaf packs with something like EMU Dakar Leaf packs. I have a camper shell on my truck plus a sleeping platform that I'm building a set of drawers for. Those two combined probably weigh around 250 pounds. I scuba dive in cold water so it's not uncommon to add a bunch of tanks and lead bringing the total to around 800 pounds. The heavier leaf spring will help quite a bit.

 

Thanks for the compliments and your input! I'm learning a lot. Your truck looks good man

 

Lookin good Dylan!

 

Took a picture today, I also made my tint strip darker

 

Just ordered these.

 

Nice!

 

Looks nice man! Just picked up a 98 xtracab myself and, like you, will first be putting in a stereo. Gotta have good sound!

 

Well I've been looking for a low-profile tool box in black for a while. I've already got a box, but I just don't like the silver and bulky-ness of it too much. So anyways I finally picked up this UWS toolbox used with a few scratches.

 

Well I test fitted it, fits perfectly.

Then I took it off and started to try and shine it up a little. I was surprised at how well it looks compared to when I got it

 

Well a friend came by my house today showing off his new toy.

 

Some stuff came in today.

 

Well I received all 4 5100s and installed them only on the front because I ran out of time.. There set on 2.5 I think (the very top notch) sorry I'm a little clueless on some stuff... Does everything look okay? If there's anything else that I need I'd appreciate the advice. Are the stock bump stops gonna work?

 

Looking good. Everything should work out just fine on the shocks

 

Dylan! We share the same truck. Interesting to see how we differ. How do you like your bilsteins? im going to order new suspension next week

 

Well so far I like them, but Ive only drove my truck a couple times so I haven't really put them through any real test yet. The ride quality is just as good as stock if not better.

 

Loving the new look with the lift, I think it looks a little better now.. It's a start.

I'm thinking about a CB next, I know I want to follow everyone else and put the uniden 520 in the ashtray, but that's about all I know. What ALL else do I need?

 

pa horn

 

Did a couple things, got my 5100's on in the rear, and made my "work light". It's an LED pod mounted to a magnetic base wired to a 12v plug with 9ft of cord, so pretty much I have light where ever I want when my battery isn't dead. It will be handy for night time repairs and such