Nates 2nd Gen Speedway Bruised

I decided to stop lurking around and post my build with write-ups on how I did things and reviews. These forums have been insanely helpful and I wanted to do what I could to give back. This is my 4th Toyota ( 2x '87 4Runners, a 95 Tacoma and now this '05). I made probably the dumbest financial decision when purchasing this.. and I regret nothing. I traded in my '13 Honda Civic with a year left on the lease, paid $1000 to get rid of it and got my '05 Tacoma. I hate cars and couldn't handle another day in that thing. Anyways, the truck was bone stock when I got it (aside from wheels and tires).

...Interior...
Boss DVD Head Unit
2 Rockford 10" Subwoofers
Kenwood 300W Amp

...Exterior...
Toytec 3" Lift with OME 884 Springs
265/70/17 Cooper Discoverer STT Tires
Raceline 17" Wheels
Ebay Backup Camera
Blacked out Emblems
Blacked out Headlights
Satoshi-ish grille
Random Ebay Step tube

How she sits today..

 

Looks good!

 

Over the past week I've been working on changing the grille up a bit. I didn't want to shell out a bunch of money on one, so I read countless write-ups and just started to wing it.

First things first, removed the factory grill and relocated the horns.

They mounted right behind the Fuse box, there were already 2 holes there and it seemed to be destiny.

I borrowed a Dremel for this project and it was the battery powered one, without power. It was useless... but I was on a mission, so I used a hacksaw.. It created a little extra sanding and bondo work, but it got the job done.

I finally got my hands on a good Dremel and apparently didn't have the finesse or technique to sand things.. the Girlfriend took over and to be honest.. was much better. The saw left small humps and raised pieces, the Dremel knocked those down pretty quick.

The cutting wheel knocked out the corner triangle pieces, mine had a hole in one from the previous owner and had annoyed me daily. So we cut them out and sanded them smooth on the back.

It was starting to look pretty good and I was already impressed with our work, neither of us had ever messed with a Dremel or really knew what we were getting in to.

This part stinks, literally.. I taped the inside of the grille so the fiberglass would run onto the chrome and it would keep the fiberglass from pushing out too far. Sanding Fiberglass is a nightmare, so it had to stay pushed back. I put one strip on, waited overnight and added a second strip. It was rock solid that afternoon, one strip didn't feel strong enough to hold.

I went a little heavy on the Bondo here, but it turned out great.. it filled all the gaps/grooves and sanded smooth. I ended up applying Bondo 3 times and getting a pretty good finish.

I sanded with 80-220 sandpaper until smooth all over. I had a random pack of sandpaper and used at least 5 different grits, I cant remember which ones to be honest. Then I hit it with 3 coats of primer, allowed it to dry overnight. Then used some flat black paint, 3 coats of that and 2 coats of matte finish clear.

We used these little zip tie bases from Ace Hardware (Home Depot carries them as well) it ended up taking 10. They have a sticky backing, but I was going to put them under some serious stress, so we epoxy'd them in place.

While this dried, I cut that galvanized mesh from Home Depot http://www.homedepot.com/p/Gibralta...d-Steel-2-5-Diamond-Mesh-Lath-13189/202344626 It cut very easily with a pair of cutting pliers. I left an inch of extra room and folded it all and zip tied it down. The corner triangles had to be epoxy'd down, there wasn't enough room for the zip tie holders.

After all was finished and dried, put it back on and also swapped out the headlights from a set of blacked out ones. So much happier with the front end of the truck.

 

One of my favorite colors love the black and blue look nice truck

 

Nice truck!Brings back some memories of when i did my GrillCraft grill.Not as labor intense as yours though but time consuming and beer consumption as well!

 

Haha thanks all. It was definitely a project.. patience was key

 

Wanted to throw up the Lift/Wheel spacer install. It took my brother and I around 10 hours to do (counting waiting for springs to install, 2 trips for water/energy drinks and 2 trips to shucks) We wanted to be very thorough and not miss anything. I have never done a suspension installation and he had ZERO knowledge of anything automotive. We had two 2 ton jacks and some small stands, basic hand tools and that was about it. Looking back, the install was insanely unsafe and a dumb attempt. But we pulled it off and its been solid for almost a year now.

Here were all the goodies laid out, taunting me.


These are pretty much all the tools I took with me, everything we had at the time. I was able to find a few extra tools around the shop we installed the lift in.

I wanted to see the actual lift results before and after and we didn't even have a tape measure at the time, so... Monster can for scale. If only I had a damn banana.

First we removed the tire and after watching a few youtube videos, decided NOT to use a jack and decompress the spring and prey for survival. We just unbolted the spring out from the top and slid it out.

I was able to get the guys at the tire shop to squeeze me in and swap the coils for me and only charge me $45. They saved this lift, I would have been screwed at this point.

My little brother wrenched away and put on the wheel spacers. I know everyone hates these things and says they aren't safe. I've had mine on almost a year now and they haven't given me any issues. When I have the tires rotated, they always check them. I wanted them because I hate my tires being tucked inside my truck, I want the slightly wider stance.

We slipped the new coil with spacer into place on the front and it took both of us to line up the studs on top. That was a pain in the ass, they don't slide back in to place, there was some careful bending and quality teamwork from us to get it in. Once in and we threw the tire back on, we finally felt some reward. Again, Monster can for the After.

I went with Add-A-Leafs in the rear, I debated back and forth, read articles and reviews. I liked the idea of being able to load down the back of my truck and know I had some strength to hold the ass up. This part was the most time consuming, I didn't know that bolt would require cutting... OMG it was horrible. We didn't have any air tools and this was the only form of a saw I could find. It took me forever to cut through these, there was limited space, I had to angle the blade under the nut, etc, etc. It absolutely sucked and drained me.

We used a few clamps to hold the leaf springs in place and wiggled around endlessly with these things. We spent more time on the rear of the lift, only because we studied the front for quite a while before attempting. Also, we only had tiny little jacks and had to use blocks (Dumb, I know!) and various things to lift and lower spots. We finally got the leafs in and threw on the wheel spacers. Also, at this point we were exhausted and beyond irritated, we were making dumb mistakes and loosening instead of tightening, losing wrenches and sockets.

I could tell my brother was beat and probably wanted to kill me, so I told him to take off and I'd handle the rest. Its my companies warehouse and I couldn't leave it a mess, so I stuck around and swept, put all the tools back, wiped everything down and loaded up my truck with my tools and springs. I told him "Hey! Smile, we finally finished it! Bro Power!" and this was the result.. We were too tired to be proud.

This is the following weekend, it was pitch black after we installed the lift and the shop is waaay too cluttered to get a decent picture. Also, my dad felt the need to immediately go out and buy a brand new 2014 GMC Diesel to put me in my place and continue referring to my truck as a "Cowgirl truck". But we sit about even and I love mine more anyways.

 

Hey man quick question you or anyone you may know have to install longer studs for your after market wheels ? I have fuel hostages on mine and my lug nut only screws on maybe 2 full turns lol

 

Nice truck