First Tacoma Build! '03 Tacoma 3.4L 4WD

Hello all! Haven't been on TW for too long but I figured I should make a build thread. haven't made one before so bare with me. This Tacoma is my 4th Toyota. I've had an 81 pick up, 85 pick up, 87 4Runner, and now this 03 Tacoma. loving it so far. Bought it beginning of May 2015.Way more power than The 22RE's I'm used to! So unlike all the other Toyotas I've had I decided to build this one less wheelin rig and more daily driver. bought it pretty much stock with a very questionable lift in it which is currently in it. Bilstein adjustable lift is priority right now. Here's the list of everything I've done after owning it for 100 days:

Engine:
- 5" deck plate mod
- Intake silencer deletes (soon to come)

Suspension:
- 56" 2WD Ford F150 rear springs 2.5" wide (currently installing, pictures to follow)

Armor:
- Home made High Clearance rear bumper
- Sliders (eventually)
- Home made front skid plate (plan on building soonish)

Wheels:
- 285/75/16 Hankook Dynapro ATM's
- 16x8 steel wheels (4" backspacing I think)

Misc:
- Rock guarded Front bumper, lower rocker panels, Flares, and Rear bumper
- Ammo crate mounted in box for some extra storage
- A/C compressor off when defrost on Mod
- Yellow fog lights
- Turn signal in corner light mod
- Home Made Satoshi Grill

Future:
- sliders
- bilstein adjustable lift
- 1.5" wheel Spacers
- Front bumper (maybe)
- headache rack

20 minutes after owning it!


4 Hours after owning it i had some 33's and offset rims bolted on! perks of already being involved with toyotas i guess haha.


This is the questionable lift i was talking about above. Coil spacer on one side and two pieces of plastic separating the coil on the other side.. its a rough ride to say the least.


I felt the total white truck was a little boring and thought a little more protection never hurt anybody so rock guarded the bottom portion and the flares. and shortly after that i did the front bumper and painted the grill black. wasn't a big a fan of the ugly peeling chrome



Found and put on a big ass sticker on the tailgate somewhere in there


Since the 285 toyos i had first put on the truck were extremely bald, I found some slightly used hankook dynapro ATM's for a nice price. been very happy with them. they chew well in the mud for what they are and and quiet on the road.


Took the plunge and started hacking up my perfectly good box sides to start fabbing a high clearance bumper. made it out of 2x4 square tubing 1/4" thick. i don't recommend making a bumper of of anything that thick. way too heavy than necessary but the metal shop didn't have 3/16" and felt 1/8" was too thin. angle cut the ends, capped them, and rock guarded the bumper before throwing it on.








Next was the satoshi grill. Ended up finding some small expanded metal and pulled the the "TOYOTA" logo off the tailgate and used that for the lettering on the front. turned out decent. good enough for the shape of the truck and what i was actually going to use the truck for. aint no pavement princess thats for sure.



Couldn't find a better place to put my VHF radio so i started cutting out the section in front of the shifter. Going to relocate the second 12V plug-in somewhere else but haven't decided where to put it yet.





got some Yellow film and decided that the look of yellow fog lights grew on me so i did the signals in the corner lights and put the film on the "new" fog lights. Fashion over function in my opinion but i like it


Next, was the 5" deck plate mod and drop in K&N filter. I haven't decided if it has any gains but hey! I figured it can't hurt anything!



Did the A/C compressor off with the Defrost off. Again i don't know if it helps a whole bunch for fuel economy but it doesn't hurt! Was a very easy mod, all I had to do was trim the stopper off the back of the knob. and then it turns passed the defrost setting to a secret setting! I love sites like this for reasons like that. (Pictures aren't working for me at the moment, will up load when i can)




Wife left on a girls trip for a long weekend so i decided to fill my time with repainting my truck. was 3 different colours of white and it irritated me.




Got some 2WD Ford F150 rear springs to swap in soon. Nice thing about the 2WD springs is that they are 2.5" wide unlike a lot of 3" wide springs from other trucks and they are only 1" longer than factory which is easy to deal with i think. haven't installed them yet but hoping to soon. hoping they have enough arc that i will be able to get rid of the 3" lift block in the back! Made some 5.5" Shackles to compensate for the extra inch. hopefully its as easy as that to get them to fit nice. haven't saw anybody else with 56" ford springs under their first gen tacoma. if there is i'd love to hear what all you did to make them fit.


Had an extra decal off the door that i decided to do some arts and crafts with


Needed some extra storage for the tools, straps, and what have you so i welded some tabs on the bottom of an ammo can to keep it waterproof and bolted it into the box

 

Nice work!

 

Dig the rear bumper