Dmonkey's 02 BSP Daily Double Cab of Big Murdered Out Dreams and Low Budget

After my minitruck was killed by a woman making an unprotected left in front of me, I decided it was time to get a little more room.

The Truck:
2002 Tacoma Double Cab (Non TRD)
V6/Auto
187k miles (timing belt done at 181k)
Super clean interior, minor blemishes outside.


As I was buying it. Note the fugly rack.


This pic showcases the even more fugly bug deflector:



Rack and deflector removal in progress.


All finished:




As of right now, I don't like the condition of the tires, they have tread but they're showing cracks and the best I can make of the information, they're about 5 years old. So rather than replace the chrome wheels(I hate chrome a lot), I'll just get new tires and derp the current ones black. The truck also had stock rear shocks so I've already replaced them to match the kyb monomax struts up front.

I also have plans for tint, a deck (head unit), and maybe freshen up some of the lights. We'll see how it goes.

Link to my previous truck RIP: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/project-drop-taco.77732/

 

First. Ehhhhhhhhh lol

Looks good sir

 

I may black out the badges even lol

 

Update time: I have a few things that I did, head rests, tires, plasti dipped the wheels. Next I need to sand some scratches and polish the whole Truck. I also need to restore the headlights and install an OEM gas cap and weather seal. Kind of a huge post, I dont have much time to get these things going.



My head rests wobbled pretty bad and I quickly got tired of having the metal bar hitting me in the back of the head so I took off the fabric and used spray adhesive that looks like other fluids and cut up some RC tire foams to fill the gaps. The end result is pretty good and the head rests can be used as head rests.



After the interior was done, I took to trying to repair some of the scratches that basically cover this truck. This pic kind of gives an idea of what I'm dealing with.




The Firestone tires that came with my truck were about 5 years old and were beginning to crack and were definitely drying out. That discount tire direct ebay deal meant I could afford tires so I did that. They're Cooper Discoverer ATP 265/70R16




As you can see, these are the old tires, the tread had a little time left but the cracks were there and the compound felt hard



Off to the tire shop




It looks much better after the new tires and it rides much smoother



Black trucks are extremely hard to keep clean, the central valley of California makes it much much worse when it's harvest time.


What Tacoma build would be complete without the Derp? In retrospect, I wish I had wiped on tire shine so that the derp couldn't adhere to the tire itself. Other than that, cut open a plastic bag to cover brake parts and you're off to the races. I used about 1 can per tire when all said and done.


In progress

All done! Still dirty though


Before/After shots



My next project is going to be dealing with this nonsense. I dont know what the PO used to shine up these fender flares but they do that crap when it rains. It's a residue that can be wiped off, I think it might be wax or something. It's pretty miserable to deal with. Also, I need to compound and polish/buff the paint because the paint swirl is god awful. I did a test patch and can remove it but it's a matter of getting it clean and having time to do the whole truck. I'm waiting to take decent pictures until I get the swirl taken care of. This pic is to show my blown KYB monomax strut. It looks new and isn't even dirty. The whole truck doesn't look like it's been offroad which is amazing to me. Also, the lower balljoints were done on the recall and have 30k on them, score!That track of water flooded out the foot well of the truck because of a rip. Got that on order.. I'd rather spend money on mods lol

 

Hopefully this solves my gas cap problem. Bought a locking cap and it started to go to crap within 3 fill ups. The key was hanging up and if I didn't tighten it super tight, it would pop an evap code. So I went OEM off Amazon. If you ever look for parts on Amazon, remember to include the - in the part number.

 

Have a quick update. The cap did solve my code issue! I put a new shock in the front end and it's some what better but I'm unimpressed with the suspension still. I'm thinking 5100s and OME coils may be in my future... distant future lol

Here is a quick tour of my new truck in video format. I have other Tacoma videos on there too.

 

Needs a supercharger.

 

That is rather far outside the budget at this moment but your suggestion is duly noted lol

 

Step one of repairing the headlights, it's also a tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JjDvzi2aHA