DR PH1L's '97 2.7L Reg. Cab 4x4 build

GOAL:
Daily driven expedition truck.


CURRENT MODS (in chronological order):
- Curt Class III Hitch
- Kicker CS65 door speakers
- All-Pro Baja front bumper
- (2) 6” KC Apollo Pro 100W lights (driving beam) - These are the newer style Apollo lights that uses the rock guard to hold the light together... so as a heads up, if you get the new style Apollo's (Pro model name), you can't drive without the rock guards on the lights.
- Custom cat-back exhaust with Magnaflow muffler
- Alpine CD deck
- Trail Gear Rock Ripper header
- Trail Gear Rock Ripper intake
- New Bosch O2 sensors
- Custom onboard air compressor and 3 gallon air tank with QD fitting next to rear license plate
- Monstaliner black roll-on bed liner
- OME 3" lift from Toytec Lifts- 2883 springs in front and CS019R Dakar leaf pack in rear... on a regular cab, you're gonna want to remove a leaf AND load the bed if you want anything near a comfortable ride. There's just not enough weight to keep the rear end on the ground over moderate bumps (even at highway speeds)
- Toytec front diff drop kit
- Toytec brake prop. valve bracket
- Toytec extended rear brake line
- Reman. front CV axles
- 33x12.50x15 BF Goodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2
- 15x8 w/3.75" BS Pro Comp Steelies - these wheels DO NOT clear the calipers without using a spacer... all you need is 1 mm clearance, but it's enough to grind an arc into your caliper if you don't run a spacer
- 1/4" Aluminum wheel spacer for the fronts
- Pro Comp black splined lug nuts
- Custom bed rack - 1.5" .120 wall tubing made to mount a RTT
- CVT Mt. Shasta Stargazer RTT
- Custom fitted tarp bed rack cover - Secured with (20) Stay-Put fasteners
- Custom mounts for generic bucket seats
- Custom rear bumper - 1.5" .120 wall tubing
- Warn VR10 winch
- Bed rack LED strip lighting

SHORT-TERM TO-DO LIST:
- Re-spray bumper
- Mount skid plates - to do this now, I have to not only elongate the holes in the plates due to the misalignment from hitting a car at 45mph, but also use a hole saw to cut out 2 holes for the diff drop spacers.
- Finish rear bumper
- Custom tire/jerry can carrier swingout

LONG-TERM TO-DO LIST:
- 4.88 gears
- New upper ball joints
- Custom rock sliders
- Hi-Lift Jack
- Flared fiberglass fenders

----------------------------------

Welcome to my build thread. I've gotten a lot of inspiration from many different builds on this board (ponethousand, PcBuilder14, presto, Blackdawg, Box Rocket, and many others) and thought I'd document my build as well. I'll also be posting up pictures from various events as I love to take this truck out and explore more than the freeways of San Diego.

So, a little about the truck. It's a '97 Reg. Cab 4x4 2.7L bare bones pickup. Manual everything except steering. I picked her up on 7/14/14 for $3500 from a guy in my division on my sub. (I was stationed on the USS Virginia (SSN 774) from Jan. '10 to Jan. '15)

She had 171k highway miles on her, a slight noise and vibration from the power steering pump and some heavily worn out bushings. She'd been a northeast truck all her life, but didn't really show it on the undercarriage. Barely any rust on the frame, suspension, or brake lines, but there was excessive rust on the exhaust, which is to be expected in the part of the country that uses salt to de-ice. In my opinion, I got a pretty good deal on her considering I knew the history of the previous 3 years and 40k miles. Here she is the day after I brought her home and the first time I took her out wheeling:










About a week after bringing her home, I took her out camping up in the Green Mountain National Forest in VT. I highly recommend that area. Great secluded camp site feel while still only 150 yards from a dirt road. Oh, and the dirt roads and camp sites are on Google Maps.



















In Feb. '15, I moved cross country from North Stonington, CT to San Diego, CA. 3,800 miles with 9,000 lbs combined weight of truck, bed load, car dolly, and 1/2 put together Toyota MR2 Turbo stuffed with the other half in parts.

First mod I did to the truck was put a Pro Rack in with tool box mount and fitted 2 KC Apollo 100W Driving Beam lights to the rack.









Next mod was an All-Pro Baja front bumper. VHT satin black epoxy rattle can paint job so I can do quick touch ups rather than have a ghetto half powder coat/half rattle can job.

 

You could do what I did with my turn signals and get some led strips. Subbed.

 

I just started dremeling out the running light socket housing this morning. Where do you have your LEDs mounted? I looked at the pic on your thread and didn't see anything.

 

They are 3m taped on the back and you just stick them in this area. You also will need an led resister that can be zip tied to something behind your headlights. It gets extremely hot so watch out and keep it away from the actual headlight and something it could melt.

 

Oh that's pretty cool. I saw that in your thread, but I didn't know that's what it was.

 

It's pretty unique and it looks good during the night time and bright enough during the day.

 

I removed the bed liner in preparation for the lining (haven't decided Line-X or Rhino yet) and used it to paint the grill and running light trim on my apartment balcony. I also painted the AP logo on the bumper and installed my new-to-me Alpine deck. I had to make my own wiring harness since it came out of an '01 Grand Prix GTP.

 

Some parts arrived today!







I got off rather early today, so it worked perfect to be able to work on the truck in my time off.

Before:



After:



If you notice, I don't have the exhaust hooked up after the headers. I had to sawzall the exhaust off in the middle of the downpipe just before the first O2 sensor due to some siezed/stripped/rusted bolts on both flanges of the cat. I'll be going to an exhaust shop tomorrow to have them cut out the stock cat and replace it with a new one (188k miles is enough for one :wink ) I started her up and OMG is it loud! The little 2.7L 4 banger sounds like a Chevy 350!

 

How much lift did those rear cs019r springs get you? I just ordered a pair and I'm hoping For about 3" with a canopy and rear swing out bumper

 

Hey man how do you like the OME lift kit?

 

Check out my build thread, I bought the same leaf packs and will be installing them shortly if all goes to plan

 

I'm really digging those two on the All-Pro! I just made a thread for folks to show off their rides with KCs, so feel free to post up in there when you have a chance and I'll add you to the crew!
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/show-off-your-kc-hilites.482430/