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LoneStarTaco's Build

Discussion in '1st Gen. Builds (1995-2004)' started by LoneStarTaco, May 1, 2017.

  1. May 1, 2017 at 8:32 PM
    #1
    LoneStarTaco

    LoneStarTaco [OP] Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 19, 2013
    Member:
    #97910
    Messages:
    138
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Skylar
    Longview
    Vehicle:
    01 Xtra Cab TRD 4x4 Std
    Toolbox, 265/70/16 BFG AT's
    So I’m finally going to start a build thread. It’s nothing special and very similar to a lot of others, but it’ll let me keep track of stuff and give me a space to ask questions.

    A little backstory, around 2014 I was looking to get rid of my heep and get into a first gen taco like I’d wanted for a while. After a while of looking with no luck, my father in law offers to sell me his ’06 DCSB 2wd for what the local yota dealership would give him for it in trade. In California. Turns out, trucks are valued a lot lower out there than here in Texas, so I felt stupid not to buy it for the 12k they offered him. I did a few things to it, 5100’s in the front and some little cosmetic things. Around may of ’16, I decided that I wanted to get back to the 1st gen that I had been looking for originally, not to mention I was in need of some money for my wife to start grad school. So after looking for several months, I found this one 15 minutes after it was listed on Craigslist and called the guy. I looked at it that afternoon, and took it home the next day for $7,300. Oh and sold the 06 for 13.5k, so made a good bit of cash.

    It’s a 2001, 3.4L, 4x4, standard, Xtra cab, SR5, TRD offroad, in Impulse red pearl. It was bone stock other than some BFG AT’s. Here it is the day I got it home.

    [​IMG]

    And here’s the most current picture

    [​IMG]

    First thing that I did was change the oil and try to clean up the headlights with some cutting compound and wax. It worked for a little while.

    Then I decided to get rid of the ugly peeling window trim and fix the plastic coming off of the side of the seat. New screw with a washer worked like a charm.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Actually useful mod next, rear diff breather. Turns out that I put it in a sorta bad spot in the gas filler cubby. I have to push it backwards to close the door. Not a big deal but annoying enough that I have and eye out for a replacement cubby to move it without leaving a hole.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Somewhere around this time I also rebuilt the rear drums.

    In december my rear o2 sensor and cat decided to go bad, so I replaced them and and the muffler. I had a muffler from the TRD catback that I took off of the ’06, so I welded it in for a little better sound and flow.

    Then in January I painted the grill black with some hi temp grill paint. It worked so much better than I expected. 2 light coats and a filler coat and it still looks good 5 months later.

    [​IMG]

    Then my clutch started squeaking, so after a little digging on the forum, I took out the torsion spring and put in a linear spring from ACE. Works great, feels a lot more solid, and keeps my cruise control working.

    Next was the cup holder foam pieces that always rot out. I replaced them with some 1/8” rubber gasket material from Amazon. It’s probably got a little too much grip. Sometimes I’m worried it’s going to punch a hole in a styrofoam cup, but it hasn’t so far.

    [​IMG]

    My seat belt buckle stop came off so I got a new one off amazon and put it on. So nice not to have to dig down beside the seat to find the buckle.

    Then I noticed the ride was getting bumpier so I took off the sway bar. Better but still not great. That gets fixed later

    [​IMG]

    Same day I think, I tried to replace the Napa Gold fuel filter with an OEM toyota one. It seems the Napa one is a little longer than the toyota one and so it had pushed the lines away from the filter. I tried several times to get the fittings tight enough on the toyota filter so it wouldn’t leak, but I never could. I was replacing it just for kicks so I put the Napa one back on and have had no problems since. I probably need to get that figured out.

    Next day I was bored so I did the grey wire mod and put on some 1 ¼” spydertracs spacers I picked up from the classifieds. Made the stance a whole lot better. The tires ended up right about even with the outside of the flares, which is pretty much perfect for me.

    Before:

    [​IMG]

    After:

    [​IMG]

    After a few weeks, I got tired of the rubbing on tight turns and did the pinch weld mod. I also ended up having to cut out a couple oc chunks of my mud flaps. And yes, I intend to keep them on. The road I drive to work gets a lot of tar on it from semi’s and I’d rather not have to clean any of that off the paint.

    In february, I got tired of the rough ride and started looking at some coilovers. I’d haad 5100’s on my 06, and while it was better than stock, it wasn’t much better. So I started watching for a deal or coupon and happened to find the King group buy through DSM and jumped in. After a few weeks wait, I got them in the mail and installed them that weekend. Took all of 1 ½ hours.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    It looked great, in the front, and rode really well but I couldn’t handle the bro-lean or the twitchy handling for very long so I lowered them a little bit. It was better but the back was still a little shorter so I got some lift shackles just to even it out while I figured out my plans for the rear.

    [​IMG]

    Much better.

    Last weeked I picked up a set of F-150 leafs and I’m planning using them with the factory packs to build a hybrid pack. For $60 it’s worth a try. If it doesn’t work out like I want, I’ll swap in some chevy 63’s. Now to find shocks.

    Well that brings it up to date, so it’ll be slow going from here most likely.
     
    chernobyl1 and cali04intx like this.
  2. May 22, 2017 at 11:25 AM
    #2
    chernobyl1

    chernobyl1 Member

    Joined:
    Feb 28, 2016
    Member:
    #179693
    Messages:
    16
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Christian
    Vehicle:
    2000 Tacoma Xtra cab PreRunner
    Stock
    Great build thread, keep up the good work!
     
  3. May 22, 2017 at 11:30 AM
    #3
    mtbjohn42

    mtbjohn42 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 18, 2016
    Member:
    #181622
    Messages:
    195
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    John
    Laporte, CO
    Vehicle:
    2005 Toyota Sequoia
    Kings on a 1st gen...yummmmm
     
  4. May 23, 2017 at 5:00 AM
    #4
    LoneStarTaco

    LoneStarTaco [OP] Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 19, 2013
    Member:
    #97910
    Messages:
    138
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Skylar
    Longview
    Vehicle:
    01 Xtra Cab TRD 4x4 Std
    Toolbox, 265/70/16 BFG AT's
    Thanks guys.

    Yeah I like them. Much better than stock but they still aren't as plush as most people Mae them out to be. It may be the rear making it feel that way though since it's still on stock shocks.
     
  5. Jun 15, 2017 at 5:52 PM
    #5
    LoneStarTaco

    LoneStarTaco [OP] Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 19, 2013
    Member:
    #97910
    Messages:
    138
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Skylar
    Longview
    Vehicle:
    01 Xtra Cab TRD 4x4 Std
    Toolbox, 265/70/16 BFG AT's
    About to order new shocks for the back. Looking at 5125's. any rec's on valving?
     

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