NeonTaco's build log

I finally trimmed my wheel wells to fit my 31"s!

Here is my whole process:

Before:


First I had to pull back the plastic and hammer the shit out of the weld seam.


Next I trimmed about 3/4" off the bottom of the plastic just to get it out of the way.


Next up is to heat up the plastic to make it very soft so I can keep it pushed as far away from the tire as possible.


After that I found a few extra push clips and decided to try to stretch the plastic over to an unused hole and pin it in place.



That's it! Here is the final shape.


Clearance is much better!


Cheers!

 

31s needed clearancing? I had 31s stock no rubbing. I had 265/75/16s that only needed a small bit of plastic. Nothing close to the amount for 33s. That is close to major surgery if you want no rubbing.

 

The tires I have are pretty aggressive and have sharp corners, they only rubbed a little on the plastic but not the weld seam. But I wanted as much clearance for flexing too.

 

I had duratracs in the 32s. Toyo AT in 31s which was a really mild tread. So maybe that' why. A really good mod nonetheless

 

Let the fun begin...

 

Plugs, coils, valve cover gasket and?

 

That's mostly it, just doing the valve cover gaskets and spark plugs & wires while I'm in there.

 

Love doing maintenance. Even more than mods

 

Im having fun!

 

I got the valve cover gasket job complete this morning, other than breaking a few little tabs on the wiring harness it went great!

Here is a few pics!

Air box/tube off


Upper intake manifold off


Most hoses & wires disconnected




At this point I covered the upper and lower manifolds in parts cleaner and wiped them with a paper towel real good. The throttle body was next, It was covered in carbon build up and used carb cleaner to get most of it off.

*gasp* "you used carb cleaner on a throttle body?!?!?!"

Yes, Yes I did. Read: https://itstillruns.com/can-use-carburetor-cleaner-throttle-body-fuel-injected-car-12213280.html
(Tl;Dr : Shit is almost the same, basically interchangeable)

Shiny


Valve covers before/after cleaning.


After cleaning the valve covers, I ripped out the old spark plug tube seals and started putting new ones in and busted one! I had to order a whole new set that night to get a single replacement... (selling 5 tube seals BTW...)

Once those were in I dropped the new gasket in.


Last step was to clean the half-moons and lip on the block and re-apply the gasket sealant.

Time to put my engine back together!

I could not find a torque wrench that would go as low as 58 in/lbs for the valve cover bolts so I did it by feel......

Hope it holds lol

New Spark plugs went in and new spark plug wires were routed before final assembly (what a PITA)



No parts left over and I double checked all hoses have a home.

She starts and runs great!

Job complete.

 

Got my new "stacking dimes v2" patch in...


Love it!!!

 

Friday I was bored at work and decided to make my center console a little more interesting.

Cheap truck flashlight, and knife. Tire gauge and lug key in the back.

For more storage I added some Velcro strips on the inside bottom of the hatch too.


I dabbed super glue around the edges to make sure it won't peel off later and touched it up with a paint pen.

 

Where'd you get that velcro pen holster? ​

 

That one was a full visor mirror/pen holder that slips over the visor with elastic. I cut off the mirror part and sewed velcro to the backing on it.

I believe this would work:

$17 Cocoon CPG5BK GRID-IT!® Accessory Organizer - Small 10.25" x 5.125" (Black)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002HU9LJC

I don't know if there is velcro on the back already or not.

 

Very cool!!! Thank you!!! ​

 

Last week I got a few things in the mail:

New quarter window arms and LED license plate lights!


Before:



After:


New LEDs!



I'll be replacing all my rear lights with LED eventually.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Dog mod underway, Will update once complete.

Coming along well!

 

A little tease of a project that I am working on....

 

Shit... https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...e-failed-still-trying-to-troubleshoot.534844/