Meet Hank...

Say hello to Hank. He is a 98 base model... 2.4... 5 speed. I have known him since he was new but I only recently got to take him home as mine. He has 210,000 miles but still as spunky as any 20 year old can be.

Cliffs notes history on him: He was purchased by my sister in law's (brother's wife) sister brand new in 1998. She had it until 2010 when she finally upgraded to a car. My brother acquired it then but now he is having diabetes issues with his legs and can't shift... so I bought it off him.

The name Hank actually started as a joke. Lisa, the first owner stayed single for a long time and would joke the only man she needed in her life was her truck... he got called Hank and the name stuck. Now everybody refers to it by name... "I'm gonna drive Hank"... "I left my [insert item here] in Hank"... etc.

Now for my plans: seeing how it's 2wd I was gonna go for a quasi mini truck street look... with the eventual lowering and such. Initially I plan to keep it simple... fixing the front end, wheels(mag?) And maybe some interior touches ( bucket seats and boom). I have simple tastes and Hank is a simple truck... so don't expect to see any flash.

Ideas are always welcome. Tell me what you think.

 

Welcome, Hank!

...you too, Will!

It’s cool to see an O.G. Taco proudly rocking its battle scars, as it soldiers on.

 

Finally got around to doing an engine cleaning... it was rough.

 

First of all... to any who might of subscribed to this thread hoping to see an amazing build... my bad.

I had every intention of working on this way sooner... but life happened. The first attempt was back last summer. Then...... my wife fell in love with a car so I had to use the money to get that. Next was October... but God had other plans there (we had a major hurricane blow through here on 10/10... may have heard about it). That kept me financially strapped till past Christmas. Then I decided to launch my business..

So... after 55 levels of b.s. the build begins.

Here is how Hank sits at the current moment. I'm at the tire shop getting the new wheels mounted and balanced. Stay tuned......

 

Annnnnd.... the wheels.

 

Now... for the extended plan. Just bought over 2k worth of swag.

If you look at the front driver fender/bumper... you'll see battle scars from my then 16yo nephew backing into it. So... I just got a new D/F fender, 4wd style bumper cover, and new lighting for the front...

The back bumper is bent down from not one... but two rear enders. Got a shiny new rear bumper for installation tomorrow.

Toys... just got a instrument cluster with a tachometer from an 02.

Upgrading stereo... goes in the stereo shop Monday for a little boom boom install. 4 Polk Audio 8" woofers with an Orion amp and Sony xav-ax100 head unit.

Stay tuned during the next few weeks to see Hank's complete transformation.

 

Facial reconstructive surgery begins...



New fender.

 

Turns out the 4wd style wont work for whatever reason... guess I gotta stick with the base model look.

 

Hello, Hank
will you be losing your non-digital odometer with this pending instrument cluster change
I have only recently learned that things did NOT go all digital after the '97 model year as I was led to believe from about 2oo4...

 

Base models had digital signal that was converted to analog.

 

why? i don't know anything about this, just trying to gain some knowledge!

 

Toyota did some weird things back in those days... I had the same questions. You can look at my old post from last year when i asked it.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/instrument-cluster-compatibility.551338/

 

Just gave Hank some boom.

4 Polk Audio 8" subs with an Orion amp.

Also upgraded the deck to a Sony xav-ax100

Looks and sounds spectacular.

 

it's good to see Hank is a 'keep it in the family' Tacoma!

 

Gauge swap handled...

Last odometer reading of the old cluster

All torn apart

New cluster in

Bolted down

Showing it works

New cluster odometer reading... I gained 7k miles

 

Just realized I never posted the pic with the lights on.

Still trying to figure out the bumper thing so this is how he sits for the moment.

 

@GQ7227

 

is the new cluster plastic less scratchy than the original?

 

About the same level of scratchiness... came from a 2002 with slightly more miles than Hank.

 

i have heard that the stuff used to make Hank's type of headlight covers look like new (no fogginess) also works on that type of plastic on the cluster? I have some stray scratches and often use cotton balls to dust it but after 22yrs it looks in relative good shape, I may try some of that stuff on the cluster to see if the surface scratches will disappear, my headlights are the different sealed beam type and don't get foggy for some reason