El Taco Diablo... Mall Crawlin, now with LT for tall curbs

Finished up the RTT rack over the weekend. Didn't get a chance to mount it till last night.
Must say, I'm pretty damn proud of myself.

Borrowed 90 Amp Harbor Frieght flux welder, Harbor Frieght welding helmet and gloves with holes in the fingers... First time welding anything in my life, absolutely no one to tell me what I'm doing wrong... and all cuts made freehand with a 4 inch angle grinder.

I'm happy with how it turned out.


Added an LED brake light to the rear crossbar because the cab mount brake light is obscured by the rack.

 

So, my radiator popped on me on the way home from work this week.

Good thing I had already recieved the new radiator I was planning on installing.

So I ordered the parts from Aircabinman for the Timing belt/Waterpump etc... I was planning on doing it but my truck moved the plans up.

Also ordered the Fan Support Bracket and Fan Clutch from Rock Auto. Figured while I had them off, to do the other work, I might as well replace them.

I posted a write up of some of the things I encountered, and maybe some humble suggestions in a thread here.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/aluminum-radiator-install-w-timing-and-pump.536687/

 

While I was at it this weekend... decided to give the girl some new oil.

 

Added a couple pieces of fanciness to the truck.


'Merica!

 

So... it's been a while since I posted on my build thread. Life has been busy. Youngest son graduated. Had a lot of things taking up tim (and money) that made working on the truck a low priority.

Until yesterday... The FedEx guy showed up with goodies! Looks like we're going to get some stuff going on old El Taco Diablo.

 

Tundra brakes are going on... I also decided it's a good time to replace the rear wheel cyli nders, drums, shoes, and hardware. I'm also replacing the flex brake lines with +3 inch lines from LC Engineering.


As of right now, everything has arrived except the brake lines and calipers.

 

Well... I recieved the brake lines from LC Engineering today. Or, maybe I should say I recieved PART of the brake lines today.

Here's what arrived... no hardlines and no brackets.

Here's what should have arrived.

I sent an email to LC Engineering (with pictures) hopefully the can get this straightened out, and get me the parts before next weekend.

 

LC Engineering got back to me today. The rest of the parts (hardlines and brackets) are due for delivery tomorrow. If that's the case, we should be good to go for install this weekend... calipers are tracking to deliver on Friday.

 

Well... all the rest of the parts are here, for this weekend's festivities.

The rest of the details on the Tundra brake swap will be here.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/my-swing-at-the-tundra-brake-swap.558221/

 

Tundra brakes are done! Looking great!

 

The next shiny object is the brand new Yellow top Optima I found on Letgo for 150 bucks.

Dropped it in... and it looks like we'll need to make some alterations to make it fit.

 

Ok... here's what I did.

For the positive side.
1) There's a white wire running in to the fuse box (8 guage) I cut the eye off the factory wire and spliced the pictured clear jacketed wire, with the red butt connector and used a piece of heat shrink to protect the connection. (make sure you get the wires all the way in the butt connector, and use your gorilla grip to make the crimp).

2) The main cable from the alt is 4 guage. I bought the cable extender (pictured) at O'Reillys. I then cut the cable terminal, and small wire, off right behind the clamp. I got this one because it splices 4 guage with an allen screw. I didn't want to trust crimping 4 guage without the right tool (because THAT would be a mutherfuker).

The connections to the positive side battery clamp are allen screw.

For the negative side
1) The body ground was too short (and thin, I think the factory one was just 8 guage). I had a piece of 4 guage amp wire that already had an eye crimped to it. I just cut it down to the right length.
2) The main ground from underneath (the 4 guage ground) was actually long enough. I just had to unwrap some of the (factory) elect tape, on the main harness, to get enough slack.

All of the connections to the negative side battery clamp are with an allen screw. (Note)
These battery clamps are for positive posts. A positive post is slightly bigger than a negative. I used a post shim (pictured) to make it get a solid connection to the negative post.

I tried to use as many allen screw connections as I could because I don't trust crimps (without the right tool).

 

But now... this spot over here is screaming for a yellow top optima too

Oh well... add that to the list of projects.

 

So... Ordered a set of 881s testerday. I'm pretty much done with the harsh ride of my stock springs, set at the 3rd highest (of 4) settings on my Bilsteins.

Also ordered my 17 inch wheels.

Now I impatiently wait for Friday

 

Well, I think I made enough room for a second Optima.

Needed about 10 in, was able to make about 10 3/4 clear space.

 

So... the wheel and tires showed up when they were supposed to. But the front coils didn't. After some scrambling, looking for something that will work for the weekend, I was able to get a set of Bilsteins with 620# coils on them from @FirstTimeFirstGen. That way I could get the lift done, fit the wheels/tires and get ready for the 209 TacomaWorld day trip on Sunday.

For hour round trip drive to Sacramento put me a bit behind schedule. Swapping the Bilsteins out wasn't going to be a problem. But the rear lift involved removal and complete disassembly of the leaf packs to add a 5 lug leaf... to make a poor man's progressive leaf pack. Luckily @foxrcing07 and @CalTacoma09 were gracious enough to lend a hand and help work on my truck past midnight to get it lifted.

Here's how it turned out. (pic from the next morning)

 

Saturday was mainly a bunch of maintenance. Took it in for an alignment only to find out I'll be needing to do inner tie rods soon.


Not to be too discouraged. I decided to brush it off and get prepared for the trip Sunday. Cleaned up the garage. Got all the truck tools loaded back in the truck box. Washed the truck. Cleaned the interior. Replaced the broken passenger side door handle. Checked the fluids. Re-bled the brakes (by the way @FirstTimeFirstGen, you were right, there is a bleeder on my proportioning valve, Morgan pointed it out while we were doing the lift).

Then I buffed the headlights... I think they came out pretty damn snifty.

The headlight polish compound slung all over the hood, bumper and fenders, so I ended up having to wash it again.

 

The tray for my second Optima came in today as well.

 

Have a few minutes of quiet time at work so I figure I'll update the thread with a couple pics from the weekend.


Great day with a great group of people.



Link to the 209 Tacos Relief Reservoir trip = 7/22/18
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/209-area-refief-reservoir-trip-7-22-18.559961/

 

Was a big weekend around here.

Thursday I got my 4x4 spindles back from having the gussets welded.


Friday I mounted my new coils (ToyTec 620#) on my 5100s, and installed them on my truck after work.


Saturday we lifted two 3rd gens and a 2nd gen here at my place.


Sunday I replaced the rear diff fluid and ran a breather to the high point under the hood. (I'll also splice in to the hose for the front diff when I do the 4x swap).


Also replaced the inner tie rods... and relocated some stickers in the back window.
Had to rock the 209 TACOS sticker


And... the truck is "officially" El Taco Diablo.