Tabula Rasa

I bought her on 31 Jan 2019 after a month of back and forth with the dealer.

I don't know what she's going to end up being, but this will serve as the chronicle of her evolution.

I knew I wanted a v6 4x4... and I knew I didn't want a lot of the other stuff that I could do myself.

Here she is on the night I took her home. Can't ask for much more of a blank slate with which to work.



Things so far

• Westin HDX Drop Steps
• OEM Bed Mat
• Go Rhino exhaust tip
• ProComp 7089 wheels
• OEM blackout kit
• Dashtop Single Mount
• Tufskinz stuff
• Seat spacers
• Interior LEDs - Replaced with MESO map and dome lights
• MESO Gasshole
• Tinted windows
• Removed vinyl wrap between the doors
• Auxiliary fuse block
• KC HiLites underhood lighting
• OEM pro grille, garnish and TSS wiring harness
• OEM fog lights, bezel & wiring harness
• MESO fuse panel cover
• BlackVue front and rear cameras
• AVS - In Channel Ventshade
• Flag decals

 

Here are a few pics from a day or two after I brought her home.

 

The first thing I did was add some Westin HDX Drop Steps for the kids and wife.

Super easy to put on. Easy enough that I did it by myself.

I may replace them with something proper later, but for now these work well.

 

Then I grabbed a bed mat from the dealer.

Were I a better negotiator maybe I could've gotten them to chuck it in before I drove away.

 

Then I added a Go Rhino exhaust tip

 

Welcome to TW. Make it your own!

 

There seems to be a de-badge thing in vogue at the moment, and I get the arguments against them, but I've opted to keep the badging.

Moreover, this one didn't have the 'Tacoma' badges on the doors... so, I had them added.

 

I bought the OEM black out kit as well as some wheels. ProComp 7089s more precisely.

I had a garage swap the tires and TPMS, but they couldn't get the center caps on for some reason.

They also told me that it would be a good idea to get some different lug nuts.

So, I brought her home and ordered some Gorilla spline drive lug nuts.

I then jacked the truck up, took off the wheels and the center caps went right on no problem. Weird.

The wheels are okay... I guess.

I'm waiting on new tires until I settle on a lift.

Then I had the front 2 windows tinted to match the rear windows.

 

Interior mods:

• LED map and dome lights from SuperBrightLEDs. Huge difference.
• Dashtop Single Mount from @FreshMexicanTaco though I regret not going with a DMM b/c this thing is the most useful thing I've added yet.
• Vent rings, ignition ring, glovebox letters, and a full set of cupholder inserts from Tufskinz.
• Door sill vinyl inserts from Amazon.
• Cheap steering wheel cover

​

Not Pictured:

• Seat spacers for both front seats from @olecoot
  
• Glovebox organizer from Amazon
• Armrest organizer from Amazon
• Gasshole from @mesojdm

 

Welcome to TW!!!! I just got mine on Feb 1st and I’ve got a lot of work to do!!

 

I took off the vinyl between the doors.
I also had the front 2 windows tinted last week and it looked fine from the outside, but on the inside the fronts were much darker than the back... so I had the back 3 done as well.
Now the back 3 are a bit darker than the fronts from both outside and in.

I also have all the pieces for the auxiliary fuse block now, so I'll start building that this evening.

 

Aux fuse block tray from www.powertrays.com is assembled. The tray was a little pricey, but it is super nice. The mounting holes are perfect.

The fuse block and fuse are mounted and the wires are cut to length, loomed, crimped and I added heat shrink on the ends.

I'll pop it in tomorrow.

I'm in the process of sourcing an OEM pro grille as well.

 

The aux fuse block is in and seems to be working.

I added KC Hilites underhood lighting kit using some existing holes in the hood.
I mounted the switch on the side of the powertray.
I loomed up the 4 wires and added some shrinkwrap around the ends. There was a long length of red wire that I zip tied together.
I may just cut it to length and join the ends to clean it up a bit.
I snipped out the section with the inline fuse, added a ring connector and shrinkwrap on the hot and ground ends and ran them to the fuse block.

I added a couple stickers on the back window as well.

I bought some fog lights from another TW member and all the other pieces from Olathe Toyota. They should be here soon.
I also managed to get an OEM pro grille that should be here tomorrow according to the tracking information.

 

I finally received the OEM pro grille.

Removing the original grille was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Two screws, two pop rivets, and a lot of yanking and tugging, but it finally gave way.

It is super cold where I am so I brought the assembly inside to get up to room temperature. My reasoning was the plastic tabs would be less prone to breaking if they were 75 degrees as opposed to 27.

Removing the grille insert and popping the new one in was trivial. I didn't break a single tab on the original. I may put it up on the marketplace... only 700 miles on it.

I took this opportunity to pop in the grille marker lights.

I think everything turned out really well.

No TSS errors whatsoever.

 

Looks great! How did you run the marker lights?

 

Damn, how much is your utility bill?

 

Thank man.
I ran them to a relay off of the aux fuse block. The trigger wire for the relay was an add-a-fuse off the 10a INJ fuse in the underhood fuse box... so when the truck is on, they are on.
I don't think I want to leave it that way, but that change will have to wait until the weather becomes more amenable.

 

It gets pretty brutal in the colder months, I won't lie. As a guy originally from the deep south I still haven't acclimated to the north.

 

I ran mine to the headlight fuse...I was a little worried about drawing from the injector fuse. Mine are only on when headlights are on, but I wish I could get them synched with the driving lights without splicing anything.

 

I've done a few more small things.

A couple years ago my little brother gave me a BlackVue camera kit that has just been lying around... so I decided to pop it in.
I bought a BlendMount and the power cable that runs off of the OBDII with the DIP switches for parking mode and all that.

I also added some oem fog lights and wiring harness... still waiting on the stalk and the relay then they should be gtg.
I managed to snag a couple things from @mesojdm as well.