300k mile turd taco build

Hi all,

Excited to finally be a contributing member of TW, I recently bought a 2002 Tacoma double cab 4wd. I recently started taking home a work vehicle so I thought it would be a good time to finally buy one. I live in the northeast so finding a decent gen1 that wasn't $10grand is impossible. The truck I settled on has 329k on the clock.

The good:
Motor seems to run great, idles fine, gets up to temperature and holds it while sounding very smooth. For 300k+ miles the interior is perfect. The cab, doors, floors, and rockers show little to no rust which in this area is pretty shocking. Overall driveability at this moment seems good.

The bad:
The drivetrain also seems good except for 4wd detact switches that seem to sporadically work and not work. The truck will engage and disengage 4wd perfectly and then it won't for a while. The hood, bed and tailgate all have a fair amount of rot. The bed seems repairable and not something I am worried about fixing. As for the hood and tailgate it would just seem cheaper and more practical to replace them completely at some point.

The real bad:
This truck had its frame recalled about 150k miles ago in 2010. So the frame it has now is a replacement. That being said it has its fair share of surface rust which I plan to wire wheel and coat myself once I can take off the bed. The majority of this is under the bed. However, along the passenger side of the truck on the center-boxed frame rail and just up to the front leaf spring mount there is rot. The hole that is visible runs along the bottom inside edge of the rail. The remainder of the frame seems really solid though. I just purchased SAFETCAPS for both sections so that will be a very important part of this build.

The Day I brought it home:



Today (12/29) I replaced the headlight housings.



Things to do:
register the truck lol

replace missing lug nuts (yikes) this includes getting the locking lug nuts off as I do not have the adapter tool/key

Replace the majority of motor gaskets: valve covers, exhaust, intake, oil pan etc... (It leaks out of the valve covers and smokes-up on exhaust)

Before I buy any more parts/goodies I need to have the SafeTcaps that I purchased installed. I do not have a welder or competent enough welding skills to tackle a frame repair.

rust repair above the windshield and slight repair on driver side rocker

take the bed off and wire wheel and coat frame

cut out section of rot in bed and stitch in some metal

things to buy:

hood, tailgate, ome suspension kit, baja designs lights, methods on 32" tires, GFC camper, etc... etc.. until all my money is gone lol