Lukasz's 05' Tacoma Timeline

Hey TW,

Checking in here from North Jersey. Prior to my Tacoma I have owned 10 other cars ranging from older BMW's to VW's & Subaru's. Almost 3 years ago something bit me to lease a 2016 WRX, I was wrapping up school and starting a new job thought it would be a good idea. This would be the one and only "new" car I had ever owned. Every other past car had over 100K miles or 200K miles. Reason for all the high mileage cars was being that I could do 75-80% of work myself or with the help of my father and never saw the value in a "new" car.

Fast forward to early 2017 and I find myself now noticing that I simply belong in something older that I can put my own personal twist on. However, I didn't want my next car to be something I've ever had. My father had two 1st Gen Tacoma's when back in the late 90's and early 00's which I always seemed to love. So I thought to myself why not finally get into a truck. Shortly after the Subaru dealership bought me out of my lease (Yay for good residual on the WRX.) and I began looking for a 2nd Gen Tacoma.

My searches took me all over the place and I quickly realized the value these trucks hold, another big factor for my venture into a Tacoma. After almost 3 weeks of endless searching I came across a really honest used car dealership that had a One-owner 2005 Tacoma for sale roughly 50 miles away from me. I got in touch with the owner of the dealer put in a deposit and headed over that upcoming weekend.

What I ended purchasing was a very well maintained 2005 Tacoma Double Cab Short Bed with 170,000 miles at the time. The truck had been serviced at Toyota its entire life and had a new frame installed the prior year. The prior owner simply traded in for a newer model and left this one behind. The best part was the price, at $8,500 I could not pass it up. Purchased it right after my 30 minute test drive that same day.


I plan to update this more as I go however I will start with a short list of my current work to the truck as well as some pictures from when I purchased it to how it sits now.


Details:

- 2005 Toyota Tacoma SR5
- Silver Streak Mica
- 195,000 Miles
- Automatic Transmission
- 4x4

Recent Maintenance:

- Radiator (because of a hole)
- Front Hubs
- Cooling system overhaul (waterpump, hoses, coolant & thermostat)
- ECGS bearing

Suspension:

- Bilstein 5100's all around
- OME 885 Coils up front
- Icon 3-Lead Progressive AAL

Wheels:

- 1st Gen Tacoma/Tundra wheels painted black
- 265/75/16 BF Goodrich KO's
- Spidertrax 1.25" Spacers

Cosmetics:

- Color matched front grill
- Caliraised LED Fog Lights
- OEM Roof Racks
- Depo Black Headlights

Alway try to play it safe with money so for now this is how the Tacoma will stay for some time put would love to add a camper shell, steel front bumper and some new wheels in the future!

At the dealership:


Day after (Depo Headlights were waiting to go in):



Fast forward to two months ago, after installing the new suspension:




More to come! Just wanted to get the base information up to share and for my personal recollection as the truck changes over the years.

Thank you for checking out my thread!

 

Scored a Softopper locally from another member. I was on the fence when it came to deciding between a hard shell or soft shell top. In the end, super happy I went with the Softopper. It folds down like a convertible in seconds and looks great. Definitely much more versatile then a hard shell camper.

Pictures of the taco with the new-to-me softopper.

 

Annnndddd there goes the headgasket!

I’ve been watching the coolant and symptoms for some time now. This past Sunday was the day that a lot of air entered the coolant. Being that I really do not have too much money into the truck and the rest of it is in great shape, ended up purchasing a 2011 Engine locally which is being swapped in as we speak.

Definitely a shitty situation but a new engine is much less than a new car and I simply enjoy this truck too much to give up on it.

Disassembling the old engine:


Cleaning up and prepping the new engine:

 

Well,

After about a week of part-time work in the garage, the tacoma is back up and running. The new motor is out of a 2011 Tacoma with 110k miles on it and have already put close to a thousand miles on the new motor. Great to be back in the car and knowing that the chances of the head gasket going again are very slim compared to the 05/06 Tacoma Engines.

 

Haven’t had a chance to update the thread in some time but upgraded the wheels and adjusted the suspension a little more. New engine has been running great since the install and hoping to get plenty of life out of this one.

Wheels are 17” Fifteen52 Turbomac HD’s with some 265/70/17 tires for now. Hoping to upgrade the bumpers and get 285/70/17 in the future!

 

Are those Turbomacs the carbon grey or black? Look really nice

 

Thank you sir! They are Carbon Grey. I like black wheels but the grey I feel compliments the silver Tacoma color and grey Softopper very well.

 

I have been on the fence on what wheels to buy, but think I am going to go with the grey Turbomacs as well.

 

So after replacing the engine the taco’s been running great. Cleans up very nice for a 200k truck and has been a huge help while moving into our townhouse that we just purchased in December.

 

Welp as of March 2020 I ended up selling the 2nd Gen Tacoma. I will definitely miss this car but with the fiancé and I wanting a newer car in the family we decided to go with a 2020 Tacoma that we can share.

So as bitter sweet as it was, this 2020 SR5 has definitely filled the void and we look forward to many more adventures in this Tacoma.