OutlawDrifter's 2001 IJM PreRunner TRD-OR DD Build BTTF Themed

Thought I would document my build here. This won't be super crazy, but it will go through some transformations as I continue to drive it.

Last Friday, a coworker walked into my office to give me some grief (like normal), and dropped that he had purchased a different pickup. I asked what he was going to do with his Taco, and he offered to sell it to me. After hearing the price, and almost falling out of my chair, I played it cool to not look too eager. Told him I would come by on Saturday, grab the pickup and throw it on my lift to go over it. He asked me to make a list in case I didn't purchase it, as he is not a mechanic and wanted to be honest with potential buyers. Drove it home, put it on the lift, went over it, and made a list. Headed back in to town and we dickered a little more on the price and we shook hands. Pickup has 159k miles, lots of tree stripes, a few dents, and the interior was disgusting...but it has tons of potential.

Immediate needs are:

Front 02 Sensor
Tires (going with Toyo Open Country AT3's, 265/70R16s)
Full Tune Up (plugs, wires, tranny service, all filters, belts, etc)
Transmission mount
Remove and repair the diff lock actuator

I've also ordered Husky floor mats, vent visors for the side windows, passenger windows will get tinted. After about 5-6hrs of paint correction, including buffing out the headlights, it's looking much better. Interior got a thorough cleaning and smells much better!

This is my 2nd Taco purchase in less than a year. We bought my wife a 2014 Baja T/X last fall. I've been super impressed with Toyota quality and the ease of maintenance. I'm a GM guy, and married into a Ford family. My current DD is a big block 1999 GMC Suburban K2500. Obviously I do not worry much about fuel economy. I'd really like to get a 2014+ Tundra, but I'm unwilling to part with my 'burb, so the PreRunner fits well.

It will need some better lighting up front, deer season runs year round in Kansas. We'll see how it does this Winter in the snow, a 4wd conversion may happen. I'll probably upgrade the front and rear bumpers at some point as well.

I build "hotrods" in my spare time, so not new to wrenching by any means. I've recently started moving away from low and fast to stock or slightly lifted and capable off road. Check out @aceshighspeedshop on instagram for some of the past projects.

Pics of the PreRunner:

On my way to give it a once over in the shop




After all the cleanup




Wife's Baja T/X coming home behind the 'burb.

 

Pulled the trigger on some 16x8 -5 Ion 171s (black with polished lip). My youngest son loves Back to the Future, so I guess I'll push my theme on this rig that direction.

I've found a couple of roll bars on facebook marketplace, haven't decided if I'm going to go that far yet, haha.

Parts start rolling in today, so I'll be getting some work done on this rig.

 

Went on vacation with the family last week, back to my old stomping grounds in Western NE. Came home to boxes full of parts ready to go on the Taco.

Sunday I got quite a bit knocked out after 3 different trips to town. Swapped over the wheels and tires, much needed improvement in looks and safety. Changed the broken tranny mount, front O2 sensor, the rear diff oil, fuel filter, greased the driveline, and coated the frame with Fluid Film.

While working on the diff I pulled the actuator for the diff lock. The motor/gear spins free and it easily locks in place moving the rack inside the housing. I put it back together and got it to work out in the gravel after messing with it, but it still isn't right. Not sure if the motor just isn't strong enough anymore or what the problem is, any ideas would be appreciated. This morning when I tried it again, I couldn't get it to lock the diff, it just kept flashing the light on the dash, tried creeping forward and reverse both...maybe one wheel needs to be spinning on its own?

Still need to get the front accessory belts changed, tranny serviced, plugs/wires changed, and do an oil change. Waiting on plugs, first batch of six Denso's they sent me had 1 NGK plug and 1 incorrect Denso, and they were poorly packaged, so I sent them back. Hope to have all of that done next weekend.

On to the pics!








Some scenery from our trip

 

Diff-Loc fully functional, tried some ideas I found on the site.

One less thing on the list!

 

Plan for this weekend is to get the oil changed, service the trans with fluid and new filter, and get the plugs/wires swapped out.

Then it's on to audio, at this point, I think I'm just going to put in a line converter and run a powered slim 8" or 10" sub under one of the seats. I love the fact that the factory HU has a tape deck along with the CD...I may have to dig through some boxes and pull all my 80s hair metal tapes out

I'm debating at this point what to do with the bumpers. This will never be a trail rig that needs crazy heavy bumpers, but some extra bambi protection would be nice. May have to do a combo plate/tube bumper fabbed in house up front and something to match in the rear. Having some recovery hooks would be nice too, KS likes to dump inordinate amounts of snow on us occasionally.

 

Changed out the plugs/wires after an oil change. This told me all I need to know about the timing belt(probably never been changed out). First full tank of gas was 17.34mpg.

Here is what the factory plugs look like at 160K:







I can't believe this Taco was even running! Ordered up a timing belt/water pump kit, might as well get it done.