My Tacoma build

Just realized I’ve been on here for a while and haven’t posted my build thread, this is my first truck, got it when I was 16, I’m 18 now and couldn’t be happier, although the truck isn’t anything special it still takes me from A to B with no problems which is why I got a Tacoma in the first place.

 

here is a picture of my truck the first day I got it, 2.4l 5 lug, 1 owner and had 87k original miles. Spent it’s whole life in California so I never had to worry about rust

 

When I first got the truck I was super happy with it, as time went on I thought it looked like a grandpa truck but I was still happy with it, I decided one day that I did not particularly like the front end, the bumper was sticking out way too much and the headlights were way too big and yellow, I fixed the headlights and made them clear again using a kit I bought from auto zone, still wasn’t really feeling it. So I decided to get a custom grill that says “Toyota” on the front, I thought it would make it look more modern but it just wasn’t the look I was going for.
I kept the grill on for a couple months but then I traveled to New Mexico to go see some family and saw this lady who had a 1997 Tacoma 4x4, beautiful truck, I went up to her and asked her about it and she told me all about it and even gave me a tour haha, I really liked the way the front end on her truck looked and I realized that we had the same hood so I can easily do the front end swap without having to change the hood, nonetheless I bought a 97 front grille short after that and some other accessories that I needed to make it possible.

 

this is how the front end looked after I put the grill on. I was super happy with it but still didn’t care too much for the bumper.
I ended up calling my local junk yard and asked if they would be interested in swapping and they said just bring it down, I ended up getting a front bumper for a 95 Tacoma that didn’t stick out like the one as seen in the picture above.

 

I also got some minor stuff done to it prior to putting the front end on, such as tint since the previous owner had no tint on it and some window shades that I got from Amazon for 30 bucks. Also I bought a bed liner for 80 dollars from that same junkyard.

 

After all of that I kept debating on whether I should put some 3 inch fabtech lift spindles on it because if I’m gonna be frank I didn’t like how it was “nosediving” all the time, I finally decided that I will not do anything to it since it’s not a 4x4 but that all changed when I moved to phelan, CA when I came out here the truck felt so low compared to being in the city, I live off a long dirt road and didn’t like driving on it so I decided that I should say screw it and buy some spindles, I got some spindles and some wheels that I found on Craigslist for around 80 dollars off of a jeep which was a pretty good deal to me since they were the wheels I wanted and the same bolt pattern as my truck. Then I went to a local tire shop and picked up a set of 235/75/15 tires, and a week later I got everything installed.

 

before the spindles and tires/wheels.

 

after. I was happy with the way it turned out and I fell in love with it all over again after I picked it up from the shop, it sat higher. It was squatting a bit which I didn’t really expect since 3 inches isn’t a whole lot but I like it. And it feels great now.

 

New wheels and tires, came out exactly how i wanted it, I guess the spindles push the tires out a bit and the wheels from the jeep already had a bit of offset they stick out which I do like. Also they didn’t really make a difference on how the truck drives which was a big concern for me but I’m glad it all worked out. Also got the mudflaps from someone off of here for 70 dollars I believe.

 

i ended up getting a husky tool box from my friend that he wasn’t using.
lastly, I swapped out my bench seat for these buckets, I put grey carhartt seat covers on and this was the last thing I wanted to do, besides a soft topper but that’s later on. I plan on doing a camping set up in the bed when I do get the soft topper. I will keep you guys updated, thanks for looking at my build so far. I still have some work to do but it’s almost there.