Not A Copy/Paste Tacoma Build

I don't daily it any more because I needed a real truck for work stuff:


I was constantly putting the RTT on and off basically every week. So I drove lots with a completely empty bed, and also lots with the RTT. For camp trips, depends where we are going, but usually have camp gear, spare, two mountain bikes, paddle board, and 20L water.

I only take my spare on Wheeling/camping trips, and usually just leave it at home for around town.

 

I recently got to go to the desert with the JD fab guys, and experience what real prerunner life is like...

So basically I will be completely rebuilding the tacoma. haha. Now that I have the Tundra, I can really dig into the taco without needing it for work all the time. I will need to do the build in 3 stages or so, just because I don't have enough room in my shop for it to sit for a year straight.

So the plan is the following:

full cab cage, seats, harnesses.
back half with 8"shorter wheelbase, tube bed
Fibreglass
engine cage
Patch up the holes in the frame
Install the front bypasses I have sitting around.
Clearance for 40s
I have some ideas for the front suspension I'd like to try, but we will see how much time I have.
LS swap. am looking at L92's and LQ9's, with either a 4l80e or 6l80e
Holley Terminator X
Ford 9" fabricated housing
fuel cell
4link with trailing arms

This will all be spread out over a few phases, so I'm expecting to do a lot of things twice, but it's just the way it's going to have to be unfortunately.

The goal with this truck is that it will be streetable that I could drive it 4 hours or so without it being too painful, be able to rock crawl on our local trails decently well, that it will whoop in the desert hard enough that I can keep up with the JD guys good enough that they'll invite me out, and finally, that I can still "overland", which means RTT, fridge, room for camping gear, and I will attempt to also fit all of our mountain biking stuff + two mountain bikes.

 

Some adjustable suspension will allow you to have street and trail settings.

 

Maybe not the worst decision if I got adjusters on the coilovers for big broad adjustments like that without having to deal with the bypasses every time the terrain changes...

 

True that. It's why I was looking at the FOX Factory Race series shocks and coilovers. I street my truck 90% of the time so it'd be nice to have the ability to switch back to something for flex.

 

Even with my current Sua I've been wanting to install a rear sway bar too. I think the body roll is what's having the biggest impact on highway driveability

 

I've tossed around the idea of swaybars with disconnects but it's just easier to up preload/stiffness. My wife hates riding in the truck since I deleted the sway bar.

 

Yeah figuring out a disconnectable front sway bar would be amazing. The hard part would be tire clearance when turning

 

And so it begins! Cab cage is first on the list.

 

Struggling hard with which ls to choose though... L92/6l80e or lq4/9 with 4l80e

 

Why is that even a question? L92 for sure

 

The main reason is it's double the price, but it does have a lot of benefits. lighter, more power stock, more fuel efficient. The 6L80E is also a bit more difficult to make work, but everything can be overcome! Another reason is I have 2 friends doing LQ4 swaps right now, so if I'm doing the same thing we can all kind of share info easier. All that said, I think I'm pretty settled on the L92.

 

L92 guy just got back to me and lowered his price into my range, so I'm gunna go pick it up this weekend! fff yeaaaahhhhhh

 

Now you can be way cooler than your LQ4 peasant friends

 

Woah there buddy I'll still have a V8 shoehorned into the truck.

 

Agreed.

Kiss my ring, peasant!

 

I promote you first peasant

 

You’ll still be way ahead of the rest of us

 

after doing iron and aluminum LS swaps in various vehicles I always recommend spending more for the aluminum blocks for "free" weight savings with zero extra effort except for the wallet part.

 

I don't normally give a shit about build thread pictures but this is a great photo on many different levels. I'm not sure people can appreciate how hard a true backflip is without mulch/bag/water