The boring and slow build thread (‘22 OR 6MT)

Hello all,

I’m gonna start out by saying that I’m going to TRY to keep up with this build thread to the best of my ability. I’ve started many many build threads for project cars over the years with varied results, but I’m gonna try to see this through. Seeing as how this Tacoma is my daily driver, I’m not treating this as a “build” per se… more like an ongoing project to make the truck suit me and my needs a little better. All I’ve done so far is bump the tire size up to a 265/75-16 to help fill out the wheel well a little bit, I went with a hankook AT-M, and I’ve been happy with them so far. So with that out of the way, here’s what I’ve got in mind for the truck;

I bought this truck new in October last year. It’s a TRD off-road in lunar rock and a 6 speed manual transmission. Coming from a background where I always drove a manual, it feels good to be back in an MT after spending years in an LC80 and FJ cruiser that were both AT.

I’ve now got around 4500 miles on it and I’ve got a pretty good idea of how the truck behaves in different conditions. My general consensus is that it is a great performer with a couple small issues that can be easily fixed.

The biggest issue coming from a 1GR, is it “feels” like the truck doesn’t have much off idle torque… at least not as much as the 1GR. It’s not just completely gutless feeling to me personally, but I feel there’s room for improvement. Seems to me like it’s a lot to do with how the fly by wire is programmed from the factory. The pedal feels mushy and dead for a good bit of the pedal stroke. Presumably to help keep a tame and efficient throttle response. I have a pedal commander on the way as we speak to try and remedy this. I’ll post back here once I get it installed and try it out.

2. The stock off-road suspension does well when you’re off the beaten path, but on road performance is a bit jumpy at times. I’ve always had good luck with Bilstein 5100’s, so I plan to install them a little later down the line. I’ve got some on the shelf right now, but I’ll want to wait til the tires I’ve got wear down a little. Might wanna bump the size up a little bit again when the time comes!

I’ll get more into detail with other mods as the weekend goes on. For now, here’s some pictures of it (including pictures of the undercarriage when it had 4 miles on it).

 

Return the pedal commander and get a proper tune. It's like $100 more than the commander and isn't just am amplifier for voltage gain from the accelerator. I am planning to get the OTT tune when I run into some more money for the truck myself. Love my MT but I also feel like the slowest guy off the line.

 

I will pursue a proper tune once my warranty expires. This is the first vehicle I’ve ever owned that has a warranty so I’m gonna ride it out!

 

Tons of folks are tuned and so far zero issues with dealers denying warranty due to a tune.

Just tune it and enjoy life!

 

From my research, tunes are well under dealers radars. Mine's only a couple months older than yours.

 

Agreed. Return that PC, a tune won't cause you issues with your warranty.

 

I have almost the same situation as you (except AC and auto) and tune is the path I'm planning once I can splurge for it. I've read they can also do some nifty things like reprogram the ECT PWR button to jump up your throttle response on demand.

Coming off of the 4 banger 140 or so out of a Subie crosstrek with that godawful CVT, I agree the V6 is not "gutless," just could use a little more initial punch.

Love that lunar rock color!

 

Well. Hit a deer yesterday going 70mph. No airbags went off, and I’m ok. It’s on the way to the body shop now to see what the damage is.

 

bummer dude - hopefully it looks worse than it is

 

Surprised the bags didn't blow. Glad you're ok.

 

I hope so too, I’ll keep this thread updated with whatever information I get from the body shop. The truck has 5900 miles on it, which makes it sting even more.

 

Appreciate that, thankfully the Tacoma did exactly what it needed to do and kept me safe. Had I been in my car, I might not be here to tell the story!

 

Insurance deemed it wasn’t enough damage to total it, the final bill ended up being around $28,000 in parts and labor. The truck was valued at $45,000 and it was going to take $33,xxx to push it over. It’s currently at the body shop being repaired with all OEM parts, which I expect will take until the end of August to finish.

Tbh I’m not sure what to do. Part of me wants to keep it but the other part of me wants to get out from under it and just find something else. It sucks to pay new truck money for it now that it’s been smashed. I can’t get back into a new one because of the terrible interest rates even with an excellent score.

If anybody has had a similar accident and kept the truck, I’d like to hear how it held up in terms of quality and things like that. Pretty much every vehicle I see come through here that’s had accident history has stupid issues like sensors, noise, leaks, etc for its entire existence. Really torn here though to be honest.

 

Dang, sorry to see the Tacoma! My previous car, a Subaru WRX I also hit a deer at about 70 with similar damage and the airbags did not go off. Had about 15k miles on it and kept it till 87k with zero issues after having it repaired

 

Damn that sucks! As long everything was properly repaired you should be good man.

 

Well after much deliberation by the insurance company and more hidden damage, the truck is a total loss. I guess this is the end of Tacoma ownership for now, I’m most likely going to buy a LC100 to drive with the extra cash while I figure out of the 4th Gen Tacoma might be worth investing in in the coming years.

 

bummer - that was a beautiful truck. Hope you recovered physically