Snoopy's 2003 Tacoma Build

Meet "Snoopy"'
It's an 03 Tacoma double cab that is in need of some TLC

 

I had been on the hunt for a while to find one but wasn't willing to spend 16k Cad to buy a Tacoma with 400,000kms on the clock with a sketchy-looking frame.
I decided to go the route of fixing one up

I bought it for 3,300 USD with a poor frame and some other issues
I decided to go the route of Safe-T-Capping the frame as I saw a bunch of other users revive much worse.




It is currently in the process of being welded back together although I'm having some problems with lining it all up. It sits about 1/4 of an inch lower than the other side and about 1/8 farther back towards the front of the truck. hopefully, with a little more time spent, I will figure out how to get it all lined up. The measurement from bracket to bracket is identical which is a little confusing.

 

On a more exciting note, it does have a bunch of new stuff going in after the frame repair is done

Bilstein 6112s
OME Dakar leaf springs
SPC upper control arms
American racing ar172s
as well as some 315/75/16 Nitto trail grapplers (will tub for full stuff)
Gears and a front locker will be ordered in once I sell my 4runner

 

It’s been a second since I’ve updated my build thread so I’ll go from where I left off

 

Wish I took more photos but I got my safe t cap figured out and then prepped and painted most of the frame with Por-15. I left the front untouched as I knew I’d need to cut for fitting my 35s

 

Bigger tires came right after fixing the frame

 

I got them all mounted up and balanced and got straight to tubbing for full stuff

I started my cuts out pretty small and worked my way up as I got more comfortable. The drivers side footwell was f****d and I didn’t realize until I had pulled off the wheel and started to cut. My Final Cut ended up just a little bit bigger then the final photo

 

I didn’t end up taking any more photos of the process as I was on a bit of a time crunch

here’s a photo of it “complete” on my last day of high school

 

A few more photos of it all finished up

 

First shakedown run

 

A few weeks later I ended up driving through a puddle that was a little too big and hydro locked my engine.
The air intake was half filled with water

I’m honestly surprised we got it going again

a mistake I’ll never make again

 

A few months went by where I drove around with no bumpers until I found a great Facebook marketplace deal on some coastal off-road bumpers

 

Here’s a photo of the front bumper partly attached as I hadn’t had the chance to reinforce the mounts

 

Finally a much needed Snorkel installation

 

The frame ended up rusting through again above the gas tank mount

Don’t have any photos but ended up plating the inside and outside

 

Christmas came around

 

Some new pod lights and a street sign skid plate

 

A few photos from a snow wheel

 

A friends long traveled 2nd gen

 

Some more fun in the mud/snow