Anyone in the SF Bay Area demo a b/j flip truck?

that interior



my old first gen, with djm. I removed the bumpstops also

 

Great suggestion on the quick-release hub. I’ve got a couple nice steering wheels to use, and the anti-theft (both the nice wheel and the whole damn truck!) is a no-brainer.

Some tasty interior work there! A tach cluster is next in my list, too, as well as a center console. Is that shifter boot stock? My’99 has a cluttered looking plastic bezel with a vinyl boot/cup holders/extra power ports…yours looks really clean!

May I ask what brand/part numbers you used for the quick release? Does it position the wheel rim comfortably relative to the wiper/signal stalks? I tried a Grant adapter and a half inch spacer with an Italian 6-bolt wheel and found it too tight at first…kept turning on the wipers!

The theft thing is a drag. We get frequent car thefts in our area…I’m planning to park my truck in the garage, as soon as I sell the previous project car. My wife’s new Kia EV can park at the curb…nobody’s going to jack that!

 

As long as your cluster is not the cable driven speedo type there is a member on here that can reprogram clusters from 4 to 6cyl and adjust milage. I found a cluster from a 6cyl auto with a tach for $20 and he reprogramed it to work perfectly in my 4cyl 5spd for $150.

 

The quick release hub I am using is from NRG. It is nothing fancy, but it gets the job done.

The part number is:
NRG Innovations SRK-250BK Quick Release Kit (Black/Black Ring with Finger Grooves), Gen 2.5

With this NRG hub adapter, I actually had about an extra inch of distance between the wheel and the stalks compared to the stock wheel. It took no time at all to get used to it. So overall I am pretty happy with the adapter.

The black rubber shift boot is actually stock. I have a couple of the plastic bezels for the shift gate from other Tacomas and 4Runners, and I am just trying to figure out the best layout for my interior.

I will try and take some photos for you when I am by the truck...

 

Here is how the hub adapter looks in the truck:

 

That’s such a cool truck…great job! When I’ve got mine sorted a little more, I definitely want to look into the sealed beam “conversion”…my ‘99 has the flush headlights/grille, and looks boring compared to yours.

Thanks for the additional pics and info for the steering wheel conversion. I’m still on the fence about the airbag issue…my wife gave me the hairy eyeball in the past when I did that with a Miata.

Found a $100 4 cylinder tach cluster with 126k miles; weighing whether or not it worth it to have the mileage corrected to the current 214k. When I was shopping for this truck, almost every Tacoma I saw had a Carfax mileage alert. At this point, it’s a quarter-century old truck, and a mileage discrepancy is practically irrelevant as long as it’s disclosed and the actual mileage is known.

Thoughts to ponder while stuck in traffic…

 

I like the color matched cover. It adds to the clean sorted out feel

 

Tach Instrument cluster arrived today…from a 2000 2.4 manual trans.

Admiring those bright orange dash lights, it occurs to me that this would be an excellent time to install new bulbs…May I ask what those are and where you got them?

 

Yeah, it is totally the perfect time to switch out your instrument cluster lights with LEDs. So I ordered some LEDs for the HVAC controls, and I ordered some other LEDs for the instrument panel. The HVAC LEDs worked just fine, but I ordered the wrong LEDs for the instrument panel. I got some other LEDs for the instrument panel, and those worked fine. It's a good thing the lights are only like $10 for a pack of 10

These are the LEDs I ordered from Amazon. I do not remember exactly which one didn't fit.
VANSYROY T5 LED Bulbs Brilliant Red 74 37 2721 PC74 LED Bulb Dash Light 12V, Hight Bright 3SMD 3030 Chips Bulb for Car Dashboard Instrument Panel Gauge Cluster Indicator Glove Box Light Pack of 10

Yorkim 194 LED Bulbs Red Super Bright Newest 5th Generation, T10 LED Bulbs, 168 LED Bulb, LED Bulbs for Car Interior Dome License Plate Map Door Courtesy Lights W5W 2825, Pack of 10

GLOFE

$9 T10 194 LED Bulbs Blue Super Bright New 5th Generation, T10 LED Bulbs, 168 Bulb for Car Interior Door Courtesy Dome Map License Plate Lights W5W 2825, Pack of 10

T10 194 168 Red LED Dash Instrument Lights Bulbs with T10 Twist Lock Socket, Super Bright T10 Instrument Panel Gauge Cluster Dashboard LED Light Bulbs 12V 8-SMD LED Chipset, 20Pcs/Set

The installation was straightforward. For my truck, the HVAC LED was a single bulb replacement. I believe your truck has slightly different HVAC controls, and your truck might have more than one HVAC display bulb to switch- you're just gonna have to check. For the instrument panel, I totally forgot how many bulbs to replace

The first time I switched the lights on at night was straight awesome

 

Hey Michael,

been busy with other projects, but getting back to the Tacoma now.

the next mod I’m planning is retrofitting ‘96 grille and headlights on my ‘99…I like that look a LOT more.
There’s a couple threads on this mod, but one is lacking in detail, and the other involves cutting the radiator support, which I don’t think is necessary.
Im trying to get good detailed pics of how the pre-98 headlights attach to the radiator support…it’s totally different from my ‘99.
Any chance yup could shoot some pics of the headlights on your truck?

 

I put on a 1995.5-1997 4x4 grill:





My original grill was a 1995.5-1997 4x2 grill. My minitruck used to look like this:






Changing the grill was pretty easy on my truck. The most difficult part was removing the old grill- the clips were old and some were pretty brittle. The replacement grill had new clips, so it is 100% fastened down at every point. And no zipties used

Since your Tacoma is a 1999, retrofitting the grill to the older style has more hurdles. You're probably gonna have to change the headlight housings. Also, you're gonna have to check the grill mounting points. The mounting points may be different on your core support.

Another thing to note with 1995.5-1997 grills are the filler trim pieces. These are the black trim pieces underneath the headlights. These trim pieces are specific to each grill- 4x4 grills have their own filler trim pieces, and 4x2 grills have their own filler trim pieces.

Please post some pics of your truck- I'd like to check it out. And good luck with the retrofit