What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

It is a 1995. The hood was replaced and repainted, so if there was a hood insulation pad from the factory, it got lost in the process.

Mike

 

I've thought Tacoma from 96 2004 made bad ass flat bed trucks might have to try a build after I get my 01 taco fixed up how I like it. Love it came out sexy

 

Thanks man! Yeah I was on the fence for a long time, glad I went for it. Immediately after install I helped a buddy move cities and it was super handy.

 

Welp, I fucked up.

I opened up Baby Taco this morning to see how everything looked, do another scuff up and wipe down, and put on a coat of primer.

As a scuffed an area with rust inhibitor on it, it came right off like I was using an eraser. Even just a paper towel with mineral spirits was making it come right off.

I think I did two things wrong:
1. I used rust inhibitor on bare metal. It seems to be sticking much better to the areas that were actually rusty, which makes sense since it had something to react with.
2. It was too cold for the stuff to cure properly. It was warm enough during the day, but it was too cold at night. I think that, in conjunction with bare metal areas, made a bad case scenario for it to not stick.

So I just spent the afternoon with scotch brite pads and mineral spirits removing all of it. What a blessing.

But now it's (mostly) all off and I've finished tape, vacuum, and another wipe down. On the bright side, if she wasn't scuffed up before she is DEFINITELY scuffed up now!

 

So I am wrapping up my cylinder head replacement either today or tomorrow. Never done engine work like this before so wanted to see what to do directly before and after starting for the first time.

Do I change the oil before starting the truck? Or do I start her up, let it run for ~10mins (or even more like 100 miles?) and then change the oil?

Kind of same thing with the coolant, should I refill with new coolant and call it good, or refill with distilled water, run for ~10min, empty and then refill with coolant?

Just operating under the assumption some debris was bound to have wound up in both systems, and that if I change the fluids before running it, then that debris may not make its way to a position where it will drain out.

 

I'd do that

just fill with new coolant unless the old stuff really needed a flush

Don't forget to turn the engine over by hand two full revolutions to check that your timing marks still line up

 

Primer is on! Little light in some areas since I only had one can but happy with the result so far.

 

That touch screen mount really has me thinking..
Has anyone ever used one of these Wireless Carplay screens?
Seems like it could be a cheap and easy way to get most of the functionality of the obviously much nicer setup above.

$130 LAMTTO 9.26" Wireless Car Stereo Apple Carplay with 2.5K Dash Cam, 1080P Backup Camera, Portable Touchscreen GPS Navigation for Car, Car Stereo Receiver with Bluetooth, AirPlay, AUX/FM, Googel, Siri

https://www.amazon.com/LAMTTO-Wirel...refix=apple+car+play+ste,aps,119&sr=8-61&th=1

 

Seems like a great way to block off a good chunk of your visibility with it being dash mounted imo

 

Yeah I'm going to measure after work how high it can sit before it starts blocking my view, but the screen is only 3.7" tall, plus an inch for the mount. If you're tall I bet it wouldn't be an issue at all.
I'd guess the setup above sits even higher and he said its barely an inch above the hood.
Seems like a good alternative to carplay in the stock double din, which is way too low to be useful.

 

Added a camper shell this past weekend. Slowly trying to build my truck into a lite "overlander". I've got to replace or fix the side windows on the shell. Any diy window mods for older shells out there?

 

My screen is 5 inches tall, just measured it.

When the Lizard Skin project is done I'll take a pic from eye-level in the driver's seat to show how little it rises above the front of the hood - it's not noticeable while driving. With a 3.7" screen it would be below the front of the hood.

I'm not a tall guy - 5'8".

I agree, I ran the screen down in the stock position for a couple weeks and hated it.

 

I've seen some guys modify the bezel and install a double din in place of the vents which seems like a good solution that looks more factory.

 

Yeah Ive seen variants of that where they swap AC controls from above the stereo to below it, but my understanding is you cant do that easily on 95-00 models because of the mechanical AC controls.

 

I thought long and hard about how I'd try that - yeah ultimately like James said I didn't want to deal with the headache of messing with the mechanical AC controls.

But man if I could get that screen right where the AC vents are...that would be perfect! Maybe some day in the future I'll give it a go...

 

Finally got to hammerdown!

 

TFTI

 

Edit: ohhhh! Sorry bro, we didn’t hit the mall!
Lol. Jk. Lets wheel bro! I wanted to see what she could do before rolling with the big dawgs

 

Ah that's a good point. I hadn't though of the mechanical HVAC controls.
So you can relocate an 01-04 HVAC controls though? Are the temp and vent dials all electronic?

 

Yeah I believe so