18yr old’s Beginner Spruce Mica 2012 AC SR5 build

This is what the truck looked like when I got it 2 months ago. The truck is a 5 spd manual and it’s my first manual so I’m still getting the full hang of driving it.


And then also me doing a burnout 2 minutes after learning how.


Now two weeks ago I filled up the truck and forgot to put the gas cap back on and left it behind. The next morning the check engine light comes on and “TRAC OFF” light with it. I go to Oreillys to get it scanned and they tell me I need to get a new gas cap and that the lights would go away in 50-100 miles. 250+ miles have gone by and both the lights are still on. I have the brilliant idea to just disconnect the battery for 2 minutes and then plug it back in. I do this and the lights go away but I notice that the traction control is still slippy sometimes. This brings me to the unfortunate thing that happened.

it was storming late night and I hydroplaned into pole but I hit the electric metal boxes on the outside of it. Luckily nothing under the hood was damaged except for the frame a tiny bit. So this is how the truck sits now and it’s still my daily.

I have already ordered a new fender and ordered a 12-15 trd sport hood, because I wanted a scoop.

 

Spruce Mica is possibly the best color ever put on a vehicle imo. Take good care of that truck, don't crash it again

 

That’s the goal

 

News!
I got my fender and I went to an auto skills center (DIY mechanic shop on military base) to install it. In doing so I have my antennae for no and two bolts snapped so the bottom piece of my fender right by the door isn’t screwed in. It is confirmed that I need to go to a body shop because the frame is messed up and the fender won’t sit right. The only projects I plan on doing will probably only be interior until the outside is fixed. But here is how it looks as of now!

 

Comin along. Just do the next step each chance and eventually it gets done. The crunch was a bummer.

 

it was a bummer but i won’t let it discourage me., I’m gonna either get some lift spacers next or start redoing the entire interior.

 

Just ordered my leveling kit which will be here Saturday. 3 Inch front lift, 2 in back lift. This will be the very first modification you could say to the truck and I have many more coming soon (285’s).

 

Have been redoing the interior of the truck for the past week and here’s what I have so far.





I’m going to start doing the rear panel next may be a little bit and a tricky.



Also installed some brand new LED bulbs in the headlights cus it was time to change out the poopy halogens.

Brand new joying unit gets here today so I will take pictures through that.


Spectre Cold Air Intake

installed with my girlfriends little brother, lil guy knows a bunch about cars cus his dads a mechanic but so is mine

New Hood & Grill
Installed all these with gf’s brother again. (We may have made a lil crack in the corner of the windshield to due to the hood slipping in my hands during installment…)
Since i tore up the old hood I figured I’d use this as a chance to get a new one with a scoop cus.. scoop=cool
and then i decided on getting the new grill just because i didn’t like the oem style or the chrome


Smoked Headlights + Flood/Hood Lights

trying to get a black out theme along with my spruce mica so the smoked headlights were a must.

Noice!

(I don’t have a photo with my flood lights installed so yall gonna have to wait till i’m motivated someday to edit and add to this)

 

Something unfortunate has happened… clutch is blown, already in the shop hopefully repaired by Tuesday. I had just put on the rock lights

 

Taco is back!
Ive had it back for about a 1.5 weeks and the new clutch feels broken in. The shop was pretty quick with the entire thing and added task of fixing the AC. Taco was only gone for 3 days(i missed it every single day).

Will probably post some more stuff I did tonight when that 3 am motivation hits.

Follow the trucks page on Instagram!
@nc.taco

 

New Tweeters
when installing tweeters i found out they wouldn’t behind the door panel so i did some shaving and screwed them into the door. Did my own wiring and what not.


New Woofers
Had to get some new woofers to go with


I cut the clip going to the stock speakers and wired directly to those wires




Next speaker project is to take out the headliner and use the speaker cables in the roof to add speakers in the rear doors.
I also want an amp

Instagram: @nc.taco