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

I see what you’re saying now after looking at the URD instructions. Any reason this would be capped off on the T?

 

Was the SC removed, like for a rebuild or something? Maybe that was capped while it was off and the stock intake manifold was on. Although I guess that wouldn’t really be necessary if the 7th injector controller was just unplugged.

I’d hook it back up, you might find that lost horsepower.

 

Yeah I went ahead and remarried the fitting. Went for a test drive after and the butt dyno was happy. Thanks for the input man.

 

Added new AVS Bug Deflector and went back to original side mirrors

 

Longish day of Tacoma-work.

• Lower ball joints - went well, glad I had a joint puller because the driver side was a bear to break loose, as well as , the outer tie rod end.
• Replaced rack bushings with Total Chaos - alignment shop said there was play. Weird as I had Toyota replace the steering rack (not cheap). Oh, well.
• While everything was apart did some maintenance - oil & filter, gas filter.

 

Freshened up Valve cover with my favorite color scheme (Sante Fe warbonnet) + 3rz-Fe emblem, cover gasket, cylinder seal gaskets, plugs, coils, wires, etc

Wiper reservoir relocation + getting rid of low fluid sensor

OEM mini-header + Y pipe ceramic coated with new o2’s, studs, nuts

 

Bye-bye ugly bed rails!

$25 XPEL Black Universal Door Sill Guard (60" x 2.75") Paint Protection Film Kit

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003EP52I8?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&th=1

 

"play" = them too lazy to deal with seized cam bolts and looking for an excuse to give you as to why the alignment isn't perfect. unFortunately the techs who operate the machines are far from the brightest master mechanics out there. Dealt with this time and time again - unless you bring in a brand new front end and mention that, they'll never go above and beyond to help you fix it lol. Unless they're a personal friend and except beer and pizza as payment aha.

Trust me, alignment makes me so mad because its the one thing I cant really do myself (don't own a machine) to a high accuracy so I have to left dummies work on it

 

It's not difficult to diy. Just a little time consuming.

 

Yeah that’s true I’ve done string alignments at home before. Not too difficult.

 

My driveway/workspace is inclined making that harder.

I have left the OEM skid plates off to make access to the alignment bolts easier.

 

“to a high accuracy”

Missing the point entirely - if I’m paying someone to do the job they need to do it correctly. Period.

of course I can spend hours fucking with it lol. Would rather not when basic knowledge and a state of the art machine could do it quickly.

but considering just how shitty these techs are I may just end up having to do it myself in the end.

 

Ask a Toyota tech about that haha, the truth is alignments don't need to be laser perfect to be really good, nothing in the suspension system on these trucks can maintain the accuracy anyway what with all the rubber bushings.

 

It’s more a matter of time lol and how easy these alignment get out of spec by the smallest shit due to ifs

but again, apparently an “easy” task can’t be figured out by people who do it for a living so if it’s gunna be “good enough I guess…” may as well do it myself I suppose you’re right aha

 

I don't know if you've ever had the pleasure or displeasure of using an alignment rack yourself but they're a double edged sword. On one hand they have a high level of accuracy in measurement, on the other hand they rely on the technician to properly setup and constantly re-sweep the steering travel to obtain an accurate SAI and caster angle. So essentially if you do more than a toe and go you can be dicking around with adjusters for a long time since you have to re-sweep to get an accurate caster number. That and the machine cannot tell when the entire truck moves side to side in front of it so just by nudging and bumping the truck you can make the numbers whatever the hell you want to get it green on the machine and fool your service manager or a customer. In the right hands it is an incredible tool, in average or good but underpaid hands it is no more useful than eyeballing it. You can absolutely achieve as-good or better results yourself at home over an average laser rack alignment with simple tools. It really isn't hard to get an alignment at home that tracks well even with road crown and doesn't wear tires prematurely.

 

good info thanks! We always see those YouTube gurus with a buddy who takes his time but that’s not who you get when you take it in aha

 

Yeah, a good alignment tech is a blessing if you can find one. But for most places alignments are a "squeeze it in" money maker and squeeze it in doesn't mean take your time and make it perfect unfortunately. I'm lucky to have an alignment rack I can use whenever as long as I'm willing to be my own technician. It can be a tiring process after a bit, lifting and lowering on the alignment plates and pushing things into place. Hell if the thing is IRS and IFS you have a ton of work to make it all jive. Thankfully there isn't anything to adjust on the back of these trucks, your thrust angle just is what it is.

 

There are times I miss my mechanic life in a shop (equipment access). I took great pride in quality service, including alignments.

 

If you have any left over, you might want to consider putting some along the top of the tailgate where the plastic protector sits. I see you've got one and it will help stop the plastic from rubbing through the paint.

 

Speaking of quality ... the steering rack was replaced by Toyota dealer, new and expensive, early on after I bought the truck.

When I was dropping the rack down I noticed the DS had 2 inner washers. Strange. One was "stuck" to the bolt and I had to pound the bolt to get the washer loose so I could pull the bolt out.

Anyway, what I found after figuring out how to push the bushing out is there is a fixed washer pressed onto the bushing sleeve. (What a bugger to figure out how to press it out!)

Seems dealer mechanic should not have installed the original (but thankful he did so I had a washer for new bushings), which means my steering rack was not as flush as it should have been.



Also, doesn't look worn, but oh well, had the Total Chaos sitting on the shelf for a while. You can see the fixed washer.