Cool Uncle “Build”

This thread will document the process on my current Tacoma, it’s a 2000 Reg Cab 4x4 with the 3RZ.

I bought the truck from a friends dad May 2024, luckily I knew about the truck and I was persistent enough and serious enough that eventually he decided to part ways with it and I was the first and only phone call. The truck was supposed to have a blown engine(got a couple different versions of when/how it happened), it didn’t matter because the year prior I had purchased a 2001 Access Cab truck that ran and drove but was rusted in half and I happened to save the engine/harness/ecu for a different project.

Short story long, I got it running with the original engine, it sounded fine, took it for a short drive and the oil light started flashing, then it sounded bad, very bad. No worries I bought it assuming it was blown up and already owning the engine to put in, well that turned into putting a new oil pump and pickup tube in it and freshening the gaskets and seals then putting it in. Since it wasn’t a necessity to get the truck on the road I only worked on it when I felt like tinkering, because if this it took me a year to get the engine in and bolted to the transmission, get the exhaust connected, reinstall the accessories and get it on the road.

Yes it took me 1 year to do what most do in a weekend, and I actually did the work in 3.5-4 evenings so it’s not like I worked on it often at all and it was done mostly in a Wednesday afternoon after work, then had it running a couple hours after work the next day then Friday I got it legal and been driving it since.

This is all the “boring stuff” nobody really takes the time to document, but I plan to do all the repairs to have a stock truck, then start doing mild and tasteful mods to make it a cool daily I can hop in and go anywhere and be prepared for anything.

If you’ve made it this far you deserve some pictures, so without further adieu…

The day I brought the Regular Cab truck home


The day I brought the parts truck home, it was sad to see one like this because aside from the obvious this old man had really taken great care of his truck and I made sure all the usable parts went to good homes.

 

Some pictures from the “swap”



Once I got it running


Swapped the seats for some grey ones I picked up from a semi local guy last year that came with a center console for a DC truck
Before


The replacements, I’ll get some after pictures tomorrow


Tonight I reinstalled the AC compressor, and charged it, best “fix” yet

 

The new seats and console, these are the second best repair I’ve done. AC is still first.


Now we’re all caught up. I’m on the hunt for a black drivers side fender and door, then I’ll do small lift, tube bumpers and sliders, a nice 32” A/T tire (I’m a fan of the Wildpeak AT3). I’d love a camper shell for the bed, but that’s something I’ll only buy if I get a smokin deal on it.

 

Basically free take-offs from a 3rd gen 4Runner. The tires it had on it were awful and they shook/roared terribly, not to mention one was plugged in a spot that was impossible to seal so it leaked down. These will get me around while I finish repairs and ordering parts for the build.

 

Was there alot of carbon build up when you were talking the engine apart.

 

I didn’t pull the head from this engine, it was just a gasket job and did the oil pump while I was at it.

 

Ok, it’s been a while. There was about 2 weeks where I did nothing but drive the truck around. Then I was getting off of the interstate one evening and all the lights on the dash came on and I had no power steering, A/C, or oil pressure. Coasted to a parking lot where it proceeded to puke coolant because it was overheating. Turns out the balancer bolt had backed out. This sucked, but I called my mom since I was close to their house and had them send my step brother with the tools and I attempted to tighten the bolt. It kept loosening as soon as I started. So eventually I said, well I’m only a couple miles from your house just follow me there. The bolt backed out again, but this time far enough to be side loaded, and it snapped…

Luckily I made it to her house, parked it and left it for a couple weeks, we had a vacation coming up and I didn’t feel like messing with this. It was very simple luckily, I ordered two bolts from LCE while on vacation, when I got home I went to the truck and grabbed the piece that had broken off, crammed it in against the piece still in the crank and just turned until it caught and backed out the end of the bolt. Then the new bolts showed up the next day and I put it back together. Turns out it was loosening because the balancer wasn’t seated all the way in and the woodruff wasn’t engaged.

Another thing happened when we were out of town, I got a call from the guy I bought my truck from, his cousin had bought one to take the frame off and use for his truck but didn’t need/ want anything else and asked if I was interested in the body, which I was, and I asked about the drivetrain and we worked out a deal. So now I’ll use this truck to repair my driver door and fender and go ahead and swap literally everything else too.. not going to swap the cabs, that’s too much for me to do alone, plus at that point I’d have to do title work and all that hulabaloo.