Advice in 1st gen Tacoma mods

It’s 4 am and my insomnia/ADHD has kicked in big time. I’m going down the rabbit hole of interior/exterior mods for my 1996 Tacoma. Thanks to the amazing community here at Tacomaworld.com I have been successfully able to go balls to the wall in the three years modifying my truck.

Things I have done

Exterior

Fix cosmetics outsides
Paint outside of truck
Fix rust spots and paint underside with “rust proof” paint
New head and tail lights
Lift kit
Shocks/struts
Lower ball joint
Brakes
Shell/Topper
Paint/coat Bed Liner
Tires
Sound deadening hood


Interior

Complete gut, clean interior
Add sound deadening and foam to interior
Paint all interior surfaces
Paint carpet
LED Lights interior
Add overhead LED light from 90s 4runner
Blue LED dash lights
Aftermarket double din radio
Clean/Polish dash/clock glass


Mechanical

Replaced engine
Head gaskets pre and post new engine (Long story don’t buy cheap engine online)
Valve Clearance (Fun but holy shit a lot of work)
Aluminum radiator
Radiator flush
Water pump
Timing belt
Alternator
Battery
CV axles
Rack and pinion
Fuel pump
Vacuum hoses
Paint engine
Starter
Fan clutch
Replaced all belts
Replaced spark plugs and wires
Fuel and air filters
Oil pan clean and new gasket (Fuck getting this out)
Valve covers replaced with new gaskets
New gaskets for anything with a gasket on the engine
Replacement of charcoal canister
Vapor Canister Purge Solenoid
Aftermarket Horn
Cup holder that attaches to shifter
A bunch of other engine replacement parts but I don’t remember

Anyways the reason why I’m posting is for advice on future mods

Things I’m thinking in the future
ARB bumper
Winch
Paint Rims and brake calipers
Clock replacement data screen from solvefunction.com

Mechanically this thing runs great without any current issues and I have zero thoughts to ever sell this Tacoma.

I’m a sucker for and looking for those tiny little mods or add ons you can add such as the little clock I mentioned above from solvefunction.com and the overhead light from a 4runner or the color LED lights on the dash that are fun/functional that make life so much nicer.

What are your thoughts about little things you have seen or added to your 1st gen, especially interior little doodads?

 

Blue LED dash lights. I want to learn how to do that mod. Looks great.

 

Well, since you like to do stuff under the hood, there is always…. https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/deck-plate-mod.436089/

 

One of the very best...

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/easy-door-sill-scuff-plate-mod.511039/

 

I did the USB/voltmeter charger mod this weekend bought off ebay. I dig it.

 

I need to do my vacuum hoses. Did you buy a kit?

 

I bought the vacuum lines from eBay. They were roughly $30-40. Best advice I wish I would have followed was start with the smallest lines and then finish with the biggest lines. I was told to do that, didn’t, instead choosing to do right to left or left to right which definitely left me with forcing a few lines into bigger or smaller then what was called for.

I really like the volt meter. I was thinking that and an extra charger. Especially to that weird piece of plastic trim behind the shifter and below the cigarette lighter.


I did the scuff plate mods thanks to that wonderful forum that you posted. I definitely believe that person who came up with the fix for the scuff plate should have all there hopes and dreams come true.

The blue dash lights are off eBay or Amazon. They came with green, normal blue, iceberg blue (the ones in the picture), purple/pink, white and red. They are look good but the ice berg blue matched my aesthetic best. They are like $10ish dollars for 6 of them which I think you only needed 4 to do the dash

 

Say more about "painting the carpet..."

Since you mentioned rust, if you live in a rust area, you should waxoyl the underside. Best protection you can get. Much better than any paint...

 

I pulled the carpet and did a deep wash of it. I then tried to dye the carpet with 4 days is a barrel with hot water, vinager and 5 things of dye solution but that didn’t work literally at all. You can see the difference between just dye on the left and 1 coat of paint on the right.

The dupli-color vinyl and fabric paint worked wonders. It definitely has its pros and cons but the best way I found to color the fabric. You have to “scrub” the carpet with a thick bristle brush after to break up a little bit of the paint so the carpet is not so stiff. After two coats it looks and feels greats.

I want to waxoyl the bottom and frame of the truck but not on the highest priority due to where I live in western Colorado near the Utah boarder is super super dry. The rust that was on the bottom was surface rust that I used a wire brush then converter paint coupled with sound deadening/undercoat spray the whole bottom. I don’t plan on moving but definitely use the truck in the snow in the winter. I will plan on doing the waxoyl sometime before winter this year or before next winter.

 

OP

If your truck is a daily driver and only sees the road and/or moderate trails, the ARB bumper seems like over kill. It would be just for looks but add a lot of weight.

Also for sound deadening using a butyl sound deadener on the floor pan is very low value. Those work by stiffening up otherwise resonant panels, thus cutting down on resonance sound. Our floor pans are already pretty stiff from all the bracing and seats being bolted to it. The best results/value for sound deadening the floor pan is to use mass loaded vinyl.

 

At this point, I would just order a carpet kit online in the color you want.
I’ll have to search but there’s a company out of Utah that makes high quality replacements.

 

I appreciate the advice but a little too late on the butyl rubber. That being said I can totally see your point. The butyl rubber had a small bit of foam on the top already which I then added a thick actually foam over it anyways which made a significant difference with the radiant heat and a surprisingly large amount of difference with sound vs what was on there before. It’s not perfect but a bunch better than what was on before.

As far as the carpet I looked into replacement with carpet or with new vinyl flooring and hard to justify when the carpet I have is in decent shape but just wanting to change the color.

The bumper winch set up I feel is more because I’m getting old and tired of getting a come-along out to get myself out of weird spots when I do go out. Between snow and mud I usually find myself getting stuck and needing a bit of help getting out 2-3 times a year. Part of it is me getting in places over my head but also what’s the point of a truck if you don’t push it to its limits.

That being said I super appreciate your response.

 

* Supercharger
* Diff Breather relocation
* Spray nozzle upgrade
* 01-04 or 4runner Power mirrors
* Steering wheel upgrade
* New seats
* Automatic headlight kit

 

Oh yeah the butyl rubber will definitely help significantly with heat transfer. And that closed cell foam is great for reducing the higher frequencies.

look into the hidden winch mount for our trucks. That’s definitely the route I’m going to go.

Edit: https://www.ampdupllc.com/product-page/95-97-tacoma-winch-mount

 

Wow! Most impressive!
My recommendations: Ultragauge and back-up camera
And, if you don't already have one: A Garage to park it in.
You did not mention any security/alarm/recovery systems.
With all due respect, with ADHD you could not concentrate and focus for long enough to accomplish any/all of this! I think you mean OCD!