05 Tacoma SAC and 4.7 V8 Swap

Ouch. Glad you're ok and rebuilding!

 

Thanks yeah I was initially attempting the rebuild but just decided it was too far gone in requirement for parts and repairs and started fresh on this truck. Still have the old one but it's pretty stripped. Just a parts rig now.

 

I love a good frankenbuild . Curious as to your process for welding the cast. Lots of pre heat, missle rod, peen, cool slow. Anyway, love builds like this.

 

Pirate is still good, but the Tacoma section there is a little dead, but it's been that way for years. I'm on that forum the most still

 

Normally I handle my own welding but I'm calling in a friend who is a welder to do this. He liked how it reacted to a spark test which makes it better for welding.

 

The cast has a lot of carbon, this is what makes it hard to accept a good weld to steel like 4130. You must preheat the cast to between 4 and 600 degrees, then keep constant heat on the material. Special rod and someone that knows how to tig very well. Peen the weld to take out the stress, and cool as slowly as possible. It is a science. I had a truss break away from the center section in a Dana 60, after that, I left that work to those who know what they are doing, and even then , it is not a exact science.
Good luck.

 

I left the housing bare for that reason I knew there would be some heat involved with the welding process and didn't to have cooked bearings/carrier and puddles of melted rubber for seals haha.

 

What vehicle did your 05 engine come out of and did you buy a donor vehicle?

 

Subbed for this

 

Came out of a 2005 tundra with complete drivetrain so I have a spare trans and tcase. I don't have the actual truck though.

 

So on the previous truck you had your front spring hanger attaced to the bumper? Looks that way from the pic. Just curious about it 'cause I have never seen a build like that.

 

Nope definitely not to the front bumper. The cross member for the front of the frame dropped perfectly to make spring hangers. I just reinforced it all.

 

Got any more pics and details on the leafs set up? I’m prolly gonna sas in a few years and am thinking of doing leafs for the simplicity and cost. Seems like everybody else does 3 link and coilovers.

 

Cool. I guess the pics fooled me

It's really a matter of personal preference when it comes to leafs vs links. They both have pros and cons.

Either way is gonna be a shit ton of work and expensive. If you do a SAS right it will cost a ton of money regardless of what suspension you go with.

 

I have lots of pics and detail on the first swap on leaf springs. And it wasn't actually too expensive all said and done. Some of the negatives about it where it had a little bit of axle wrap at times. And I needed a long spline shaft, the stock slip would sometimes separate under high flex and a little spinning. For those interested in the first truck just PM I'd like to keep these builds separate.

Now onto more details about this build I ordered up some 4 inch McNeil fenders and bedsides yesterday at an attempt to avoid being hassled by cops. They currently have a 15% off sale so I couldn't pass it up being i was planning on getting them at some point.

 

This thread got me like


@weldertaco @Large

 

Consider going with the Advanced sale. I was very unhappy with what I got product wise and customer service wise with this sale last year.
Besides that, McNeil almost always does 25% starting Wednesday or Thursday.

 

What was so bad about your experience with McNeil? Would like details on what was disappointing about the quality of the product.

 

The thickness of the fenders and bedsides is not completely reinforced with fiberglass. They must lay up resin in the mold to about half the thickness and then a very thin layer of glass.
They use an absurd amount of blue body filler to cover up the warping and incomplete layup/breakage. The front piece that wraps under the headlight was just a 1/4" thick blob of blue filler that fell off when I was trying to attach the adjoining plastic as just one instance. The tabs that are supposed to screw down along with the head light tabs were nonexistent on one side, I had to glass in my own tabs back around the door hinge. They paint the inner fenders black to cover up all their tricks and all the blue filler is sprayed with a cheap with spray paint that reminds me of kilz. The bedsides also do not come with the forward section that attaches to the bed requiring custom fabrication (not bolt on like other brands). The bed sides hang too far over the inner rail and I had to just cut that entire lip flush with the inner bed to allow the rail to be reattached. The rear tail lights fit very poorly.
Not to mention they never told me they shipped, UPS Freight didn't tell me they arrived and they sat for three weeks. The packaging was minimal at best to travel across the country and the one bedside was crushed. They only offered $100 off to repair myself or to refuse the shipment and have a new side molded and returned. I opted for the latter. They then agreed to send me an entirely new set while that one was on the return and I even offered to be charged for the second set until the damaged one made it back. They reneged on that promise and almost two weeks later said they had finally arranged for the old shipment to be sent back and at that point would mold me a new bedside. I didn't want to argue and conceded, but stressed that this had been going on a long time and I was shortly going on TDY with the Army. They assured it would arrive in time. Well, this time around I got a tracking notification and a call from UPS. I went to inspect at the terminal and it was the same exact bed side. They had smeared some blue filler on and spray painted. It of course was rebroken and I noticed even more damage in another area.
I called them immediately and was given more excuses. I was promised a new bedside shipped greyhound free of charge. Sounded good to me... sucker. They never sent anything but an invoice a day later. I went on TDY and started a dispute process which of course got their attention and won.
I read a few instances where their war of attrition with dissatisfied customers has prevailed. It's usually someone like us who lives far away. I assume that's their opportunity to push off the glass that no one local would pay for and if things get damaged, most people give up before long. I have extensive photo documentation including the repairs needed, the coverups and poor quality of glassing.
While doing the repairs it became apparent the bedside was previously damaged (and probably returned) because they had glassed over their black coverup paint on the inside in a number of places. Let me know if you want photos or more elaboration, emails, etc.

 

Do the advanced bedsides allow for a topper if desired? I might try and cancel my order...