2Runner

Looking great man! How'd you go about polishing it?

 

See this post from the same thread for details about polishing!

 

After putting on some extra enjoyable miles with my new gauge cluster, my mind started wandering off into what does Trudy need next of course...

Like many of us I tend to get caught up by upgrades that will make the truck ride nicer, perform better, look sweeter, and generally improve the experience and appearance of the vintage Japanese truck made so long ago. Every now and then though I realize there are some things that are nice to have "just in case", the spare tire is one of these items and to be honest mine was really too old to use I just figured I'd call for a tow if I got a flat.

Since I had picked up my Lexus wheels a little while back, this freed up my factory wheels that actually came with some decent tires that were maybe about a year old. I figured may as well use one of these as my spare in case I dont feel like waiting for a tow down the road if something does happen.

My truck is about 3" lowered from stock so I was a bit curious to check the diameter, and was glad to see the stock wheel seemed to have a slightly shorter tire than my cracked up spare as a bonus for clearance. Probably should try mounting them to be sure, but I didnt feel like doing all that this weekend...


Of course I had to clean the wheel and tire to the best of my ability before installing it back on to Trudy. Old Daisy approved of the new spare wheel and tire combo!


As I installed the wheel I already started thinking of another potential modification related to the spare.. But let's pause to take a look at the tire in it's new home for now!


Not the sexiest update by any means, but it does feel a bit more secure having a usable tire underneath the bed now!

 

Since Trudy started out her life as a bare bones regular cab pickup and one of the most inexpensive new vehicles you could buy at the time, she was pretty sparse when it comes to features and any sort of luxuries. For the most part this is an aspect that I love about this old truck. However, one thing I think the factory should have included was the carpeted panel that covers the rear of the cab interior.

As soon as I added my bucket seats not only was a bunch of this bare metal exposed, it seemed to bring more noises right into the cab.


Not only does it look barren once you add the bucket seats, you can tell this is the source of most of the noise in the cab as you drive down the road. Look at all this bare metal here..


I had searched since I picked up the truck last year for an oem trim panel without any luck. So I decided to pick up a carpet from a double cab thinking I would cut some holes and make it work.


Then the Tacoma Gods smiled upon me and Trudy once again... I hopped onto a thread where I see someone asking for a photo of this same part and a fellow forum member chimed in saying he had the oem panel in 2002 "charcoal" for a regular cab for sale!! I scooped it up without thinking twice.

Here it is after a good steam cleaning and laying out in the sun to flatten and straighten out some kinks from shipping in a box. Note all the differences in the regular cab vs the double cab model. The worst part was the bottom of the dbl cab panel did not meet with the floor of the regular cab. All the extra holes aren't great looking either!


The install is quick and easy and I picked up 4 oem clips, they are black as sadly they are not making these in charcoal any longer. Take a gander at how much nicer things look now.


Not only is this a massive part full of highly visible oem luster, it actually makes the truck notably quieter and even feels a bit warmer inside now.

I am super grateful to have found this part, it felt like a giant missing oem part that has made a big difference in my truck visually and it's much more pleasant diving down the road with less noise!

 

I woke up this morning, brewed my coffee, and stepped outside for a walk and found the heavens shining all it's glory upon Trudy sitting in my driveway..

Isn't Tacoma World a beautiful place to be!!

 

Seems all my mods are working pretty good, as tested on my first autocross ever yesterday.

Who would have thought an old Tacoma with some nice tires could smoke Lamborghini's, Vette's, Porsche's, Mustangs, Camaros, and even a Miata on the autocross for my very first time in any kind of automotive event?!!

They ended up tossing me in a time only class since I didnt know what to sign up with the old pick up truck, but I would say Trudy and myself did alright for our maiden voyage:




We did a couple "fun runs" afterwards and I was able to knock off a few more seconds a was into the 73.5~ per lap by the end of day. I surely learned a lot and got better at driving my truck in the process.

I think I may have to give this another go, what a blast indeed!!

 

Time for some power adders! Didn't you say you had a supercharger on the side already?

 

I do have the sc laying around still, I wanted to get my other mods in place and complete all my maintenance items before installing, plus I am still getting used to driving the truck as is before adding more power. Now I just need to make some time for this upgrade. I also wonder how the sc would impact the class I am running in, if it bumps me up a few classes it may work against me more than for me!

After the experience though I would say I need a limited slip diff before more power. My inside wheel was spinning as I came out of the turns already so if I had more power it would just be slipping more it seems.. The sc is definitely going to add to the fun factor though!!

 

I had a super exciting wrenching session in the driveway with old Trudy today

When I picked up the truck just about a year ago I was able to knock a grand off the price tag due to mainly the airbag light being on and a leaky noisy muffler. That meant the airbag system was not doing anything for me since it disable itself when there is an issue, not too mention the annoying red light lurking in the background everywhere I went.

I had already looked at all the wires and cleaned all connectors without success and thought it may be the module itself or a sensor. I decided to roll the dice and picked up a used air bag module from ebay since it was $85 shipped and the labor involved was so simple (well under an hour). It turned out the Tacoma gods smiled upon my plan and as I turned the key back on and said a prayer I almost could not believe the pesky light finally turned itself off for the first time since I have owned the truck!!



Oddly this has been one of the most exciting things I have done to the truck actually. Not only is the truck much safer now but I saved so much money knocking a grand off the price tag, got used vs getting a new $600+ module, paying for labor, special airbag code readers, etc.

I really wasnt sure this would work out so good... I am still giddy here!

 

I didn’t know there was another OEM freak like me!! I recently bought the OEM screws and rubber gasket for the rear taillight assembly... OEM bleeder valves/caps for all 4 brakes... The engine all received OEM parts during the Timing belt/Valve cover gasket jobs... I love getting new parts to install...

 

Welcome to the OEM freak club my friend!

Yeahp, guess you saw almost every "mod" or "customization I have performed is using OEM parts.I even go as far to get more excited about oem parts made in Japan vs others..

Instead of a wild custom show truck, Trudy, the 2Runner is basically my vision of an oem regular cab factory style sport truck I thought they should have made alongside the SRunner. Something that feels and looks factory but a few touches that allow it to handle like a completely different animal while still being able to haul stuff in it as a truck from time to time!


I'd say she exceeded my expectations at how much more fun and comfortable it is to drive. These trucks are definitely worth putting some love into and treating them to the good stuff!

 

Yeah I enjoyed reading through your build last night... I’m going to make sure I document the new Blk Limited when she gets here tomorrow...

 

I had so much fun at my first autocross with Trudy, I signed up for the next event coming up this weekend!

As seen over this thread, my mode of thought when making suspension mods is to change one item at a time normally so I can gauge the difference in handling to see the difference each part makes individually. Also seen long ago was I have a front sway bar from an SRunner when I snatched up them glorious seats a while back.

Ahh the memories, hard to believe I have owned Trudy for a year already.. the OEM SRunner sway bar set.


I figured after the autocross it was time to see how the thicker sway bar would help Trudy in the quest for even better handling. I pulled the old bar out of my "camper shed" built from the shell and bed liner I have removed from the truck long ago. That thing is shockingly chock full of spare parts already, and I have more large parts like seats laying around elsewhere..


A glimpse of the first gen treasure vault..


Once I pulled the bar from under the pile of oem goodies, I cleaned it up real good as I like to do all parts before installing!


I found out the SRunner and my little 4 cylinder use the same brackets to mount the sway bar, and figured the SRunner bushings pn#48815AD020 should fit as such. The dealer warned me of the restocking fee when they asked for my vin and saw the computer said it wouldnt work!


They showed up and I could tell the bushings were the same outer dimensions, yet had the 28mm inner diameter hole for the 27mm sway bar. This was what I envisioned and proceeded to the installation.

I turned the wheel to give me room to remove the 14mm end link nut, washer, and upper bushings first. Both sides of course.


Then removed the 4 12mm bolts that held the sway bar to the cross member.


The stock sway bar is 25mm while the SRunner is 27mm. I compared the two next to each other during the process.


The difference is ever so slight, visually! Stock vs SRunner:


I greased them new bushings up and was re-assured I had the right parts as the mounting brackets slipped right over the SRunner bushings. The proceeded to mount the sway bar bushings torqued to factory spec of 16 ft lb, then the end link bushings (could not get my torque wrench in there for the 14 ft lb spec so had to go by "feel") and the install was completed much to my delight!


I took her out for the initial local canyon run and was more than blown away by the new handling characteristics. There is definitely notably less body roll in the hard quick turns, and it feels like the front end is tighter and the steering is a bit quicker and more responsive overall. I highly recommend this "OEM custom" upgrade to anyone that wants better handling without any notable sacrifice in ride quality.

Next up is obviously to replace the end links (Trudy had a torn passenger side boot) and bushings, to see if those parts alone make any difference on their own of course!

 

Any plans on Srunner fender flares? I've seen it done on a few regular cabs and it looks great. May make your wheels look too inset however.

 

Not at this time, though I have shopped and considered them actually.

They look sweet alright but are a bit pricey and my current wheels/offset would not compliment the additional width in my opinion... yet!

I am thinking of adding some wheel spacers to give a bit more width and stability in the handling, so I suppose we will see how things evolve on old Trudy!

 

I really like what ChrisD did to his truck https://www.customtacos.com/threads/chris-d-s-exterior-mods-from-over-the-years.155288/ perhaps it will give you some further inspiration. You've done a great job so far.

Josh's as well:
https://www.customtacos.com/threads/josh-taco-build-thread.153051/

Lots of interesting info here:
https://www.customtacos.com/threads/couple-qa1-questions.139850/

 

Looks

Man, what a great job you've done. Looks like a killer little DD, reminds me of my old 96 2wd Tacoma.
How did you go about calibrating your true mileage to the new cluster?

 

Thank for the kind words, this truck is indeed a blast!

I took it to a speedo shop for the calibration, there is also a guy on the forum that does it here as well if you ship it to him.

 

I was able to have my local gear specialist install a TrueTrac Limited slip differential yesterday. I had ordered part #911A342, though it actually had a part #911A644 printed on the diff itself when I pulled it from the box!




He stated it was set up with proper rotation to use in the rear so didnt need to flip anything. Also mentioned all the parts I purchased worked out for the installation. This was basically all oem stock parts used for the full rebuild with the exception of running the "larger 50mm" diff carrier bearings. Here was the parts list used:

OEM Part numbers:
50mm Differential carrier bearings (not stock, v-6 parts) 9036850006 x 2
Pinion bearing 9036630055 x 1
Pinion bearing 903663502377 x 1
Pinion seal 9031138047 x 1
Ring gear bolts 9010111353 x 10
Pinion Nut 9017918020 x 1
Crush sleeve 4123122010 x 1
Differential housing gasket 4218130020 x 1

Now I just need to go for a "spirited" drive to see how this thing works!