99’ Tacoma 3rz build

I’m new on Tacomaworld, I live in Onterrible, Canada. I’m not new to Toyotas, I’ve owned plenty, built plenty and love fabricating on them.
Ill try to speak more with pictures than words because that’s what everyone wants to see anyway.
Some history: Ive had a few first gen Tacomas, a 3rz TRD and a 3.4 TRD (the red truck), imported them from the southern states but didnt have the skill or knowledge to build them in my teens.
My first big build was an 85’ 4runner I body swapped, painted, single 4.7 case, locked, tons of work done to that one.

 

Then I bought a triple locked 80 series that turned into this.
Then the market turned really hot for Landcruisers so I sold that and I just bought this 99’ 3rz from a guy a couple hours away from me. I was looking all over the west coast and in the US but border restrictions and tests and all that made it tough to find something.
This truck was a california, it’s been painted, frame is solid overall it needs a new coating for sure. I think it’s just an Sr5 truck, 5 speed. It was built in the early 2000s so it’s pretty old school. Weird tube work, old school air shocks. But the paint sold me. It’s all safetied, licensed and all the road now

 

Sold the tires and wheels and found these great condition km2. They’re 305/70/17 and they’re a bit big for this truck but I’ll make them work. The issue I see right now is the painted custom fenders, they’re not flares they’re welded into the body work so they’ll be tough to cut into.
Wrapped the BFGs around the 4wp T series in a 17” size. I like em

 

Definitely needs a little TLC, I ordered a starter this one seems like it’s on its way out, one cv was ripped so I ordered a new shaft.

My original plan was to do 63” Chevys in the back, but they’re so long, I had them on my 4runner. Now I’m thinking of ordering the all pro pro kit with expedition leafs and Bilstein 650 springs in the front. It has a 2” body lift that I may lower or take out I haven’t decided yet.
I’d like to do a rear locker for sure because the open diff sucks so I may just throw a spartan locker in it.
I built armor and bumpers for all my other trucks so I’m probably going to mimic the one I built on my Landcruiser, which was a clone of the Coastal Offroad bumper.

 

This week I got starter in, CV axle and oil changed. And I picked up some steel, a hitch receiver and started on the rear bumper. Not sold on the design but I’ll have it figured out tomorrow, most likely going to trim the bed to keep it high clearance.

 

The finished product, I’m happy overall with how it turned out. I used Por15 metal prep and por 15 to paint it, then top coated it with Rustoleum. I used the factory mounting locations. I still need to pickup A tailgate so hopefully the gap ends up being okay between the bumper and the gate. I got impatient and started without it.

Started on the front today too, extended the frame 5 inches and mounted the winch plate

 

Let me know what you think. Finish product on the front bumper. Wired in some penny lights for the signals with the factory connectors.

I’m happy enough overall I wish it wasn’t so bulky but to fit a full size winch that’s what I had to do without cutting the grille up. I still need to mount a recovery point in the factory location.

 

So I’ve been having a bad misfire, p0304 is the code for misfire cyl #4.

I thought maybe I had bad fuel because it happened right after I filled it up driving it for the first time. But it’s only the one cylinder misfiring. So I’ve done a few tests, I’m gonna change the wires and plugs anyways, the coils seem fine I swapped them around with no change. If the wires don’t change anything I think it must be the injector. So If I don’t see a change tomorrow after the plugs and wires I’ll pull the fuel rail and injectors and try to test and clean them.

I did a compression test because it was undriveable and I had a bad feeling it was a burnt valve or the head, but it came back pretty decent. In order 1-4

 

Ended up finding number 4 injector bad, tested it and no go. So I swapped them all did the fuel filter, and one injector cup. Cleaned the throttle body and intake out and it seems to run good now. Started on some sliders a couple days ago and got them painted up and welded on yesterday. So the truck is armoured up the way I want. At some point I’ll probably add a kick out to the sliders to protect the fenders. The fenders are one cool thing about this truck. It doesn’t have flares they’re mated into the body work which I think looks cool but they need to be protected in the trees and rocks.

 

Found this little unit for a few hundred bucks, going to paint it black to match and fix the rear latch.

 

Painted, and ready to put back on

 

Did you custom fab the fender flares on your bed and front fenders? Those don't look OEM to me.

 

Yeah exactly ^^

Previous owner did that before the truck was painted. He actually did a good job on it. I’m just So terrified of knocking them off a tree or rock. Some of The trails here in Ontario are really tight. I’ll probably add a kickout to the sliders down the road.

with the painted cap on…

 

I’d say the most logical answer to this is full-size axle swaps so you can protect them with 40” tires.

 

Just as a side bar. I have your grinder bench hanging on the wall in my garage. Have used it for many projects in the almost 50 years I've owned it.

Edit:

During a minor cleanup and joint lubing I did on this after moving a couple of years ago, I removed the adjustable foot pads (the set you have on the floor, not the short height ones) and replaced them with swivel locking casters. While that might not be useful for your purposes, it sure makes it easy to reposition when needed during various projects out in open spaces.

 

Been thinking more about this to be honest. IFS seems so expensive to build compared to what I’m used To. I’m torn on doing 2.5” remote resis when I really only do low speed trails and daily driving. Either I’m going To go with cheaper struts and see how it goes, OR I’d think about cutting the front of the frame out and just doing a low SAS with leafs with leafs for now. Tons probably are out of the question because the 2.7 won’t pull a trailer and move 40s lol

 

Flexing.

 

Feb

 

It'll do more than you think with proper gearing. Towing might be more of an ask, but if it's a small boat or something not crazy heavy I'm sure that'd be fine as well.