Andrewprime's Silver 2001 Tacoma Build Thread

Here is my Taco on the very first Day I got her.


Specs:
2001 Toyota Tacoma
3.4l V6 Engine
SR5
TRD Off Road Package
Four Wheel Drive
Locking Rear Differential
179,324 Miles (3/10/13)
Silver (Lunar Mist)

Mods/Work Done -

Interior/Bed Area:
Pioneer AVH-P2300DVD Double DIN Head Unit - Completed 3/18/13
Shell Light Fix - Upcoming - Upcoming
Custom Sleeping Platform w/ Storage Compartments - Upcoming

Exterior:
Blacked Out Badges - Pictures to come.
Blacked Out Front Grill - Completed 3/25/13
Cleared Corners - Upcoming
Grill Guard - Upcoming
Fog/Rally Lights - Upcoming
Hella Supertones - Upcoming
Plasti-dipped/Powdercoated OEM Wheels - Upcoming
HID Headlamp Retrofit - Upcoming
Backup Camera - Upcoming

Engine/Exhaust:
TRD Cold Air Intake - Upcoming
3.4l TRD Supercharger Kit - Upcoming
180K Maintenance (Timing Belt, Water Pump, Pulleys, etc.) - Upcoming
URD SuperGrip Supercharger Pulley - Upcoming

Driveline:
Short Shifter - Upcoming

Suspension:
2"-3" Lift, perhaps from URD (Thoughts?) - Upcoming

 

This post is going to be legen, wait for it!

 

So the most important thing on my to-do list without a doubt is the 180K service of the water pump and timing belt. I have a few questions though:

1. The only DIY TB guide I can really find is this one on 4x4Wire, and its not very good in my opinion. Does anyone know of other online tutorials that have more pictures of the actual process? I found this guide on Lieblweb with lots of good pictures, but it only talks about replacing the water pump.
   
2. I am thinking of getting this kit from Rock Auto. There are some that are a little more expensive, are they worth it? Why?
   
3. I read this article on motor.com about the problem with not tightening the harmonic balancer bolt properly and the trouble that can cause. Do you guys think you need that special tool to hold the crank pulley while you torque the bolt to 217ft/lbs correctly?
   
4. I don't really understand what the Snap-On Tensioner Compressor tool (number YA9730) is used for. Maybe it's just because I don't exactly understand why you need to compress the tensioner pulley. Can anyone clarify this for me?
   
5. Is there anything else I should know?

This is going to be the most serious engine work I have ever undertaken, and I am a bit nervous. But I feel like if I take it one step at a time and really do my homework I should be just fine.

 

So the first thing I did to my new Taco was install my Pioneer Double DIN head Unit. This baby was in my old car, and I just didn't feel like my new truck was mine until I got it in there.

I bought a Metra harness from Amazon


Got it all spliced together with the head unit's harness


and here is the final product, installed and ready to go.


I still have a few things I need to do with it. First, I want to get a Tacoma inspired background on the thing, and I also want to bypass the parking break wire so there aren't any limitations to the unit while driving, parked, etc.

The leds on the head unit are adjustable to match the other gauges, but they are a bit brighter. I will post some night shots later to show how they match/compair to the OEM gauge lights.

 

Very nice so far! I love how you have everything planned out! Sub'd!

 

So I was looking at my truck today and decided I needed to do something fun to it...



So I decided to blackout my front grill with plastidip. Removing the thing is pretty straight foreword. Remove your two side lenses, each held on with just one screw, and then carefully remove the grill one clip at a time. I think there are four clips up top and three in the bottom.

EDIT: Here is a diagram of all of the grill clips on a first generation Tacoma







Then I masked off the grill with painters tape and scrap packaging paper. I probably went a little overboard to be honest, but I had a whole free afternoon to burn.



Don't forget to do the chrome on the side lenses too.



I didn't take any pictures while painting, but here is the finished product.





It's not perfect, I think I either put on too thick of coats or I didn't wait long enough to peel the painters tape off. There are some bits of chrome showing around the edges. Oh well, it was a good first try, I'll probably redo it at some point, but it's not too noticeable for now.



While I'm at it, I found these guys in the bed right after I bought the truck, any idea what they are for/from?

 

Thanks PartyBusGaming, Reddit much? Yeah, I am super neurotic, I love planning everything out and documenting it all, haha.

Also last night the truck rolled over 180k, I missed the exact moment though...

 

I got this yesterday and I am gearing up to the TB/WP project. I think that with this manual and some help here on TW I can get the job done no problem (knocks on wood) but I think it will be a multi-day project.

 

Reddit indeed!

 

So I have done a few things to the Taco recently that I wanted to document. First of all, I had my water pump and timing belt replaced by a local mechanic and family friend. He offered to do it all for a steal, so I went that route rather that the DIY. After that was taken care of I could start to fool around with some more fun projects on the old girl.

So, I decided to go with a practical mod that might save my ass if I get stuck in the middle of nowhere: a CB Radio. I hope I never have to use it in a serious situation, but if I ever have to I guess I'll be prepared...

I got set up with a Cobra 19 Ultra III Radio and a 3' Firestik antenna from a TW user, Hudhawk (thanks man)! I then bought a Firestik brand tail gate mount and got it all installed. Here are some pictures to show the set up and mounting of it.

I wanted to be able to remove the radio as I don't think I will be using it all that often, so I used velcro to mount it to the left of the steering column and routed the wires through the hood release latch.



I used a 10 amp fuse tap to hook into some accessory power source, this means the radio will only turn on if the ignition is on (I worry about forgetting to turn it off and draining the battery) and grounded it to a bolt somewhere under the dash.





a better view



Here is a shot of the antenna mount





The finished project!



I haven’t yet wired the coax. cable, so this bad boy isn’t quite up and running. I am waiting for the parts for my reverse camera to come before I go through the trouble of running the wire from the antenna to the radio. Makes sense to do it in one go.

 

So I finally got around to buying a backup camera for my truck. I usually don't have any trouble backing in/going in reverse, but looking through three tinted pieces of glass (rear, shell front/back) at night can sometimes be a bit tricky... So, for peace of mind (and my girlfriend's sake) I installed this thing.

I got a liscense mounted Koolertron CMOS camera off Amazon for like 12 bucks. I decided I wuld add a bit if silicon, cause I doubt this thing is too waterproof...





I tucked the wiring for it, along with he coax cable for my CB into a wire sheath and ran it to the front if he truck alongside the factory wiring harness. Then I ran he two wires up hrough the weatherproof grommet under the drivers seat.





I remove these four screens for the kick plate and yank out the trim next to the dead pedel which allowed me to run the wires under the carpet. The coax went up by the cutch and into my CB (finally!) while the yellow RGB cable went further aroun towards the head unit.









I got it all plugged in to my head unit, you have to remove the dash trim and take the HU out, but didn't bother to take pictures of that bit.

Took off he drivers side tail light and tapped the red wire into a green wire that lead to the reverse light bulb, and hooked the black to white wire with black stripe as the ground.



Aaaaaaaand, it doesn't work. I think I need to connect a wire from my HU to something that only gets power when in reverse.

So I'm going to follow the green wire from the taillight to the dash and tap into it there. If that doesn't work, I'm going to try plugging the video cable into the AV in port rather than the backup camera port on my HU. The camera won't kick in automatically when I put it in reverse, but I don't foresee using it every time anyway.

Stay tuned for the resolution! Sorry about grammar and spelling. I'm on an iPhone, will come and edit later.

 

A photo I snapped with the fall colors

 

sub! Lunar Mist FTW!