Betterbuckleup's 2000 taco build & BS

Yea, that's unfortunately true. So many dumb tests are involved. There are test centers all over and it can be often hard to find one that won't fail you for some stupid little thing thats out of place or looks slightly out of place.

 

I have some random turbo parts for sale still if you're interested in starting to accumulate some things.

 

Right not im just focused on passing smog and finishing some other more essential things, but if you still have some parts when the time comes I will most definitely be contacting you.

 

Looks great! I had heard that not using the service bolt could cause extra noise, I guess it shouldn't cause any damage tho. Did you reset it yourself? How did you do that?

If you dont mind my asking too...how much did that mini header run you? Notice any difference in performance at all?

 

Yea from what ive read and been able to figure out myself, it makes your upper valve train louder if the spring on the split gear on the exhaust camshaft isn't loaded upon installation.
To install the service bolt and load the gear spring, I put the cam in a table vise at the section with the wrench flats on it (and a towel in between the two to prevent marring).
Then I grabbed my big ass channel locks (these in particular, 16.5 inchers: https://amzn.to/2MHMi2J), and with a towel between them and the gear, turned the upper part of the gear until the holes lined up so I could thread in one of the valve cover bolts to keep the tension. Its a bit tricky by yourself, but if you go slow, have the right tools, and be careful it's not that bad.

I don't mind at all. I picked up the mini header from an auto salvage yard in Berkely, CA for $80-ish out the door. Including the heat shield too!
It's probably placebo and a combination of the other stuff I did, but it does feel a bit more responsive. The 2.7 is a dog naturally aspirated no matter, but every little bit helps. Considering the mini header I got is an OEM part from another Taco, I can't imagine that it would really ADD any power. For a lot of people that do the mini header swap, they report an improvement largely because their cast manifold has an exhaust leak somewhere on it (the familiar ticking noise).
Regardless, I would still recommend doing the mini header swap if you can find one for a decent price. It's worth it for the peace of mind and maybe better exhaust flow/performance? Hard to say, but it solved my emissions & exhaust leak problems as far as I can tell so far.

 

Replaced my thermostat today with the 180F one from the LCE and the highest temp I see on my scangauge now is 186F. The old one didn't have a jiggle valve on it which is interesting, and my engine now gets up to operating temp a hell of a lot quicker which is great.

New one the left and old on the right.



Although the one thing I am running into now is my idle rpm. Ever since doing my valve clearances and putting the new manifold on, the lowest ive seen my truck idle at is 950 rpm. Before it would be around 700-800 which is where it should be.

I removed my throttle body and IACV and gave both of them a quick cleaning. I replaced the throttle body gasket too which had a very slight tear in it. After reinstalling it all, it still does the same thing.
I don't really want to spend $150 on a new IACV so I might just live with the high idle for now. I might also try and clean my MAF at some point too and see if that helps at all.

I also got an older Millermatic 120 wire feed welder and 100psi HF compressor for free!
I rewired my breaker panel to make room for a 2-pole 50 amp breaker that I need to get so I can install a 220V receptical in the wall below it. I also need to get a gas canister and some consumables for the welder and i'll be good to go. Stoked that I can now do some more intensive fabrication on my own schedule in the comfort of my own home.

 

Nice score! Can't beat a free Miller!

 

Ok interesting. I wasnt sure if a special tool was needed, or if there was a certain number of revolutions needed to proerly preload the spring.

Thats really not bad at all! Nah, I wouldnt expect it to add power, but was thinking it might be a tad more responsive. Interesting that it solved your emissions problems.

I replaced what I believe was the stock Toyota thermostat in my truck a couple months ago. It was kinda dirty and gunky, but I noticed after installing a new AISIN 180F stat that it ran 10 degrees cooler! Supposedly stock is 180F, or so I thought. Anyway, instead of running 196ish, it'll run 186ish max after driving quite a while. I'm sure in the summer heat it might run hotter but I fould it interesting that it cooled down that much.

Yeah thats awesome!! Congrats! I traded a guy an old Lincoln weldanpower AC150 that wouldnt really weld right straight across for a Hobart Handler 190 MIG, complete with almost full 80CF bottle. Dont have correct 240V hookup yet, but I cant wait to get it going. Whats the duty cycle on the Miller? My Hobart is like 20%, which kinda sucks, but I'm not making 10 foot long welds almost non stop like I do at the shop. That and I picked up a nice Milwaukee chop saw at an auction. You can do a lot with a decent MIG, chop saw, and angle grinders! Looking forward to see what you build.

 

Well I was hoping it fixed my emissions problem. Turns out it didn't. On my drive back from the airport this evening the same P0420 code came back up
I just ordered new upstream and downstream O2 sensors that will hopefully fix this stupid code. If not that, then the only thing left is my cat which I don't want to have to replace.

When I first got my truck, it never got up past 188F. But for some reason that changed when I did my water pump. Not sure why, but its fixed now and back to how it should be imo with a max of 188F. It was also interesting to see that the thermostat that was in there did not have a jiggle valve for whatever reason.

Not sure on the duty cycle of the Miller. I would guess around the 20-25% range maybe? I'm sure it will be plenty for what I will be using it for.
I'll probably be picking up a new 80CF bottle from ebay at some point as well.
https://www.ebay.com/p/80-CF-Weldin...for-Argon-Nitrogen-Helium-Argon-co2/505133474
It's a much better price than my local welding supply store. About $50 for a fill too. Can't wait until i'm up and running!\

 

Honestly, I would just clear the code and keeping on trucking. My Taco did the same thing @ every 100 miles. I just cleared it with a portable scanner and phone app. Hasn't come on for a couple hundred miles, so I guess it fixed itself lol.

Yeah that's interesting for sure re: thermostat.

Good deal. Hopefully your local shop will fill it...a lot of times they only fill their own bottles. I might have to go to Tulsa to get mine filled, cause it's not a local bottle.

 

Normally, that's what I would do for a code like that and just ignore it. But I have to pass smogged to get my registration stickers so I don't really have a choice.


I replaced the downstream O2 sensor with a bosche for now since the Denso upstream one I got had the wrong type of connector. Hopefully that fixed my P0420 code. If not, then i'll try a new upstream. Oh and I also broke a stud off flush in my down pipe while removing the upstream O2 sensor. I had to take it to an exhaust shop and have the flange plasma cut out and a new one welded in yesterday.

I also now I have yet another exhaust leak somewhere in the engine bay....Perfect. When I have some time, I'm gonna try the vacuum trick to try and find where its coming from. Not to mention I'm also dealing with a high idle from a misbehaving throttle body. Sometimes this truck really tries my patience....

Dealing with all of this smog bullshit has been a huge pain in the ass and wreaking havoc on my wallet. It's been causing more problems in the process. I'm tired of throwing parts at this thing for emissions sake, when I would much rather be throwing money at it for things like sliders and some trail armor.

I just did a bottle exchange for a full one and picked up some consumables for the gun this morning. So I should be burning some metal tonight! So at least I've got that goin for me!

 

Ahh I see. In Oklahoma they don't have smog or any emissions testing....guess I'm spoiled...didn't cross my mind.

I totally understand, I have the same thing. Then I have to step back and realize...ok, it is a 23yr old vehicle. Gonna have issues, and just deal with whatever happens. Still totally a pain when you've put many thousands of dollars into and something's still not right.

Hopefully the leak is just a gasket or something simple.

Sweet, that's awesome. I'm curious how it would do on say 3/16" steel? Being 240v it should have the juice I would think.

 

Yea California definitely has its cons.... It sure makes it hard owning a 19 year old truck.
I love driving it and using it, but it's really frustrating when things aren't working how they should.

I'm hoping so too. You really only hear it under acceleration so it's tricky to pinpoint when its just idling.

I think it should be able to handle it. I'll find out soon enough.

 

Yesterday evening was productive. I fixed an exhaust leak and got around to a bunch of other stuff I had been meaning to do for a while. It was nice to get some stuff done that I wanted to work on other than dealing with emissions bullshit.

After going to the same exhaust shop that I had weld a new O2 sensor flange on my down-pipe, I had them pinpoint a small exhaust leak that I had after reassembly. They identified it being at the connection between the manifold and pipe.
After talking to them for a bit, I learned that the exhaust gaskets at that connection are "crush" gaskets. They can be reused if in good condition (which I have been doing), but you need to put some high temp silicone around them to prevent small leaks.
So I put some high temp RTV silicone at the connection and let it sit for a bit while I worked on some other stuff. If the P0420 code comes back after fixing this leak, i'm gonna have to bite the bullet and buy a new cat.

I replaced that stupid pink intake intake boot with the factory one that was ripped after sealing it up with some black RTV. The aftermarket one was some pretty thick stuff and I didn't like how it was seating between the throttle body and intake tube.

I'm still struggling with fixing my high idle issue and sticky throttle. I noticed last night that my PCV catch can had a few bad O-ring seals. So I took it apart and put some pipe-tape on all the threaded connections and some RTV black silicone on some other mating surfaces. I've cleaned my throttle body and IACV thoroughly. This weekend after I get a new IACV gasket and some new mounting screws for it, i'm going to pull it back out and test it per the FSM with a multimeters and put voltage to it to make sure its opening and closing properly. I also tested my TPS per the FSM and everything checks out. As for the sticking throttle, it seems to only happen when the engine is running. The throttle cable and pedal feel smooth when it's off so that tells me it's something to do with a vacuum leak. All of my hoses are in good condition and I haven't been able to find any cracks, so I'm pretty clueless as to where it could be coming from. I'm hoping that if I fix the high idle, it will fix the sticky throttle with it. If not, then I guess i'll replace all of my hoses and go from there.

Now that I have a functional welder, I finally did the tack-weld mod on my steering column shaft to prevent the slop that makes a ton of noise when wheeling. When I pulled it out, I wasn't able to feel much slop at all between the two slip joints with my hands, but I did the mod anyways to prevent it down the line. The hardest part of the removal and installation was dealing with the tilt column springs. They are some strong suckers and take some muscling to work on and off. I had good luck using a pair of vise grips and the needlenose on my leatherman wave.
Steering definitely feels more positive now and there is a bit less wandering on my the highway.

Overall a decently successful night and I should hopefully be closer to passing smog now and moving on to doing more fun things with this truck.

 

I saw one of these steering wheels in the junkyard this weekend. What were the two DOWN buttons for?

 

Those are volume buttons. There are two corresponding "UP" buttons on the back of the wheel.
I have seen some threads of people wiring up steering wheel controls with an aftermarket wheel, but that's more work than I wan't to put into it at the moment.
My current dilemma is getting the cruise control to work. When I get around to it I need to probe around with my multimeter to determine what needs to change in the circuit to get the two components to talk to each other. I believe that the steering wheel module communicates based on resistances.

 

I would recommend 32's. I regret not going bigger when I initially got mine.
You can always sell them online too if your not happy with them.

 

Thanks. I like the look as well, but could definitely benefit from the clearance of a larger diameter tire. I also don't have flares on my truck so they stick out quite a bit.
Don't forget to take into account what rims you're mounting them on (BS, width, offset, etc).

 

Agreed. I have factory 4.56 gears which help, but the 4cyl is gonna be sad either way with a size increase.
In looking at my next set of tires, width is my primary concern. If I don't have the money for a set of SCS rims when the time comes, I'm thinking that i'll go with a set of 33x10.5R15 to keep my rack and pinion happy on my current 15 steelies. Just unsure about how it'll look. I would much rather go with a set of 285/75r16's. I have a feeling that my taco would really hate me if I tried to 12.5 wide on 33's.
The no flares life is fun, but I find myself wishing I had them at times for how much mud and grime gets slung all over my sides when I go wheeling or hit anything other than pavement.

 

Sub'd! Lookin' good!