Daily Driver Build

How she sits now:



*edit- waiting on updated pic so until then, this is how I got her at ~140K miles
Looks like new. Previous owner was an older gentleman, surprisingly TRD supercharged at 30K, but didn't add any fuel/timing mods- picked her up at 170K


Goal: Thought I had one, but thanks to this forum, its a scatter of wallet killing madness.

** Just a shout out, I'm thankful for this site and all the knowledge shared in these build threads-

-3.4L, A340 slushbox
-TRD Edition SR5
-TRD S/C
-4x4
-rear diff lock
-stock 4.10 gearing

MODS N STUFF

suspension:
front:
- 5100s, OME 880 coils on middle perch (should have gotten 881s).
- Icon extended travel, remote resi with CDCV.
- Camburg UCAs
- Stearing rack ES poly bushings.
- New LCA OEM bushings-- this really transformed the truck's rough ride
- New ball joints
- CVJ extended boot axles Boots didn't last long.
- NAPA CV axles to hold me over to rebuilt the CVJs with the boot stretch mod.

rear:
- OE leafs with Wheelers 3 leaf AAL, minus OE overload. Hindsight, would get a whole leaf pack, or just the single leaf AAL (getting the impression the single leaf setups are smoother than the 3 leaf)
- 5125s
- Bud Built powder coated blue traction bar with bearing boots- F U axle wrap!! And F U mud trying to ruin my spherical bearings!
- fixed E-locker!!

- flat black D spoked 16" no-name (seriously, not indentations/labeling even on the inside) free-be steelies

body/armor:
- BAMF slinders, welded.
- Relentless front plate, rear wrap around plate. I really wanted All-pro baja tube front, and then would have gotten their matching rear. This would have saved me about $1,000 and I really like the look AND would have saved about 100lbs. Win win and win. All-pro if you are reading this, despite all of that I avoided your bumpers because the REQUIRE use of just YOUR skid plate.

interior:
- JL 300watt amp
- JL 10" sub inside stealth housing (regret this, would rather the dog have the space back)
- Weather 3D floor mats
- larger rear view mirror with compass
- Dual gauge pod A-piller with TRD boost guage, AEM air/fuel

exterior:
- new headlight housings
- LED 2700 lm headlights
- Brake lights and reverse lights LED

engine/trans:
- TRD 'black' supercharger, rebuilt by Magnuson
- PNP Greddy EMU + SplitSecond Enricher
- Fiveo 625cc drop in PNP fuel injectors.
- DW200 LPH to keep up with the E85 days.
- 2.2 pulley
- SC Bypass Switch
- Water/meth (currently in a disabled and in a dilapidated state as E85 rocks so much)
- Map rocker switch to switch between AEM's two map option- Map a) 87/91 octane, Map b) E85
-

$7 Denso IK20 Iridium Power Spark Plug, (Pack of 1)

Denso IK20
- HKS DLI
- Vacuum/boost block for distributing vacuum/boost references with HKS line vacuum line filter
- Stupid big hayden trans cooler plumbed to avoid overcooling (hayden -> OE cooler)- Needs a shroud to gain effeciency. Going up a mountain without weight, spirited driving, I saw temps go up to around 220.
- TokenSolutions spec SM single catch can
- Mishimoto magnetic drain plug
- OBDLink MX bluetooth with Torque App- shows ignition timing, MAF, calculated boost, A/F, coolant, trans temp(!), fuel trims, MPGs etc. Has plug-ins to track on google maps, video with phones camera plus add G-force meters, mapping, track time etc.

electrical:
- Viper Alarm, keyless entry and autostart.
- gray wire mod
- Aux cig lighter ports full time power mod
- Apexi voltage stabilizer
- The "big three"
- Hardwired battery trickle charger plug

brakes:
- Goodridge 2" extended S/S lines
- 13wl caliper/rotor upgrade

Fluids:
- The good German "super blue" DOT4 racing brake fluid
- Mobile 1 0w30 (200,000 miles and still doesn't burn oil)
- Amsoil ATF (50K miles still looks new)
- Royal purple 75w90 in front and rear diff and trans case
** Intend on switching all fluids to Amsoil.
- Toyota OE coolant

miscellaneous:
- Honda Odyssey windshield spray nozzles
- tint including doing 50% (hardly noticeable) on the windshield- the UV protection keeps a lot of heat out amazingly- totally worthwhile mod.
- CARB legal. Something damn nice to have living in Cali.
- Best Topper canvas shell
- Ram Mount. No need for an ultragauge- smart phone has OBDII bluetooth connection, torque app and GPS app.

future mods (not necessarily in order)

- pinch weld mod, heat and flatten trim.
- deaver J59 rear leaf springs
- Alloy rims
- 10m/11m HAM/CB radio
- diff breather mod (parts sitting here).
- steering wheel slop tack weld mod.
- Power might be killing the tranny- TransGo SK 340, 340-HD2 (possibly plus 'blue' clutch packs) with rebuild.
- Magnefine in-line tranny fluid filter
- Revamp the water/meth system

Just a few snap shots of some of the things done to my DD since getting her at 140K miles. Have to put it out there, some shameless plugging here as most of this stuff is off of "the shelf" here at TokenSolutions

Tranny cooler and water/meth pump going under the bumper.


The prototyping of making an AEM FIC PNP. Production harnesses much much cleaner haha.


FIC goes behind the kick panel pretty good


FIC tucked in


FIC allows you to install an external switch to switch between two different maps. Found an OE looking and fitting switch


Tapping OE wiper tank for teh meth.


Dropping off S/C at her creators for a rebuild



They had this beast on display


And another of a number of displays


Later in the game, using a programmable 12vdc on/off from the FIC control a 2nd water/meth nozzle.


Installed a catch can that has high quality baffling inside


GROM action so I can play and control the ipod through the OE head unit, control a flash drive with MP3s on it, blue tooth cell phone talking, play audio through blue tooth with the tablet.


Too many "T" fittings where piling up off of the limited boost/vacuum sources with the TRD S/C setup, so in goes a vacuum/boost manifold


Then later a filter for it's feed


More spark and CDI second spark strike? Yes please. HKS DLI slapped in


Camburg UCA's (1.5" uni's, the midtravel bug is biting)


Tundra brakes











A plug and play ECU replacement MegaSquirt being built up for a buddies AE86- just felt like throwing it in here.


A lot of stuff I don't have pictures for, rear axle seal fixed, 2.2 pulley on the charger. Dual gauge display w/ TRD boost and AEM wideband installed. JL stealth box and amp installed and other stuff I'm probably forgetting. Try to get those pictures in eventually.

BAMF sliders getting some paint



** 1/2/17
Updated, swapped out the AEM FIC with a Greddy EMU + SplitSecond enricher combo- why?
I wanted the auto trans timing retard feature, what I feel more accurate timing retard and some other nuances I like the EMU over the FIC.
Thread of my evolving opinion of the combo.

 

dang man i wish i had that set up. looks good

 

This is sick man. Why did your s/c need a rebuild? So you remapped your own ECU? Why didn't you just go with the 7th injector? The methanol can help if your pinging but does it add HP? Hows the truck run with all the stuff you've done? Sorry for so many q's, Definitely the first Tacoma I've seen like this. Its bad ass.

 

Big thanks. And you can! IMO TRD blowers are pretty darn affordable in the big scheme of things (looking at other vehicle platforms), and the 5vz is bullet proof, it is very forgiving to the growing pains of being a DIY'er at boosting.

I forget their recommended rebuild intervals, something like 90,000 miles or something. She was well past that, and the bearings and nose drive sounded like total crap. Turned out it really did, all bearings were toast and so badly the screws were having some interference.

I wish we had the ability to flash our OE ECU like so many other applications. The FIC is a piggyback. But I do my own tuning.

I install piggybacks and standalones, and convert standalones to PNP applications. I wanted to do something that IMO is faaaar better than the dated split second units and R4 software. The FIC controls the injectors directly via injector drivers, not via MAF- so timing stays solid, cold start, hot start, cruising etc with larger injectors are like factory. I can tune live on the fly, data log and use AEM's logging software to view it. The FIC is USB powered, I can plug the computer into it's USB without the FIC being one via ignition switch and load up maps, make changes etc. It wasn't a smooth process- turns out Toyota/Scion/Lexus have very "noisy" cam and crank signals, so that has to be filtered, and had to wait for AEM to make a software revision to their o2 tuning settings to handle our OE wideband sensors. Been solid now for years.

Ooooohhhh man does it!! I tell any and every 5vz peep that comes my way even if they don't buy it from me, GET IT!!! Not only does it prevent ping at your current tune setting, it allows you to advance timing- big boost right there in power. Theeeen, the intercooling effect it has with our non-intercooled setup- now your getting more air and fuel in, and with more timing to boot. Dude, its not a little more power, its a "WTF did I just put a way smaller pulley on?!?!?" power increase. Plus its an added bonus to know its running cooler, safer and cleaning out carbon.

Actually its bad dude, its that good (make sense?) LOL. My OE tranny is just not keeping up with WOT. Partial throttle boost has been MORE THAN ENOUGH to pass traffic, blow throw lights before they change and scoot up on-ramps and get into traffic with a quickness. WOT is just too much on the tranny. I'd love an IPT rebuild, but hate that they are across the country and I have to ship the tranny. If they have a shop on the West Coast that does their work with their parts, I'll be all over it.

Great (except the tranny WOT thing of course lol). Partial throttle boost does not lean out, daily driving is like stock. The only catch to the FIC is for some reason it shares AEM's standalone trait of having to sync up before putting out outputs-- so to the very alert, they will notice a few more revolutions during cranking before startup. Being able to switch maps with the switch (one for when water/meth is out, one for when its filled up etc), tuning on the fly, air fuel input wire for further logging benefits, software works on XP and 7, very intuitive software etc. Been great. Have two 5vz custom turbo setups (one T100, one Tacoma) running the FIC with about 600cc injectors. Both left the mapecu2 and have been tuning their setups themselves, the FIC is very user friendly. The big up the FIC has is how it controls larger injectors vs. MAF based piggybacks. The other big up for TRD S/C guys, actually the crucial feature, is the o2 scewing map to alter o2 feedback to the OE ECU allowing you to run the correct closed loop partial throttle boost air fuels. Been very tempting to get stupid with the injectors and fuel pump to give my setup the capacity to run E85. The FIC will control the larger injectors great, and one could probably zero out all timing retard, and the OE ECU would probably advance the timing some- would be interesting to see the power output of E85.

But to be brutally honest, IMO the very best piggy setup would probably be a Greddy EMU combined with some kind of o2 tuning device like the ones URD sells, simply for the fact the EMU does not have the sync start-up thing, and controls timing a bit more accurately IMO. But cost wise, your talking over $700.00 non-pnp (heck not even flying lead I think)- pretty prohibitive just to gain a .5-1 second faster start-up and having a more premium piggy of which the additional features probably wouldn't even be used. But none the less I'd be entertained trying it out.

** Edit- bolded part, I put my $$ where my mouth is, linked is my piggy adventure:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-splitsecond-vs-aem-fic.467819/#post-16761960

 

Dyno sheets or 1/4 mile times please!! Lol

 

Dang that is quite a setup, you worried about the tranny at all?

 

I street tune, no dyno sheet to post. Diffidently do not 1/4 the "daily driver" rig- have enough satisfaction getting on Los Angeles on-ramps behind SRT-10 pickups that go WOT (looking at their exhaust) and keep up with them. I have a business rate with Church Automotive Testing but am too lazy to dyno my stuff LOL. Actually I can't believe I kept up, I'm wondering if he went WOT very shortly causing the colored exhaust but then let off some... (* edit, just googled what they run stock- mid 14s really?!? My IS300 can run that N/A-- hmmm guess I did keep up with an SRT-10 going WOT lol) I do have a dyno sheet of a customer's 4runner with a 2.2" pulley and AEM FIC, except he is manual... can't remember if he was using meth that time but looking at the numbers, I would think so.

Very much so. It slips at WOT, might have already caused damage reading up on other people's experiences when they open up their tranny after power induced slipping. I want it build by IPT- they use stiffer springs, not rods, upgrade the clutch packs etc so that it shifts very nicely street driving, but also shifts fast and effective under power.

Sidenote, as much as I dig having a TRD locker in the rear, this truck needs an LSD lol.

 

Thanks for the info. You certainly know your Sh&t. Sounds like I need to take my truck to you for some tuning Sick build

 

Super clean set up man, hopefully you can find some down time to send your trans off for the upgrade.

 

So with the methanol injection how much extra hp is that giving you over the supercharger? I know alot of guys are doing this with diesels.

 

Thanks guys.

I do not have any emperical numbers, but if I had to throw a guess out, or a SWAG (scientific wild ass guess), ~20+ HP, maybe more. You can really feel it, so probably over 20hp. There are a lot of forces at work to make it such a gainer. Our blower is on the more inefficient side of boost options, combine that with not being intercooled and its a lot of hot air that is not very dense. Add to that the N/A timing curve the OE ECU has, and how much timing a lot of peeps have to pull in the low gear/high load region. Now cool that air down lowering ping, make it denser by being cooler, and you already have two elements towards power gain right there. Have about a 50/50 mix with meth and you have increased the effective octane rating and further advance timing (zero out how much you pulled) and even more power.

 

Have a pic of doing some of the amp work, no pic of the stealth box in. Maybe get one later.

 

great thread,
check out my build, im going to make it a "race truck"
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/1st-gen-builds/247826-hambone155.html

 

Subbed...

 

Water/Meth is great and all, but I finally put my EMS and upgrades to work by running an E85/91 mix bringing it to about E60 for starters.

H o l l y S h * t. Why did I take soooo long to finally go to that station and rock a tune for it?

I have an OE looking rocker switch in one of the blanks in front of the shifter. Before going to the E85 station I flipped it over to put the AEM FIC on Map "B"- uploaded my Map A then did a quick E60~85 make-over--- added about 15% fuel across the board (should of done something like 20%), leaned out closed loop boost (ran rich with 91 to help with ping) and for the super awesome part.

My 5vz is one of "those" 5vz's that even Gadget has talked about, where not matter what he or his customer tried to dial in, it loves to ping. OE ECU, anything, and I mean just any smidge on the TRD boost gauge into boost-- .00001 psi, and it would start to ping very audibly. The AEM FIC allowed me to run richer and pull timing to dial it out, but oh did I have to dial it out. I had to run a lot more fuel and pull LOTS of timing (there were low gear/high load regions with over 5 degrees pulled). Even with that tuning and timing pulled, sometimes, maybe due to temps, inclines etc, it would still ping! The water/meth finally gave me some relief, depending on the Meth mix I could almost zero out timing and feel a huge butt dyno increase in power.

But, I get lazy, and cheap, and often put just water in the tank, and not meth. The water helps, but only in making the non-water/meth tune a little bit less ping prone.

Then enter the E60 with water/meth turned off, and ALL TIMING RESTORED, all pulled timing cells zero'd out.

The truck pulled like a pissed off raped ape- the 'pingy' noise it often makes that isn't audible knock but IMO something right below it now replaced with a beefy throaty engine sound.

I still have hopes that I do not have burnt valves or some other heat caused damage to my motor from the previous owner that causes my engine to be very ping happy. I'm too lazy to do a compression check or take the heads off to inspect, and the engine runs great except for liking to ping in boost, so I'm crossing my fingers that it was just a lot of carbon build up. Over the years of running water injection, I have to say it got better so IMO slowly but surely the carbon has been getting cleaned out. With the E85 mix, I can't wait to do repeat after repeat after repeat of "Italian tune up jobs" on the freeway to try and blow even more carbon out.

Trov notes: E85 or even down to E60--- f'ing aweseom-- so much fun. I'm really going to need a built tranny now.

 

Finally went wheeling--


Some buddies






Locker didn't want to work. Tried it 50 different times, 50 different ways, lifted the truck after wheeling, took it off and verified the diff part was good but didn't have time to crack it open to rebuilt it. Later found a shop that had a used one to have it installed- then all of a sudden on his lift the OE worked again LOL. Knowing how hard it is to get a used one and how expensive they are, I still bought his used one for a steel of a deal as a spare if I need to take the OE one off to do a good rebuild while still daily driving the truck.

Finally FINALLY did the free/uber cheap and easy mods that I should have done a loooong time ago. The "grey wire mod" to be able to run the locker in high or low, 2wd or 4wd. If you don't use it, you loose it, so this will make it easier to randomly engage it from time to time. And I did the two lower cig lighter full time power mod- and changed the spark plugs.

It was odd, my old IK22s had un-even wear. One looked great and the gap was still good too, some the iridium tip was still looking good, but the ground was chewed away from the sparks, and a few others it was the iridium tip that was worn down. I found it odd.

Ordered Wheeler's 3 leaf progressive AAL to lift the rear 1.5" and hopefully smoothen the ride doing it, and will raise the front 5100s to match. Not looking to go over 2.5" all around because I don't want to flirt with vibrations, worn out CV joints/broken boots etc nor causing the front to be overly stiff. If I lift higher than 2.5", I want to "do it right" and be a bit more thorough with the parts line-up. Will also be throwing on 2" extended SS brake lines and a new fuel filter.

Will post pics when the lift is done and a review of the AAL.

 

nice setup you go there op.

 

Updated the original post.

Went wheeling again. This $110,00 Mercedes rolls through


Then this happens to him, while a tiny suzuki samurai romps around with no issue... ok ok the samurai wasn't close to stock though haha.


Park was almost empty (4th of July) so there wasn't a lot of help around, but he still managed to get pulled free eventually. I think a wrangler tried, then a full sized Chevy, then finally a big cummins diesel with a flexible strap and a running start did the trick.


2nd gen buddy following


Sooo wide open and not crowded


Looking forward to some lift and some meater mud tires.

 

No good pics because my phone is part of the mod LOL, so I use interwebz pics because no pics suck.

Bought an Amazon blue tooth adaptor because they are dirt cheap. But it came with some of the cheapy complaints-- it is a drain on the battery if you leave it plugged in, and more annoyingly, I have to punch in the blue tooth code everytime it connects. Still, for those that would use it occasionally, what an amazing price.


I had issues with readings (that turned out to be the app, not the adapter) and wanted a bit more seemless operation, so I went and got an OBDLink MX: its pro's being it goes into a sleep mode when the truck is off, and does not haggle me for a blue tooth code upon every re-connection


Then enter the awesome- after looking around for a transmission temp gauge, I bumped into ScanGauge being able to do it. I thought our dummy light was simply an on/off thermostatic switch, I didn't know the OE ECU was getting an accurate tranny temp reading all this time. After tons of research trying to do custom PIDs with the free torque lite app etc, I found out the paid torque app has it so I jumped on it.

Holly awesomeness. Not only do I have my tranny temp now, but it has some cool other features like a manifold pressure guess from MAF and other sensor inputs (was more for fun than for use), air fuel output from the OE wideband sensor and it fixed that the torque lite would not show bank 1 short term and long term fuel trims.

So it was a rocky road using two other apps to get my fuel trims, and now torque can do it all- trims, air fuel, trans temp and so many more cool things. A highly recommended mod since many already have android devices.

Of noteable mention:

- air fuel works good, is in pretty good sink with my AEM wideband gauge. It was fun to go into partial throttle boost and see my AEM gauge show 12:1 ratios, while the OE ECU was still showing 14.7:1--- showing my AEM FIC at work spoofing the OE ECU and giving me control of closed loop air fuel ratios.

- The big ass Hayden trans cooler plumbed pre-OE cooler is just awesome. I romped and I romped and even kept OD off (to prevent lock up) and I could not get the temps to break over 155, but it wasn't getting overcooled as well. Will be interesting to see the temps in hotter weather, up hill and wheeling, and I may tow in the near future too.



- Narrowing down my overly harsh solid rod "shift kit" like 1-2 shift to possibly a worn out accumulator (per google searching and a Toyota trouble shooting guide). I found a site TransGo that sells what looks like a minor refresh/upgrade shift kit and a 'sports/trac' shift kit for really really cheap. Read some write-ups on it (Lexus SC guys using it with our same tranny) and the shifts sound like reputable valve body jobs from big names. It has me debating on not going IPT but just going with this VB drilled, upgraded springs and other misc parts route. I think what IPT would have over the kit is they would tailor the drill sizes to what kind of shifting I want (very afraid the TransGo is too harsh) and they upgrade the clutch packs. For now I just want to get the accumulator troubleshot/replaced, but I'll be giving TransGo a call to see if their basic kit addresses my issue (comes with a fresh replacement part) and if their performance kit will keep up with my S/C, but not make all my shifts feel like my kneck snapping 1-2 shift.

But IPT is so tempting...

In my younger years I'd be that guy grinning when my truck chirps every shift just keeping up with traffic, "my sports shifting is sooo cool!!" But now in my older age, I get a grin when my tranny pulls off a perfect Bently shift LOL. I'm trying hard to find the midium between not burning up tranny parts but not making my DD sucky to drive as well (know a guy with a 'brand X' tranny build on his IS300 and it ruined the car for him). Then the question past that is if the OE clutch packs with good fast shifting hold up, or the upgraded 'blue' packs are still needed as well. I doubt the packs need upgrading until one is going turbo and making "real" upgrades in power.

 

Still haven't done much to the truck--- sooo busy.

But, got a turbo kit sitting in the garage! Going to twin-charge when time permits.









Pic of it installed on another Taco. My plan is to extend some pipes here and there to work around the S/C pulley, and hopefully move the intercooler to make it more off-road friendly.