E30Saam's 07 ACLB 6MT

Hey y’all! I’ve been meaning to start a build thread for my Tacoma since I first bought it. I’ve never made a build thread for any of my previous cars, so I figured why not.


This past January (2017) I picked up a 2007 Tacoma. I’ve always been a huge car enthusiast. My first car was a 1989 Toyota pickup (Hilux). It was fun and started my passion for Toyota Trucks. (pic of truck below)

After a couples year I sold it and bought a $500 project car to fix up. I bought a 1985 BMW 325e (e30 chassis, this is why my username is E30saam) non-running. had a lot of fun modding this car. I got it running, did a bunch of maintenance, converted the car to euro spec by installing euro bumpers, headlights, grilles, plate filler and headlight wipers. I also built some coilovers for it. This car is what got me into project cars. (pic of e30 below)


I was in the 80s BMW game for about 4 years until I picked my 1995 BMW M3 (e36 chassis). I still own this car, it was my daily for about 2 years but now it's more of a project/ weekend car. I don’t think I’ll ever sell it. (pic of e36 m3 below)

 

Anyways like I said back in January a picked up another Toyota. After having nothing but a BMW for about 6 years I figured why not get another Toyota. I was longing for a 4wd. I wanted either a project fj60 or 1st gen 4runner (preferably an 85.5 for efi and solid axles). After looking for a clean one, I figured I shouldn’t have 2 project cars. I needed to have a reliable newish daily. At this point I narrowed my choices down to a 2nd gen Tacoma or a Lexus GX470 (because I love Land Cruiser Prados). I ended up picking a Tacoma because they use regular gas and I wanted a manual transmission.

When looking for a Tacoma, I wanted a Manual 4wd Access cab. After a few months I found exactly what I wanted.
I picked up a 2007 Access cab sr5 4x4 with a manual and the TRD offroad Package.
Here’s a pic of the day I first got it.


I kept it stock for a while and just installed some Cooper AT3s on it. I also installed an Fj60 Shift knob as it was the same kind that was in my Hilux. It feels great!


I took it to some trails and had fun. After going to Tray Mtn in north GA, I was hooked. I wanted to do more mods.

 

There is a small problem, I’m a college student (Georgia Tech ME) . So the money that I can use to mod my truck is limited as I really only make an income during the summer or during my Co-op rotations.

Before I start a project car, I like to build out the vehicle on excel to estimate the mod costs. It always hurts. Not sure why I still do it. Haha. After building the truck on excel, I soon learned how expensive a project truck can get. I go to school for engineering, so I knew I didn’t want to cheap out on parts. I wanted a quality build, but I wanted to save some money. I figured I need to be patient and buy parts used or on sale. I learned to buy parts when I find good deals on them.

The first round of parts was paid by my Tax refund.

The first part I bought was a Camper shell. I looked for about 3 months for a dirt cheap shell. I wanted a Leer or ARE shell with windoors. I found one on Facebook about 4 hours away from my house for $200. That weekend, I drove down there and picked it up. Ended up being a 10 hour drive. Great bonding moment with my dad who was nice enough to be my driving partner. (Thanks dad!) The camper shell came off an MGM regular cab, it was in pretty good condition. It only needed new struts for the rear door and a cleaning. Overall I’m very happy





The next part I bought was an ARB Deluxe Bullbar. I choose this bumper because I love the way they look. Very industrial. Makes my Tacoma look more like a Hilux. They also do a lot of safety testing with this bumper which was important to me. I found this bumper on Facebook. It was up for $800. It was a year old and in great condition. I offered the seller $650 picked up the same day and he accepted it! Drove about an hour to pick it up after work. That night I installed it with my dad. ( Thanks again dad!)










At this point I was very happy with the truck. Took it to a couple more off-road trips and I figured I wanted to do a lift and tires next. I wanted to do OME springs and Dakar leaf packs. I was either going to do Nitrochargers or 5100s. (some camping trip pictures from Memorial day weekend below)

 

Over this past summer I worked as a product development engineer for a side by side UTV company. Over the weekends I would try to work overtime for some guilt free mod money.


It was a miracle. During the last week of work, @SpeedwayTaco016 posted up his heavy load OME (886 coils, Nitrochargers, and Dakars) suspension lift up for sale. It was only 8 monthes old and only $650. That Friday I moved out of my apartment in Augusta GA. And the next day 3 of my buds and I took a 1996 E350 7.3 club wagon and went on road trip to Clarksville, Tn to pick up the lift. Along the way, we picked up a few other parts that we found on Clist for our project cars. We also were able to finally try Nashville Spicy Chicken! Long but fun trip!



Now that I had a lift I needed some tires. I wanted 255/85/16s. Love the skinny pizza cutter look. Its such a classic Toyota look. I was happy with my At3s, but unfortunately they didn’t make them in that size, So I got a set of Cooper ST Maxx.

 

I was super busy during school, so I ended up waiting to install the lift and tires during Thanksgiving break. So during the school year I bought and wired up some Offroad lights. I wanted light forces or ARB intensities, but I couldn’t justify the high costs so I tried out some Ebay ARB intensities knock off lights. I super happy with them. Well worth the $88 I spent on them.

Here is the truck today (Dec 28 2017)
I'm happy with how this truck is turning out. I'd like to do skids and sliders and recovery gear next.

 

Started the new year off right and did a wheeling trip with a few friends. finally got to try out my new parts. I'm happy with the pizza cutter Cooper ST Maxx, and OME lift. I need to lower the ARB bumper as my fender flare keeps hitting the bumper on big bumps.

 

Looking good, love that ARB bumper!

 

Thanks! Yeah. It definitely gives the truck a more aggressive look.

 

man thats a nice truck wish i could find a bumper like that on the cheap, btw the H1 looks awesome too!!

 

There is always deals to be had! You’ll find one. Yeah the H1 is rad. It’s my buddy’s moms. She got it brand new in 1997. It comes really well set up from the factory! Too bad it’s so wide. Had to leave it behind in the right sections.