El Honcho - 1st Gen Taco build

Almost forgot, included in the last 5 days of fun I also made a battery tray that actually fixes to the truck. I made the initial bottom out of 4 sides of angle iron about 4 years ago but never thought of a way to fasten it to the truck. While we were in Mexico at the beginning of the month we were having fuses blow all day because the battery tray was sliding around and had worn through to some copper on the main power for the fuse box. Decided that now would be a good time to fix this for good and never have to worry about getting stranded again because of blown fuses.

Took the initial design and added some bracing which also acts as the connection between the tray and the engine bay. We'll see how long this holds before the battery completely rips the shitty Toyota sheet metal away from the engine bay.

The holes on the right side of the mounts were already there. Just reused some 1/4" scrap I had in the pile. Decided to fill those holes as a rosett weld.



Drilled and tapped holes









GOLD ALL ON MY WATCH, GOLD ALL ON MY BATTERY BOX, wait huh?! Shout out Trinidad James!





I didn't take a picture of the rest of it installed but you get the idea. The top bar is GOLD too. 2" x 3/16 flat bar.


Shit is in there TIGHT AND RIGHT!

 

aaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnddd had to replace my tail light from the tire taking it out when it decided to hit the ejection button at mach 1. These EURO BURRO lights were only $41 on fleebay. Just ONE OEM style light was $45!!! WTFFFFFF Decided, why not. I'll give this look a shot. I'm not about goddy shit. I like a clean cut look and I'm very particular so it's hard to go out of my comfort zone but so far so good. I don't think they're over done or too flashy. They are bright as hell too!

 

Wish I was following this thread back a couple months ago. Id have warned you that a 255 stack on a digressive shock is gonna be harsh without some real weight. As a dude that goes back and forth at work from machining to fabrication (it's two different worlds and works my brain), I admire your willingness to take on the fabrication stuff yourself. It can be intimidating for sure. I have to build lots of heavy duty fixtures and my mind is wired to place gussets and square or triangulate shit, so I might've been screaming a bit internally at your cage design, and again when I saw the thin wall tubing... Okay I'm still screaming a bit But really it's probably fine for the forces it sees just holding a single pair of shocks, and even more fine if you end up softening the shim stack. Good on ya for making it happen!

 

I ran it as hard as it will go in this configuration for a day and a half in Mexico and everything is still true. Originally I was going to do those outboard stingers that Solo and a few other places sell. I really didn't want to add the bed cage. Down the road I definitely planned on it but not initially. When I cycled the leaves I learned that I would need to take the shock through the bed to get all the bump travel out of the 14". I didn't really have any kind of design aside from looking through build pics for 10 years. To be honest, I just WING'd it. SHOUT OUT TO WINGS WORLD!!!! It ties into the frame at two different spots, uses lots of triangles lol and again, necessity is the mother of all creation. I needed it and I couldn't pay for it. Regardless, I decided to do and not dream for once and I think it turned out pretty decent and is going to serve it's purpose. Down the road, I can cut it out and start over once I get some 16" bypasses and a die for my tube bender.

I just wanted to get in the full LT game. I've been riding the bench for the first 2 innings. Decided to do instead of talk about WHAT IF.

In regards to the valving... LOL I wish you would have saw my thread sooner too! LOL but in all seriousness, I had already purchased the shocks before posting the thread. There isn't much reading on Bilstein 7100 valving and everything there is to read is more for like crawling/4x4 applications. Those guys run REAL SOFT! Like a dong needing a viagra! Obviously that wouldn't work for us. I actually think the 255 is pretty close although if I had to make any change I would definitely be coming down in valving instead of going up. I don't care if the truck rides rough on the street and through little shit. I want this rear end to take a pounding so I thought more compression will help that. I didn't want to error on the side of softness because then through larger stuff you're blowing through compression bouncing off the bumps all day. I'd rather start here and go from there. You have any compression shim stack recommendations? Where should the valving be if softer?

 

Went down south to ol mechico a week ago to do some kayak fishing. I had the kayak and fishing gear in the bed the whole time so I never got a chance to drive the truck. Monday night it was time to head home. Right before we got on the highway the massive pile of shit that is my Y pipe/crossover decided to give out again for the 100th time in the last two years. The pipe cracked and sheared all the way through right before the flange to the downpipe from the passenger side mani. I was never able to get the crossover out of the truck. My mechanic said he tried although now I doubt he ever tried, with no luck. I was able to blind weld this piece of shit about 2/3 away around. Zero chance of getting the mig nozzle up in there. For the rest of the way around on the back side and as double sealer I put that JB High Temp 2000 degree cement shit on there. I pry have put $100 worth of that shit on there over the last 2 years... Anyways, boom. Thing gives out all the way right before we get on the highway. Open header for 220 miles, 3.5 hours of just huffing carbon dioxide and listening to that open header. Fuck me. I told my girlfriend as we were driving home that I was cutting this shit off as soon as we got home. I really had no idea what I was going to do. I thought maybe I could fab some headers but the gods must have been looking down on me because low and behold, I found a used set of Doug Thorley headers on OfferUp for cheap.99.

They were supposed to have arrived today but I guess something got fucked up with USPS. Won't be here until tomorrow now. I can't wait to try this almost impossible task that I've read about on the forums. I got everything off today. Pry going to heat wrap these headers because they look pretty used unless the seller's picture blew johnson.

Hours: 9
Fucks Given: 0
Mother Fuckers Yelled: 6
Recip Saw Blades Broken: 3
Weed: 0 grams
Beer: 2 Tecate Rojo
Pills: unas pinches pastillas
Tools Used: BFH, Reciprocating saw, various metric sockets and extensions, breaker bar.
Music: Bad Bunny (YHLQMDLGV) Black Bottom Lighters (2 or 2000) Rick Ross (Mix)

 

USPS is seriously raining on my parade! They must have fucked this up big time. The tracking information has told me that the package left at so and so time 3 times now... It finally made it to Phoenix today but wasn't delivered. SMFH...

 

Bump!

Shout out to the isolators and survivors! This has been a weird week and a half. I got the used headers cleaned up as good as possible. Welded a few cracks. Side note about these headers: Is this shit really made from 16 gauge mild steel?! There were little cracks developing at the collectors. I dont know how they could have gotten to the inside of those tubes with how tight the collector is on these things and doing an Google search reveled others have had DT headers crack in the same exact spot. Anyways, For $130 shipped I had to take them. Still going to be way better than a straight header!!! LOLLLLLLLLLLL Got them cleaned, welded, cleaned again and painted with a high temp clear coat that specifically states that it bonds to bare metal. Baked them according to the directions at two different intervals, 250 and 400 degrees for 30 minutes. The clear coat certainly appears to have bonded. Only time will tell. Better than what they looked like IMHO. I was going to wrap them until I read that will increase likelihood of cracking. Don't want anymore cracking or header issues so elected to go with clear coat and send it.

Waiting for some new studs that should be here Thursday. Aside from that, I'm having the hardest time finding the correct DONUT GASKET for the collectors. I know that ID is 2'' and OD is 2.75" but honestly can't find anything with those dimensions. Can anyone lead me in the right direction?

Also, will the cat inlet take a 2.5" pipe or does it need to stay 2.25"? The inlet on the cat is 2.75". I'm going to have to weld on an extension below the O2 bung on the y pipe as the previous owner cut it right there. It also looks like the O2 bung on the new y pipe will be too far away, higher up the pipe then the stock Toyota one... I might cut the 2.25" pipe with stock O2 location and use that as my connector...

My other thread that I started for the header gaskets...
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/doug-thorley-header-exhaust-gasket-help.657172/#post-22926992

Let me know what's real.

One love

 

SHOUT OUT TO ALL THE LOCKDOWN PIMPS!!!!!! If you're passing the virus you're lame! Stay at home and DO WORK SON! Shout out FAB FORUMS!!!

I've been getting closer to wrapping this header project up. Had to make an extension from the bottom of the Y pipe to the CAT. Got a 3" ID to 2.5" neckdown from the y pipe. I purchased a 2.5" stainless v band and welded that onto the bottom of the reducer. The connector piece I made is 2.5" 45 degree bend and I hogged out the factory 2 bolt cat flange to be re-used from 2.25" to 2.5" using a dremel and carbide bit. The other v band flange was welded directly to the 45 pipe. The original pipe that goes in to the cat is 2.25" but I wanted everything to be 2.5. I didn't want the exhaust to be restricted down another 1/4" from the bottom of the y pipe to the cat so that is why I went to 2.5" and had to hog out the 2 bolt flange to re-use it. Definitely super happy I used a V band flange. It was cheap and ended up welding really well.

The reason you HAVE to make this section removable is if you ever intend to remove the Y pipe for whatever reason in the future it wouldn't be able to come out if you weld the extension part to the bottom of the Y pipe. Ask me how I figured that out. All in all, I think it's going to serve it's purpose. The welds look like shit but I've never really welded 16 gauge or anything this thin. Tried turning up the wire feed to increase puddle and kept the heat as low as it would go. Never had any burn through but just couldn't get the weld puddle to look good. O well. As long as they don't leak that's all I care about! They are $100 Doug Thorely headers. WTF do I care as long as they don't leak we are GUCCI.

 

Looks good. Did your truck only come with one cat??

 

yep! Only 1 daddy.

 

I knew the gold foil tape was going to melt! O well! Fuck it! Shit sounds good, wayyyyyy better than the old open header Y pipe! I like the girgling and popping sound it makes in 1st gear after you let off... shit is tits.

 

98 and earlier had one cat - not sure if the change happened in 99 or 00.

 

Mine is late year 99.

Got some new problems. CEL for TPS and IAC. The IAC I reused the gasket and it was swollen so going to replace that. The throttle position is recognized in first and second gear but in OD or 3 I only get a quarter input before it starts acting weird. Today the truck wont even idle correct and then dies. How can a TPS go out sitting on my bench for 3 weeks? Unless I put it on wrong... it's basically a clockspring so not sure how I could have messed it up. Wires look good nothing on the connectors that is out of place. Everything was good before I took everything apart for cleaning.

I have new TPS and IAC coming later this week. Might go out there tomorrow and use my multimeter to diagnose properly before throwing $60 of parts at it.

Any chance the ecu needs to relearn or do I need to disconnect the battery and let the ecu reset?? Shit is pissing me off. The girlfriend and I went to go out to Sycamore yesterday but once we left I could tell the TPS was acting up and it kept throwing the code after I would erase it. So we had to come back home. Have to figure this bullshit out.

 

@mechanicjon ?

 

Ground wires tight and clean? Do you have a scanner? Truck off key on monitor the tps reading as you slowly step on the accelerator.

 

Grounds are fine. Everything is as it was. I have an OBD2 bluetooth running Torque Pro... went out there last night to do that but couldn't find any TPS monitoring function on the app. Just to be clear, I put the TPS on there and gave it that 1/4 turn that it needs to line up the screw holes. Aside from that, I think it may just be coincidence and the TPS went out but I hardly believe in coincidence with truck electrical issues...