Finally found a cheap Taco build thread

Longtime Toyota fan and driver. I’ve been without a decent ride for the last year and finally had a few bucks when a 98 Tacoma wreck appeared on Craigslist. And then I was actually the first to show with cash. Score!!!

It’s a face only a be mother would love. One headlight and partial grille left, bumper lost to a feral hog previously, and a direct hit on a 2 inch fence post has torn the right front body mount for the radiator support off the frame. Needs hood, right door, fender and bedside repairs. Radiator holed by fan and broke bottom tank. Seller couldn’t get it to run but claimed it ran great before the argument with a fence.
Just got home with it last night. Before I pulled it off the trailer thought I would try a fresh battery to see why it wouldn’t run. I reinstalled the air box lid to the big rubber intake hose and tightened the clamp. After struggling a bit it finally cleared itself out and ran awesome! It drove off the trailer and went for a quick zip up the street. No CEL and other that the tire rubbing on turns, it was a rocket ship and even drove and stopped straight!

Now I need to spend some time finding parts online. Once I have the lights and radiator on the way I’ll start to unmangle the bodywork. Hope to be driving it next week. Wish me luck!

It’ll be nice not having to feed a 1973 360 C6 F250 gas and tranny fluid every other day!
Thanks for adding me as a member.

 

Welcome!

Good lookin first gen. That looks like a fun project and I've been thinking about doing that for a while. 1st gens are expensive and somewhat rare nowadays so learning a new skill and fixing one up sounds like something I wouldn't mind doing. What are your plans with this truck?

 

Welcome to TacomaWorld
Nice find

 

Plans are to fix it enough to pass inspection and drive it as my daily. I have a 96 2000 miles away at my brothers place and have been missing it badly. So finding this one feels like Christmas.

I’ve been driving a 73 F250 that was in storage for 20 years. It’s a good looking “patina ride” but the mileage and leaks were killing my wallet.
When I get back on my feet financially I will redo the Tacoma bodywork with new to me panels like a right side door, fender, and bedside. Right now I can live with the ugliness ....it’s on the other side of the truck and I won’t see it while I’m driving anyway.
If past experiences are any indication the truck should be good for another 150000 miles without any serious mechanical issues. My 96 has had a noisy timing chain at startup and a weak clutch for the last 80000 miles.

I used to do pilot car work and ran Toyota and Nissan pickups. Never made it over 400k miles but that was due to rot in the Northeast. No rot here in central Texas and the frame is still shiny!!

 

Welcome to TW!

 

Got the radiator out after a session involving three old come alongs and a shredder on my old tractor. Who needs a frame machine lol. Almost straight enough to start installing new parts. Gotta borrow a working Porto power and push on the front frame horns a bit but it looks like it’ll be pretty straightforward to fix to commercially acceptable standards. The washer bottle is pretty well destroyed and the bumper is pretty mangled and missing lots of the attaching parts. Time to start a build thread maybe.

 

Any one recognize these wheels? Three of the six spokers and one five spoke rim. Weird assortment of lug nuts including some that look like I need a special tool for them. That’s gotta get sorted out before I have a flat on the road!

 

Welcome to TW!

 

I agree. I suggest changing the title slightly to: Finally Found A Cheap 1st Gen Taco Build Thread!

 

Nice
Welcome to TW!

 

Welcome to TW!

Farm Trucks Rule!

Good find; there is the Texas and Regional Texas Area list. Post up where you located (that Denny's looks familiar!), so post your location and what you are searching for. Often you will find other members who have something or know someone parting out a truck.

No CEL light, running, screaming deal!

 

You might be able to find the right color used parts at this site. I use it for rebuilding all the time. You can specify how close you want to travel and most of these guys will ship reasonably.

https://www.car-part.com/

 

I’m new here and just bought this 1st gen taco. Thank You for that link.

 

Looks like front end parts are a bit scarce. Nearest good bumper was in Houston. But thanks for the link, I will be checking with them regularly when it’s time for a bedside and door.

Looks like I can get most of what I will need from Carparts.com. Hopefully the quality level will be sufficient.

 

Radiator looks good to go. Just needs a bottle or 2 of Bars Leak.

Nice find. Good luck on the restore.

 

I got a bumper off eBay years ago for my 96. Was better quality than the oem one I had.

 

My little Taco truck was smacked in that same front corner when I bought it, just make sure you don't do what I did when pulling it out. Remove that bolt that holds the low pressure AC line to the chassis or you might crack it open. Wasn't a super expensive part to replace or anything, but still. Every bit counts.

 

She’s a beauty

 

Update: 6/11/21

Looks like the parts are out there but the supply is drying up fast. I found Certifit in Arlington Texas had listings for the common front end crash stuff but no door or bedside. My local yards have like two picked over Tacoma pickups between them. There are a lot of 4runners in the FM 600 yard.
Four runner stuff looks really close especially in humid 95 degree weather when there’s no Tacoma to compare it to. However once you get the headlights and hood home the differences become obvious. I found the headlights stashed in a Tacoma pickup so maybe I’m not the first dummy to try them.
Shipping on the larger parts doubled their costs so I really didn’t want to get the hood and bumper cover online. Certifit had the hood for 140 which was less than the shipping on bumper cover and hood from carparts. I had to go to DFW anyway so I picked up hood, bumper cover, and grille for 261 incl tax. The lights came from carparts as well as mirror and a door handle.

Haven’t found a mate for the rims yet but I was able to reseal the leaking one for now. The chrome was almost completely gone inside the tire so no wonder it leaked. I’ve got no great love for these rims anyhow so I may go for a new used set eventually.

The radiator support really needs to be changed. I can get the right headlight in place but the holes are off by enough to make it pretty crooked. I’ll drill new holes for now but if the truck works out as a daily driver I’ll redo it in the future with a whole new support assembly. Considering how bashed in it was I’m lucky to get the light to fit at all.

I can’t believe how long it’s taking for me to build up fifty posts so I can legally post a BST thread. When I spent all my spare time on the early keep forums it seemed like it took a week to add fifty posts. I guess that’s the difference between posting via cell phone and using a laptop and a real keyboard.