First Taco first build: 5 year update

This here is my 2001 Toyota Tacoma SR5 4x4 automatic v6. Before I bought this baby in the spring of 2016 I was driving my parents 2001 chevy Tahoe. Some of my buddies had tacos and my Tahoe was just a gas guzzler so I decided to sell it and start looking for a Tacoma.
Picked it up in the Bay Area for a decent price and immediately started brain storming ideas for it. The truck did come with a cheap aluminum camper shell on it when I bought it but I knew I would have no use for it and it really was a sore sight to see. Sold the shell a week later and used the money for a nice window tint job (5% in back. 35% front. 5% eyebrow).

At this point I've started my search on a leveling kit as well as some new shoes. I heard a lot of good things on the bilstein 5100s adjustable struts but I didn't want to install those just yet on stock wheels and tires. Luckily a buddy of mine was selling a nice set of black rims with bald tires. I bought the set of rims for a steal of a price and trashed the bald tires. Not long after that I ordered the bilstein 5100 leveling kit. Once they arrived I went to our local tire shop and had them install the leveling kit, my new rims and bought some mastercraft MXTs 33"X11.50". All in the same day. I was pretty stoked to say the least.

As much as I like my visual upgrades I like performance upgrades just as much. After I got some more money again I purchased a K&N intake and installed it. I've heard mixed opinions on intakes about how much of a benefit they really are and whether or not they're just a waste of money and I'll just say that I did notice a little performance difference but nothing extreme. I really noticed a sound difference mainly when I'm on the highway, you can really hear the whistle and you can tell it really allows your engine to breathe much better.

A little while passed when I started thinking about exhaust. This was a tough one because I've heard of various brands and on top of that there's different types that give different sounds and tones. I knew flowmaster is a popular one as well as borla and magnaflow and others. I watched several YouTube videos on all kinds of mufflers. I was leaning towards flowmaster but it didn't help that I still had a good 10 types of mufflers to choose from under flowmaster. Luckily I found this helpful video about flowmaster of a flowmaster specialist describing each and every type and their own distinct sound (10 series, 40 series, 50 series, etc etc). I eventually settled on the super 44 series because of its low pitched rumble. I'm not a fan of the ricier sounds on the 10 series and some other 40 series. I had a local shop install it for me and also add new 3" pipe from the muffler back as well as a nice chrome tip. I was very pleased and still happy with it today!

Next I started looking into lights. From the start I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted. I went on eBay and bought a package of head lights and tail lights as well as an led third brake light.
At first I wasn't too sure about the headlights. I thought it looked kinda funny but I had already bought them as a package with the tail lights so I thought I might as well rock em for now. Awhile passed until the leds in the headlights started to fail which made it all look even funnier so I decided to go back to stock lights and just stick with a cleaner look.
Along with the new stock lights I also ordered a whole new stock grill and new blinker lights. At about the time that I first got all my lights I also bed lined my bed myself. I bought a kit from oreilly and went to work on it. This was definitely one of the more delicate and careful ops of the truck I learned.

Just picked up my first camper shell which I've been waiting to get for awhile now. It's a dark green right now and is in pretty good condition actually which I'm happy about. As good as the paint is on it I do plan on painting it soon. Was originally thinking white but then I thought maybe black would look good to go with my wheels and tint job... I don't plan on keeping the shell on 24/7 because I haul my dirt bike around a lot. I'm looking into whether or not plastidipping would be an ok way to go if I do decide on black instead of white. Thoughts??

 

Super nice man, congrats!

 

How many miles?

 

Thank you! Just hit 220,000. Getting there but she's still strong.

 

Oh ya just keep the oil changed you'll be good

 

Build thread revival. Damn I forgot I even had this thread. Well here’s how she sits about 5 years later. Those other wheels and tires I had actually got jacked from me so that’s cool. Luckily insurance covered it. Replaced with Fuel Vector rims and at the time wrapped in toyo AT2s. Just put on the Kenda klever RTs few months ago and I love ‘em. Let’s see what else has changed..
-Full Old Man Emu suspension kit
-SPC upper control arms
-valve cover gaskets
-painted valve covers
-water pump
-rebuilt throttle body by MaxBore
-IAC valve
-timing belt
-Motor West fuel injectors
-differential/Tcase fluids
-tranny fluid
-motor oil changed every 5k
-fuel filter
-fuel pump
-fuel pressure regulator
-few U-joints
-carrier bearing
-Spidertrax wheel spacers
-Power Stop big brake kit
-clear corner lights
-bench seat swap to bucket
-Craftsman toolbox
-Depo taillights
-Raptor lined bed
-Raptor lined fender flares
-stainless steel brake lines
-bug deflector
-window visors
-aluminum OEM front skid plate
-Kenda Klever RT tires 285/70/17
-custom bed decals from Cboy808 (hit this guy up for all your custom decal work)
-American flag back window decal (also Cboy808)
-fluid filmed the frame (due for its next coat)
-ceramic waxed
-left side of the bed got a fresh paint job
-new OEM mud flaps
-lower bumper valence
-blinkers

Probably a few other things I’m missing. I’ll try to find the better pictures of all these projects and post em up.

 

Had a a lot more on my other phone that broke awhile ago. Wish I had the suspension install pics!

 

Nice truck!! @Logans2001

 

End of December:
Tackled the head gaskets. Also replaced both cylinder heads with some fresh remans. Also got some new bumper pieces and TYC headlights.

 

Wow look at all that room! Have you ever done a head gasket replacement before? How challenging was it? I've done them on my '97 328i and one on a 2004 Audi 3.0. One was straightforward and successful. One was a nightmare and led to a part out.

 

This was my first time. Definitely a challenge but nowhere impossible. Just time consuming. I’ll do it myself again when it needs another replacement. There is quite a lot of room. A lot of the time I found myself jumping inside between the block itself and the grill so it was much easier to reach things.

 

Tossed in a catch can. The red pops pretty well.

 

This was a fun one.

VHT black wrinkle painted a set of intake manifolds I found for dirt cheap. Before and after prep/paint.
Should be installing this tomorrow.

 

Installed

 

Are there diffrent grits of raptor liner? And if so which one did you use on your fender flairs because I want to do it too.

 

Grits no, but you can get different texture depending on how you apply the raptor. You need an air compressor to spray it on so tweaking the psi can change how fast it’s sprayed out of the nozzle as well as how far away you are while spraying.

 

Sound system installed.
Kicker component setup. Went from my old 5-1/4” coaxial rockfords to 6x8 component Kickers with tweeters. I’m especially siked on how I managed to install the tweeters. Also Kilmatted the front doors 100 mil. Pioneer Amp. Definitely underestimated this whole job. Most recent pic.

 

Probably my two favorite upgrades just came within the past two months. Corbeau trailcat seats and also scored a used softopper in great condition for a great deal.
Most recent photos

 

Nice looking truck.

 

Wow, quite the transformation. Very impressive.