knuckledusters 98 xtra cab build

Heres the progress of my 98 3rz powered xtra cab.
Nothing spectacular but a work in progress.

The day I brought it home about two years ago.






Had 91k on the clock but had a pretty rough life. Numerous dings and scratches, both skid plates were missing, egr cel on, 4wd wiring wasnt even hooked up.
I bought it from an older mexican guy that couldnt speak english, we his nephew interpreting between us. Picked it up for 5k.
While driving home on the freeway I noticed it was very slow to rev at high rpm- it turned out to be a problem that took me over a year to figure out.
The truck obviously had a rough life. There used to be a decal on each door that said "Kens roofing" that you could visibly see on the paint if that says anything.

 

The truck sat pretty much untouched the first year as I had other vehicle projects going on (see my threads in the "other builds" section on the forum).
While searching for my mysterious wot hesitation problem I stumbled upon a few different issues with the truck.
I at first thought it was a maf problem as stock one had some funny reading testing it with a volt meter. I cleaned the maf, problem still there. Noticed some broken insulation on the maf harness and thought the possibilty of a short so I replace the whole harness pretty much from the firewall forward- problem still there..
Installed new plugs, wires etc. problem still there..
Cleaned throttle body, IAC valve, tps problem still there..
Replaced both 02 sensors problem still there..
Replaced maf problem still there..
By this time the truck would not like to run if the fuel gauge went below 1/4 tank and would throw a p0171 code which is a lean condition in bank one.
So I started looking for vacumn leaks and noticed the lower intake gasket had some wetness around cyl #1- replaced both intake gaskets and a fuel filter since I had them on hand in a gasket kit left over from another 3rz project, problem still there. Now im getting pissed...
After another mechanic advised me to look at the efi wiring harness for a short I decided to do so, im glad I did,as I found a few wires with the insulation rubbed bare. I soldered in new wiring (had a complete 3rz engine harness from a truck I parted 5 years ago) problem still there....
I really wanted to check the fuel pressure but my pressure tester didnt have the right hookup to do so on the tacoma.
I figured the strainer had fallen off the pump becuase of,the issue with the truck not wanting to run when fuel gets below 1/4 tank.
I dropped the tank and found a huge amount of rust in the baffle area and saw that the strainer was pretty much clogged.
Looking at the stock fuel pump I noticed that it was pretty much identical to one that I removed from my 2007 wrx, I dug out the wrx pump- I kept it,because it only had 50k on it and was only replaced because I added a larger turbo and needed more lph. It being a denso unit also i figured it was better than any aftermarket unit I could get at a local parts chain
The wrx pump fit like it was made for it except the two wire harness on the top which I sourced from the junk yard and spliced it in. After test driving it I was pleased to find out my wot slow rev was gone- truck runs good as new now.

 

I picked up an elocker complete from drum to drum on craigslist shortly after buying the truck for $200. It had been sitting in the corner of my shop for over a year and I figured now was as good a time as any to get the tacoma build going.

After a wire wheel few coats of chassis saver




I had bought a bunch of parts from craigslist that had been sitting in my barn- they were sourced from a newer taco that had just had the frame replaced. The owner had done a sas swap and sold all the ifs stuff off the truck which included a 4.88 front diff, new lower control arms, both cv's, a spacer lift installed on factory suspension, a rear add a leaf set and two brand new factory rear leafs that were replaced during the frame swap that he switched in favor 63 chevys.
I sold the 4.88 diff on ttora for $100 more than I paid for everything.

I decided to install the new rear leafs and add a leaf while swapping in the elocker since,the truck was formerly used to haul shingles the suspension was beat.

Elocker installed.

 

I used the 12voltguy.com harness to power the elocker which was simple compared to sourcing all the factory junk to make it work.




Got it all wired up and as luck would have it, elocker no worky : (

 

After doing some tests it was determined that the actuator wasnt working.
Had a bitch of a time removing the actuator. It had seized itself to the studs on the housing and wouldnt budge. I use everthing from pb blaster to acetlyne and it still came off like this













After seeing the price of a used a actuator I was pretty disappointed

 

Got on carpart.com and found this in cali for $175 shipped.


it amazes me how much cleaner stuff is out west compared to here in the Rust Belt

 

Got everything going finally, what a blast doing donuts in 2 hi lol.
I had some black steelies laying around so I mounted up my 31" all seasons that were on the truck to them as well as installed the spacer lift I had.




The spacer lift was short lived- I noticed the threads to the passenger strut were in bad shape when I installed them, it looked like they were stripped pretty bad and someone used a die to straighten them out the best they could.
Anyways the threaded part on the top of the strut let loose causing this.







Oh well, I needed a real lift anyways...

 

I had some glassworks fenders that were on my old 96 which was bought back.
After some scotch brite, acetone and color matched aerosol paint they turned out pretty good.

 

The truck pretty much stayed in the shop while I was figuring out what to do about some,new front suspension. I figured this would be a good time to do a few other things.

I picked these up at a local scrap yard for $50 they came from a- i believe 2012 or 2013 vibe/matrix



Got the brackets fabbed up, man they are alot better than the stock 60/40

 

I decided I wanted a winch as my last rig had one and I really missed it, not just for wheeling but theyre pretty handy for,other things also.
A $1,000 bumper wasnt in my budget so I opted for a front mounted reciever.
Off the shelf ones were chincy and $200-300 not to mention they sit super low on the front of the vehicle.
Time to fire up the welder and plasma cutter...
This is what I came up with for a high clearance reciever. Its leaps and bounds stronger than the off the shelf ones I looked at.

 

Found this on cl for $150

 

Meanwhile, picked these up from ttora member 01taco33
Ome 881's and billie 5100's

 

Started on the winch plate

 

'llI had a couple nice mt 31's I bought on cl over a year ago for $30 that were 70% tread. I had been searching off and on since I got them for another pair. After a year of looking I found another pair on cl for $50.
I used my harbor freight manual tire changer to mount them up to my steelies. I need to get them balanced yet still to this day. Anyone ever used airsoft bb's to balance tires?











Ended up finding a cap on cl also. Usually if I haul something I use my tunda so the topper will probably be on here for quite a while. I plan to do some camping in the taco this upcoming summer. The cap has a toolbox mounted inside that im thinking about mounting an auxillery battery in and running an inverter with some outlets in the back.

 

While at a buddys house last night I noticed this red top sitting under a work bench.
I asked him what was up with it and he said it was in a vehicle he had and sold, said it wouldnt hold a charge so he figured it was bad, told me to take it home with me as it was headed to the scrap yard.
I left it on the charger overnight, when I woke up this morning it was at 11 volts, i checked it around 2pm and it was at 13.4 im hoping its good- ill test it out tomorrow.
I plan to run dual batteries. Im not sure if I want to run them in series or use an isolater.. I need to do some more research on it as well as a good spot to mount the 2nd battery.

 

Got some black friday deals for the taco.
Picked up two sets of alpine type e coaxial speakers at $18 a set and a rockford 12" sub for $24

 

Decided on building a box for the sub.
I found a sheet of 1/2" particle board at menard with a busted corner for $4.99
I would have liked to use 5/8 or 3/4 but whatever.









I sealed it up inside with liquid nails construction adhesive in effort to reinforce it a bit.
I thought about using marine grade carpet to cover it witb but after pricing it out decided against it.
I had half a gallon of herculiner from a previous project from back in 2009.
Honestly the stuffs garbage on the exterior of an automobile imo and I had thought about trashing it a few times. Well, I decided to put it to use and coated the exterior of the box with it.





I just use a handheld circular saw to make the box and there was a few imperfections in my cuts Herculiner did a good job at hiding those. still have to go to RadioShack and pick up some speaker terminals before I can finish everything up I had some wiring laying around and some RCA cables so thats $$ i wont have to spend.

 

Few pics of the coax speaker install.
Would like to have had a component set for the doors but for $18 these will have to do.
They sound alot better than the factory speakers.

 

Still need to paint around the hole where the sub mounts. Didnt want to use the herculiner around the perimeter as it would effect the sub sealing to the box.




I used a 2 channel kenwood amp I found on cl for $25 that pushes 150 watts rms bridged. Seems to work ok.
Im not big on having a huge sub back there but the price was right and it will do until I can find a good deal on some shallow mount 8"s to put under the seats.
On a side note, installed the optima red top last night. Seems to be a good battery. Started the truck right up today without any effort.