MatosTaco's Build Thread

Just ordered the clutches and a Spicer 2-2-1379 flange yoke as I cannot find my Ford Ranger one for the life of me smh. Getting this done will require a Toyota to 1310 U-joint. Spicer 721-X works, but is obsolete, and the PTI 1351-31 also works, but is on backorder. I may have to piece one together...

 

Turns out that the PTI U-joint is on backorder, but one company happened to have 4 in stock. So, I put in the order for the last piece of the puzzle and expect to do this swap soon!

 

I got the clutches and flange yoke in this weekend. I ended up with the standard material Ford Performance clutches because the carbon ones seem to be on a world wide backorder. The standard material clutch kit is the M-4700-B whereas the carbon ones are M-4700-C. Oh well, the standard are considerably more affordable and will probably last forever on my lightweight Tacoma; they are designed for much heavier Mustangs and Explorers.


Here are the two boxes with the part numbers listed:

20210323_101851 by Jose, on Flickr


This is the Spicer flange yoke

20210323_101831 by Jose, on Flickr


Here are the new clutches (these look a good bit thicker than the worn ones I got out of my axle)

20210323_101722 by Jose, on Flickr

 

This is how the parts pile sits for now

20210323_101650 by Jose, on Flickr

 

Ordered an aluminum battery hold down from Coupe, it will look a lot like the one below:

Mine will just be gloss black. I've literally been wanting this for years. I thought to either adapt one meant for another car or make my own, but once I saw these from Coupe, I knew it was exactly what I needed. I put in the order and it should be arriving to me tomorrow!

 

Caught a screw in one of my tires, so I took advantage and made a quick video on how to plug it. I can't tell you how many people I know that have no idea how to do this and end up needing a tow when they could have plugged the tire and been on their way.
https://youtu.be/6Flb-_jTMZI

 

Alright! My u-joint came in yesterday and with that, I have the final piece of the 8.8 puzzle! Now I need to start fabricating the brackets to hold the Brembo calipers to the axle and then move on to the full installation!

20210324_160456 by Jose, on Flickr

 

I'm not known for my patience when it come to having a stack of parts ready to go on a car. So, I got to work right away. This is simultaneously an 8.8 swap and rear disc conversion. Now, if I wanted to take the easy way out, there would be no science to it. Simply buy the 8.8 axle with the discs and calipers on it and get a standard to metric adapter to make the brake lines work. However, me being me, I just had to go the hard route and go with the Evo rear rotors and Brembo ZL1 calipers. Now, the stock studs on the 8.8 are too thick to go through the stud holes in the Evo rotor. They are also the wrong thread and I do not want different stud threads front to rear. I intend to adapt my extended studs into these axles. For now however, I just needed a way to hold the rotor on the axle so I could fab brackets to hold the calipers on. In order to make that happen, I measured the larger heads on the Explorer studs and designed a stud that has that size head, but with a 12 mm diameter like an M12 stud. I them 3D printed three of them, just enough to hold my rotor in place.

Here are the studs:
20210325_204153 by Jose, on Flickr

From here, I placed the studs in the axle
20210325_204222 by Jose, on Flickr

Then, I put on the rotor
20210325_204427 by Jose, on Flickr

Finally, I mocked up the caliper
20210325_204612 by Jose, on Flickr

 

Now, the rotor needs to be held by hand as there is no nut on the stud to hold it in place. I could print studs with threads and add a nut. Or, I could take advantage of the threaded holes the rotor has (that are intended to help remove the rotor if it seizes in place). I took advantage while I had it all together and marked the hold locations on to the axle face, such that I could drill them for this purpose. If the axles prove too hard to drill, then I will design threads into the studs and print threaded ones.

 

My battery bracket came in today. Man, this is one really nice piece! I'm so excited to get this installed in the truck.

20210326_133038 by Jose, on Flickr


20210326_133013 by Jose, on Flickr

 

As usual, I couldn't wait to get a mod done, so I've gone ahead and installed the bracket.

Before(rusty and crusty):
20210326_154706 by Jose, on Flickr

In between, I removed any rust left on the battery and radiator support using a rag dipped in motor oil.

After(new hotness):
20210326_155801 by Jose, on Flickr

 

The adjusters on the bottom of the bracket are sweet; they really let you get a proper hold on the battery.

 

Man I just found this thread and it is awesome! Such good info to help! I have quite a few things done to my taco too and have the 8.8 diff to swap in I wanted to upgrade the rear disks also but was going to do something ford but seeing this you have inspired me lol! I’m in ft Lauderdale btw it looks like your in Miami right?

 

Going to do a engine swap in my taco and was debating if I should set up my 8.8 first and get it sorted with the stock motor, I just didn’t want to have to do things twice like the drive shaft. Your thoughts?

 

Hey Plykone, I am happy to see that my build is of help to others. You could go ahead and do the 8.8 right now. Whatever driveshaft you end up with post swap will still need to have the right U joint size to mate to the 8.8, so you don't lose anything by getting the 8.8 in beforehand. It will also leave less to figure out when you get the specs for your conversion drive shaft. What engine are you planning to swap in? I see lots of 1/2JZ swaps down here.

 

Ok cool thanks for the help, I’m going 2j not uncommon but it’s fun for me as I do everything myself except for the welding(for now). This is my second truck swap I had a Isuzu spacecab with a 1j.
What drive shaft pieces would I need to get? And I would assume I don’t have to adjust the length of shaft.

 

For the 8.8, the length of the driveshaft is fine. The parts you need depend on whether your truck is single or extended cab. If you have extended cab like me, you need the following:
Flange yoke: Spicer 2-2-1379
U-joint: PTI 1351-31 or any other Toyota to 1310 conversion style u-joint

The 2J swap will be pretty sweet! When others have done something it's so much easier as there will be more information available. A very smart swap to go with and there is tons of aftermarket support.

 

Thanks for the info going to order now!
Yes I love the 2j going to leave it on the stock twins for a while the drivability/acceleration Is superb stock with a few things done.



when I first got my Taco

How she sits today!

 

She looks great! Do you have a build thread? I'd love to follow your progress.

 

Alright, hopping back on to the 8.8 swap project: I found an old lug stud and lug nut I had laying around and had never used. I got this back in the day because some shop had overtightened my lugs and a couple broke when removing the nuts afterward. I never got around to using it since I bought and installed the extended studs instead. Using this allowed me to tighten the rotor onto the axle nicely, with the 3D printed studs helping to support and center the rotor.

20210329_141921 by Jose, on Flickr


With the rotor fixed in place, I was able to place the caliper on the rotor and take enough measurements to generate this bracket

20210330_145715 by Jose, on Flickr


I used this bracket to determine where the mounting surfaces on the caliper and the axle would sit relative to one another. That allowed me to take enough measurements to design this caliper bracket

20210330_145732 by Jose, on Flickr

20210330_154228 by Jose, on Flickr


Using this, I took more measurements and realized I had to make minor adjustments to move the caliper further up and make a couple of other slight tweaks. Keep in mind that the real bracket will be of considerably thicker material, this test is printed at 0.10" in order to save on printing materials. Once I have all the dimensions figured out, I will print templates and trace them out onto 1/4" steel sheet.

20210330_154510 by 20210330_154518 by Jose, on Flickr

Jose, on Flickr