MatosTaco's Build Thread

12-17-13 Got new shift bushings from Marlin Crawler. I've yet to put them in, here's hoping that they make a big difference.


12-30-13 I put the shift bushings in. The bushing at the socket of the lever fit in but would not allow the retaining clip to be installed on the shifter. I ended up having to file the stupid bushing down until it allowed enough clearance for it to fit. The guys at Marlin Crawler seriously need to get up to date on their GD&T. I need to get a new boot to seal the shifter to the trans as mine was torn.The bushings make for slightly smoother shifting, but it's still a bit rough. Maybe it's time for new transmission fluid, or better yet, a W58

 

The makeshift bracket I made for my intake broke and punctured the hose going into my methanol pump. I ended up deciding to make my own bracket, from metal I had in the garage. This thing attaches via the bolts for the bracket used on the factory intake resonator and is seriously over-engineered for what I am doing. The steel would have been too heavy if I left it as is, so I drilled a ton of holes in it. I took advantage and painted the intake tube a gloss black while I was at it.













Let's see how long I can get it to stay that glossy once it's in my engine bay.

 

1-02-14 Installed the bracket. I used tie wraps for the time being, I'll come up with a proper strap later. In hindsight, I should have had the support bar further forward and a little higher up. It's time I painted my valve cover again, the wrinkle black is finally peeling off.

 

02-09-2014 Got an OEM Supra steering wheel. From what I have found on here (customtacos), this slides right on and the airbag plugs in. Best of all, it is slightly smaller in diameter than the Tacoma wheel. I may do some searching to see if the airbag part numbers are the same. I would not be shocked if they are, in fact, the same unit. I won't be putting this in just yet, I'm waiting on a new leather wrap from Redline Goods. I got black leather with medium gray sides to (hopefully) match with my interior a bit better than just black. These guys are going for around $150 nowadays, I suggest picking one up if you're tired of your steering wheel. The TRD wheel is just as if not nicer, but those are $500+

 

3-08-2014 Leather arrived from Redline Goods in Poland




They did a really good job and fulfilled my requests perfectly

 

I removed the old leather by cutting the stitching and installed the new leather




Do not cut out these marked portions on the back of the spokes until you are done stitching the whole thing. I cut them first, and it made things more difficult. I highly recommend gluing the spokes before stitching, I didn't and while it still turned out nice, it could have been better.


The stitching began





Work in progress




Finished a section and placed the airbag in the wheel to visualize the final product




Got another section done. I glued the leather to the center spoke using contact cement. It works really well for this purpose.







Looking fresh

 

Started stitching the top




Closeup




Finally done with the stitching




Another closeup




Test fit with airbag




At this point, I just had to cut and glue the edges. I simply cut them to a shape resembling the factory piece and glued the edges down with more contact cement

 

Test fit the wheel. It fit the splines perfectly and was easy to get centered... but the airbag connectors were not the same

I guess that's just another one of the little differences in the earlier Tacomas (I believe post 98 is plug and play)





I tried de-pinning the connectors and swapping the connector from the Supra clockspring over to the Tacoma, but the Tacoma pins were too large for the Supra connector. I ended up having to crimp stuff, which I wanted to avoid. Be sure to adjust the placement of these carefully such that they don't impede the airbag from seating all the way down in the wheel.

 

The finished product. I should have sent them a picture of the interior and had them match it. The gray I chose is a bit lighter, but it isn't ultra noticeable. The new leather wheel feels amazing and the smaller diameter makes for a more sporty steering feel. I can't wait to get my SpeedFreek strut rods and to weld the slip joint in the column. I have a feeling those mods will make the truck steer like a sports car, though they won't give it the turning radius of one.




Pardon the filth in the interior, I took this picture right before vacuuming. It's much cleaner now rofl.





I may do a proper wrap on this wheel in the future

 

3-23-2014 Part two of my steering improvement regiment: SpeedFreek heimed strut rods, I can't wait to install these and feel the difference!

 

8-02-2014 I installed the heimed strut rods, they made for a decent improvement in steering feel. Now, I just need to weld the slip joint in the steering column and my steering should feel how I want it to. If you do this mod, be sure and soak the bolts holding your factory strut rods with a lubricant before trying to undo them. Also, you need to reuse the bolts that hold your factory rods to the control arms. These bolts have a spline in the area where they mount to the factory rod and will need to be hammered or pressed out. If you hammer them, be sure and have the nut on the end while doing so or else the bolt head will mushroom out and you'll have to repair the thread. I ended up having to buy a thread restorer kit for one of the bolts because of this. Don't repeat my mistakes.

 

I bought a set of WeatherTech FloorLiners for my truck. They claim to only have them for the 01-04 trucks, however, the floors on 95.5-00 Tacomas are exactly the same. The part number is 440101. They fit perfectly on my 96 Xcab and they look really nice.




With the door open, the fit against the sill doesn't seem correct, however




When you close the door, you realize they line up perfectly with the door panel

 

I finally got my hands on the carbon fiber hood I wanted.




They do a great job of packaging it so that it arrives safely







It also looks pretty good







Unfortunately, they don't do a great job of making the hood. For starters, it's not a genuine carbon fiber hood. That part is false advertising as it is actually a fiberglass hood with a carbon skin. I was willing to live with that, however, they did something much worse. There are hooks that go through the hood hinges and into the hood on Tacomas and most cars. VIS didn't bother to cut out the holes for this, meaning that the hood will not close once installed. Of course, I only realized that failure once I installed and tried to close it. I took a marker, outlined where the holes go, and proceeded to cut them out. I used a Dremel and a bunch of cut off wheels to cut them out. This became troublesome in one corner where the aluminum they use for the bolt holes protrudes into that space. I ended up using a jig saw to eat the aluminum as the cut off wheels didn't get deep enough (this area is actually well reinforced and quite thick). The blade ended up blasting a hole through the top of the hood on one side as I was not careful enough. Do not repeat my mistake here. If you end up with one of these, use a drill bit in each corner of the rectangle and connect these holes with the cut off wheel. From here, use a grinding bit on the Dremel to wear out the aluminum protruding through. Another annoying detail is that they cut holes for the windshield sprayers but didn't make them large enough. Use a step drill to widen these holes out and install the washers. I would have preferred they cut the holes near the hinges and left me the option to drill the sprayer holes. Be sure to wear proper ppe! I had a serious 3M respirator and I still ended up with a sore throat, this stuff is nasty!

 

8-04-2014 This is one of the hooks I mentioned




Here are the holes that allow the hooks though the hinges and into the hood. Pardon the filth, it has been raining for what seems like an eternity here.




Here is the hole I made. I'll take the hood off later and epoxy in some carbon from the back side/ fill the outside with clear epoxy.

 

9-19-2014 I ended up taking the hood off in order to modify it. I got Aerocatch hood pins and a GT500 hood vent for it. The Tacoma really doesn't have any place for the bolts that the pins go through, so I will be making brackets to mount them. This allows for more flexibility in the way you mount them on the outside. I cut the opening for the vent just past the radiator but before the belts. This guarantees that air vents out from behind the radiator due to the low pressure zone above the hood. It also keeps rain water from falling onto my belts and causing corrosion and squeals.

 

14

 

11-08-2014 I decided to make my own variation on the Satoshi grill. I added a scoop in each corner. The driver's side scoop feeds back to the radiator and I want to route the passenger's side scoop into the intake.

 

11-08-2014 Did a photoshoot at the beach this morning. It was for the Miata, but the truck came along as the photography support vehicle. My friend got some great shots of the Miata rolling from the truck bed.

 

11-10-2014 My flex-a-lite fans quit working. One stopped working first, followed by the other a couple of weeks later. I looked at them and could see the wire loom looked molten. Upon removing the fans and inspecting them, I found that the positive and negative wire of each fan was crimped to the respective one of the other and this is where the wires failed. They basically overheated where they were joined. I decided to run four wires all the way to the relay instead. I used a much higher quality wire while I was at it.

 

11-13-2014 Here is a mockup of the intake scoop I designed. I made it in three parts so I could go testing the fit as I went along