MatosTaco's Build Thread

One downside to the different style end links is that they require a different bracket in order to mount them to the lower control arms. This bracket is sandwiched in with the strut rods which run from the frame to the control arm. Toyota only sells them with the entire strut rod and I don't need new ones, especially not for what the dealer will charge for them. Fortunately, by a stroke of extremely rare luck, an 01-04 Tacoma ended up at the junkyard near me. When I arrived, the truck had been completely ravaged, all the glass broken, the interior looked like it had been blasted with dirt, and someone had chopped the frame with a sawsall in order to take the motor out smh... However, this does mean the suspension was really easy to get at since it was sitting there fully exposed:




It took a little bit of work, but I got the strut rods and brackets out. I took the whole strut rods along because mounting bolts for the rods go through the brackets and into the rods with splines. I got both for less than the price of one new one at the stealership. Man were these things filthy!



I took them home and hammered the bolts out with the help of a vice



This is all I needed.



Of course, there is no way that rusty garbage is going on my truck as is, so I sand blasted the brackets to bare metal



Then I painted them with a few heavy coats over the course of a couple days and left them curing in the Florida sun for a week

 

2-17-2017 Got the final piece of the sway bar puzzle in today

 

Along with my freshly powder coated TE37s!

 

2-18-2017
In order to mod happily, you need a shop that makes you happy. So, instead of installing my mods today, I cleaned out the junk in the corner of my garage. I was really tired of this annoying bookshelf/sweater box combo mess.




So, I cleared it all out and cleaned the floor and walls(covered in dust and general filth)




Then, I built these new shelves I got

 

I then sorted through all of the things I took out of the garage, shredded and threw away as much of it as I could (filled my entire garbage bin) and then placed things on the shelf. This is the finished product, as of today. Once the garbage is picked up, I'll be going through for another round of disposal fun... I love throwing out old junk!

 

2-23-2017
I actually got the sway bar installed on Monday, during a break from work (I worked from home).

Before getting it on there, I plasti-dipped the sway bar and spray painted the end links with engine paint. I know these things come coated already, but I make a point of adding all the rust protection I can. I used plasti-dip for the bar itself since it will be flexing in some points and I worried that plain old paint would crack.

 

The end links basically looked the same once painted, since they were already silver




The plasti-dip dries a flat black. Here is a picture of the painted bar ready to mount on the truck

 

Getting the sway bar on is cake, although the end links were a bit of a pain due to the fact that poly bushings don't just compress and allow the nut to engage the threads. I recommend doing the end links first and then bolting down the mounting brackets. Otherwise, get rubber end link bushings.

 

Once the sway bar was on, I tried my hand at the extended studs. Taking the hubs off and removing the factory studs is easy. The difficult part is that the new studs have a slightly larger diameter on the spline (about 0.010" larger) and no amount of persuading with a breaker bar got them in more than just over 3/4 of the way in.




It was enough to get the rotor back on the hub and mount the wheel back on. Being exhausted, I stopped at this point on Monday night.

 

However, this gave me an excuse to buy a new toy... so I wen't to Lowe's and bought a Dewalt Impact wrench that has a maximum torque output of 400 ft-lbs and a set of metric impact sockets. The wrench doesn't come with a battery, but I already had a set of drills with the 20V lithium batteries that it requires.




I then used a washer and one of my factory lug nuts, backwards (such that the flat face was against the washer as opposed to the tapered side) and used the impact wrench to seat those studs in perfectly. It pays to have good tools! From there, I coated the threads in the same aluminum anti-seize I used on the coilover threads and I put my wheel back on. I plan to do the rest this weekend.




I also plan to do some cleaning and a brake fluid flush.

 

2-24-2017
I got the passenger's side front done today after work. I plan to get the rears done tomorrow morning.

 

3-12-2017 I'm working on a follow up video for how to do the extended studs. This is just an update for the channel.

 

3-12-2017
I ended up getting the passenger's side rear done a couple of days before an autocross two weekends ago.


In order to remove the drum hat, you screw in two M8x1.25 bolts into the two holes (closest to the hub) on the hat. Be sure to undo the e-brake before doing so or else the pads will grab the hat and you'll strip the threads in the hat trying to take it off (ask me how I know lol!)




In the Tacoma, there is not enough room to get the studs in between the rear hub and the backing plate for the drum.


In order to get them in, I used my short impact drill to start a hole in the backing plate and then widened it out with my regular drill and a stepped drill bit aka Unibit.




The final hole size required was about 13/16" and I also came in at a slight angle toward the end such that the bolt head would have extra room to turn. Note that the stuff that looks like rust on the hub actually turned out to be some kind of paper that was steeped in brown brake dust and general brake dust on metal as well... a major relief for me!




Note: you can drill the hole in from the back so there isn't so much stuff in your way. Also, try to be as near to the center of the axle as humanly possible (this is so the bolts will align better with the holes in the hub).

 

3-12-2017

These studs have been much more of a mission than I thought they would be, but it was worth it. By the time I did the last corner, I had the process down to a science. I'm now an SME(subject matter expert) lol!

 

With three corners done, I hit an autocross event. I'm getting much better at driving and my times are starting to improve. The front sway bar also helped quite a bit. The only thing killing me is that my 2nd gear often refuses to pop in when I launch. Other times, it's in but I still lose time because it doesn't feel like it went in. Correcting that will easily net me 1-2 seconds. I'm going to have to take the shifter apart and investigate.


Here's a candid of my squad and I




I also got to see a new Miata RF. These things are gorgeous in person! The red color is also much better in person than it is in pictures.

 

Part way through this week, my truck finally hit (and later passed) the magical 250K mark. Awww, my baby is growing up rofl!




In celebration of that, I gave her a good wash




Followed up by acrylic sealing and waxing the wheels to get that perfect shine and resistance to brake dust

 

I also gave the truck an oil change with my favorite oil




Then, I went for a spin to enjoy the smooth purr of the motor and the sparkling clean exterior

 

5-04-2017 I went to another autocross this past Sunday. Since my brother was off from school, we brought my Miata along and ran both cars.


Here, you can see my cars out behind my friend's Evo. Made a new friend in the Mazdaspeed3 as well.




Here are both my cars, one looking clean and one looking ugly lol

 

There were quite a few nice machines out, most of them ran, except the GTR. Here's hoping it runs next time.


Mean sounding STI that ran good times. 285 width tires on SSR wheels...SWEET!!!






Erik's clean ND Miata

 

5-18-2017 A few months back, a friend from the Customtacos forums, Micheal Barrios, discovered that Brembo calipers for a Cadillac ATS bolt directly to the spindle of the Tacoma. His brother had run a set of Brembos off an Evo in the past (requires adapter brackets) with Evo rotors on a Tacoma. Mike ordered ATS Brembos because the Subaru guys were using them and they are fairly affordable. So, I decided to try this setup on my truck, just with a set of 2-piece rotors. I found that there are factory size, 2-piece rotors for the Evo.