Buildish

Howdy!

I am captain slow - max highway speed I go is 65 mph. With my configuration right now at that speed I get ~25 mpg not bad for a v6 3 inch lifted truck

How she sits right now



Previous incarnation



Exterior
01 front end conversion
3 Inch Level Kit
Statoshi Homemade grille - GONE
Bull Bar - GONE
Plasti Dip Stripe - GONE
In Vent Window Visors
Plastic Bed Liner
Toolbox
Stickers
Camper shell

Lighting
Offroad lights the grille (Only 98-00 I've seen with it done) - GONE
Clear Blinker lights

Interior
Aftermarket Alarm System

Audio
FHX700BT Pioneer double din radio
Bluetooth
Under seat 10" powered subwoofer

Rims and Tires
OEM 2013 Toyota Tacoma rims
Hankook Dynapro AT 265/75/16

Maintenance Log

4-4-16 - Oil change at 169410 miles
7-9-16 - Spark plug and wires changed at 171493 miles
8-2-16 - New tires at 171600 miles


Well to start things off here is how she sat when my dad pulled up in her on my birthday!
2 wheel drive
TRD
Rear Dif Locker
Basically all stock.
Named her Carrie. Get it? Trucks carry stuff ... No one? alright

 

I soon realized that the front was ugly and wanted to change the truck to make it into my own

First thing I did was buy a couple of mudflap country girls for my... well mudflaps



Now was time to start working on the front.
I bought some mesh off of Custom Car Grilles and dremeled the crap out of my front grille




And it was a PITA shaping, cutting, and securing it to the frame of the grille. But all in all got it in and installed.





Then added the chrome symbol from the original grille



I sent a picture to Custom Car Grilles and the guy gave me a full refund because I was the first to use and make a Satoshi for my year truck with his mesh! SO a new grille for free!? Worked GREAT!

 

Good start for your taco man! I would say maybe take off the plastic side steps next? I had nerf bars on mine when I first got it and they looked good but made the truck look too low clearance.

 

Thanks man! Yeah thats the plan! I'm gonna wait till summer and tools come around, since can't do much in a dorm room. It'll hopefully make my truck look higher up.
I've also been contemplating a front end conversion and that may be my summer project!

Now here is where I will throw a lot of people off. Everyone told me not to get a bull bar / black out the chrome... Well I went and bought a chrome bull bar instead... Haha I needed something to break up the front of the truck from the big gapping hole of black plastic it has for a bumper! And not being able to afford a plate bumper (and not wasting time with it because I don't have a 4X4) this was the best option!



I loved the way it looked and stood out but wanted to do a couple more things to the front.

So I bought some off road lights that were a 3 inches thick and found out there is only ~1.75 inches to work with. So sold those on craigslist (got my money back) and bought the shallowest lights I could find that were 1.5 inches and $30. They are eBay (probably chinese) lights, but they were the only ones that would be able to work

So a buddy and I got to work on them (of course on a freezing cold night) and found how little freaking room there is between the grille and radiator with all the little pipes and whatnot too. But we managed to drill holes in the radiator mount and plopped them in the only spot that could house them.



Also while he was wiring a few things, I put in new clear corner lights on the bumper. Looks so much better than that orange!



Then for a test... YAY I didn't get screwed with non working lights!! This is the only 98-00 I know with lights behind the grille!



And that was it for awhile until I got my TW sticker in





And this is how she sat and all that I done to her until I found some plasti derp at Home Depot... Duh duh dunununu (suspenseful music)

So I bought some derp and went to work trying to find something awesome to paint! I decided on a couple of stripes on the fender to test it out!



I didn't realize you peel the tape off while the derp is drying, so that's why its not so straight on the sides. But for a first go I was happy with the substance and thought it looked badass and mean.

Then I got to thinking, what would it look like with black wheels!? So I went over to a different buddies, took off 2 of my wheels, and derped each one of them one at a time.

Front



and both



Hell yeah! I was super excited with my couple hours of work with taping and painting... But that wore off pretty fast when I took this picture...



WOW my front end doesn't match the sides whatsoever. Super chrome front with super black side... Started to look like some kind of "Punisher" truck with chrome. black, and silver. It also reminded me of some teenage kid getting his first car and wanting to paint his rims black because it's "cool". and not like the 'mature outdoorsy' truck I wanted it to become, not a streetster sporty look.

The black boots and double stripes were short lived on Carrie. Now she is down to 1 stripe which is bound to come off pretty soon because I am super indifferent about it! Everything on this truck comes down to the angle you look at it. Some angles I love the way it looks, but at others, I really don't like it. It really sucks haha

 

sub'd

Looks great after that lift man!

 

Haha I guess I should update this now. and thanks!

So I bought this kit around December '12 and just got around to putting it on now. Finally. "Fastest and easiest kit only takes 1-2 hours" hahaha yeah... More like a PITA and about 7 hours. Oh well, still came out awesome!

So the first day we just did the back. took almost 2 hours. Might have been easier with an actual car lift instead of our little redneck enginuity jack



Well after the first day got the back lifted





Can't really tell from the above picture but she was noise diving a bit.

Then came the fun part! The front...

Took 5 hours to complete. I can't even explain what we did but it took me, my friend, and his dad to muscle the pieces back together. But the result came out to be awesome!







This picture doesn't do it justice. I need to park by another car to show how tall it actually is.





And that is it for now! Not sure what is next for her

 

Truck looks good man, nice work!

 

Thanks man! I think that was going to be the last big thing for this truck

 

Who loves free stuff!? I DO. My boss gave me this box he built a while back and said if it fits I can have it. What do you know, it did perfectly! Exactly what I wanted too, super skinny just for getting stuff out of the cab and also to hold some extra fluid. Now I can check off tool box off my list

 

Lovin the Taco! I've never seen a tool box like that- what brand is it?

 

Thanks man! Actually it's a homemade one. My boss made designed it for a trailer actually and never used it. So he said if it fits in my truck I can have it. And sure enough it did! Yee Yee. It's honestly exactly what I wanted because I don't need a big ass one just for some rope, tie downs, a few tools, and fluids.

 

Well it looks awesome- and perfect for a little yota. A little more weather-proof carrying space.

 

Ya exactly. Just to get stuff out of the cab to keep clean to impress the girlfriend I'm going to get some rattle can bed liner and spray it this weekend

 

Any recent updates on how your truck rides after the lift?

 

It feels a lot more stiff My friends dad thought it was a 4 wheel drive because of how it drove. IMO I like it better!

 

Nice! I'm shoppin around right now and should be lifted in a few weeks hopefully. Still debating which route I'll go though.

 

What are you thinking? Mine was super cheap because I was on a budget. Ill get bigger tires too to make it taller some day

 

Debating whether to go cheap and get maybe a 2.5-3" spacer with rear AAL or 5100's all around with front set at 2.5" with stock coils and rear AAL or 5100's all around with eibach coils and rear AAL.

I just installed some 265/75R16 Treadwright Guard Dog's and have some slight rubbing. Parts of me is saying to just get the budget solution to clear the rub. And then parts of me is telling me to spend a little more to clear rubbing and attain better ride quality.

just a little stumped, but I got some time as my paychecks slowly come in weekly

 

I'd say go with the more expensive and not my $150 ebay kit. I love it, but rather have something thats... better for my truck? I guess like actual suspension, not just blocks haha

 

Yea that's what I'd like to do but the thing that would hold me back is install price. After parts and install I would be looking at closer to the $800-900+ range. I can only hope that another local Utah member could lend a hand, but he'd really be doing it for me as I have no mechanical skills or tools of any kind for the job.