Operation Taco- I finally have one!

No problem! I had trouble finding a direct comparison when I was deciding on the exhaust, so I figured I'd make one. Glad it helped!

 

Hey all, I just facelifted the truck over these past couple weekends! Using grill P/N 53100-04450-B0 (1E7 painted 2011 TRD grille) and the smoked headlights (81110-04173 and 81150-04173). The grille I bought new, but on the headlights I got lucky and found an almost new set on ebay for a pretty good deal. Anyway, here's the before and after shots:

Before:



After:



Next I'm going to add a factory roof rack I picked up used, and touch up the paint on the hood scoop plastic which is very faded. I'm pretty happy with the look of the front end now, but I still need to do something about the fog lights. Considering a yellow lens option to make them pop a bit. Any recommendations on yellow fogs?

 

What did you do with your old grill?

 

I still have it and the old lights, was considering selling if anyone was interested. If not I'll probably keep as a backup.

 

Pm me a price

 

PM sent!

 

I just got the roof rack put on today! I'm very happy with it (thanks @airfish !).


For reference, this is from when I bought the truck:

 

PM sent for lights.

 

So it's been awhile since my last update. Since I bought the truck I noticed a small interior water drip leak from the headliner in the front, and sometimes the grab handle bolts on the A-pillar. I had this same issue on my other car, and it turned out to be an improperly sealed windshield. So I parked it somewhere I could work on it, and called a mobile service to come replace the windshield. Sure enough, they pulled the old windshield, said it was too rusty to but in a new one. So I masked up the cavity, wire-wheeled and ground the old sealant/rust off, primed, painted, and cleared the windshield frame. Then the glass service came back and installed the new glass. Since then, I haven't had any leaks, you can see pictures below.

Also, today I changed the spark plugs for the second time. I bought the truck with ~161k on it and immediately replaced the plugs. Now I have ~201k on it, 10k beyond the recommended 30k interval. The 40k mile plugs looked great, nice brown with no soot or lean evidence, but the gaps were all around .048", bigger than the .044" max spec. My air filter also looked new when I changed the plugs the first time, and as you can see from the pic, it needed to be changed. With the new plugs and filter it runs great, and seems to idle better.

Old rust, bad on the sides too:


Partway through the grinding:



Paint applied:



Close up of new paint:



Old vs. new air filter

 

Well I have another small update. last week I noticed that my cabin blower fan was only operating on the highest setting. After some searching on TW I found some helpful threads. The main issue with these is the connector to the blower resistor. Over time one of the wire connections degrades and causes excess heat in the wire, probably because it is improperly sized. You can see the burn mark on the connector in my pictures below.

There is a Toyota TSB for this, but at this point the TSB lists connector/harness P/Ns that are no longer available. If you have this issue, you will likely be buying both a new resistor (87138-04070) and connector/harness 82141-04Q80) (these are 3rd Gen Tacoma parts). You can also get the Toyota crimp connectors (82999-12030) or just get your own. I found all of the above OEM parts for about $57 online, not too bad. The following thread has the correct method for joining the new connector wires:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ne-done-the-newest-swap.675999/#post-23777462

Roasted old connector:



New vs Old:

 

Good info. Truck is coming along nicely. Where did you get the TRD emblem on the front of your grill?

 

Hey, thanks! It's a journey, but the truck has been great to me so far. I actually got the badge on ebay. If you just search metal TRD badge, you can find a bunch of options, like this one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Red-TRD-Gr...r-Metal-Logo-with-Screw-Fittings/224233801394

 

Thanks, I appreciate it

 

Nice... I'm just ordered light and fan parts today. Thinking about soldering.

 

Good job keeping an older truck running and looking good.

 

Many thanks, I am doing the same grille swap to honeycomb and wanted to make sure the P/N was correct.

 

Very nice ongoing blog on the work and improvements you're doing to your truck. A lot of very useful information with part numbers!!! So much good info I added this thread to my watch list for future reference.

Did you figure out a way to haul motorcyles? BTW, are you talking about street or dirt? If you're planning on sticking with the cap you may want to consider a hitch/receiver carrier for dirt or small cc bikes. They have single and dual bike carriers. If you go this route you'll most likely need to beef up the rear suspension. Air bags, Sumosprings (what I have), AAL or a new set of leaf packs. The fiberglass cap alone adds about 200#'s. Which brings up bed stiffeners. Plenty of threads with everyone's preference on their brand of choice. I personally went with Cali Raised and just now checking their website are on sale for less that $100. Tip here is to use a rachet strap to slightly sinch in the sides of the bed while installing the stiffeners.

Awesome job on the truck and keeping us up to date! Keep 'em coming!

 

The new headlights made a huge difference. Great choice.

 

Thanks for the kind words! I'm glad the thread has helped some people out, I know this forum has helped me out a lot. and thanks for the motorcycle hauling tips! I actually tabled that for now, I haven't been back on the track since I high sided a few years ago (so, road bikes, although I may try offroad stuff at some point). My friend actually just loaned me his I-Kamper to test it out, I've used it twice and it's awesome, I may just have to keep the cap after all haha!

 

Very cool setup and campsite you have going on there. Looking at that picture I still highly recommend the bed stiffners. And yes, caps are actually very useful.