SwampYota's 2003 Tacoma Build

Hi. I was hoping you could show/tell me how the inlet of the volant air box interfaces with the hole in the side of the engine bay that goes to the wheel well where air is drawn in. The hole on the box is square and the hole in the truck is round. I’m trying to figure out how good a seal it makes at that juncture. Planning on getting an ARB snorkel so I’m trying to figure out how compatible - if at all - the volant intake would be with the snorkel. Thanks!! Great lookin mods btw

 

@RollerLocker it’s hard to get a good picture without opening up the box and I don’t have a screwdriver at the moment. If you want a better picture let me know and I’ll get one tonight. To answer your question it does not seal at all. I also have a snorkel just waiting to go on so I plan to rig some sort of seal between the two as well to make it air tight...stay tuned.

 

Thanks Swamp. That’s the EXACT picture I needed! Looking forward to your solution for sealing it off.

 

Driver's Seat Trim Side Cover Reinforcement

September 13, 2017 - If you own a First Generation Toyota Tacoma that's not a 5 lug you've probably cracked that plastic trim piece on the side of the driver's seat getting in and out of the truck. It wasn't a very well-thought out design from Toyota. Mine was not only cracked but it would push away from the seat exposing my seat belt to the sharp metal of the seat track components which could potentially be a safety concern as it frayed the belt.

@mechanicjon began developing a solution to this and had a product to offer in summer 2017 that would support the trim piece and prevent further cracking. I order one and it was installed September 13, 2017. When sitting on the seat you can tell that it prevents the cushion from spreading out as much pushing the trim piece outward and when getting into the truck it no longer pushes the trim down cracking it. My trim pieces had three cracks and this has prevented further damage. It has been on almost 3 years now and is still doing it's job. Need one? Go here: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/1st-gen-tacoma-seat-trim-side-cover-reinforcement.501569/

 

Tacorvette

September 14, 2017 - Since I can't put an LS1 in it just yet I decided to put a Corvette Mobil-1 Factory Fill decal under the hood, happens to be the oil I use anyway albeit the high mileage version.

 

Aluminum Battery Hold Down

October 28, 2017 - I decided to clean up the engine bay a little more and replace the rusted Battery Tray Hold Down (Toyota Part # 74404-35140) with another awesome product from @Coupe, the aluminum battery hold down powder-coated black with red TRD logo. If it's something you're interested in here is the thread to pick one up: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/trd-aluminum-battery-hold-downs.494345/

 

Gathering Parts for a Satoshi Grill

September 10, 2017 - Backtracking a month or so. At this point in my Tacoma ownership, all birthday and Christmas presents have now become truck parts. For my 35th birthday I received a knockoff eBay grill, a bag of clips to attach it, Toyota part #

$16 90467-12040 Tacoma, RAV4, 4Runner, Grille Clips OEM, Set of 10

90467-12040, and for the emblem I wanted to go a little different than the typical Satoshi emblem so I got a Toyota badge for a '69-74 Land Cruiser 40 Series, Toyota part # 75321-60010.

 

Fabricating the Satoshi Grill

November 10, 2017 - Spoiler alert: this grill didn't get completed and installed until February 15, 2019. If you've spent anytime on Tacoma World you've seen these Satoshi grills. Basically you cut the guts out of a stock 1st Generation Tacoma grill and replace it with some sort of mesh insert. Rather than typing out some elaborate write up on what I did, I'll link the write up I followed because it's by far one of the best write-ups you'll find on the website:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/satoshi-mod-1st-gen-write-up-lots-of-pics.222360/

Anyway, in November I began working on the grill. I cut the ribs out of it which leaves indentions so Bondo was used to fill those. By December 30th it was off to the redneck paint booth for some primer.

 

Missing Skid Plate

January 13, 2018 - To this point I had been taking advantage of the free oil changes from the dealership where I purchased the truck. It had also been to a couple other mechanics including a muffler shop that I asked to quote the TRD Header install. Somewhere along the way one of them removed the rear portion of the stock skid plate, Toyota part # 51406-04010, and didn't replace it. Not surprisingly, none of the 3 shops it had been to had the plate or admitted to losing it.

Luckily @DRFTR was parting out a truck and had this part. $35+ shipping was much easier to manage than $143.57 from Toyota. Tacoma World FTW.

 

Satoshi Grill Mesh Insert

January 21, 2018 - The last piece of the Satoshi grill arrived. M1 mesh, cut to fit courtesy of @HomerTaco. Here's the link to order your own:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/satoshi-mesh-for-sale.153905/

 

Cooling System Overhaul

February 18, 2018 - From the time I installed my ScanGuage and began monitoring, my Tacoma liked to sit on the high end of the temperature range. Most days when it warmed up it ran somewhere between 200-204F, sometimes peaking at 208F on hotter days. The truck had 165,630 miles on it and I decided it was time to address it.

I ordered a Denso radiator, part # 221-3136 and a Toyota OEM radiator cap, part #

$25 16401-0C010 Toyota Radiator Cap - 16401-0C010

16401-0C010. I wanted the cool radiator cap that said TRD but the pressure rating wasn't correct. Not to be deterred from TRD-badassery, I found a guy on eBay that sold TRD radiator cap labels. Score.

I ordered a Toyota OEM thermostat, part #

$24 90916-03075 Thermostat

90916-03075 and the corresponding gasket, part # 16325-62010.

Lastly, while I was in full overhaul mode I purchased a Continental Elite Blue kit, part # 5021, to do a full coolant system hose replacement. These hoses are EPDM high temperature rubber with aramid reinforced fibers.

I purchased two gallons of Toyota Long Life Factory Red Antifreeze Coolant, item # 00272-1LLAC, and two gallons of distilled water for a flush and refill.

A few hours later my engine cooling system was overhauled, the worst part was replacing those little rubber hoses to the heater core. They don't come off easily. Come to find out when the dealership changed my timing belt and water pump two years earlier they put the jiggle valve on the thermostat at 12:00. In every vehicle I've ever owned this is correct, however the Factory Service Manual for this truck states that the jiggle valve goes at 6:00 and that is how the new one was installed. Now the temperature is steadily running between 186-192F.

 

An Elite Road Trip Story

April 19-21, 2018 - Something rare popped up for sale on Tacoma World in April 2018, an Elite Off-Road front bumper. If you're not familiar, Elite Off-Road was a former TW vendor who fabricated (in my opinion) the best looking aftermarket bumpers for a 1st Gen Tacoma. 7 years ago the owner opened a Group Buy for these bumpers and didn't follow through with the product. A lot of good TW members got screwed out of quite a bit of money and he disappeared. You can read all 91 pages of the train wreck as it unfolded here:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/elite-off-road-products-front-bumper-group-buy.276551/

As shitty as that situation was, 7 years later it's still the pinnacle of aftermarket bumpers for a 1st Gen Tacoma (in my opinion) and the few people that have one rarely put them up for sale. One of those few lucky members to receive a bumper was @w00dy, a member in NJ with an awesome rig. You can see his build here:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/w00dys-2003-doublecab-aka-the-driveway-queen.269425/

That truck, including the bumper, was sold in July 2017. The truck resurfaced on Tacoma World in 2018 halfway across the country when another member, @HOOPSboy purchased the truck and was selling off some of the aftermarket modifications including the Elite Off-Road front bumper.

I'd never seen one for sale before, and as of today (May 8, 2020) I haven't again. The problem was it was in Houston, TX and I was in Concord, NC. But hell, what's 1,062 miles one way for a bumper that's discontinued and never posted for sale? Worth it, that's what. So I made an offer that was accepted, I put in a PTO request for Thursday and Friday April 19-20, 2018 and agreed to meet him in Houston on Friday morning.

On Thursday morning I hit the road in Concord, NC and made it as far as Lafayette, LA or 846 miles to be exact before stopping for the night. The next morning I got up early and arrived in Houston, TX before lunch. I met the seller, he kindly helped me load it and offered me a bottle of water before it was time to hit the road again. That day I made it as far as a little town called Greenville, AL before stopping for the night and a couple of cold beers. By Saturday around 6:00 p.m. I was back home with an Elite Off-Road bumper. One hell of a trip and totally worth it.

 

Gathering Parts for the Lift Kit

May 2, 2018 - At this point I had begun saving for the lift kit I was going to put on the truck. I knew which components I wanted to use and I was just squirreling away money for Black Friday. In April 2018 the Total Chaos Upper Control Arms, part # 96500, that I planned on buying were put up for sale by @boostedka so I purchased them. After a little elbow grease and a new set of decals they looked good as new. One part down.

 

Sandblasting and Powdercoating the Elite Bumper

May 18, 2018 - The bumper I picked up in Texas had seen it's share of New Jersey winters before it headed south. A couple bolts holding it on the previous truck were rusted to the point they had to be cut off to remove it and from what I understand that truck ended up getting a frame replacement at some point due to rust. The bumper was in good shape but had quite a bit of surface rust.

I wasn't sure how much damage rust could do to a steel plate bumper but I knew the top had a section where it had started to pit a little and I wasn't going to half-ass mitigate it. I removed the fog lights and the Hella 700FF driving lights which were already showing bad signs of rust on their metal hardware and components and took it for sandblasting and powdercoating at New Finish, Inc. in Norwood, NC. A week or so later it was good as new.

 

WeatherTech Floor Liners

June 19, 2018 - Another Tacoma World Group Buy led to an upgrade in the interior of the truck. WeatherTech, part # 440101 Floor Liners replaced the stock floor mats in June 2018.

If you have a manual transmission in your 1st Gen Tacoma WeatherTech's website tells you that they don't offer Floor Liners for you. Change it to automatic and they give you part # 440101. I don't get it because they fit my manual transmission Tacoma just fine and nearly two years later I haven't had a problem with them.

 

Oh Yeah, the Satoshi Grill

July 7, 2018 - Hadn't done anything with the grill for about 8 months so I decided to tape it off and spray the interior black, remainder will be color-matched to the truck.

You can also see the clear corner lights taped off for paint in the background as well.

 

SOS Concepts Weld-On Sliders

September 29, 2018 - In June I had attended the first annual Tacoma World Smoked Meet at Benford Brewing in Lancaster, SC. SOS Concepts sponsored it and was generous enough to offer a discount code to everyone who attended. SOS Concepts doesn't advertise sliders for 1st Generation Tacomas on their website but they had made them before and agreed to fabricate me a set.

Nothing like being able to hop in the truck and drive a couple hours to South Carolina and pick up some armor, especially when most fab shops are on the West Coast. Eddie, the owner, emailed me in September saying they were ready and agreed to weld them on for me at his shop. He's a great guy and I couldn't be happier with the results.

 

Nice work! Those sliders came out sweet. I'm anxious to see how that grill comes out once you get it color matched.

 

You're in luck! That's coming up in the next couple posts...

 

Tacoma Goes Bat Shit

September 29, 2018 - On the way back from SOS Concepts the the truck went a little bat shit crazy. Merging on to I-77, the truck began sputtering and misfiring and the gauges started bouncing all over. The radio was cutting in and out. I look at the ScanGauge and the volts are bouncing from single digits back up to 14 all while merging into interstate traffic. I limped it down to the next exit, pulled over and parked it.

Great. I'm still over an hour from home and my truck is not driveable, I couldn't break 50 mph. I look under the hood for any smoke, leaks, melted wires....anything to explain what just happened. Nothing. I wait a few minutes and turn the engine over. It fires right up, engine sounds fine and there's no check engine light. I drive it home without issue. For the next few weeks I drive it sparingly wondering what happened and if it will happen again, but everything is normal until...

October 26, 2018 - It happens again, less than a mile from the house and this time the check engine light comes on. I coast home and use the ScanGauge to scan for codes and there it is: P0304, Cylinder 4 Misfire. My first thought is engine failure. Luckily, my Dad is a great shade tree mechanic and had a second opinion. He came over, located which spark plug was on cylinder 4, pulled the spark plug boot while the engine was running and held it next to the block. The spark came out of the side boot. The rubber boot had cracked and the spark was grounding on the block rather than travelling to the plug.

November 3, 2018 - Spark plug wires and spark plugs are replaced with NGK (4412) part #

$40 RC-TE66 Spark Plug Wire Set

RC-TE66 wire set and Denso spark plugs, part #

$18 K16TR11 Spark Plugs, Pack of 4

K16TR11 (3194) which were pre-gapped at 0.43. After replacement I turned the truck on and it ran perfect, and no check engine light.

Pictured below is the cylinder 4 spark plug and the piece of rubber boot from the damaged plug wire that came off with it.