TruKnight's Autobot Build

FINALLY PAID IN FULL WOO HOOO!!!


wash n wax today in celebration:



time for some more, mostly interior, mods that ive been putting off. will be doing many carbon fiber wraps, wet okole armrest mod and console cover, new pioneer 4000nex stereo, short antenna, bed mat, bed net, debadge tailgate, back window security rod and interior led lighting! will post pics and updates as I move thru that list.

 

debadge'd tailgate today. bigger job that I expected. sore thumbs too.

 

Nice I've got the led's in also they are alot better

Where did you find those tail lights at

 

cool, looking forward to getting them in.

those are the stock 10' tail lights, I haven't modded them.

bout to do a TON of interior mods tho

 

carbon fiber wrapped the door panels today. they look ok if you don't look too closely. definitely requires some skill and a lot of time and patience too.

 

added OEM bed mat, should have bought this years ago:



also added short antenna. I don't listen to the radio, but wanted something to put there that looked decent:

 

finally did the armrest mod w/ wet okole neoprene. those melt points sucked to work on. also carbon fiber wrapped the door pulls:

 

cf wrapped both handles and plasti derped the columns:

 

I like how that looks! Might have to do that soon

 

The painted pillars looks good, could you post a picture a little further back to see how it blends in with the dash?

 

sure, ill take a few more angles and post them tomorrow.

tanks! do it nao! *arnold voice*

if you cf wrap the handles, you might wanna use some glue on the edges of the wrap, the heat from the sun can make it peel a little ive discovered, but some 3m 90 locks it down.

 

took this pic cause im thinking about doing something to the grill, but I don't know what yet. maybe satoshi, maybe getting creative with some hex mesh. no idea.

here are the pics you asked for sir, with and without camera flash just for good measure. I think it blends well tho and I don't regret doing it one bit.





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All I did to my grill was plastic dipped the emblem

 

not sure what ill do to it, prolly nothing. I looked around alot here and elsewhere and didn't see a mod that really struck me as looking better short of replacing things, but that's a nonstarter cause color matching speedway blue metallic is nearly impossible. ill just focus my mods on the interior for now.

 

installed 2012 steering wheel in my 2010!



also installed 2012 black center console. I would have just painted mine but this is a high wear area and it would eventually rub off.



protip: if you remove your wheel, turn till it locks, and mark the angle on some tape. this will help you align it properly when you put it back on!



and a gratuitous front shot cause the lighting was nice:



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had some new led's waiting for me when I got home today! love the light they emit, pics don't do it any justice.



also cf wrapped the overhead console. apologies for the fuzzy pics but you get the idea:



had alot of spare neoprene after doing the armrest mod so I wrapped the sun visors. it only looks good from the bottom tho cause I have no upholstery skills:



and swb sunglasses that I normally keep in the aforementioned overhead console:



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Your truck has always been one of my favorites on TW....and was my inspiration for the lift and stance I wanted for my SWB DBL Cab. I have a great appreciation for stock wheels with lift and AT tires...as well as such a clean build. Love what you've done so far. Very nice!

 

thanks! im glad to share everything, tw has given me alot of help and great ideas too. more to come for sure!

 

How much was the steering wheel swap and have any links to where you bought the parts?

 

it ran me about 780, with the airbag being the pricy bit at 450. selling the parts I took off might cover half of the upgrade cost tho so it shouldn't be too bad. you could prolly do it for around 600 if you didn't use only oem parts and really shopped around or waited for a killer ebay deal. youll need a wheel, audio controls, airbag and clock spring.

I used this (http://www.car-part.com/noninterchange.htm) as a rough guide to find parts/salvage yards to call, and I found this place (https://www.tlsautorecycling.com/toyota/tacoma.html) that I got the actual parts from. I got a few other things along with the wheel so I saved on shipping and bundled it all together. they were super helpful and sourced a few things they didn't have in stock for me.

I forked out abit more than I initially planned, but its still a lot better than the 3k estimate for new oem dealer parts I saw posted on tw somewhere. that and I didn't feel like trusting cheaper aftermarket parts with this particular piece of critical driving equipment.

is it worth it tho? well, for me I think so. it looks way better, and I love the feel of the thicker wheel. aside from seat covers its about the best tactile feeling mod that has a direct return on investment in it. it took me about 3 hours to do it start to finish, and I went real slow and cautious. I drove around today to get the ecm to relearn the engine and my driving habits after the battery disconnect and it all went fine and its still perfectly aligned and everything. and now it even controls the stereo volume on the ipod/aux port and the old wheel never would do that.