What Have You Done To Your 3rd Gen Today?

I’ll drop my input in here since I’ve gone through all the various tunes. I opted to do it myself since no shops are local, so I purchased the OV tune dongle and license. I started off with their tunes, pretty good overall and a great starter set. You can also adjust theirs which gives you endless possibilities.

Then i decided I wanted to give KDMax a shot, a bit more spicy than the OV tune, but I uninstalled it within 1 week because it felt too jerky to me. It also held gears SO long, wouldn’t shift to 3rd until almost 34mph which made any neighborhood or slow road driving loud from high revs and jerky like someone learning stick and keeping it in too low of a gear.

now I’ve been on OTTs for probably a month and I’m very happy with it. Great power curve and gives more midrange than the OV maps, but upshifts a lot earlier than KDMax on light throttle which is more like how it works stock. It’s all subjective but I decided the only way I’d be happy was if I tried them all myself.

 

Good to know. I may pop under there and put anti seize on the bolts. Just took them out last week before heading to the dealer for the first oil change. No issues but the skid has only been on since June.

 

I tinted my taillights with a light smoke vinyl; I really like the color on the Lunar Rock and it really tones down the chrome. It doesn't seem to block much light based on me just looking at it in the daylight and at night.
Was it easy? Heck no. I should have bought an extra half kit as the second tail is so much cleaner than the first. It took at least an hour per taillight. It's not perfect but unless you look close you won't notice my errors. BTW, the precut pieces are from Bogar Tech Designs on Etsy and they rate it as difficult. You have to custom order the light smoke.


With some of the scraps, I also tinted the turn signals on my mirrors to tone down the shine. That was a pretty quick process.


Next I put a ceramic matte dressing on my tires. I'll have to see how long it lasts.

 

That's what I did with mine. That and I used stainless screws.

 

Even better!

 

Should be good to go then.
Edit: mine was on for a few months before it was discovered.

 

So clean!!

 

Where were you trying to fit the 30" Rigid light bar? SSO sells a version of that bumper with a light cutout.

 

I pulled my skids and hit the undercarriage with some Cosmoline. I don’t miss shuffling skids on and off. Less so when they share mounting points that have to align with one another. Hahahaha.. I gave it a bath afterwards. Now I feel a little better heading into winter.

 

Finished up all the cutting and welding on the Martec Engineering 3 link kit. Now to paint, and reassemble the truck next weekend

 

Nothing today as I up my post count in order to sell off some parts to keep my wife happy, and our office cleansed of tacoma parts. But i did install some DS18 tweeters this past weekend. They sound amazing.

 

What tune did you have before Ed? How did you install the patch? I have 2 too that i didnt install

 

The Taco is great for what it is designed to do. But, sometimes you need a bigger/beefier truck. I started out with '80 GMC 1/2 ton, 350 small block, headers, Eldebrock intake w/Holley 650, 3 speed w/granny gear short bed 4x4, man I loved that truck! Only problem was it was a gas hog, but part was my fault, 4" lift w/14x35 Monster Mudders, so in '82 I got my first Toyota pickup. Put a bunch of miles on it, but started my own business and had to have a full size 3/4 or 1 ton truck. So up until about '12, I had full size trucks. Stopped working for a couple years due to health issues, just had an old beater. In '16, bought my '16 Limited. It does everything I need, but as I get older it is getting a little harder getting into and out of. (PS, just for future reference, getting old sucks!!) But, I'm fortunate that I have a 3/4 ton work vehicle and I own a landscape trailer. So, I've got it covered no matter what I have to do. My plan is to sell my Tacoma in a few years and get a Tundra, which should be my last vehicle purchase. You've got to decide what works for you and what you can afford. Never over extend yourself because you think you want something, only get what you need. Onless of course you're super wealthy

 

Thanks for the insight. I bought it certified but appears to be original and in service date of 11/18 so probably coming up on that time for pure age alone. Definitely been hot in Florida but it’s spoiled and in a garage about 95% of its life. lol

 

I'm guessing the purple haze was from you spraying it on your exhaust system and it burning off?

 

Yes, a lot of blue smoke in the rear views from the overspray…

 

@D-knoww I didn't, could have been easier but I ended up just installing them without taking them off.

 

I would like to mount it behind the grill. I wasn’t planning to install any light bar when I ordered the bumper. Wasn’t planning on adding a winch either. Haha

 

@WhiteTaco20 (Vanna)

This was an update for OTT...version 9. Master Yoda did the flash upgrade.

Didn't you get KDMax from Kevin @SH7mi at the Philly Meet?

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/4-22-2023-philly-cheesesteak-over.790876/page-10

 

Oh okay, yeah I did. Then in May i got a update tune. He came to qtown and tuned 2 of my buddies and a few other people came. Lol

The patch for inside the vehicle.