Toyota 1995 Tacoma Build

[OrangeSkidPlate]

Still waiting to dump the 4 door. Got this sweetness.
My original plan was to link the rear but I'm tossing around the idea of just throwing leafs back on it and getting it going sooner. I haven't really wheeled in over a year and I'm dying....so might go that route. Anyone even seen tundra leafs run on a crawler? I have a set sitting around.

 

[OrangeSkidPlate]

Anyone who knows more about 3 link setup than me think that these are good numbers for coilovers?

I am not incredibly keen on some of the axis or lines. I kind of just shot for 65-80 AS and as low as I could for roll axis. I am hopefully going full hydro, so I think that should make things a little bit easier, not sure if I need to chop the frame yet, kind of thinking that I don't. I am selling my hydro assist setup if anyone is interested in that. I

 

[OrangeSkidPlate]

Traded the supercharger off the white truck with all the fuel goodies for a built Dana 60 with full hydro.

Selling my Chevy 60 if anyone is interested, comes with a lot of rebuild parts (bearings, seals, kingpin replacements and hi steer arms)

 

[OrangeSkidPlate]

Weeeellll sold the white truck. Made enough to buy a 2500hd and hopefully a welder. Just need shocks, and transfer cases.

 

[OrangeSkidPlate]

She is absolutely beat to hell but holy damn it runs and shifts just as nice as my daily that has half as many miles on it. So lq4 and 4l80e it is for drivetrain.

 

[Greg]

That's what I'm towing with and it works great... cheap, too!

 

[OrangeSkidPlate]

@Greg it was cheap haha

So I ran a compression test on the donor truck, not entirely sure why I expected perfect numbers since it has 300k miles on it....
So cylinder 3 has a greater that 15% difference, from my understanding that's bad. It's like 15.3% but still. I asked a couple buddies what I should do, they all think I should run it. I am going to run a wet compression test on cylinder 3 and 6 because they are the lowest and see if maybe it's a valve issue. Since I already have to tear into this thing for seals, why not go ahead and rebuild it? If I have to get head work done, I will be putting in a cam.

 

[BlueWolfFab]

It's a slippery slope of "while I'm here I might as well..." ! Haha personally I'd just run it and not even tear into it. But, that's just me.

 

[OrangeSkidPlate]

My biggest concern is having to pull it again anyways and having a cylinder sieze up. Obviously that is worse case scenario. So I'm going to run towards that slippery slope haha

She's out though! The plan is to get some stuff for engine mounts, pick a welder up this week and see if I can't get this think mocked up in the Tacoma. With it in the truck, I can get my 3 link all tacked and see if I can make that work. Pull the motor and trans, tear into the motor and get it fresh. Or maybe I'll throw the rear end under the truck so it's at least on rear tires? I don't know, something will happen eventually.

 

[Greg]

I like your style...

 

[YROC FAB.]

Im with blue wolf on this being a slippery slope. If you were going to have it all machined and freshened up with new pistons and the like then it would be different. The 5.3 i put in mine in my buggy i had no real knowledge of it other than what came out of the sellers mouth. I did a half assed job going through it, plasigauged the bottom end, different heads, lapped valves, new gaskets on everything, new timing chain, higher psi oil pump and all said and done it still has low oil psi, but its not that big of a deal now because the rig is plumbed and wired, finding and swapping another block into it is no big deal. I'd just run what you got and have a good time.

Do you need a 14b pinion gaurd? I have a new Blue torch fab on i will sell>14 bolt shovel. @YJ_Auzzy could maybe deliver it on his next hitch in a couple weeks since he keeps hitting his head on it.

 

[OrangeSkidPlate]

I guess I need to think about how far I want to get into this motor when I say "rebuild" or "freshen up"

Do you need a 14b pinion gaurd? I have a new Blue torch fab on i will sell>14 bolt shovel. @YJ_Auzzycould maybe deliver it on his next hitch in a couple weeks since he keeps hitting his head on it.

I have one sitting on the shelf somewhere. I need a yolk for the 14 bolt if you have one laying around.

 

[YROC FAB.]

I need a yolk for the 14 bolt if you have one laying around.

1350? we may have a strap style laying around here.

 

[OrangeSkidPlate]

@YROC FAB. If you got one, I'll take it.

Bought a 205/203 for a doubler on Sunday, then Monday I found a 203/205 ORD setup with 32 splines already swapped, so now I have a stock 205/203 if anyone needs either. I'll get some pictures soon. Picked up a welder, just need a tank then I can get this thing going.

 

[OrangeSkidPlate]

So I spent the day putting shocks, rotating tires, greasing, putting new wheel bearings and just checking the Chevy over since it's been neglected. The shocks were completely toasted and after I put the wheel bearing all back together and checked it again, I noticed the control arm was loose.....so I tightened that. Tried to cram the 40 on there, won't fit. I've decided that when the woman and I get a house, the Chevy is getting SASd. I hate Chevy's IFS, it's garbage....

So Sunday I went and picked up a 205 and 203 for a doubler and the 205 has some weird stuff going on so it will probably end up just being a parts case. So Monday night I was cruising the classifieds because that is my life and I found a 203/205 first gen ORD doubler with 32 spline conversion. So I went and got that and now I have my entire drivetrain! I need to order and adapter from NWF and then I'm done with drivetrain parts.

 

[OrangeSkidPlate]

Made a little bit of progress. Welded some gussets on the caliper mounts for the rear end, I thought I had four, only had three. Shaved about an inch off the bottom and rounded the lip a little.


I was going to run some tundra leafs I had kicking around, they seem like they'd ride nice but I was having issues pulling the shackles out of the bushings and the bolt size was a little different than what I had setup. So I decided to wait and find some Chevy leafs. I'd like to have the rear end on some tires by tomorrow night. 90% sure I am going to cut the header panel out to make the motor slip in easier. I found some trick hood pins I think I'll end up running.

 

[OrangeSkidPlate]

Well I've having issues with the welder. Kind of feels like it's not getting enough power and I keep blowing the breaker in the garage, so I need to get a dedicated plug with a bigger fuse. I bought a pack of cutoff wheels from home depot a couple months ago and every single one has chipped and I had two grenade on me today so I called it a day. I made an incredibly lame attempt to pull the leafs off my work truck to use on the rear of the Taco, I'm being told to just link the rear and I definitely want to. I'm just having a hard time deciding. It's a guaranteed 2500-3000 at least to link it. Anyways, I'll sit on it for a few weeks and focus on getting the motor in it. I chopped all the mounts and stuff off the 60. And after the wheels grenaded, I called it for the day.

I'm trying to find the correct adapter for my 203-4l80, I thought that the NWF adapter was going to work for me but I might need to find a different tail housing. VSS is baffling me, I was told there is just a blank hole in the rear of the trans, there is, but nothing even close to being able to fit a VSS. So I need to do a lot more research on that.

 

[OrangeSkidPlate]

Got a set of leafs off ksl. They are stock replacements for a 1500 gm 1999-2006, brand new, rated to 1500 lbs. Not sure if that's going to be too much or what but for a hundreds bucks and I didn't have to pull them or put new bushings in them, I was all for that. So I went ahead and threw the springs on, I tried something different this time around. I moved my rear mounts about 3/4" forward, I wanted the truck a little lower than before. So I threw some heavy tacks on so I could change it easily enough if I didn't like it. I was hoping for the truck it sit lower, I'm thinking the springs need to break in since they are new. My frame height is at 26" which is 1-2" higher than I wanted. So I might go to a shorter shackle. I want to get the front done and then I'll decide if I want to take the time to drop the rear down.


So I thought about something while I was looking at these leafs and my shackles. The little teeth on the bushings were bitting into the shackle material. So I ground them down to see if maybe the shackles would move a little more freely. Not sure if I'll even notice a difference.


Cut off some mounts on the front of the frame. Just did the one side for today. I think I am going to plate the inside to have a little more material for the engine mounts.

 

[Herzog]

With that shackle angle and how flat the spring is, I'm betting it will break in a bit more. Nice progress!

 

[OrangeSkidPlate]

I talked to a few different people and I want to drop the truck. I want to be closer to 24" frame height. I know the springs are going to settle, but I want it lower before i move forward with the front end.

Excuse the perfect tack welds, I am getting the wiring redone in the garage so I can actually run the welder at full power without blowing breakers every three seconds. Anyways, I can go up about an inch and a half with the rear mounts and I think an inch with the front. I'd benefit more front the front being sank into the frame than the rear. So I'm going to get that started next weekend.