Build Thread: Sixstringsteve's 2002 Tacoma double cab: Carlos

Front flares are trimmed, need to be put back on. Rear flares need to be trimmed still :D
 
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I'll be buttoning up a few things tomorrow in preparation for a New Year's trip:

- clean garage
- install snorkel
- replace Alt belt
- install front fender flares
- wire elocker
- put the interior back together
- extend rear diff breather
 
your truck looks awesome in person. It was good to see it driving. It was the first time jami has ever said, "I could see myself driving a small truck like that. It would make a great camping rig". Then, she ask about the mods and was pleased it had serious goodies in the diffs and wasn't just a cool looking rig. You did a great job.

p.s. the mount for the RTT looks really good.
 
thanks Davy. It's no JK on 37's, but it's great for my needs. It's a fantastic camping rig. I can cram a ton of crap in the back, and there's plenty of room for small passengers like me and my wife. :D
 
A few updates that have been put off.

A little over a week ago I reinforced the rear part of the frame (a weak spot on 1st gen tacos).

A big shoutout to Alljeep.com for getting me a great price on my Trail Gear parts. I ordered their rear frame stiffener plates. All tacomas have the same frame/bed mounts in the rear of the truck except for the double-cabs. So the plates had to be modified.

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Passenger side on top, Driver's side on bottom (the extra chunk missing is to clear the gas filler spout).

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I love being able to reach what I need to weld. And I love it when it's not above my head, raining sparks on me.

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I thought I had a picture of them painted but I can't seem to find it.
 
I have never been a fan of snorkels. I don't usually drive through water that's over 2 feet deep, and I'm usually the one leading our group, so I don't have as big of an issue with dust. Plus the superficial in me thinks they're ugly; super ugly.

That being said, the airbox intake tube on the Tacomas is in a horrible place, especially if you've tubbed your fenders and you haven't put your inner liner in yet. :rolleyes:

The airbox has an intake tube that picks up air right above the passenger tire. On a stock tacoma this isn't a huge problem, but I still think it's a risk for lots of offroad miles. Here you can see the intake tube directly above my tire:

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Since I haven't installed my front inner fenders yet, I've been picking up a lot of crap in my airbox. It's only been a week, but after all the snow and puddles, I threw a CEL for getting water on my MAP (or is it a MAS in the tacoma?). I realized that even once I re-install my inner fender, I still run the risk of getting extra debris up in there, especially since I'm going to have to modify my inner fender a bit to make it fit the new fender profile. So a quick call to Cruiser Outfitters and I had a snorkel later that day. Thanks Kurt!

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I had never installed a snorkel before, but thanks to the online instructions of expeditions west, and Kurt's tips, it was a fairly uneventful install. There's something scary about cutting a big hole in the side of your fender and drilling into your a-pillar. It's definitely an un-reversible modification.

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installed. I think it looks retarded, but it serves a vital function. If I were to do it again, I'd remove the entire fender so I could access the stock airbox tubes to seal them off better. Plus getting the nuts on the backside of the studs that hold the snorkel on was a pain. I'm glad I don't have to worry about sucking in rocks, salt, snow, and water now.

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Now I can do this:

[video=youtube;ZyLi2ApFhbY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyLi2ApFhbY[/video]
 
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I installed all new belts and I installed a new battery connection. Then I figured out how I want to do the inner fenders and outer flares, but I need to pick up more of the red and blue clips from the dealer before I finish those. Hopefully the dealer has them in stock.

I buttoned up the interior (finally!). The interior kick panel needs to be trimmed since we moved the floor back a few inches. I figured this was a good starting point. This actually ended up being about 1/4" too much off the top of the panel, but no biggie.

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installed:

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That's it for this weekend. I still need to wire up my rear locker soon and extend the diff breather.
 
Fwiw MAP is Manifold Absolute Pressure, measures the vacuum pressure of your intake manifold, and the other is your Mass Air Flow sensor, measuring the volume of air entering your motor.

and Steve please try not to plow over any trees whilst exiting your water crossing. ;) Dante's Peak is a great movie haha
 
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So if you don't like the idea of an external snorkel, why not just reroute the intake through the fender to the backside of the firewall? Not that you can now, just curious.
 
Like on the inside of the cab? It's super loud if ya do. When the engine revs up your hear it a lot, especially if you have a cotton K&N style filter. I think Steve still has the paper filter so that's not the case here.
 
Kevin B. said:
So if you don't like the idea of an external snorkel, why not just reroute the intake through the fender to the backside of the firewall? Not that you can now, just curious.
Click to expand...

I gave it some serious thought before choosing the safari snorkel. My buddy had a tube that routed the intake into the cab and it was annoyingly loud. It was fine for around town, but after a few minutes it gave me a headache and it was difficult to carry a conversation in the cab. Its a good solution for those that don't mind some extra engine noise in the cabin.
 
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