Well I found a clean titled 96 Tacoma Extended cab for $400. Yes is still runs too. It had no bed because the guy had sold it. Thing is he said the guy he sold it to left his old bed and I was welcome to it for free. Maybe I will make a "Back to Life" thread. Wish me luck.

 

Nice find!

 

Good luck with bringing it back to life

 

Thanks guys. This one will just be clean stock with probably a few minor upgrades. I intend to drive it around for a couple months then sell it so I can pour that money into my 90 pickup.

 

Well, work has been slow on the Taco (Bernard). Got hit with a lot of bills and needed a little time to catch up. So all I really got done was a few basic things like making a few pulls on the old radiator support. Removing the radiator support and fenders. Now just need to do a little more pulls on the inner fenders and bumper mounts, weld on the new support and so on. Here are a couple of pics.






Got a used oem hood off craigslist at aftermarket price, almost had a bumper/valance combo too but that didn't fall through.

 

Ok it's been a while but and I have slowly been making progress on Bernard. It's got a new radiator support and a few panels replaced. I've been doing all this on a strict budget, which means getting parts off craigslist and other sources whenever possible.

But occasionally the custom bug hits me so I do something I probably shouldn't (while on a budget). Like install 2000 Celica seats.



Anhow, here is an updated pic of Bernard. I've got a bumper too just need to do a little work to it as well.

 

One of the issues I had, was that my clutch fan was locked and the blades were warped. I figured what a good opportunity to go electric. After doing a lot of research I decided to go with a 17" Hayden dual speed fan.

This is my first e-fan install so bear with me. But at least I plan on documenting my whole process.


First I needed a replacement shroud so I went amazon for a cheapo aftermarket version. . I also bought my Hayden Automotive 3817 Ultra-Cool High Performance Fan from there too.

Here is how it fits within the shroud.





This fan is 2.6 inches thick so there should be plenty of room to fit it without hitting the engine. I plan on using abs to cover the gap around the outer perimeter of the fan and the shroud. Basically I'm going to fuse/glue the abs plastic sheet to the inside of the shroud and cut out a hole just for the area of the fan that moves air. This way it will look like a factory clean job.

Anyhow here are the specs of the fan. Its the 3817 model.



ABS showed up today, unfortunately I have things I got to do today but I should have a little time tomorrow to cut this to size, cut out hole and hopefully fuse it to the inside of the shroud. BTW I got this ABS Sheet at amazon for $23 shipped.



Here is the ABS fit inside the shroud with clamps holding it. There is a little gap at the top and at the bottom. I plan on sealing those up with my plastics glue to keep it sealed.



Here I placed the fan on so I can trace the outer edge of the fan so I know where and how big to cut the hole out.



Here is the outline that I will use to make a slightly smaller hole. Below is the second line that I will actually be cutting out.




This is the type of industrial plastic glue that I use. We use it at our shop regularly and I've found it to work very well.



Here is the panel with the hole cut out and glued to the shroud. I'm going to let it set overnight before I mount the fan to it.


After waiting overnight to let the shroud dry. I flipped it over to add a little load-bearing stability. A couple of 1" x 1/4" aluminum strips, cut to fit within the inside of the shroud to help with the weight of the fan.



You can see the oversized washers and bolts that I used to secure the bottom of the aluminum strips to the bottom of the shroud. I painted them black so they would match and not look obvious.



Inside look of how the fan mounts. Having mounted the fan this way allows the fan to use the entire shroud in the manner it was intended (pulling air from all across the radiator). BTW, none of the bolts excess threading will actually touch the radiator. I already checked the depth and they clear with plenty of room.



Side and overhead view of shroud installed on radiator. Plenty of clearance. P.S. No need to install lower shroud lip as it is just redundant and would serve no actual purpose.




I will get into the wiring later. I haven't even ordered anything yet. I plan on making all the wiring extremely discrete so it looks no different than any other OEM wiring would look.

 

I finally decided on my wiring. At first I was going to use a couple of the Hayden probes but I couldn't get two in there at a time and not leak radiator fluid out of the hose. Plus i didn't like the stiff springy wire, since it didn't make for good discreet wiring. So I nixed that idea.

I then researched online and found this setup:

Mishimoto MMFAN-CNTL-U18NPT Black Adjustable Fan Controller Kit


and

Mishimoto MMWHS-32-BK Black 32mm Water Temperature Sensor Adapter


I didn't like the inline fuse holder and I wanted to mount it all in a water resistant box so I got these:

E Support Car Truck 4 Way Circuit Standard ATO Blade Fuse Box Block Holder 12V 24V


and

BUD Industries CU-347 Aluminum Econobox, 7-3/8" Length x 4-11/16" Width x 3-13/64" Height, Natural Finish


Yes I measured it all out so I knew it was all going to fit. Here is the early fitting process.



Painted the box flat black to match with the rest of the under hood items and I mounted it where I had the most space. Not to mention where a couple of pre-existing nuts were already in place.



Now this is where I mounted the sensor and sensor adapter. I did this fully intending to kill two birds with one stone. I didn't cut my hose I actually bought a section of hose to add to the length of my original radiator hose. I noticed that originally my hose practically hugged my alternator. Since I plan on adding a larger alternator I wanted more room so I inserted the adapter at the end of my original hose and added a 2 1/2" bit of hose to connect the adapter back to the thermostat housing. I also chose this area because this is where I want my probe reading temp at (after passing through the radiator and before going back into the engine).



After testing the wired unit and passing on the first try, I closed up the "fan box".



After thoughts:

This fan really pulls air. It was only on for at most 15 seconds before shutting down again. Even though the fan control unit is preset to 180 degrees on and 160 degrees off it is actually adjustable for different temps via a little screw on the controller. The presets were just right for me so I left it.

My fan is actually dual speed but I just wired it to full speed because with this particular controller you can't do two speeds due to the way it is wired via negative pulse.

The controller does have an optional wiring for a/c by tapping into the positive a/c wire. So when you turn on the a/c your fan will kick on no matter what the probe temp is. I haven't actually done this yet but I did test it via wire tap. A nice feature which I will definitely do in the future.

All in all I am very happy so far.

 

Finally got me a bed with tailgate and a few minor dents. Nothing I can't handle. Awesome part was that it is the same color as my truck. Saved me a lot of edge painting. I got it for around $450. Does anyone know if that's a reasonable price? Seemed like it to me at the time.

 

I purchased a used 96 Jaguar Alt off ebay for $30. The guy said it charges but may howl (possible bad bearings). I figured I could rebuild it myself if I needed so I took it. Turns out after taking the alt to 3 different alternator shops they all said it was good, no howl. One shop said that the howl may have come from the Jaguar itself seeing that there was a little bit of rubber particles on the alt, suggesting that a pulley or something else may have caused the howl.

So anyways, I lucked out and got a 120amp Jag alt for $30. It's not all refurbished pretty but at that price I didn't care.

I started by taking my old Tacoma alt out. I placed it next to the Jag alt to look at the differences. The Taco alt mounts are inline with the pulley, while the Jags pulley is slightly offset to the right. It's hard to tell in the picture but the Jag alt is also slightly bigger.



Of course the plug in the back is different but funny enough when I was going to throw the box that the Jag alt came in I checked through all the newspaper packing and found that he also included the pigtail for some reason. That saved me $8-$15 from buying one off ebay. BTW here is what you will have to get from ebay (just search "nippon denso plug").




Now you only have to tap in two wires. With the plug facing you like the immediate above picture the red wire goes to the right side and the yellow wire goes to the left. The top wire is unused (white wire on your truck).

I then wiggled the Jag alt in there and totally expected to have to buy a new belt but to my surprise it fit on my original belt without issue. Turns out that the offset of the alt brackets allowed for a perfect fit. I didn't have to modify any part of the brackets or get a new belt. It just fit.

Here are some pics of it installed.





Here is a pic of the wiring splice I did. Pardon the brightness of the shot. But all I used were the yellow and red wires from the existing plug. Since I just tapped in I kept the original Toyota plug just in case but in the near future I'll be wrapping it up and hiding it better. I also need to add a cover for the charge terminal. The original Taco version doesn't snap onto it.




Now I have plenty of power (120 amps) to run my e-fans and anything else I want to add in the future.

 

Things are starting to move again with this truck. I just registered it (didn't want to have to pay insurance until it was close enough to drive). Just changed out my carpet, I went with a charcoal grey which is just a tad darker than what the truck originally came with. I also sound deadened the back and floor before applying the carpet. Pics below:








Unfortunately while I was looking at the engine I noticed that I had cracks in my exhaust manifold. They were pretty large so I went ahead and ordered a pacesetter header and OEM gasket. Will show that update possibly next week.

 

The other day I was looking in my engine bay and through the circular hole in the exhaust manifold's heat shield I noticed a crack. I removed the heat shield and saw this:




So I did some quick research and bought a budget header replacement by Pacesetter. From my reading I understood that it was a better idea to order the OEM gasket instead of using the Pacesetter gasket. They arrived yesterday so I quickly went ahead and stripped the black shipping primer on the headers (there is even a note stating that this primer is not heat resistant and will burn). After stripping all the black that I could, I scuffed and applied 1300 to 2000 degree high heat paint on them. Now I'm leaving them overnight to dry and possibly put on tomorrow if I get the chance.







My roll pan also showed up so I got to test fitting that too. I'll probably install that after I finish up the exhaust work.

 

A few updates:

I got the Pace Setter headers installed. It really changed the sound of my exhaust. I may look for a quieter muffler as I don't want it to sound like a growling grizzly bear everywhere I go.




I also welded and smoothed out the rough on my roll pan. I think it looks good.




Lastly I changed my front shocks, rotors and brake pads. That took me longer than I thought it would. Not to mention it was greasier than I thought it would be too. Sorry no pics on that one. I didn't want to touch my phone with all the grease and grime going on.

 

i like those tail lights, led's off ebay? how much did they run you...look smooth tinted....dont kno that i seen them tinted before.

 

Got them off Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Spyder-Auto-A...1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage

A little pricey but I liked them. I also purchased really bright led reverse lights from www.superbrightleds.com
Thanks for the compliments.

 

Finally got around to working on the tailgate. It was kinda beat up and full of weird stickers. I considered getting an aftermarket tailgate but thought that it would be a negative with thinner metal. So for about $20 more I was able to buy a tailgate skin from http://modshopinc.net

A simple skin minus the tailgate handle and using 18 gauge metal sounded way better than an aftermarket gate.

I started by removing the tailgate and drilling out the welds and chiseled off the upper inner lip.



Then I ground both sides and the bottom of the gate until it cut through the folds.



With the old skin set aside (I'll be cutting that handle mount out later to put on the inside of the gate), I wire brushed all of the old seam sealant and ground the areas that I was going to bond with my metal-bonding adhesive.



Tomorrow (or as soon as I get another chance) when the metal-bonding adhesive cures I'll add a few securing welds around the corners and such. Then I'll smooth them down a bit and re-seam seal around the edges where the old sealant was removed. So far it looks pretty good.

 

Nice job so far. i really need to get a welder and learn more about how to weld, i know enough to be dangerous.

 

Can't wait to see how everything turns out!

 

Well I finally finished re-skinning the tailgate and relocating the handle to the inside. There is not a lot of info on this nor are there a lot of pictures either. I think I know why. The original Tacoma handle is built with the little raise above it in mind. When I tried to relocate the handle onto a flatter surface the top inside part of the handle (where it swings) actually juts out beyond the level where the handle sits flat. I had to lower the handle to the lowest part of the stamp that I could and then still raise the the lower part so the handle would slide in and mount properly. If I had to do it again I would just use our earlier model truck handles that mount flush and weld the pivot arm from the Tacoma handle onto it. That would have saved me a ton more time and it would have mounted flush. Anyhow, here is how I have it as of right now. Yes I'm missing 8 access cover screws. That is how I got this tailgate when I bought it with the whole bed.





Ok, ok, now lets back up a bit. While I still had this truck on the frame pulling rack I thought to myself, "Why not just jump into it and change the oil pan gasket?" It has had a really slow leak ever since I had the truck and I always intended to fix it. So I adjusted my pants in the crotch area and went for it.

While researching, a guy StockO_taco mentioned that if you just dropped the sway bar and the front cross bar, then remove the transmission dust shield you should be good to go. I found his tip valid. Unfortunately I didn't get any pics of the dust shield (necessary to access last two bolts on rear of pan) as things were very oily and dirty at that point and I didn't want to even touch my phone. Here is the gist of what happened yesterday:







I used about an 8" block of wood to keep the sway bar down low enough to easily remove and reattach the pan. I decided not to use a standard cork gasket, especially since that was what was already on there and it was still leaking. So I chose to use Permatex "The Right Stuff" Black gasket maker. I was very pleased. It went on easily and I was able to put oil in within ten minutes. So far overnight no obvious leaks are present.




Now to finish degreasing the engine area to make sure there are no other leaking spots...

 

I read somewhere, i think LCE's tech, that oil pans with the dimples or channels like yours pictured are only need gasket sealant not a gasket. Its due to the way the pan is designed.