SD Yota... what ive been up to...

Discussion in 'Off Topic' started by SD YOTA, Aug 2, 2016.

  1. SD YOTA

    SD YOTA Grand Toyotaholic

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    Location:
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    Truck:
    2000 Toyota Tacoma 2wd
    so just a few pictures to show what ive been up to since the demise of my 92.... i moved up to a tacoma chassis, more so, a 2000 toyota tacoma with the 2rz and 5 speed. been pretty happy with it. done a few things but up untill recently work on it was really slow going. but heres what its gone through....

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    back when i first got it just a little over a year ago...

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    considering the truck had no turn signals for whatever reason, i updated all the front markers including the crappy factory dimmed out headlights.

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    truck needed tires and i wasnt too fond of the wheels that were on it much and happened to get a real hook up on a set of wheels a buddy was selling just one month old....

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    with use and looking to make things right, i needed a bit more clearance and fabbed up a mini notch to help the process.

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    ....and for a while things were good. i also installed some better kyb shocks, some eibach 2" drop coils and did a ball joint flip and removed the crappy cut springs that were in place.

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    in the swing of things, i experimented with some dip and whited out my front bumper wich came out pretty nice. hence the name "Storm Trooper Taco" came about....

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    few more mods here n there came through... front lower running lights and turn signal mod...

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    some time after, i found a deal on a 01-04 4x4 front bumper i couldnt pass up and here came the bigger facelift. no, plans did not include to convert the front end fully over to the 01-04 front clip just because i felt that it'd just look like any other 01-04 truck.... i wanted the truck to stay unique in its own respect and still have a modified from stock aspect.

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    with the front end tying up nicely i needed HID's and with that brought on the need to match them up with some led's all around the truck...

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    truck looked great but i needed a bit of an altitude change. some things happened in between some time in my life and have been fighting through some hard times. so i turned to the only thing that could get my mind off how things were going and started the process again. this time, the S-Dad Mod, utilizing the tacoma 4x4 / prerunner leafs to net some good drop out back. these were in good shape and although ive heard up and down that the mod gives you roughly 3 inches of drop, i ended up with closer to 3.5 inches of drop on my truck.

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    including my 4" blocks out back, i also used some gabriel air shocks out of a 69 VW bug. i needed to swap the bushings out that came with the shocks with those that i had on the stock shocks.... once i pressed them out they work great and dont bottom out so fast with the new lower setup.

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    with the added drop i noticed a few things started hitting and back under the bed i went to remedy the issues. i made a bolt-on notch for the gas tank xmember for one. i used 1"x1" square tubing and roughly 10 inches long across the top of the xmember using a step drill to drill 4 holes across the top to drop in a few bolts to hold it tightly against the xmember. i weighed in at roughly 250lbs at the time so i jumped on top to see if it'd give considering it would never see that strain.... held up just fine so im good.

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    the other area of concern came from the bed itself where the top center of the differential had been bumping the under side of the bed right at the brace. i measure 5" inches to each side of the center mark and notched that rib out for there to allow breathing room.

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    while the bed was off, i also decided to just remove my spare tire and cable winch to lessen the sprung load back there. future plans wont allow for the spare to remain there anyways and any road trips i take i just toss the spare in the back of the bed.

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    one other annoyance i took care of was the removal of the BPV arm/actuator for the rear brakes. once i get to my sway bar install ill be cutting the bracket off the axle as well to clean things up.

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    as you can see, plenty of clearance now for the diff and driveshaft to move around.

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    much with the nature of aggressive fitment wheels with much lower ride height, i needed to adress the bedside fenders. i have a full writeup on how i did this i will post later but heres a picture of some way through the process....

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    aaaaand pretty much as flat as you can possibly get them without ANY damage to the paint, body line, or bedside for that matter.

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    and so far.... thats pretty much it... ive got a bit more to do here the next few weeks including more drop on the front, exhaust work, front skid plate, more rear drop, and body aero to come.


    if you guys care to follow my build process a bit more on-the-fly, or have an easier way to contact me, i post most of my mods up on Instagram under user name "SD Yota" and on facebook under the same, "SD Yota". Write-ups on the bed process and S-Dad rear drop leaf mods are up on my other facebook Garage page under "SD Yota Garage", and will be posting more write ups as i go along.
     
    twizted1 and YOguyDA like this.
  2. jetas

    jetas Grand Toyotaholic

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    Looks good bro. I really like the way it looks with those wheels on it
     
  3. twizted1

    twizted1 Addict

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    +1... truck looks great!! really nice looking wheel, i like'm alot. .17"? what size tire you running?

    so whats the set up for the front, drop coils and upper control arms?
     
    Last edited: Aug 2, 2016
  4. SD YOTA

    SD YOTA Grand Toyotaholic

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    2000 Toyota Tacoma 2wd
    Thank you brother!
     
    jetas likes this.
  5. SD YOTA

    SD YOTA Grand Toyotaholic

    Joined:
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    Location:
    san diego
    Truck:
    2000 Toyota Tacoma 2wd
    Wheels are 17x9, (+14et) and tired on it are 205/40 though I'll be going up to a 50 series soon.

    The suspension up front sits on belltech 2" drop coils, and ball joint flip. The rear is on 4x4 leafs, 4" blocks, and air shocks. Total drop right now is 5/7.5 and I'll be going down to about a 8/9 when I get my parts in.
     

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