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so I got my hands on some scrap steel, mostly angle iron, and decided it was time to build a rear bumper for the tacoma with my new welding skills. (or lack thereof)
A couple weeks after I started on the project, a dude rear ends my truck and crushes my original, not real bad but it's bent/dented. Talk about good timing. Besides the sore neck from whiplash, I fared pretty well. Cash money, about 3 times worth what I could have sold the original for.
Anyway, project rear bumper is near completion, here are a few photos of my fabrication skills!!
Started with a 6"x 3.5" x 6' chunk of 1/4" or so thick steel and other assorted pieces.
getting this thing sandblasted as soon as I can make it during the week and then it's time for paint. I'm painting it on my own with spray can stuff, mostly to learn a bit and also to attempt to match the color of my ARB up front. Also, touch ups will be easier when I scratch and bang this thing.... or some idiot rear ends me again. I know people gotta get their 'LOL's' and 'LMAO' out while driving, but obnoxious...
so far total weight minus the mounting brackets is about 75lb, not too bad for how thick this steel is. All said and done it will be about 80-90lbs of steel.
Bought some shackle mounts off of eBay for $30 and decided to weld them to separate pieces and bolt on in case my welding skills don't suffice a hard pull with a winch. I think they'll hold, hit them initially with 6011 for good depth and covered with some 6013 on the top pass with the ARC welder.
So I bought some VHT chassis and suspension paint in satin black, says it's self priming but gonna hit it with some black primer first. Then some truck bed liner anti-skid stuff on the top surface once finished.
It's not perfect but it will certainly be better than stock, especially considering the stock bumper starts to crumple against the hi-lift, at least this one I can actually jack it up and will be much harder to damage.
used some standard trailer/courtesy lights for the plate illumination:
Overall, very satisfied with the fit and finish.
And yes, those are new BFG Mud Terrain KM2's on there as of yesterday!! 33x10.5" R15 on pro comp aluminum. The old tires/wheels are going on the 4runner, the tires on it are 10 years old, probably a good time to replace them...
now I need to regear to 4.88's, the new tires need a little help, the 4.11's are a wee bit too high!! Drives fine for now, in good time I'll get the new gears in.
steel was free (dumpster dive at work)
shackle mounts: $30 from eBay
grade 8 bolts: $12
paint: $50
lights: $15 from Amazon
sandblasting: $43
grinding wheels and sawzall blades: ?? mebbe $30 worth
welding rods: about $15-20 mebbe? (6013 and 6011)
wiring/connectors on hand but mebbe $6 worth
electric bill for running 220 stick welder and a shop heater waaaay too much: $300 (ouch!!)
new tires/wheels are running good! Even with 4.10 gears, almost thru the first tank of gas, will see what the MPG's look like tomorrow after doing the math, hopefully not too much different. Been averaging about 19mpg's lately with the 32's. Pretty happy with the KM2's on the road so far and they are certainly much better offroad than the A/T's.
19 damn, I just filled up at 256 miles, 16 gallons. I got 16, all city stop and go. I'm curious to see what I would get on the highway. I have 265/75r16 bfg ko's. I don't know what stock gears are though, I'll have to look it up on TIS.
official fuel mileage with the new tires is 18.5mpg's, not bad!!
That's with the blower and methanol injection, without that it would be a lot lower for sure. I just filled up with ethanol free, let's see what that nets me for mpg's.
Now I need some 4.56 gears to return to stock; more pull and move it back to factory ratios. I don't want to do 4.88's despite much advice to do so. I don't plan on running anything bigger and I want good on roadway performance. The blower can handle the extra bit of ratio, honestly it's doing fine with 4.11's and 33's. But 4.56 would be perfect for what I want. In good time....
re-torqued lugnuts and put the old tires/wheels onto the 93 4Runner. Washed/waxed the truck today right before the rain, needed it bad, even got the rainex on all the vehicles.
new engine being installed time meow. I don't have the time right now or the proper tools to do the engine myself so I pulled the trigger on just swapping in a new motor (reman) from a local shop that specializes in Japanese motors. The shop so far seems very good, time will tell.
Two days ago my truck spit out a spark plug, it exploded the coil (middle cylinder pass side), made one hell of a racket. The threads in the head I think are compromised, nothing will thread in and not sure if running my thread chaser would work or not. Screw it I said, at 225,000 on the clock, it's time to get a freshy! My crankshaft is boogered up and the valves have never been adjusted, really nothing except aggressive routine maintenance has been done. It's also time to redo the blower, I'm hoping I can just get away with the $80 rebuild kit. And now possibly screwed up head. (my truck's head, not mine... although some might suggest otherwise....)
shop quoted $2800 for all parts and labor, and I'm going to also put in a new clutch since the original is (somehow) still going but is old. I tried to buy a clutch 'kit' today but toyota doesn't sell one??? just all the parts individually.
Questions for you guys, I talked over a few of the parts to replace with the shop while I'm doing the swap:
Knock sensor wire harness YES Knock sensors? not sure Water Pump YES - it is still stock one, time for a freshy (bought) Ignition wires YES (bought) Ignition coil YES (bought) original destroyed by spark plug Spark plugs YES (purchased from Denso) I'm near the 30k mark Timing belt tensioner YES (bought) last time I did TB, it was out of spec but didn't have one on hand PCV hose? not sure - most hoses are relatively new (fuel line), radiator hoses are new, PCV valve could be replaced I suppose
now the big question, do I replace the (ridiculously high priced) oil cooler? The hose and gasket are about $35 but the cooler is $800??? I guess I wait and see what condition it's in? Assuming I have one, I did not look to see if I do or not but more than likely yes. The truck is at the shop now about 20 miles away, I am going soon to drop off parts so I'll look to confirm that.
A few other incidentals that I'm replacing:
Driver seatbelt, it's shredded. Going to try and repair myself as I have plenty of the webbing, if so that will save me 200 bucks
Supercharger rebuild kit (95,000 miles on S/C currently)
Starter Relay (original is a little dinged up, I frequently remove it when backpacking/climbing to slow down car thieves)
My starter is brand new, I replaced the contacts last year
Alternator? I will probably not spend on one just yet but want to get a high output one soon, the original is still in and really old at this point.
Radiator is brand new
For some more background/situation, I frequently go very far back into the wilderness and don't want to play around with old tired engines/parts but I'm also not rich so I need a good balance, with error on the money side for the security of mind when 30 miles from cell service. I greatly appreciate any suggestions for what stuff I should be replacing while the motor is out and little things like whether I should buy OEM or aftermarket, etc etc.
shop can get a new motor in by 15 june, a rebuild would take another 2 weeks. Opted for the new new to get back on the road and start fresh, same price.
Found an Aisin clutch on yotashop.com, probably gonna order from them.
spark plugs arrived just now, came out of CA to me in WA in 2 days, that was quick!
Clutch arrives Monday, I believe I have about everything needed for now. Still need to order S/C rebuild kit, they are not super prevalent anymore.... I'll take care of the S/C after I see how this motor runs with it for a little while.
For some reason, this thread is not showing up on the 'new posts' tab??
OK glad it's showing up for you guys, it still acts like my thread doesn't exist for some reason.
I wish I had one of those pinhole camera things that plugs into your phone, need to invest in one of those mebbe soon. The threads on the cylinder head are damaged enough to where the plug won't thread in anymore (a good one, not the one it spit). I'll find more pics of the coil that it shredded.
I might have used too much anti-seize but it wasn't that excessive. Or improper torque but I am pretty damn close. Been about a year since I changed them out.
02-15-2016, 05:42 PM
