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Painless wiring kits are pretty good. The wiring harness’ess’ess I helped install into a Mach 1 went really smooth and easy . The wires were labeled well and had extra length that can be shortened if needed. That being said, the Mach 1 suffered wiring issues with performance aftermarket Do-dads, to the point where the Mustang was brought to a dedicated Mustang guru mechanic.
IMO the wiring kit was really nice and worth the money to avoid hassles for the average vehicle build.
I’ve been looking at e-brake options and came to the conclusion that if I can swing a t-case ebrake system, financially, I’ll do it. If not, I’ll stick with rear drums. I’ve had issues with every vehicle I’ve owned when it comes to e-brake cables. Every one of them seized. To re-enforce the ebrake during heavy winching, I’m going to add a couple Wilwood line locks or possibly a Mico line lock if the price is right. I wouldn’t use line locks as an ebrake they aren’t designed to hold for long periods of time. If you brake a line or fitting, the line lock would be useless. Last time I winched my ebrake failed to hold.
Ouch! that collar bone break looks nasty. With Slicks hand, your collar bone and my knee, maybe we should start a “Body Damage” thread.
Looks like a great project. Looking forward to more updates.
Its amazing how much damage them little demon critters can do. My Taco will be sitting in my shop space for a while as I pick away at it. Maybe I should be pro-active and set some traps and poison. I don’t need wiring issues due to rodents.
Are you planning any suspension upgrades? What tire size are on it, in the pics?
The first set of Chevys were the 1988-95, 4wd springs junk yard specials, and they were cheap but worn out.
I later replaced them with Canadian made Standens, 22-795 direct replacement 63” Chevy springs, 4 leaf + overload spring. They were perfect for my rig. I’ll be duplicating that setup again.
The Standens were great springs. Truck loaded or unloaded with the weight of gear, they road amazingly. Ton of flex and stable without running a sway bar. In fact they have so much flex I ripped my old e-locker harness apart. I may add limiting straps this time around. That being said I swapped the e-locker out and replaced it with a mechanical cable actuator…. IMO, WAY MORE reliable. My elocker harnes was short to begin with, extending the harnes would have been a pain. Another issue with my elocker was, the housing corroded through and destroyed the internal actuator. I tried finding a used one without success, most were in similar condition and Toyota wanted $900 for a new one…. eek!
In other news, the hospital called me last week and asked me to come in for a CT scan of my knee. They looked at my X-ray again after I went back for a third time, hoping to get my knee drained. They found a fracture in my upper tibia (Proximal Tibia) 10 day after the fact. The fracture doesn’t need surgery at the moment as long as fracture doesn’t expand. Looks like I’ll be out of commission for about 3 months. I had the choice of a cast or leg brace, I chose the brace. Still working, but on light (boring) duty.
I love the Chevy’s, they’re a fantastic option of this generation Tacoma. I’m planning on doing the Chevy swap again. I had requested Heffener return my leaf springs so I can put them back on the Taco. I received them, but they cut off the mounting eyes. Huge bummer! They said they would get back to me. The bolts were anti-seized so they should have came out easily. I could rebuild them but buying the main leaves are almost the same price as a complete spring pack. They suspect an apprentice may have torched them when they cut up the old frame.
Hey Kev.
Yup, Taco looks odd. It looks really small sitting on the road in front of my house.
Anyway, mechanically it now close to being a new truck, new canvas.
In the meantime, Heffener finished the frame swap. I’m very happy with the results. I requested the Chevy rear leaf springs be returned so I can use them again, but Dave noticed they cut the main springs had the mounting eyes cut off. Looks like a torch was used. I’ll talk to my service rep about that, I’d like to have them replaced.
Dave was kind and helped me pick the Taco up.
heres a few
pics
I had planned on taking more pics of the frame swap progression but I had a little accident at work. I was fabricating a safety hand railing for our new, second building at work. The railing measures 16’ long x 47” high. I had 2 weld to do and the railing would have been finished. I finished one end of the railing and was moving the welder to the other end when the clamp keeping the railing from falling over failed. The railing fell over hitting my outside knee, knocking me over. I thought my leg was broken at first. No broken bones, may have soft tissue damage. I haven’t got the results back yet from my ultrasound.
So, I’ll be out of commission for a bit
Todays update. The new frame is being reassembled. I decided to have the transmission oil changed and water pump replaced. There were a bunch of parts that were replaced when they broke while removal, covered by the warranty. Basically when it’s all said and done, the taco will be close to new. I’m amazed how quick this is coming together. The mechanic is a nice guy, pretty friendly.
New OEM leafs, brake lines, lower control arms, rear shocks, gas’s tank, e brake cable, and a bunch of othe parts that escape my memory are included and covered by the recall. I was told any part that breaks or is wrecked during removal will be covered by the recall.
The Chevy springs are going back on the taco. I’ll take them to work and clean them up in our bid parts washer, they’ll clean up real good. The washer handles oil field gearbox parts with ease, removes rust and inhibits corrosion all in one step.
BTW I’m glad you bought the “Big Runner”, it’s an iconic rig. You deserve it.
Overall, the truck body and other components are in descent shape. I was expecting rust on the underbody. There were a few little spots but really nothing to worry about. Nothing major to replace so far, knock on wood.
