131 0410 Taco 18 Z - Photo 9007603

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We finally had a chance to mock up the truck with a BFGoodrich mounted on one of our 17x8 American Racing teflon-coated wheels. These new wheels are claimed to repel sticky mud and are perfect for our no-chrome tastes. Be sure to get long lug nuts, though, as they are thick wheels. We realized that trimming the front fenders and bumper was required to fit the 37s at full turn and stuff.

We continued the buildup at 4Wheelers Supply in Phoenix, where the rear bed cage came together quickly when we decided how we wanted the 2x17-inch Bilstein Rockcrawler coilover reservoir shocks to mount. We will eventually build an enclosed bed within the cage to store camping gear and tools. The bed cage ties into the internal cage and is made of 1 3/4-inch by 0.120-wall DOM tubing. Where the cage goes into the cab it is welded to the body. If it were a show truck we would have to put in a nice, tight grommet, but since it's a wheeler we welded it up. We aren't worried about cracking as the cage is strong, and for us body damage is cool.

Where the cage goes into the cab it is welded to the body. If it were a show truck we would have to put in a nice, tight grommet, but since it's a wheeler we welded it up. We aren't worried about cracking as the cage is strong, and for us body damage is cool.

Next we took the saw to the frame and bobbed off a few inches. This rock racer ain't gonna be haulin' hay so the bed is just there mostly for aesthetics, sponsor stickers, and hauling essentials.

With the frame shortened, we tore the bed apart and shortened just the bed sides by 12 inches and removed the inner supports to lighten things up a bit. To bob the sides, just mark two parallel vertical lines with tape and cut out the middle section. Then spot-weld the halves together. Leave an inch between the welds to get a warp-free finish. The bed sides needed some hammer work to get the body lines just perfect, and then the top inner edge was folded over to get rid of any sharp edges.

With the sides bobbed we also trimmed the wheelwells a bit to clear our 37-inch BFGoodrich Krawlers. The fuel door looked like an obstacle at first, but we eventually trimmed and folded over the corner of the door so it would work as original, but be able to clear the tire.

By now we knew where the front and rear axles would sit so we sent our driveshafts to Tom Wood's Custom Driveshafts to be modified for length and given 1350 U-joints at the pinion yokes. In the rear we measured both for a one-piece shaft as shown, and for a two-piece by keeping the rear carrier bearing. As you can see, running the carrier bearing greatly improves ground clearance for the driveshaft, so we went that route.

On the front suspension, shop foreman, head fabricator, and generally grumpy bossman Rob Bonney gave us a quick lesson in fabricating with tube. This support bar was first marked to length with the correct angle. Next, the tube is cut to angle and length with a chop saw.

To get a clean tight fit, the tube is then coped with this coping belt sander. The tube is clamped into a small vise, which can be set to the desired angle and then driven into the round end of the belt.

When the tubes and the front hoops are welded in, the frame is first reinforced since the factory material isn't very beefy, and this spreads out the load from the front shocks.

On the rear of the truck we needed a strong bumper that could take some abuse but still have that race look. Plus we needed one that would work as a crossmember since the stock version was removed. This 2x4 rectangular tube with sleeved speed holes should do the job.

With all the stock brakes gone, and the ABS tossed out in the yard for the dogs to play with, we needed a way to balance the front and rear discs. This proportioning valve from Poly Performance is protected inside the rear framerail and will allow us to give the rear just slightly less grab than the front.

The rear brake lines will run down the Panhard bar and then split across the axlehousing, while the front brakes drop down to the top of the differential and then split out the tube.

To mount the bed sides, the 4Wheelers crew first bolted the fronts to the cab and then built brackets to attach the rear to the bed cage. We decided to dovetail the back in towards the frame so that only the tires stuck out from the frame at the rear bumper. This should protect those valuable sponsors' stickers and taillights, and though not exactly legal, we've got a plan to make it so.

About this time, Clifton Slay from Poison Spyder Customs showed up with his new Tacoma bumper. The stock turn-signal lights pop into the 1/4-inch-thick bumper and will plug back into the original wiring harness.

The truck really started to come together as we installed the PSC front bumper, and the fiberglass fenders and supercharger hood from Kartek. The bumper houses Warn's new 9.5XP winch with the fastest line speed under load of any Warn winch so far. The solenoid box and control switch will eventually be wired inside of the truck for easy access and to keep as much airflow to the radiator as possible above the winch.

We finally had a chance to mock up the truck with a BFGoodrich mounted on one of our 17x8 American Racing teflon-coated wheels. These new wheels are claimed to repel sticky mud and are perfect for our no-chrome tastes. Be sure to get long lug nuts, though, as they are thick wheels. We realized that trimming the front fenders and bumper was required to fit the 37s at full turn and stuff.

Along with brakes, steering is one of the two most important parts of any vehicle, and this year we wanted to try the ram-assist setup from Howe Performance Steering. The system requires marking the box and sector shaft at full left, right, and center, and measuring the distance that the ram will need to move down to at least 1/8 inch. Howe then builds your box and ram to have just the right amount of throw and stop for each individual steering setup. We initially measured 7 7/8 inches of throw on our tie rod.

Once we received the box and ram, we found that the ram couldn't be mounted from the axle to the tie-rod as we had planned, due to interference with our suspension brackets. We measured everywhere else until we figured out that the pitman arm would be perfect. This would still help the steering box with the stress of turning big tires, and after TIG-welding a bracket to the arm we had exactly 7 7/8 inches of throw for the ram.

Our luck continued when we tried to mount the TC power-steering pump, which has been modified by Howe for exact pressure and flow of our application. By just drilling out some of the mounting holes in the pump and using some spacers, it bolted right into the stock Toyota mounting bracket.

We found a place inside the passenger-side wheelwell to mount the reservoir/filter. Meanwhile, on the driver side we used small Spicer U-joints and a custom shaft to run from the stock steering wheel to the modified Scout steering box.

With steering, bumpers, axles, and suspension all in the truck, and all the major tube work finished, we finally got on the road home from Phoenix, but the long list of "little things" seemed to grow every day. We first took the truck to Hanna Quality Motorsports where Ken Hanna fabricated up a race-truck-style lightbar. The bar is controlled by a 10-inch electric linear actuator from Auto Loc and can fold down behind the cab to protect it from low-hanging branches. Then when we hit the dunes or dark trails we can power up the four Warn SDB-210HB driving/spot beam lights and should be wheeling till dawn.

To reduce the power loss from a mechanical fan and to allow for manual fan shutdown during deep water or mud crossings, we replaced the stock clutch fan with this dual electric unit from Flex-a-lite.

Next it was off to Toyota Racing Development to give our 3.4L V-6 a little more poop. The 190 horses it comes stock with are boosted to a claimed 265 with this Roots-style blower under the hood, and torque is bumped from 220 to a reported 267 at the flywheel. Since TRD is a factory-backed performance line, a dealer-installed supercharger with the factory airbox intact is also covered under a five-year or 60,000-mile warranty. Unfortunately the supercharger requires premium 91-or-higher octane unleaded, and these days that's not cheap.

First step was removing the stock intake, and luckily we had designed the front suspension and engine cage with some forethought to make room for the blower. As it would turn out, the blower is no taller than the stock intake.

The new blower can also have TRD's 7th injector and fuel management system added for another 45 horses. This system puts an injector before the blower to give a cold fuel charge, and also adds a piggyback computer to the current computer found behind the glovebox to control when the injector squirts. The 7th injector should only fire above 35 percent throttle and shouldn't affect mileage much, unless you drive with your foot in it constantly.

With the Marlin Crawler dual transfer cases, 5.13 gears in our axles, and a possible 310 hp, we shouldn't have any problem with big BFGoodrichs. Since we are going to have a custom intake, we will need to get a custom program for our ECM to keep the engine running correctly. Tune in next month when we dial in all the little things and hit the trails.