The Frankenstein Build: 1996 Tacoma Long Travel/Expo/Trail Rig

[Blackdawg]

Very cool build, a little surprised that with a long travel setup they would have utilized factory LBJs when they are so prone to failure


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Tell me about it. I've had 3 explosions of my own. Once bolts in colorad. And both sides the joints failed.

That said as long as you maintain them and swap them out regularly 50-80k you're fine. Red loctite the bolts.

There are only two kits out there that use a lower unibal joint for 1st gen tacomas. One is dirt designs which is horizontal. And the other is solo. Solos kit is cool...but you have to run their fully fabbed spindle..and steering upgrade..which brings the front kit to a whopping 7000 bucks or so I think. Not even sure that includes shocks. It's a nice kit though. But my money tree isn't that big.

But uniballs don't tend to last as long anyways. Would need changed every 20-50k depending on use. So I don't mind the OEM lbjs. Which is all I use. Aftermarket ones are absolute junk.

 

[Blackdawg]

hmm..Well it looks like i skipped this part too.

Anyways here are some photos of my supercharger rebuild and install.

Frankenstein Build-23.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Frankenstein Build-24.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Frankenstein Build-25.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Frankenstein Build-26.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Frankenstein Build-27.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Frankenstein Build-28.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Frankenstein Build-29.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Frankenstein Build-30.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Frankenstein Build-31.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Frankenstein Build-32.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Frankenstein Build-33.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Frankenstein Build-34.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Frankenstein Build-35.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
Frankenstein Build-36.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr


That said, runs like ****. Can't get it to work at all. I have much less power then I did before. Major issues. Have swapped ecus twice now with no lucky. Ready to pull it and put it on Igor at this point.

 

[98tcoma3rz]

ok, don't judge me but I want to start a couple build threads for my tacos. I've heard of people "hosting" their photos. What the hell does that mean and how do I do it? lol. Whenever I try to upload pictures they're always too big of a file. Thanks.

 

[Blackdawg]

ok, don't judge me but I want to start a couple build threads for my tacos. I've heard of people "hosting" their photos. What the hell does that mean and how do I do it? lol. Whenever I try to upload pictures they're always too big of a file. Thanks.

No problem.

Hosting means using a third party to upload the files too. Then you grab a web link and insert it here. So when I go to your thread and open it, as the page downloads, the page and all the normal ExpoP stuff downloads from their sever while your photos download from the photo host site to be displayed on ExpoP page.

I use Flickr. You have to have a yahoo email to sign up, but i is FREE. you get a massive 1Tb of storage(1000Gb) and unlimited user bandwidth.

User bandwidth is how many times the photo gets downloaded from their servers and to me is VERY important.

Take Photobucket, they are also free but offer small storage and make you pay for more. The other part they kick you in the balls with is the user bandwidth hits. They only allow like, idk, 500mbs to of bandwdith. This means if lets say you have a photo on Photobucket. You link it to your build thread and its a 1mb photo. This means after 500 views of your photo, Photobucket will cut you off and instead of a photo you'll see the lovely "Whoops! Look whos popular! Upgrade to stop seeing this!" So you have to pay to allow more people to see your stuff.

Granted that may not be a concern for some. But my build got so popular that I was hitting my Bandwidth limit two days after its renewal and it would take 9 more days to reset.

Flickr doesn't do that! Another reason to use Flickr.

The final reason I use Flickr and the original reason i turned to it, is quality. Every photo host service uses data compression. So I you try and upload a fullsize TIFF image that is lets say 25mb. Every host service is going to compress it to a jpeg, weither you like it or not to save space on their servers. However, not all are created equal. Take photobucket again. You compress it a LOT. Flickr, doesn't as much and the difference is very obvious.

See here:


IMG_6394.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

pretty obvious which one is better.

All you do is upload your file and then copy the IMG code to here. Simple as that.

 

[98tcoma3rz]

Great! thanks a lot for your help. Did you ever figure out the supercharger?

 

[Blackdawg]

Great! thanks a lot for your help. Did you ever figure out the supercharger?

You bet!

Nope. Still battling with it.

My next move is knock sensor and wires.

After that..its coming off. Id rather drive it screaming at 4,000 rpms with some power then not be able to go past 3,000 rpms with no power.

 

[mtnkid85]

You've probably posted this somewhere, but what symptoms are you fighting with the supercharger? Is it staying in open loop mode or will it kick into closed loop after warm up?

You bet!

Nope. Still battling with it.

My next move is knock sensor and wires.

After that..its coming off. Id rather drive it screaming at 4,000 rpms with some power then not be able to go past 3,000 rpms with no power.

 

[Blackdawg]

You've probably posted this somewhere, but what symptoms are you fighting with the supercharger? Is it staying in open loop mode or will it kick into closed loop after warm up?

It loose power is the best way to describe it.

So any gear, doesn't matter which one. Im at 2k rpm and either floor it or just start accelerating. Around 2500 you can juuuussst start to feel the boost have a good effect. Once i hit 3k it goes to ****. There is lots of noise! Truck feels and sounds like it's under MASSIVE load. But it barely accelerates. The only way i can accelerate past 3k really is barely any throttle. Which is an issue for me since 70mph is over 3k.

Its like it gets bogged down or something is holding it back a lot.

No CEL at all. Have tried 3 different ECU's thinking it was that pulling so much timing. But didn't make a difference. Tired my OEM one, another 96/97 Tacoma one and a 97 4runner one. The 4runner one actually won't even rev past 4k in neutral.

I think its my knock sensors that either need replaced or the wiring harness. thinking of trying the GM knock sensor swap.

But if that doesn't fix it. Im taking it off and i'll install it on my Double cab Igor. Would rather just have the motor work in Frank as it did and fix the diff to drive the piss out of him again then be frustrated every time i want to go fast and literally can't. I have way less power then I did before.

At a loss really.

 

[mtnkid85]

It sounds like its staying in open loop mode, which is as you probably know kind of a limp mode, do you have a scan gauge or a scanner that will give a live feed? A variety of things could be causing it to stay in open loop mode even something simple like the coolant temp sensor would cause it.

How many miles do you think you've driven on it?

I just supercharged my 99 and it is slow to come out of open loop after startup sometimes. Acts exactly the same as yours while its in open loop. But i think it is just the computer relearning and adjusting to the SC.

 

[Blackdawg]

It sounds like its staying in open loop mode, which is as you probably know kind of a limp mode, do you have a scan gauge or a scanner that will give a live feed? A variety of things could be causing it to stay in open loop mode even something simple like the coolant temp sensor would cause it.

How many miles do you think you've driven on it?

I just supercharged my 99 and it is slow to come out of open loop after startup sometimes. Acts exactly the same as yours while its in open loop. But i think it is just the computer relearning and adjusting to the SC.

A lot of miles.

I put it on and drove to Canada in it and wheeled it, blew the front diff and then drove it home. And went on another trip. Might have 2k on it.

Interesting idea. I have an old ultra gauge lying around somewhere. What else could cause this?

 

[mtnkid85]

Its strange that it won't give you DTC, especially with as much driving as you've done with it. And with you swapping ecus around, I'm sure you've given them plenty of opportunities to reset.

I think just about anything that would cause the computer to see a different A/F ratio than it expects to see will cause it to stay in open loop mode. A vacuum leak, SC-intake or throttle body-SC gasket leak, O2 sensors failing/not functioning, fuel leak.
Also if the motor isn't getting up to operating temp it won't switch over. If you've verified that the motor is in fact warming up it could be a faulty temp sensor for the ecu.

Have you tried getting it to run with out the 7th injector hooked up? Maybe its not playing nice for some reason, you could just disconnect it and start it to isolate that from the equation. Maybe swap you stock pulley back on for a good test drive.

I also have a 1990 truck with a SC'ed 97 3.4l swapped into it. When I bought that truck it was totally hacked together and didnt have the o2 sensors hooked up correctly. Getting those straightened out got the truck to run correctly and go into closed loop for a while. But then one of the knock sensors failed and I believe that sent it into open loop again as well. And again this truck felt similar to what your describing for driving characteristics.
That truck would give me DTCs for everything though, thats how I knew what was up.

 

[Blackdawg]

Its strange that it won't give you DTC, especially with as much driving as you've done with it. And with you swapping ecus around, I'm sure you've given them plenty of opportunities to reset.

I think just about anything that would cause the computer to see a different A/F ratio than it expects to see will cause it to stay in open loop mode. A vacuum leak, SC-intake or throttle body-SC gasket leak, O2 sensors failing/not functioning, fuel leak.
Also if the motor isn't getting up to operating temp it won't switch over. If you've verified that the motor is in fact warming up it could be a faulty temp sensor for the ecu.

Have you tried getting it to run with out the 7th injector hooked up? Maybe its not playing nice for some reason, you could just disconnect it and start it to isolate that from the equation. Maybe swap you stock pulley back on for a good test drive.

I also have a 1990 truck with a SC'ed 97 3.4l swapped into it. When I bought that truck it was totally hacked together and didnt have the o2 sensors hooked up correctly. Getting those straightened out got the truck to run correctly and go into closed loop for a while. But then one of the knock sensors failed and I believe that sent it into open loop again as well. And again this truck felt similar to what your describing for driving characteristics.
That truck would give me DTCs for everything though, thats how I knew what was up.

Yea I get no codes at all ever. Its weird.

I did unplug the injector on a trip home and drove almost 100 miles with it unplugged, made no difference at all.

Fairly certain it gets up to operating temp. Motor gets plenty hot now with the blower on it when you open the hood up.

I will be going over the vac lines again too this summer once it warms up a bit.

Plan is: Knock sensor, o2 sensor, and check vac lines for leaks.

After that. I'm at a loss.

I think i'll try new Knock sensors, thinking the GM ones may be best. And get new O2 sensors too as I'm reading that helps. May as well.

What else is odd is that the truck ran totally fine before I put the blower on. No problems at all. Pulled hard. Was fun really.

 

[mtnkid85]

Will the truck throw any kinda of a trouble code? Can you force it to throw a code, i.e. unplug a o2 sensor or something? Just wondering

Hmm, well anyway keep us updated as you play with it because now I am intrigued.

 

[Adventurous]

Bums me out that you are having so many issues with the blower. Frank is one of my all-time favorite builds so it's tough to watch him sit on the sidelines nursing battle wounds. I can only imagine how aggravating that must be.

 

[Blackdawg]

Will the truck throw any kinda of a trouble code? Can you force it to throw a code, i.e. unplug a o2 sensor or something? Just wondering

Hmm, well anyway keep us updated as you play with it because now I am intrigued.

I haven't tried that. Will have too! Good idea.

Bums me out that you are having so many issues with the blower. Frank is one of my all-time favorite builds so it's tough to watch him sit on the sidelines nursing battle wounds. I can only imagine how aggravating that must be.

Thanks man! Been a great build.

Yea, the nature of the beast i guess haha I hate it a lot, but he seems to sit a lot lately.. Half the time i don't know why i still own a truck i barely drive anymore. But then i get to drive it and its all worth it

I love Frankenstein. More then a truck to me at this point really. I just wish i could spend more time and effort making him work.