The evolution of "Alpine" Tundra

[RoundOut]

Missing the 2007 Expedition Trophy was a tough bite to chew. To help myself focus on the positive, I figured I would shed a little light on the expeditionifying of my 2003 Toyota Tundra SR5 4.7L V8 4WD Access Cab.

I'll do this in several posts. Obviously now, it is much more expedition ready than ever before, as I had hoped to join the festivities in AZ this fall. I have owned it for four years now, LOVE THE TRUCK AS MUCH AS ONE CAN AN INANIMATE OBJECT, and it has become a focal point on a mission to be able to spend more quailty time with my family outdoors.

Here we go with Part 1, mostly on performance mods...

When I purchased it from Fred Haas Toyota in late July 2003, I had a few aftermarket goodies put on, in anticipation of increasing fuel economy. The sticker EPA ratings were 17/13. Here is how I took delivery of it…

Factory & Port installed options:
·Fog Lights
·LSD
·Power Windows & Locks
·AM/FM/CD/Cassette
·Heated mirrors
·Towing package (includes 130 amp alternator, transmission fluid cooler)
·Rear hitch receiver

Goodies I purchased and included in the original deal:
·K&N FIPK cold air intake (at this time, they only made one for up to 2002 – see additional information on this sore subject below)
·Challenger Deflectashield aluminum over-the-rails pickup tool box
·Line-X spray in bedliner
·Aftermarket leather seats & door panel upgrade

Goodies I bought in the parts department before leaving:
·Bug deflector
·OEM rugged Husky-type floor mats

Not satisfied with the nameplate fuel economy, plus the K&N, I was looking for better horsepower and therefore, performance. The first mods I decided I wanted were a Bassani exhaust system and JBA headers. I had the make-ready shop install my Bassani a week after I took delivery.

Figuring to get the big horsepower improvements advertised by K&N and Bassani, I knew I would get better fuel economy, but that was surely elusive. After lamenting about it on TundraSolutions.com, I learned from others there, that the mass air flow sensor could not accurately measure the great volume of air flowing in on my cold air intake. The experts there suggested that restricting the air flow into the filter could actually improve economy. They were right. I purchased a pre-filter cover (I cannot remember what they call this, but it is essentially a nylon sleeve that fits over the filter with elastic on both ends) and it helped markedly. My city mileage was approaching 14.5 regularly.

My next mod was a rear bumper from Tough Country that I purchased locally at Master Hitch. I immediately started saving for the front bumper. I really liked their product and it was locally (El Campo, TX) made.

Getting it home, I was excited to show it to a buddy that wheeled alot in his lifted T-100. I learned about TundraSolutions.com from a him, and that started me down the trail to reach "off-road-ready nirvana".

Before purchasing headers, I had about 5000 miles on my new Tundra. I ordered the headers from JBA through TundraSolutions.com and began looking for a shop that would do the suggested 4-6 hour work at a reasonable rate. The hose-head service Tech at Fred Haas wanted 10 hours @ $70/hr for an R&R of exhaust manifolds. Screw that! I finally found a performance shop that would do it for $350.

After a couple tanks, I began to notice surge of fuel economy. I would consistently hit 16+ in the city.

The guy that installed my headers told me I should consider a Y-Pipe to squeeze out even more, so I bought one, also from JBA, and had the local muffler shop install it. That was about all for the performance mods.

My first highway trip to Tulsa to visit mom after finishing the performance mods, yielded a whopping 19.5 on the way up, and even more loaded on the way back, I hit 21 mpg. What a beautiful thing!!!

[Desertoutpost]

Good post. Funny thing is while reading your mods I read JBA, funny its 1/2 mile from my house. Do you know what JBA stands for and who JBA is? Just some good trivia, sorry not to jack your thread.

[RoundOut]

Do you know what JBA stands for and who JBA is?

Let's have it....

[erod]

roundout...any pics? i spoke a but too soon, or late, apparently. looks sweet!

[Desertoutpost]

Let's have it....

Okay, sorry I got side tracked but I'm back...

JBA would stand for John Bittle Associates

John was a car sales man at a for dealership, Drew Ford. While he worked as a sales man he also had a hobby of building really bitchin mustangs and racing them. The story goes he became so good at the add on he was making for his race cars ford engineers soon caught wind and started to have a look for themselves. Well as time went on Ford started to contact him directly at the dealership about questions on this and that, and just really start to flame the sales manager. But because this was Ford he couldn't get all over them or John for that fact. He was having his cake and eating it too, Ford would send him prototype parts and he would put his tweek on them and after a few races he would send them back to Ford.

Well as you would almost guess he realized he could do much better at building this stuff then selling cars, (although he was awesome at this too), so he opened up a little shop on Mission Gorge Road in San Diego and stated to make this stuff full time, the rest is history.

**I got this story told to me by the guy who was his sales manager**

[RoundOut]

Before my inaugural off-road screwup at Big Bend, I had purchased a come-along, a yank-strap (that I didn't know how to use properly) and a shovel, just in case.

That was a $400 lesson ($100 fine, and $300 towing out of the black gumbo). Darn, that was half a Warn winch.

After lusting for a winch but not affording one yet, I figured I could get some functionality from a Hi-lift, some accessories, and some straps. And, my hand-brake wouldn't be the wiser, LOL.

Another thing I learned in Big Bend that summer, was that bouncing off-road is well beyond the "working load limit" of the little hook/screw thingys that secured my tool box to my bed rails. Before mounting another 60 pounds of Hi-lift, I figured some reinforcement was in order.

A buddy came over and we yanked the tool box, drilled holes in the cap in one place and used the stake pocket's bottom as another mounting point. Together with the hook, that made a 6 point mount for the box, more in line with my intended use.

We then put some plate steel backing on the inside of the tool box to mate up with the Hi-Lift Jeep mounts that I purchased. We installed the Jeep mounts and the Hi-Lift has been there almost ever since. I've used it and the come-along to bail my own truck out once, and to lift the vehicle to rotate tires, but that is about it. It's a good and relatively cheap insurance policy.

Here are pics of the mounts without, and with the Hi-Lift on.

[RoundOut]

My wife had her new Sequoia, the same color as my Tundra just a couple weeks after I got my Tundra. That Sequoia, is by far, the finest vehicle I have ever owned. I wish I could expeditionify it! I really envied her signal mirrors, so I got some!

Her Sequoia also had painted mirror covers, but she wouldn't trade me. I found some painted ones at Carson Toyota in Cali for $25. DEAL! I hate chrome.

First, I ordered the Muth signal mirrors from Performance, and since Performance didn't list the Tundra heated mirrors, I ordered the Sequoia ones. After all, everything on them is the same, right? WRONG. I called Muth and they said they couldn't figure out why Performance wouldn't stock the heated ones for the Tundra, but they would switch them out no charge. They even cross-shipped. Great company, Muth is!

I did everything except splice the tail light wires. I called my buddy at the make-ready shop and got him to do it for $25. I was too scared to splice to the wrong wire. LOL Roll forward a couple years, I have no fear any more...



Anyhow, back to the story. Almost 18 months after owning her, it was time for some new shoes. I had considered all the tires out there and liked the aggressive look and ratings that the BFG ATs were sporting. I decided that I would lift it 2.5" and get the 285x75R16s, a 33" tire that was about 2" larger in diameter than my original Dueler HT pavement specials.

I decided that I would go with the Wheeler's Coil Springs, new Bilstiens for the front end, Camburg UCAs, get an Add-A-Leaf for the back, and be done with it. Not so simple. Wheelers, at the time, was out of their coils for the Tundra and it would be months before a new design was going to be ready. I decided to get the spacer lift, using a RevTek 2.5" kit that comes with the differential drop spacers. Realizing that the Tundra's suspension geometry limits one to lifting only 2.5", I rationalized that since I had sagged an inch with the heavy front end, I could go 3.5". So, I added an extra Daystar 1" spacer and told the installer to get longer bolts.

In order to protect the CVs at the higher angle, I bought the Porsche 930 boots from Kartek. They would do the trick, I thought. (They sent the wrong ones, so we put back on the OEs).

I ordered, along with the lift, Wheelers' Black Alloy 16x8 rims for the new tires. Boy, this would really make it look good, I thought! I was right (biased, here, but I love black rims!)

Pics:

1. Here's a "before" front suspension
2. Here's an "almost done" "After" - still needs to mount the spindle
3. Here's a MUCH more PROUD look.

[RoundOut]

I was getting some rubbing and that really chapped me, since all the reading I did, said that 2.5" of lift would clear the 285 BFG ATs. Then I noticed that the shop left a 1/4" spacer from the RevTek kit out of the stack of installed spacers. Back to the shop and they added the last spacer. I have NO IDEA why they did that, but oh, well.

It almost cured the rubbing. On compression, I was still hitting the inner rear fender on the driver's side when turning left. I had yet to learn of the BFH mod, so I lived with it for a while.

After getting the last 1/4" plate on the truck, I had about a half-inch pre-runner look. Too high in the front. I ordered a 1" block and longer U-bolts from Wheelers and went back to the shop. Now we're talking! Minimal rubbing and the good lift.

BFH mod, still to come.

Well, the first time driving in the rain was eye-opening (or closing, depending on where you were standing). My new tires extended enough beyond the cheesy original fender trim (with that pesky chrome trim), that they wet-sandblasted my whole side panels. I needed some flares, and still had too much chrome.

I called a buddy at Tejas Toyota and they ordered me a new set of OE flares that fit on some type of Tundra and were a direct bolt-on to my truck's body, too. That cured most of the wet-sanding and got rid of a 3/8" strip of chrome around each wheelwell.

I also had him order me a new grille. They had a dark (Thunder - I think) grey one with no chrome except the Toyota emblem. I pulled the V8 emblem out when I switched the grilles and never put it in the new one. I then used fishing line to get rid of most of the other emblems, leaving the SR5s on the sides and the V8 4WD on the tailgate. Those would eventually come down, too.

Here's an embarrassing pic that shows the fender flares pretty plainly. LOL

[grouch]

Nice job RoundOut. Looks really good. I always loved the looks of the Tundras. Are you going to get a shell for it?

**Hijack alert**

Desert, up until two months ago, I too lived close to JBA. I lived in La Mirage off Mission Gorge. Too bad I moved, we could have met at Rubios before heading out to Borrego!

** Hijack off**

[erod]

ahhhhm, pics ????