I don't mall crawl...I yard crawl!!!

I had some sick palm trees in my front yard that I decided to remove and make room for parking.

I shopped around for the best deal and I save a lot of money! More truck mods!

Anyways it was an opportunity for me to do some yard crawling too! haha.

Check out my video:

Taco meet at IN n Out

TacomaWorld set up a meet in Signal Hill California which was fortunately close to me. My boys like their food and so do I.

We arrived at a little after 5pm and tacos were already there.

There were all generations but the majority was 2nd gens. I love all the gens and was actually looking for a 1st gen but there weren't any good deals to be had which held true for 2nd gens so I went with my 3rd gen which I really like.

Check out my video and this cool rig that has $100k in mods!!! no kidding!

My 2 cars are manuals and boxy

I guess I like straight lines a lot.

They're exactly 30 years apart but both have a straight hood and 'trunk.'

The Bimmer has "massive" 15 inch wheels and the Taco has "tiny" 16s.

Both are stick shift but the E30 has a aftermarket short shifter while the Taco has a somewhat longer throw but it's actually smoother.

E30 clutch is like doing a leg press. I actually got foot pain (plantar faciitis) from driving it straight for 2 months. I do have to admit wearing slip on shoes didn't help. The Taco clutch is light as a feather.

Bimmer has a single piston front brake while the Taco has 4 of them instead like you see in Brembos.

All in all they're different and I wouldn't have it any other way. I may need an automatic in my life though. lol

At the end of the day I'm a car guy. It will never end until the day I die but I think my kids will continue the legacy.

New shoes for the Taco!

Picked up a set of TRD 16 inch beadlock style this weekend out in LA. I know nobody knows me but I despise going to LA. lol

Anyways they are used but clean with Goodyear Duratrac 265/70r16 all terrains on them. The seller said they have 16k miles wear on them. They looked like decent tread to me so I nabbed them.

It was exercise to swap the wheels. Man I'm tired!

I think they change the look indeed and have noticed they are a tad noisy.

Tires are 1 inch taller in diameter than stocks.

Let me know what you think.

loaded  them up. having a truck is useful. lol

before

after

Tinkering with paint. I can't stop myself from modding!

This time I spent under $100 for this project which is actually really budget minded.

I ordered 2 cans of color match spray paint from automotivetouchup.com along with 1 can of SprayMax 2K clear coat. 2k has a built in hardener in the can so it will dry hard like a pro job and give you reduced chances of chipping as well as keep sealing the basepaint so chemical spills like gasoline won't harm it. CAUTION: BE sure to have a respirator when spraying that clearcoat. There's poisons that will kill you! Also use common sense to wear gloves and not to spray indoors unless you have great ventilation.

I already had primer and adhesion promotor from my last repair as well as various grit sandpaper.

The weekend mission was to paint my rear "chrome" bumper caps, door moldings and front grill pieces in body color quicksand.

I bought my door moldings on ebay for $35 painted ford black. I had a good cutter to trim down 2 moldings to side and grinded the edge straight. Why didn't I buy the Tacoma paint matched ones in the first place? Because they were $135 and I was planning on painting trim anyhow.

I wanted to give a little flare and difference on the SR5 grill I installed so I painted the emblem and the outer grill body color. I think it looked great.

Mission accomplished! Not the greatest job but you'll have to get up nice and close to see it wasn't a pro job. I can't complain for spending under $100.

Check out my video summary of what I did this weekend on YouTube.

Got wood? I did...new shift knob for my Taco

I wanted to change my shift knob in my 2017 Toyota Tacoma because I felt it was just a little too low. The problem is the Tacoma has zero seat height adjustments so you have to work your body around the truck vs vice versa.

I found this knob for Subaru guys but it was the same thread size for Toyota and was only $35 so I thought I'd try it.

The weight is about the same but the height is considerably taller.

Huge so to speak

Take a look at my video on how I removed the stock one and my opinions on the replacement.

Cleanly shaven Taco! Debadged, DEstickered, delicious

My first mod was a free mod.

I don't care for all the badges on any car so I took it off. I didn't have fishing line so I had plastic razor blades to work the adhesive. Fortunately it was a warm day so it wasn't too bad. I was too lazy to get the hair dryer.

I used some WD40 to remove the residual glue then used detailing spray clean that off.

I think it looks great!

Let me know what you think.

The finished product! So fresh so clean!

you can see the emblem before I removed it. Be careful not to lift too much or the emblem corners may scratch into the paint!

you can see the plastic razor blade I used to work the foam adhesive loose

Got me a truck! Toyota Tacoma!

I've been having some issues with my daily driver and because I have a 3 kids with one being an infant I really needed to have a at least 1 reliable driver.

I ended up buying a Tacoma or nickednamed Taco. Funny thing I bought it on Tuesday so I had to say #TacoTuesday. 😂

The color is called quicksand. Some will call it tan or beige. I will call it tactical FDE (Flat Dark Earth) so it sounds cooler. I wanted white but to find a shortbed double cab offroad 4x4 manual transmission (say that in a single breath) was impossible. In actuality it was the ONLY stick shift model in the entire state in that color! Northern California had plenty but many had tech packages with the moonroof. I didn't want one because it cuts down on the headroom of the truck. My gripe is the seats have zero adjustments.

Overall it's a nice truck though. Getting the rare manual was a great idea. I followed the advice of Car and Driver:  http://blog.caranddriver.com/how-wed-spec-it-2016-toyota-tacoma/

120 miles so far and I love it.

stay tuned on my youtube channel for a video review of it.

2017 Nissan Titan XD Cummins diesel obstacle course test drive!!!!

I went with my buddy Fred today to check out the new Nissan Titans. I wanted to see how the Cummins model was. I liked it.

I'm not sure how it compares to the Big Three but it's improved many times over versus my 2004 Titan I used to own. I'm sure the price tag does reflect it as well.

If you're looking for a truck, you should check it out.

Below is a video of the drive.