[aardvarcus]

Wow, fast reply. Those are both on my list, just a little farther down. I am going to do an air dam, but it is part of a bigger project on the front end because I want to make it quickly removable for rough roads/trails. I don't want to do the grill block until after I swap to electric fans, and get a feel for the temperature baseline.

Let’s jump right into the bed cover. I have run through many options on bed covers, and have admired all the great looking aeroshells that members on here have made. Truck has a factory Cd 0.394. I am leaning towards doing a cab wing and tonneau cover combination. That would give me the most flexibility as far as still loading tall things in the back half of the bed that a full aeroshell would not allow. I think it would also retain the best visibility.

I will present my initial plan below, and then I would like your comments on how to make it better and/or easier to construct.

The Tacoma has a 6’-ish bed. The “cab wing” would be built similar to a half aeroshell, and only cover about 3’ worth of bed. What I have to start with is a snugtop xtr bed cover in rough shape I picked up for cheap. It was designed for a 5’ bed, and I am going to hack up into the half cover. You can see from an attached photo, it has a two part window; my plan is to remove the back window and end the cover right after the current fiberglass divider between the windows, forming a 3’ish bedcover. The front window and good visibility will be retained.

Next the roof will get removed, the front most part with the bump up will be removed, and the middle and back of the roof will be reinstalled starting in the front on a curve following the AST-II template in side view. The sides and front of the cover will be left intact. This will form a gap between the top sides of the cover above the windows and the lowered roof. This gap will be prepped and fiberglassed, tying the two together. I have attached a sketch of what I am proposing.

Obvious downsides are little plan taper and the vertical extension on each side of the cover is less than ideal. Upside is ease of construction, and a “more normal” appearance, as you will not see the tapering roof section from the side, only from the back.

I am unsure on the best way to address the tonneau cover, as presently the template AST-II does not touch the back of the tailgate when overlaid. Also any half tonneau would need to be quickly removed and stowed. Options are to install a half tonneau at present elevation, raise it up to touch the template, or extend it back to touch the template.

Edit: The template looks off in the front, but it will be correct when I replace my front shocks and raise it up a bit, plus I am accounting for additional dead load in the back of the truck.