The Amocat- 2005 Tacoma

[aardvarcus]

Well, I got the fan shrouds heat welded together, reinstalled the fans, and tested the operation. Pictures are attached. It all appears to be working good based on the battery test. Now just to assemble the controller, which is presently a jumbled mess of parts and pieces, but everything is there just needs put together.

[freebeard]

Nice work. What's the white plastic bottle, radiator overflow?

[aardvarcus]

Correct, that is the factory radiator overflow bottle/tank. To provide better context, I attached the two "before" pictures, which show the factory Tacoma shroud and the Camry fans and shroud prior to modification. Basically on the Tacoma shroud I left the coolant tank section and the edge that touches the radiator untouched so it should bolt up and function just as stock. I removed the old fan ring and portions in the upper left and lower right to provide room for the new fans.

I was hoping just to be able to use the Camry fans in mostly their existing shroud without separating the two by mounting them diagonally, however it would have overhung the sides too much and caused interference issues.

Edit:
I added a few pictures of the assembly in progress. You can see my high tech work station (porch), custom aluminum workbench (step platform) and my ultra fancy plastic welder (40W soldering iron). The other pictures show a piece that I cut out before and after I heat welded it in. Note I just used the pieces I had to cut off the two shrouds to fill in the gaps that were left.

[aardvarcus]

Just as an update, I have completed, installed, and tested my electric fan swap on my Tacoma. I will be watching the next few tanks closely. I have decided to type up a detailed writeup of the swap, so I will post that when I get it finished. Attached are some spoiler photos though.

[Asanelli]

I understand that you are currently at 26 mpg, what is your perception / feasibility of getting the same mpg or bit less ie 25 mpg from a double cab pre-runner V6 6 speed, ie: is it possible to get the same mpg from that style truck with the V6?

[aardvarcus]

Asanelli,

To my knowledge there are no Double Cab Prerunner V6 6 Speeds in existence, you have to get a 4x4 to get the 6 speed manual in a Double Cab. The only way to get a 6 Speed Manual in a 4x2 Tacoma is the X-Runner, which is an Access Cab not Double Cab, and for an an Access Cab the I4 5 Speed manual is the best choice.

I have posted quite a bit about this subject in other threads, but I will summarize my thoughts here. I am assuming the Double Cab (Crew Cab) is a requirement for you, and that you have discovered Toyota doesn’t have any I4 5 Speed manuals in the Double Cab, hence why you are looking into the V6 which has the only manual (6 Speed 4x4).

The gearing is the issue with the 6 Speed. If you plan on using cruise control or driving while leaving the truck in gear, no I don’t think you could hit 25 MPG unless you change the gearing. If you used pulse and glide driving all the time then maybe you could hit 25 (since that reduced the effect of final drive gearing since you are mainly in neutral) however realize these trucks don’t “glide” very well stock, so get ready for a workout. I use terrain assisted pulse and glide (glide down hills or declines) but most of the time I stay in gear to keep from doing pulse and pulse driving.

As I have stated before, there are no better differential gears for a 4x4 Tacoma, so the only way to improve the gearing is a transmission swap, of which a T56 kit is available and would work if you have the $$$. Honestly, before I would do that I would buy a Double Cab I4 with the 4 speed auto and convert it to a 5 Speed Manual, but I don’t even know if that is feasible without completely redoing the electronics.

So in a nutshell, without doing lots of work either swapping things or shifting in and out of neutral while you are driving, Toyota doesn’t have a good Double Cab Tacoma configuration available. That is the only reason I have an Access Cab.

[/Change Tone]

But really though, your mileage may vary though. Don’t listen to what people say on the internet (including me), do your own research, draw your own conclusions. Think outside the box and try things. Your experiences will be different than mine and will shape your life differently. I have done many things that 98% of the internet says is impossible, impractical, or stupid.

If you want a 6 Speed manual Double Cab Tacoma (which from your posts on the subject I think you do) then go get one and show us how it is done. I don’t like my access cab, it is uncomfortable on a third passenger and I prefer my guests to be comfortable, because that is the polite thing to do. It irks me that people don’t want to ride in my truck, but I don’t blame them. Most of the time I use another vehicle when I know I have to make a longer trip with more than two people, that is a compromise I made due to the high miles I drive solo or with 1 passenger and limited miles driven with 3 or more occupants.

[aardvarcus]

I haven’t had much time to work on Tacoma related items, life has been hectic, but I have been working on a few ideas.

E-Fan Update-
My electric fan conversion is working good, but it runs on low speed more that I would like. I think the low speed cut on temperature of the coolant thermal switch and the operating temperature of the thermostat are too close together, making it run more than needed. The temp of the engine hovers around 195F +/- 5F, which I am led to understand is normal for these trucks. Typically once the fan kicks on low, it doesn’t kick back off for the remainder of the drive. I am considering putting in a slightly cooler thermostat, but I hesitate because I don’t want the ECU to stay in warmup mode. Alternatively I could just disable the low circuit, but that negates all the reasons I wanted to use a two speed fan.
One major upgrade that may help this situation is ducting the upper grill to the radiator using chloroplast or similar. Right now there are huge openings that allow the air coming into the grill to go around the radiator, maybe if it was direct ducted that would lower the normal cruising temperature enough to make the fans kick back off of low. I know when I did exactly this on my old car it helped tremendously.

Fender Flare Removal-
Another modification I am considering is removing the black plastic fender flares from the sides of the truck. These are the flares that are on the 4x4, note the 4x2 non-prerunner doesn’t have them. From my measurements, they stick out about an inch. They are not necessary with my current wheels and tires, the tire would still be well within the wheel well without them. I do not see any real aero advantage to having them on there. The problem is that with them removed, there will be large square holed in the bodywork from where they mounted. It looks like those who removed the flares end up using plugs to plug the holes.

Belly Pan-
I am still designing the belly pan. I know basically what I want to do with it, but haven’t got super in depth with starting to make it. First, I want to cover over the bottoms of my step/sliders. My preferred material (3/16” aluminum sheet/plate) is a bit pricier than I really wanted to spend on this project, so I may end up just reusing some 0.090 aluminum I have lying around. The area is basically 15” by 80” with supports every 12”-16” or so.
The next area I want to cover is right down the center of the truck. I want to make a light “skid plate” style belly pan in several pieces to run from the front bumper all the way to where the muffler and gas tank are. I am thinking making a light steel frame and skinning that with aluminum would be the best compromise between strength and weight. There are companies that make these skid plates out of folded metal (aluminum or steel) however their designs are not flush and would not be very good aerodynamically.

[aardvarcus]

A new update, aka no this thread isn’t dead.

I had a hard time finding plugs that would be big enough to fill the square holes, but eventually I found and ordered plugs from NAPA that I think will work. I will try to pull the fender flares off soon.

I have gone back and forth on how to make my underbelly belly pan-skid plate combo. I am trying to balance weight, durability off road, cost, ease of construction, ease of maintenance, etcetera. That pushed me towards aluminum or high strength plastic. The biggest problem was getting access to reasonably priced HDPE, UHMW, or aluminum as what I could get a deal on (aka cost) would probably drive what I would use, and I didn’t want to spend retail on this project because of the amount and thicknesses I needed. So it was hard to really design when I didn’t even know what I would build it out of.

Well, thanks to a good deal I found that problem is solved. Yesterday I brought home enough ¼” thick diamond plate aluminum pieces to make the belly pan out of. Obviously I will put the smooth side down. Most of the pieces are U shaped, 21” by 33.5” with 3.5” bends on each side of the 33.5” dimension. If they were flat they would be 28x33.5. I may try to include some of the bends in the structure for rigidity.

I am sure many think this material is way too heavy to be used as a belly pan. I am sure many think this material is way to light duty to be a skid plate. So I figure this is a good compromise for both. Truth be told I would have been happy with 3/16, but beggars can’t be choosers.

So hopefully I will do a real design in the next few weeks. Life is crazy busy.

[freebeard]

Yay for progress. I recently figured out that I have a washing machine cabinet that I could scavenge materials from. Once I'm buttoned out for the rainy season, I can make progress on a steel airdam/diverter w/ air curtains.

Why ribs up? Wouldn't it be easier to attach to the frame with the smooth side up? The ribs won't make much difference aerodynamically, and if you roll it over, everyone will go "Oooooh, diamond-plate!"

If the sections are easily removable, when it gets beat up you can drop a piece and hammer and shrink it flat again.

[wdb]

Originally Posted by freebeard

"Oooooh, diamond-plate!"

I lol'd.