Ultimate Taco - Part Tres

We finally had a chance to mock up the truck with a BFGoodrich mounted on one of our 17x8 American Racing teflon-coated wheels. These new wheels are claimed to repel sticky mud and are perfect for our no-chrome tastes. Be sure to get long lug nuts, though, as they are thick wheels. We realized that trimming the front fenders and bumper was required to fit the 37s at full turn and stuff.

Along with brakes, steering is one of the two most important parts of any vehicle, and this year we wanted to try the ram-assist setup from Howe Performance Steering. The system requires marking the box and sector shaft at full left, right, and center, and measuring the distance that the ram will need to move down to at least 1/8 inch. Howe then builds your box and ram to have just the right amount of throw and stop for each individual steering setup. We initially measured 7 7/8 inches of throw on our tie rod.

Once we received the box and ram, we found that the ram couldn't be mounted from the axle to the tie-rod as we had planned, due to interference with our suspension brackets. We measured everywhere else until we figured out that the pitman arm would be perfect. This would still help the steering box with the stress of turning big tires, and after TIG-welding a bracket to the arm we had exactly 7 7/8 inches of throw for the ram.

Our luck continued when we tried to mount the TC power-steering pump, which has been modified by Howe for exact pressure and flow of our application. By just drilling out some of the mounting holes in the pump and using some spacers, it bolted right into the stock Toyota mounting bracket.

We found a place inside the passenger-side wheelwell to mount the reservoir/filter. Meanwhile, on the driver side we used small Spicer U-joints and a custom shaft to run from the stock steering wheel to the modified Scout steering box.

With steering, bumpers, axles, and suspension all in the truck, and all the major tube work finished, we finally got on the road home from Phoenix, but the long list of "little things" seemed to grow every day. We first took the truck to Hanna Quality Motorsports where Ken Hanna fabricated up a race-truck-style lightbar. The bar is controlled by a 10-inch electric linear actuator from Auto Loc and can fold down behind the cab to protect it from low-hanging branches. Then when we hit the dunes or dark trails we can power up the four Warn SDB-210HB driving/spot beam lights and should be wheeling till dawn.

To reduce the power loss from a mechanical fan and to allow for manual fan shutdown during deep water or mud crossings, we replaced the stock clutch fan with this dual electric unit from Flex-a-lite.

Next it was off to Toyota Racing Development to give our 3.4L V-6 a little more poop. The 190 horses it comes stock with are boosted to a claimed 265 with this Roots-style blower under the hood, and torque is bumped from 220 to a reported 267 at the flywheel. Since TRD is a factory-backed performance line, a dealer-installed supercharger with the factory airbox intact is also covered under a five-year or 60,000-mile warranty. Unfortunately the supercharger requires premium 91-or-higher octane unleaded, and these days that's not cheap.

First step was removing the stock intake, and luckily we had designed the front suspension and engine cage with some forethought to make room for the blower. As it would turn out, the blower is no taller than the stock intake.

The new blower can also have TRD's 7th injector and fuel management system added for another 45 horses. This system puts an injector before the blower to give a cold fuel charge, and also adds a piggyback computer to the current computer found behind the glovebox to control when the injector squirts. The 7th injector should only fire above 35 percent throttle and shouldn't affect mileage much, unless you drive with your foot in it constantly.

With the Marlin Crawler dual transfer cases, 5.13 gears in our axles, and a possible 310 hp, we shouldn't have any problem with big BFGoodrichs. Since we are going to have a custom intake, we will need to get a custom program for our ECM to keep the engine running correctly. Tune in next month when we dial in all the little things and hit the trails.