Vegas: 2012 Trail build thread

[Vegas]

So instead of high jacking others threads I thought is was time to start my build thread…

About me:
Growing up my dad was a semi-mechanic, he was never trained and he figured it out as he went… for a while he would buy and sell cars… usually cars with broken time chains or other disaster… He would always throw way more money into a car than he ever got out, so at some point my mom put an end to that hobby of his. I spent a lot of weekends in junk yards helping him look for parts and my Pops knew the name of every employee at NAPA auto parts store, cause he was in there daily… So I learned a lot from him growing up good and bad… I never saw him use a torque wrench and he fell in love the day he found J&B weld and used it to hold many cars together. So that was my training for this build.

So I had a Toyota 4runner 4th Gen SR5 and it was the best car I have ever owned and the first car I ever purchased brand new… I told myself I would never pick up a wrench to it… all the years of being under a car and trying to fix it in time to get to school/work the next day was over. If anything broke, I would take it to Toyota and say fix it… but nothing ever broke on my Toyota in 60k miles…. Then I traded it in when the Warranty was over, out of some fear that I would start having problems… At the time I didn’t understand that if you take care of these trucks they will last f-o-r-e-v-e-r. So I went over to a BMW 335i and had nothing but problems I was in the dealership every other week for a code that would pop up on the dash… and then of course during this time Las Vegas had the worst/first snow storm ever in the part of the city I lived in called Maderia Canyon: there is a massive Hill to get home and shocker the BMW never came close to making it home… as I walked up the hill in the snow I saw lots of lifted trucks and SUVs climb that hill, in fact a couple of them went up and down a couple of times for fun... I had lots of thoughts on that long walk home and most of them was I really really miss my 4runner… and that is my journey that took me to my 2012 Trail.


MODs so far:
285 Duratracs
Tint
TRD intake
Bud built sliders: full plated
Borla-cat back exhaust
Spider trax spacers
Plasti-dipped badges and TE rims
Cobra 75 Cb
Gobi rack & Ladder
Otrattw switches
Leds for all interior lights
Kappas throughout
MODs to come:
SoCalTrail’s behind the grill HID euro fog lights
Grillcraft upper/lower
Dual Battery setup
Air compressor under the hood
TRD SUPER CHARGER!!!!!!!!!!

Day 1

Day 2: Tint And Duratracs

TRD Intake arrived

Toystory's great write-up got me through it

Done... I am loving the whistling sound of it and sometimes I pretend I can feel some proformance gains.

Borla Cat back arrived... wow looks real darn close to the factory exhaust!

But the tip is shiny right?

Sliders came... realy heavy


continued...

 

[Vegas]

?Another slider pic..sure sticks out...

slider pic

This is when I figured out the sliders without a lift turned my truck into a low rider...

Spider trax

with that came the rub... nothing Harpers fender move forward mod couldnt fix




And cause work has been sooo slow this week and I have spent way to much time waiting for my Icon boxes in the mail... and nothing kills time better than plasti-dip... wanted to plasti-dip my trail rims Gun-metal...(so I can see if I like it before I have them powder coated) but Home depot only had black so I went for it...

turned out good so I think? Like most of my MODs I started with Daylight and ended in Darkness... so we will see how many spots I miss in the AM and post a pic

 

[Bookin]

Nice ride. How many cans of Plasti Dip did you use?

 

[mikey's2010SR5]

How do you like the sound of the Borla catback? I need to replace my muffler with something bigger to bring the noise level down. Thinking of going with a full catback system and then cutting the tail pipe off.

 

[FactoryRide]

Looks good Vegas!! Keep it up. I'd like to hear about the Borla also.

 

[chmura]

Congrats on your purchase, your TE looks great. Definitely my most favorite model out of the 5th 4R.

I think you sold your 4th Gen prematurely. At 60k miles those 4th gens are just barely broken into and selling it due to being worried about something breaking was a mistake IMO especially when they have a proven track record.

Nonetheless congrats on your 5th gen!

 

[SShink]

I have a similar 2013 trail and was considering doing the plasti-dip wheel thing...
I read a few people talking about how car washes and pressure washers peel it right off though.
I wish PPG or DuPont would just make a primer that etches the clear coat & aluminum, so you could actually paint the wheels.
Thoughts?

 

[Vegas]

Nice ride. How many cans of Plasti Dip did you use?

Thanks! I used about 4... Still have a little left.

How do you like the sound of the Borla catback? I need to replace my muffler with something bigger to bring the noise level down. Thinking of going with a full catback system and then cutting the tail pipe off.

You know before I picked it I read so much on here about people complaining about the muffler noise.... Can't think what it's called but they compared it to the loud annoying import cars... I didn't want that kind of sound I wanted a more throaty grumble but I guess with our V6 that's not going to happen... But I figured seeing borla on lots of American muscle cars over the years if anyone could get me closer to the sound it was them... The sound turned out good...its not loud at all and it doesn't have that cracking noise at high RPMs(best way I can describe the noise) but I really can't even notice it's there, it could be I am just use to the sound or its not significant to hear unless the windows are down and I have the pedal down trying to get on the freeway... Thinking that if/when i get headers then maybe the sounds will get closer to where i wanted it (((Between us :cheers:for the price of the exhaust and in fact the price of TRD intake, they should have been way lower on my MOD priority list, should have got a lift or gobi or a couple other things first)))

Looks good Vegas!! Keep it up. I'd like to hear about the Borla also.

Thanks!

Congrats on your purchase, your TE looks great. Definitely my most favorite model out of the 5th 4R.

I think you sold your 4th Gen prematurely. At 60k miles those 4th gens are just barely broken into and selling it due to being worried about something breaking was a mistake IMO especially when they have a proven track record.

Nonetheless congrats on your 5th gen!

Yeah I know I know... There was a lot that went into my thoughts to rid of my t4r 4gen... drove heavy miles for work and was scared to get stuck in the middle of nowhere if the truck broke down... Was scared if it something major broke without a warranty I would take a large out of pocket hit to fix it(I didn't know about this forum with knowledgeable people to help me) and with the amount of driving I did thought I could save money on getting a car with better gas mileage, and I also couldn't justify being a single guy and having two car payments... If I could go back I would have the truck in my garage next to my 5th gen.

I have a similar 2013 trail and was considering doing the plasti-dip wheel thing...:cheers:
I read a few people talking about how car washes and pressure washers peel it right off though.
I wish PPG or DuPont would just make a primer that etches the clear coat & aluminum, so you could actually paint the wheels.
Thoughts?

Oh yeah I am the wrong person to ask input when it comes to painting... After the large amount of prep work of removing rims and of cleaning and masking, I kept thinking I wish I just painted the rims... But painting is alot different "to me" easy to get runs and all the sanding and repainting and without a good place to do it you end up with dust and other stuff that get on it while it's wet... I had a vintage Harley's for a minute and trying to paint the tank was so stupid on my part after about the 8th time I gave up and had a professional do it... Plasti-dip is a completely different beast... Seems to me you can't mess it up, doesn't run no mater how thick you spray it....(there's a great thread on here on how to do rims...sorry forgot who did it) and if you do mess up, it takes a min to pull off and start over.... I know its not permimate but its a way to spend $20 to see if you like they look before you have it powder coated... But I think Ride and SoCalTrail have both spray painted their rims with great results so maybe check their build thread to see what they used.

 

[blizz86]

I like your backstory lol. Excited to see the Icons go in soon! Hopefully you will never have to walk up a snowy hill again :lmao:

 

[eddiebx]

Stop saying your sliders look horrible at stock height, i think they looks great! :thumb3:

 

[chmura]

Are those tires really 265's? They sure do look like 285's. In that case keep 265's for the mpg's and better performance. They look great!

 

[mrvandelay]

Are those tires really 265's? They sure do look like 285's. In that case keep 265's for the mpg's and better performance!

they look bigger since there's no lift

 

[Vegas]

I like your backstory lol. Excited to see the Icons go in soon! Hopefully you will never have to walk up a snowy hill again :lmao:

Thanks I'm not a fan of walking period... Add snow and a hill and people flying past you in my previous type truck adds to the suck...

Stop saying your sliders look horrible at stock height, i think they looks great! :thumb3:

Love the sliders , they protect my truck from door dings and work as a step and someday they could get used to rock crawl.

Are those tires really 265's? They sure do look like 285's. In that case keep 265's for the mpg's and better performance. They look great!

The 265s only have 4k miles on it so they will be around for a long time... Don't want to take a big hit on selling them just to replace them, Plus my lift won't be maxed out at 3 inches more like 1.5-2in so they won't look too small, hopefully... Mpg doesn't effect me since right after I got my truck my company gave me a company car and gas card... So I don't drive it too often.

they look bigger since there's no lift

I agree 1000%

 

[Shamish]

Thank you not only for sharing the details of your mods, but the backstory also! It's always fun to hear how each of us "slides down the ladder" into Mod-Madness!

I have been thinking about a TRD intake, and a Supercharger for my new 2012 TE...maybe if you go first on the SC I will follow!!

Your rig looks awesome!

 

[FactoryRide]

Thank you not only for sharing the details of your mods, but the backstory also! It's always fun to hear how each of us "slides down the ladder" into Mod-Madness!

I have been thinking about a TRD intake, and a Supercharger for my new 2012 TE...maybe if you go first on the SC I will follow!!

Your rig looks awesome!

I think we have a bunch of people waiting around for the SC to hit the market. Got my money on Harper7 to have the first one haha.

 

[Bay33saw]

Hey Vegas was that the snow storm on Dec 17th 2009?

 

[Vegas]

I think we have a bunch of people waiting around for the SC to hit the market. Got my money on Harper7 to have the first one haha.

I am actually hoping Harper gets his first so he can do a nice pretty write up with lots of pics on the install... not sure if putting a SC on will be DIY... well even if its not, it's nothing a billion PM questions to Ducamonster and Harper won't fix :keyboard:

Hey Vegas was that the snow storm on Dec 17th 2009?

Hmmm that sounds about right.... let me check my medical bills of when I had to have 3 toes removed from frost bite after walking miles up hill in the snow... Okay so I didn't lose any toes but those little piggies sure were cold.

I don't know if you lived here at the time, but I lived in Anthem at Madeira cayon and there is one massive hill to get up it and it was like mad max with snow and old people and nice cars is the only way to describe it, I guess you would have to seen it... So since us Vegas locals do not know how to drive in the snow, ppl kept trying to go up the hill and when they lost traction the just slide into the car behind them... Then the few guys with real off road trucks where towing people up the hill or pushing cars off on to side streets... Very apocalyptic... I lost traction so far away from the hill that I slide right into a nice side street and grabbed my stuff and took my stroll.

I'll be ready next time :driving:

 

[Vegas]

Suns is finally out so I can Post pics of the truck after the plastdip

I did my rims the other day/night... I had to do two wheels at a time cause I was scared to have my truck up on 4 jack stands(I have trust issues) It was super cold out and by time I got to the second set it was dark out. I am surprised I didnt miss any big spots pianting in the dark...

I am happy with the outcome... I still wish I would have waited to find some Dark Grey/gun metal colored Plasti-dip so I could see how it looks on the Black TE... next time.

I know you all love my sweet high quality iPhone camera pics

 

[FactoryRide]

I thought you might like this or hate me for showing it to you after you did black

http://www.plastidip.com/home_solutions/Plasti_Dip_GunMetal

 

[Mick1]

Off to the power washer for you!!!

Re-do it in gunmetal!:hungry:

Seriously.