2003 Toxic Tacoma

[Fred]

Busted using firmware from the build server! :-) This is a good thing, 'cept it's Hentai's build you've got :-) Therefore BenchTest build from there (dev only) won't work properly/at all. Just FYI :-)

[ToxicGumbo]

The spindle swap ran pretty late into the night and had to be finished up the following evening, but turned out well. The front sits much better despite the extra weight (bumper + winch) and the wheels don't rub anymore. The spacers and centering rings fit perfectly in the rear and the wheels appear to line up nicely with the front.


^ The height change, however, created some noticeable positive camber. Some higher offset hubs/rims with wider tires will be installed in a few weeks, so that'll give me some time to consider buying alignment tools (to shim the lower control arms and adjust some newly installed outer tie rod ends) or just take it to an alignment shop and throw $100 at them since a quality alignment's really worth it.


^ During the spindle swap, me and my friend replaced the front rotors and brakes. I have no knowledge of any such servicing in the truck's 130k mile history and some mild grooves were worn into the original rotors, so this seemed like a no-brainer.

Brake quality is something you really want to be careful about and generally what's supplied by the vehicle manufacturer is guaranteed for a variety of (tested) braking conditions. Nevertheless, I wanted to try out the el cheapo Duralast products at Autozone to see how well they hold up for the price. A lot of people get wary of franchise products like these, but amidst all the ranting, I never see anyone show proof of poor quality. (The Duralast tie rods ends, for example, were actually manufactured in Japan and had grease fittings!) Also, Autozone's brake pads and shoes have a "lifetime guarantee", which allows you to bring in worn pads for free replacement as their way of building customer loyalty and trust. Whether the pads and/or rotors wear faster than OEM is the big question though. So after the successful front brake swap...


^ ...I bought all new drum brake replacement parts.

And just for fun:


^ Assorted Hi-Lift products


^ NATO 20L cans


-Jeff

[ToxicGumbo]

^ Today I changed one (1) brake drum. Not two, but one. And it was a royal PITA. At the same time, I love the elegance of design and raw stopping power of drum brakes.

Several complications occurred, however:

• I already had the spacers on, so the tire and spacer had to be removed and later retorqued. Those spacers are complicated to work with on a free-moving hub.
• The shoes, drum, springs, retainers, etc. were all replaced, so it was a bit tricky for a noob. What's nice about this design's that you really only need a couple tools once the drum's off. Much can be done simply by hand, a flathead screwdriver, and a set of needlenose pliers.
• Autozone sells the wrong brake shoes for the base Tacoma. I tried two stores and a sales clerk worked with me to try to match the (~10in) shoe I brought in. No dice. Went to O'Reilly on the drive home and the guy knew right away that we'd run into a size issue. Of their two choices, I ended up buying Wagner shoes (PAB505) at a bit of a markup, but they were readily available and also included a lifetime warranty for wear and use. Wagner has a good reputation despite being funded by communism. The really weird thing about all this though is that Autozone sold me the CORRECT drum, but the wrong shoe. I'm going to return the wrong ones and see if I can help them correct their inventory.

^ Wagner brake shoes

A few observations along the way:

• The right side of the piston actuator wasn't reliably pushing that brake shoe out. Might be in need of eventual replacement.
• Even with the self-adjuster on the lowest setting, I could hear some rubbing of the shoes against the drum (before pumping the brakes). I decided just to leave it this way and let the initial grit smooth down and the adjuster should properly set itself for appropriate braking tension.
• Regarding the spacers, a lot of people are concerned over the nuts loosening and the spacers becoming a wheel hazard. You're supposed to retorque them after their first 10 miles in use, but I admit to waiting until now--over 100 miles of aggressive driving--to look 'em over. While I didn't check their "break free" torque, the spacer nuts needed real work to losen. Very happy about that.

Tomorrow my car buddy's going to work on the other drum with my supervision. Hopefully that'll considerably shrink the install time.

Once the rear brakes are done, I'll be focusing on the tires and am awaiting a return call from Interco. They've invited me out to their HQ in Rayne, Louisiana, so I won't pass that up!


-Jeff

[Fred]

Time for a skype call a bit later, but before second drum? I'd be typing forever to say what I want to about these 2 posts :-p

[ToxicGumbo]

I had quite a bit of clunking from the drum brakes after swapping things out. Even though the self-adjusters are able to self-adjust, they take a long time to do so. It's a good idea to set the adjusting screw assembly as correctly as possibly or else there will be a whole lotta' shaking going on.

There's also way too much speculation and confusion about drum brake clunking online, but any such noises after replacement = brake shoes flopping around under load (friction). Always set the adjuster as carefully as possible. I still have some clunking, but it's milder.

Today I worked on setting up my Jaguar board to eventually read VR cam and Hall crank sensors (DeuceEFI definitely had VR sensors in mind with this design, so it's ironic that he's using Hall, IIRC, in his own build). I'm now working on Step 24: Ignition circuits.


^ Steps 14-23

It was also a good day to get the "All Pro" front bumper to finally fit correctly. Two bolts still needed to be properly secured in place. To my knowledge All Pro builds these bumpers against a mock-up, but I'm still not ready to blame the truck given the amount of work it's taken to get the install right.


^ A hole on the driver's side of the front bumper was slightly misaligned with the threaded hole in the frame. A bit of grinding with a Dremel, some paint to repel rust, and in it went.


^ Here's another photo to show the reshaped left side of the hole.


^ The white shape in the middle's a bolt on the passenger's side of the bumper. You can see how the washer (which isn't removable) presses against the pipe and weld joint. Since this is positioned to work with the way the bumper fit on the frame ends, I used the Dremel to saw a crescent out of the washer and now it wraps nicely around the weld with bolt sitting flush.


-Jeff

[ToxicGumbo]

All the components are now soldered in place on my Jaguar A3 PCB.


^ Jaguar front.



^ Jaguar back (just happened to have an old DIP socket in the spare parts bin)



^ Nice to see all the gauges reading zero.


The next step's to benchtest, then wire it into a gutted Denso/Toyota ECU.


-Jeff

[Fred]

No, you need to fix your gauge outputs! EG, MAP should read 100kPa ish. Ignition timing should sit at 10 flat for a default build. 02 should be in the range 0.5 to 1.5, etc.

Is your DIP socket machine pin or dual wiper? If the latter, rip it out and solder the chip in. If you melt the chip, cut the legs to ease removal.

Fred.

[ToxicGumbo]

No, you need to fix your gauge outputs! EG, MAP should read 100kPa ish. Ignition timing should sit at 10 flat for a default build. 02 should be in the range 0.5 to 1.5, etc.

The key point i left out was that the firmware had been quieted via an OFF request and was ready to do my (questionable) bidding. In basic mode, I'm able to manipulate gauges successfully by introducing changes to test sensors.

Fred, the more I unravel the secrets of the FreeEMS firmware, the more I feel like I understand you.

Is your DIP socket machine pin or dual wiper? If the latter, rip it out and solder the chip in. If you melt the chip, cut the legs to ease removal.

Sadly, yes, it's a dual wiper (and a pretty beat up one at that). It will change before vehicle installation and possibly sooner since I'll pass a Fry's Electronics while on the road this weekend.


-Jeff

[Fred]

Better off without the socket IMO. Even the good ones are still not as good as solder. The only reason to pull the chip is if it's broken and if it is, just cut it out, easy.

If you'd prefer to have key components socketed so that they can fall out, as certain other systems do, to feel closer to them, that's OK :-)

[Fred]

BTW, what is "basic mode"? And is it similar to cobol mode?