Blue Streak

Slowly but surely mods are happening! The goal for the truck is to improve it's overall fit, finish, and function. The truck is my DD and tow pig. Mods completed and planned listed below and in no particular order, suggestions welcome. All mods under "completed" I will have follow up pictures shortly. I will keep this initial post up to date with current state of the truck as time goes on.

Current Status / Modifications Completed:

Wheels and Tires

• TRD Off Road Wheels dipped anthracite grey
• Goodyear Wrangler UltraTerrain AT 275/70/r18
• 1.5" BORA Wheel spacers

Suspension and Brakes

• Stoptech Cryo Slotted Front Rotors
• Centric Premium Rear Rotors
• Hawk LTS Pads all around
• Firestone Rear Air Bags
• Replaced all shocks with new factory take offs from TRD Off Road package (bilstein 4600's)

Tech/Car Audio

• TrunkNets 6 3/4" stubby radio antenna
  
• Tekonsha Prodigy P1 brake controller
  
• $280 Alpine iLX-W650 Digital Multimedia Receiver with CarPlay and Android Auto Compatibility
  Alpine iLX-W650 head unit and backup camera installed
• Fortin Remote Start w/Long Range 2 way remote kit
• JL Audio amp/Kicker sub in low pro box (from past vehicle)
• Waterproof plug for secondary camera on rear of travel trailer (unused w/new trailer that has wireless camera)
• "Backup" camera used on second camera input to view back seat area as baby monitor
• $165 Midland MXT275 MicroMobile® GMRS Radio – 15 watts Two-Way Radio with Integrated Control Microphone – Overland Caravanning Tractors – Detachable External Magnetic Mount Antenna - 8 Repeater Channels
  Midland MXT275 15watt GMRS radio w/NMO mag mount on roof

Lighting

• 31" LED bar in grill
  
• LED bulbs in cargo lights, rear backup lights, and all interior lights
• LED switchback bulbs in fog lights

Maintenance

• Schaeffers full synthetic 5w-20 oil / 75w-90 gear oil in diffs and t-case / hydraulic fluid in power steering / red grease in all driveline zerk's
• Replaced spark plugs w/OEM Denso
• Replaced radiator w/OEM Denso and new OEM Toyota Super Long Life Coolant
• Transmission fluid drain and fill @dealer with OEM WS fluid

Miscellaneous

• DIY flag pole w/American flag
• Flowmaster 40 w/sidepipe in front of rear axle
• Tyger Blade Running Boards
• Debadged and plastidipped 5.7 badge and Toyota grill emblem
• DECKED drawer system
• Unistrut bed rails
• Custom Unistrut rack for kayaks (only used in summer removed when not needed)
• Plastidip front and rear bumpers black
• Matte Black American Flag decals on front doors

Interior

• Center console organizer and tray
• Front window tint to match rear
• Replaced front tweeters w/Kicker 3.5" 2 way speakers
• AJT climate knobs black knobs/blue screws
  
• wrapped grab handles in black paracord
  
• Scosche Magic Mount magnetic phone mount above 4wd switch and passenger side of dash
• Husky Weatherbeater front and rear mats

Under Rear Seat / DECKED Drawers

• Recovery Gear
  • tow strap
  • axle straps
  • hard shackles
  • cargo straps
• Emergency Gear
  • emergency ration bars
  • alcohol fuel stove w/fuel and cooking pot
  • road flares
  • fire extinguisher
  • first aid kit - gloves, bleed kit w/TQ, cpr mask, reflective vest
• "Fix It" Gear
  • Zip Ties
  • Bottle Jack
  • Tire plug kit
  • 12v air compressor
  • Bottle of slime

Current:


Before:



Planned Modifications:

Suspension/Mechanical
- Rear diff breather relocation

Lighting and Electrical
-Baja Designs Fog light retrofit
-Baja Designs S2 flush mount scene lights in rear bumper for backup/scene light
-Spyder LED Taillights / Alpharex Headlights
-Bed lights
-Courtesy lights under truck (Oznium bars)
-Interior lighting in footwells/under rear seat


Protection
-RCI Skid plates (Engine, t-case, and gas tank) stock front skid missing
-SDHQ ABS Shields (If I can find them, doesn't seem they are making them anymore)

Interior
-Replace Ddoor speakers w/aftermarket Kicker to match dash
-heated seats (Besond Toyota kit)
- Center console pistol mount / safe
- AJT 4wd knob black w/blue screws

Gear
Socket set w/ratchet
Snatch strap and soft shackle or two


Maybe/Maybe Not Mods
Dual battery set up
Winch
Front and Rear bumpers
UCA’s

 

Sounds like a great build!

 

If you get Fox shocks, you’re eventually going to want 35’s too!

 

Let the mods begin lol.

 

Sounds like a great build.

A few names suggestions:

Big Blue
Blue Streak
Big Blue Kahuna
Beautiful Blue
Metallic Sapphire
Blue Agave
Dory or Not the Dory

 

Also forgot, thanks zcarpenter92 , your build thread format helped me list all the crap I wanna do!

 

Name: The Blue Beast!

 

I'm toying around with the name Sander in honor of my cousin Greg. He passed away at the age of 32 after heart failure, a heart transplant and subsequent rejection, and living on an artificial heart for several years. He created a character when he was young called Sander the Shark because he freakin loved sharks! I want to have his original drawing "done up" a little and a steampunk style mechanical heart added to the illustration. I want to then make decals of that logo and slap one on the truck to remember him. Might even have a custom billet badge made of it specifically for the truck, found a company who does custom work www.billetbadges.com

What y'all think?

On that note, if anyone knows any graphic designers who would be willing to help me out in the endeavor that would rock. His original sketch is below.

 

BLUE IS BEST!

 

Pics of current mods

Scosche Magic Mount & Tekonsha P2 Brake Controller


Flowmaster 40 Clone w/side pipe (to be relocated into bedside eventually w/larger exit pipe


6 3/4” radio antenna


DIY Flagpole mount. Used precut 2ft PVC section, 3 hose clamps, and coupler pin. Painted it black and slid behind drop in bedliner. Top hose clamp threaded through two small holes I drilled into the bedliner only. Put the coupler pin to hold the flagpole as a “cover my own ass” measure. Will cut the pipe slightly shorter to be below the bedrail when I install my bed cover, may need to relocate as well.


Flagpole is a precut length of black gas pipe, 2 eylets w/round nuts(so it won’t rip the flag) and some screw on links. Drilled a hole for the retaining pin to go through and loctite on the screw links. Polyester 3x5 flag to stand up better to the abuse while driving. Only put up when around town and not “everyday”.


Lastly, put some Rhino brand Motorcycle Bar straps through the front tie downs so the tie down points are easier to access when needed because of the toolbox. Straps are rated over 10k lbs break strength. Went with green to match the tie down straps I already have.

 

Wrapped the grab handles with paracord and some Tesa tape underneath ....nothing to see here

 

Got new shoes....all new Cooper Discoverer AT3 4S in original size 275/65/r18. Was gonna go slightly bigger but got a great deal on these.

Also finally got around to putting on some more Americana!

 

can't wait.

 

Participated in an annual 9/11 Memorial Ride through our city up to the Montana Veteran’s Memorial bringing up the tail end with several trucks and cars. One of the photographers got a sweet picture of my rig

 

Got some more minor modifications done. Been super busy as my wife and I just bought a house, all my time has been going into that as of late. Removed all badges except the 5.7 badge and blacked them out as well as the front Toyota emblem with plastidip.


Also got a 31” single row LED lightbar installed in the front grill. Got it off Amazon from Northpole Light for only $50!!!! For being a cheap bar the build quality seems solid and I’m impressed with the amount of light it throws out. Wired into a relay direct to battery and triggered off my high beams via a posi-tap. Wiring is wrapped in electrical tape and run through the holes in the hood and behind the pinch welds, then down the hinge on driver side. Spent the extra couple bucks to run a thick bead of silicone around the front lens and took off the end caps and put silicone under and above the gaskets that were already there. Been through a bunch of rain and several washes and no condensation whatsoever.

 

Looking good!

 

Also, got the cartridge block heater installed and ran it to a NOCO flush plug in the bumper. I think it looks way better and more professional than a plug out the grill.

 

Got the bed cover installed and ripped out the factory plastic bed liner to prep for a spray in or doing Monstaliner myself in spring. Will work on getting some better pictures of the truck with the cover on. Bed is in good shape overall but there is some significant rust damage behind the right rear wheel well over top of the bed support. Unsure how I'm going to fix it at this moment. Thought about welding in a patch but then the underside will be unprotected and rust out again. Also thought about body filler with a mesh backing since its right over the support structure. Thoughts? Will have bedliner over it so doesn't really matter what it looks like.

 

Put some unistrut on the toolbox and mounted up from front fork mounts to hold our bikes. Got sick of strapping the things down last time.

 

Looks good.
I really liked my '07. Toyota did a great job with their first full size. Wish my '17 had the throttle response of my gen 2.
Pedal Commander may be in my future.

 

Installed my new head unit,

$280 Alpine iLX-W650 Digital Multimedia Receiver with CarPlay and Android Auto Compatibility

Alpine iLX-W650 and a Natika backup camera. Turned out great!

 

Working on building a custom unistrut/superstrut bed rack to support 2 kayaks. Will be 100% bolt together “off the shelf” with some modifications to get the job done, so the average guy with no tools like a welder can get this built. Getting my unistrut bed rails installed and then working on the rack. I’ll update as I go but I’m heating up and bending 90 degree brackets to about 70 degrees to match the cab angle. Picture below is a rough mock up of how the brackets will attach to the rails and the custom bent bracket I made. Also, got rid of the toolbox and trying to sell the bed cover. Any takers?




I also got my front unistrut rail installed and bike fork mount attached