New member, also in TX

[bought-it-twice04]

Hello!
Just re-purchased the 03 ext cab TRD I bought new in 03. Sold it to a buddy ~10yrs ago when I needed a car w/ more seats. He contacted me around Christmas this past year offering to sell it back. YES!
Just finished completing a few badly-needed repairs, which we all know comes with some drag, where you just do all the rest along the way. There's a water pipe that runs under the intake manifold that was leaking so everything on top of that has to come out. Also did the timing belt and all associated, peripheral parts. There was at least one very angry pulley/bearing so just hit them all to level-set. Also tried my hand at a fuel injector service. Wow, does it run like new, and so quiet.
Sadly, one of the cam seals appears to be leaking. Not sure what I did wrong there but that's what I'll be getting after this 4th w/e.
Hope everyone else has more relaxing plans, ha!

 

[Scott Wyman]

Photos?!?!

 

[bought-it-twice04]

I took a few pics of the work, attached below are the only worth posting. Every other part of the repair effort is better documented on Youtube etc.
Of note is the water pipe - you can see it running down the valley, and some evidence of the coolant leak. It wasn't the ONLY place where coolant was leaking, of course.
Another item worth mentioning - the fuel injector pigtails. ALL of these shattered when removed. As many are likely aware, the plastic components degrade and become brittle. I sourced some replacement pigtails, the gray ones in the pic. What I learned before buying these (which were NOT cheap) is some come with little plastic tabs (the white center tab in the image). If you remove these, the plastic connector slides off of the wires. The original connector has the same tab feature. The advantage here is that you can just replace the plastic connector and not have to splice, which made it worth the extra expense for me.
Last is the truck alone. I have a wood chuck under the back wheel because the parking brake bell cranks were seized. I've also fixed that since.
Next up is to address a leak letting water into the cabin when it rains. Also need to flush the power steering system, replace all the drivetrain gear oil, U-joints, the AC is underperforming, power windows need fixing, some frame rust (of course).
Of course, what I REALLY want to do is a 2-3' lift and tires to go with. I may skip ahead to that...

 

[OR17TRD]

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