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96 tacoma Class 7s Build

14K views 38 replies 11 participants last post by  951yota 
#1 ·
this was Priscilla, Alex Serrato's 1996 tacoma 4x4. of Modesto




this is her after Alex's rollover. lucky for Alex his four point harness and roll bar saved his life.




the goal is to be competing in the 2008 Baja 1000 in Class 7S. this class is all stock trucks with very limited mods. mainly the only majors mods we can do are for safety. ie full cage, fiberglass fenders, hood, and bedsides. 33 inch tires, window removal. harnesses, helmets with ventilation system, and other obvious safety modifications. our two main chase trucks are a 2000 3.4L TRD tacoma, and a 2004 3.4L TRD tacoma(mine). i know a lot of you might think we should use full size trucks for chase vehicles, BUT we are team taco, not team super duty. we will have a diesel 4x4 dodge with us, it will toe the race truck there. the truck now belongs to Team Taco www.tacodust.com Alex had to sign it over to the team to make every thing legal. i dont know much about the paper work side of the team, but i do know that there is already around $4000 in the team account. from donations and sponsorships. on the website www.tacodust.com you can see our schedule and most of our plans.
i havent seen to many people building for the class 7S, so i think this will be a little different. we cant use any type of long travel or any tubular UCA's. our front travel is limited to 12 inches. this build will show the true capability of the tacoma.
 
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#2 ·
first off, a complete tear down. getting ride of everything that we dont need.



we are relocating the fuse box inside the cab, just one less mess in the engine bay, also the co-pilot will be able to check fuses on the go.


no more dash, no AC, no crap. we will try to fit in the dash after the cage. luckily we know lots of people with spare stock bumpers and grilles. in class 7S we cant even have a baja style bumper. it all has to be stock. i think we can use one of the light bars that go over the bumper. we have the score international rule book, but its really dang big.

once we get the truck on all fours the next biggest thing is to start bending for the cage.
 
#5 · (Edited)
yea, we are gonna be just like the Donahoe truck, minus a crap ton of money. and not as good looking. our goal is to beat the baja(finish the race). maybe after a few years we will be finishing with good times.
 
#8 · (Edited)
new parts! they are coming in little by little. first is a lower ball joint still in the bag. have two seats, the cushions are on back order.






this bad ass radiator was donated by one of our local sponsors. i think the brakes were free too. but i dont really remember.

that is about how far we are right now. we got to put in the new steering, finish wiring, and radiator mounts then it will be back on the road. well not legally. after that is the full cage, prolly the biggest hurdle to jump this summer.
 
#11 ·
we are central Cali guys, so we are not extreme desert racers or rock crawlers. most of our rigs are built to go on the little rocks and over the little dunes. we usually try to build them well rounded. so this build is a little out of our normal ballpark. but we have a good crew, lots of knowledge between us. Team Exile, an unlimited class buggy, is kind of taking us under their wing and helping us out. this years 1000 we are going to be on their pit crew, helping them out, and learning all we can. here is team Exile's myspace http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=176523642 if you know myspace click where the pics would be. once you see the page you will know what i am talking about.
 
#12 ·
Might want to step it up a lot in the seat department. Stock mini threw baja is going to be harsh on your body. running a hard seat like that is going to make it hard to keep up in speed. Not that the truck cant but your body is going to say no.

Other than that good luck.
 
#13 ·
X2, those summit seats are comfortable for about an hour, especially with limited suspension travel, they are affordable but they will be hell on your body. Maybe try find some high density foam to glue on the bottom and back area for more padding then throw the covers on over them.
 
#14 ·
yea, they would be horrible as is. but we got the cushions on back order right now. and we do have some secondary seats, neighbors are a bunch of street racers and they are putting in a little help and race insight.
 
#15 ·
thats real sweet man, I would love to do something like this.

I have actually gotten to know Mike Horner fairly well. He works at the Toyota dealership in Rancho Santa Margarita where I live. He drove the Donahoe truck for the final leg in 2004 for the win in 1000. He know drives a maxxis sponsered tacom in Class 7s and has won back to back the past two years. I think he has something like 8 or 9 class wins. I was invited to be a part of his team for the 500 coming up in a few weeks. So I be going to that for sure!!

He's a very cool guy and if you guys needed any help, Im sure he would be willing to point you guys in some right directions. 7s needs some more competion in it!!
 
#18 ·
got a good spare axle, needs some tlc but it will work fine. this is going under a trailer(using the bed and fabed frame) and it will be outfitted with all the same mounts as the other axle, for easy swapping.




more than likely we are going with a cantilever shock setup. it seems to be the best way to go. the rear axle is one of the only areas we can highly modify(no 4 link, must stay with leafs). Alex's dad can cast anything we want, any kind of metal, so we are going to have him do the cantilever setup for us. maybe we will sell a few. all profits going to the build. if we come across anything else that we need casted, that too may be for sale.
 
#19 ·
my excuse for not posting in forever is; i am a fulltime student, parttime employed and im married. all that plus our truck has had little visual growth. a bit more of our money has had to go to the BS, paper work, legal stuff of the team. as i said before, not my area. and it funded some of our 2007 trip to baja! this last race we worked with friends from IHI Motorsports out of Las Vegas. myself and two others have quite a bit of VW knowledge, so we went down and chased for them (4 members of their team quit). we gained a lot of knowledge while down there, and now we have a good grasp on how everything works. i am now finally moving my pics to photobucket. here is the link
http://s172.photobucket.com/albums/w21/teamtacodust/
i wil post up some good pics on here though. sorry for lagging on the thread, hopefully doing rear frame reenforcement/cutting off stock crossmembers and added beefed crossmembers and possibly mocking up shock towers this weekend, weather permitting.
 
#20 ·
first off just some of the cool trucks down there.


not a 7S, but just the same for the suv class.. 7something


thats a tacoma with some crazy upper arms! we talked to these guys before the race. they designed and built it just before the race! i think they did pretty well too. shitty part about being on a team was that we missed out on all the cool spectator stuff. like the starting line, we were at mile 150. the finish line, we were ? i have no clue.

the Fire Guys truck is an 86+ with tacoma glass. these dudes were really cool.

 
#21 ·
this is IHI Motorsports class 11 buggy at the Cortez house(owners) they own houses in Baja Mar, which is probably only half hour from Ensenada, where the starting line is. they own two houses there. so team taco had an entire house to ourselves. we helped them out a little bit, and they went above and beyond to help us learn and have a great experience during the 1000.



this is where we stayed. a brand new house never lived in at that point.


 
#22 ·
It sucks that you had to "rough it" so much! :D

thanks for sharing your experience! looks like a time of a lifetime!
 
#23 ·
Did the team DNF because of the time limit? But it doesnt really matter, because that buggy looks f-ing sweet. What place did they get overall?

Have you gotten any progress done on the truck? And are you sure that you can cantilever the rear? I have the score rule book 2006-2010 and it says that there can be no remote mounted shocks. But like most things in this book, it all seems contradictory.

The photo is kind of blurry, but hopefully you can make it out.
 
#25 ·
well its in black a white, no cantilever setup. we have a rule book also, but reading through it is not my favorite thing to do. now that we are back we have been beaten with KISS(keep it simple stupid). if we leave as much as possible to stock, anyone who knows a tacoma can help with repairs.
 
#27 ·
as i said, not too much done that i can take a picture of right now. we moved the truck and its in a temporary home until the pad is poured and the shelter is built. today we are going to pick up some steel. we are getting ready for the cage, so we will be boxing the frame, replacing crossmembers, removing windows, continuing chopping, hacking, and removing all the unwanted stuff.
i will try to get the rest of our baja pics on photo bucket this weekend and i'll put up some more of anything we do today. hopefully it doesnt rain.
 
#30 ·
I've been looking at the rules, and I'm kinda confused with the wording...

7S and 7300 are very similar, but here is an excerpt from the rules:

2007 Rules said:
Front and rear suspension components must remain stock manufacturer, shape, size and configuration as
originally produced and installed on the chassis to which it is attached. All suspension components must
remain in the original stock locations and retain the original stock mounting methods. All components will
be original manufacturer’s' design and remain stock as delivered from the manufacturer.
But then...

2007 Rules said:
A-arms, I-beams, and front axles must remain stock as delivered by the manufacturer of the chassis to
which it is attached, unless specifically stated otherwise herein. All suspension components must remain
stock size, shape, and configuration as delivered by the manufacturer, no addition of material is permitted
unless stated otherwise herein. Stock pivot points must be retained. Rubber bushings may be replace with
urethane bushings.
So, can or can you NOT use a UCA/Coil kit for front suspension...? No lifts?

Does everyone carry 700 stock upper/lower control arms with them and change the broken arms every time they get gas?

I'm sorry for semi-hijacking the thread, but if this has been covered before I was searching the wrong key words...

okbye
 
#31 ·
I've been looking at the rules, and I'm kinda confused with the wording...

7S and 7300 are very similar, but here is an excerpt from the rules:



But then...



So, can or can you NOT use a UCA/Coil kit for front suspension...? No lifts?

Does everyone carry 700 stock upper/lower control arms with them and change the broken arms every time they get gas?

I'm sorry for semi-hijacking the thread, but if this has been covered before I was searching the wrong key words...

okbye
finding info on this has been sketchy. when we were down there last year all the 7 trucks had stock a arms. i didnt find a for sure answer either, most run stock for price and simplicity. we will run stock a arms with extra's, until we have offical conformation on using the tubular UCA'a
 
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