Shauncho's "Who knows where this is going?" Build

Bought some Satin black , and 3m window weld. Followed your steps and the bumper grille and headlights came out fairly easy. Found out the oven was too small to fit my headlight in :| So I fought with it. Chipped up the edges with a flat head trying to get it off blow dryer style. No luck. Just gonna get everything reassembled in the morning. No time lost though. Was a fun project to do with my dad up until the oven issue.

 

Sorry to hear about the oven issue. Glad you had fun with it anyway though!

 

sooooo I got bored this weekend and broke out the spray gun...My badges and wheels put up a good fight but in the end my spray gun prevailed. Only problem is it's kinda one of those "good from far" things. I painted my lugs and as expected the lugs chipped a little as I tried to lock them down. I also started to run out of time and had to put the rear wheels back on before they were fully dry. But honestly, most of that stuff you can't really see unless you really look. Otherwise, it was well worth the endeavor and I'm really happy with the end result.

I wrote this up for a member asking about my process and I figured might as well post this info here too.

My Process:

• Washed wheels well/Dried wheels
• Took off center caps and removed the Toyota logos from them using needle nose pliers. To get the center caps off, just knock them from the back side with the handle end of a hammer or something like that. When you look at the back of the center caps you'll know exactly what to do with the Toyota logo. Both of these I lightly roughed up with 220 grit then smoothed that out with 2000 grit.
• Mark where the balancing weights on the outside of the wheels go using tape and then pry those off (not sure the best way to do this but I just used a flathead screwdriver...you will have little nicks in the finish doing it this way). You only really need to do the outsides but if you want to you can do the same for the ones on the inside... I didnt.
• Sanded the wheels with the ScotchBrite Heavy Duty scrubber pads. The Sport wheels have some sort of a clear coat on them so I figured these were good enough to rough it up a little. I got this idea from another TW member.
• Masked everything off and sprayed the back of the wheels. I did the backs first that way I could flip them over and do the fronts as the backs were drying. Probably works the other way as well but since the backs set inside the tire so much I knew I could flip them and not mess up the insides.
  
  NOTES:
• Most importantly, have a clean, dust-free place to do this. I didn't and it was HELL making them look even remotely decent. It only takes a few minutes to setup a quick spray booth in a garage with plastic drop cloths...just make sure you have some sort of ventilation and a respirator.
• If you use the same paint I did, it is not water-based which means clean up is a BIATCH! Prepare accordingly. Rubber gloves are cheap, use a lot of them. You'll also need paint thinner or acetone.
• If you do use spray paint, you can't shake them enough. When you think you've shaken them enough, shake them another 20-30 seconds. It'll help avoid fucking up your finish when applying later coats. (some people know this, some people don't...I'm not assuming you don't but just playing it safe)
• I didn't have time to prime otherwise I would have liked to.
• I definitely recommend having 4 jack stands so you can remove all 4 wheels at the same time. Took a lot longer for me to do two at a time than it could have.
• As for the lug nuts, I painted these with spray paint...I wouldn't recommend it. They look good from far but up close they're all chipped up. There's really no good way to do this with red lugs other than buying red anodized but I was only able to find those in a certain shade of red that didn't go with the other red I was using. Harbor Freight has a that has pretty good reviews....and you could then just cure the lugs in your own oven at home...I may try this just because it'd be awesome to have a powder coater!

So I got this idea for the Tacoma on the tailgate from another member whose name I can't remember. It was quite a fun project; cutting apart the letters, sanding down the connectors and prepping the letters for paint. The end result was totally worth it. The paint on the letters look spectacular!

I'm so glad those toyota emblems come off! Made for an easier time painting. Love how they turned out.



I got this idea from seeing someone with a red emblem and I liked the effect the black had behind it...so I did the reverse and painted the grill red. This is another one of those "good from far" things so don't come too close!



and that reflection in the bottom of the wheel right there is why I chose satin. It gives what I call the "creamy" gloss look which I love. Even though I rushed it and screwed some things up, I'm still pretty happy with how it looks...but keep your distance!

 

So...Marty might have just become an official Mall Crawler...at least for now. My wife knew I wanted a project vehicle with 4wd since Marty is only 2wd. So for my birthday she bought me a '99 4Runner 4x4!! Can't wait to get it and start modding it. I'll eventually create a separate build thread for it. For now, I'm just trying to figure out what I want to do with it. Then it's time to start researching some parts. My wallet is feeling lighter already!

 

Dear Secret Santa,

sorry, I know I don't have a ton of info about what I want or am into...I'll work on that. But whatever you end up getting me I'm sure I'll love it!

Things that I can remember talking about recently that I already have now:
Ultragauge
Harbor Freight powder coating system
nfab tube steps
BAMF light bar mount
will be soon ordering a 20" LED light bar.

Shauncho

 

If you ever want to swap hoods, just give me a shout lol.

 

Truck looks pretty sick man. Glad to see another DCLB being fixed up on here. Really like that Tacoma lettering in the back looks real mean.

 

Hahaha, I've definitely thought about it because of the gnarly glare it gives off but I love the way it looks. If that for some reason ever changes I'll let you know!

 

Thanks man!

 

Good job on the grill emblem and tacoma emblem on the tailgate! I like it.

 

Thanks, man!

 

Haha! I definitely didn't see this post, before I picked out your gift. Let me know if you have any issues with anything.

 

dude, no issues with ANYTHING you go me!! I love it all!! Thanks so much. This gift is perfect for me! I already installed the dome light tonight and I love it. Can't wait to get to use the fire starter next camping trip! Hell, I might even use it for my fire pit tonight!

Thanks again, dude!! you ROCK!

 

You are welcome!

 

Well, as you can all see, my awesome Secret Santa, Peter (LoadedTaco) got me some LED lights for Marty! I'll take better pics later but here's a couple. What a difference!

Dome light before


Dome light after


With all LED map and dome lights on

 

FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCKKKKKKK I WANT FUCKING MODS!!!! GAAAAAAHHHH

 

should do a retrofit. They look so nice

 

yeah, I'm definitely thinking retrofit at some point. Just gotta save up a little. Christmas has wiped me out!

 

new baby has wiped me out man. i feel your pain

 

Fuck it, while I'm bored and driving myself crazy thinking of mods (if anyone is actually reading this).

What mod do YOU think I should do next?