What's the best cheap thing you did to your 1st gen.

I think I might give that a whirl. I had heard that you needed everything totally sealed off in a paint booth but then saw that folks were just doing it outside. Not like I care that much, just need something on there that looks halfway decent and stops rust.

 

I've helped my dad paint a few vehicles outside on the driveway with decent results. We usually painted color and clear on mornings with zero breeze. Paint flashed fast enough for bugs and stuff to not get caught in the wet. It's work. Prep is everything. Wear a good respirator!

 

could do a monsta liner paint job also

 

oil shouldnt just be "belching" from the pcv.

 

That could be a bit of an overstatement. I doubt anyone cleaned the intake for 160k but still don't like finding black shit in there from the crankcase breather hose. I did pull the PCV and it rattles - seems normal. Maybe some oil from the valve cover is normal. Dunno... I got a jeep that sure fouled the air tube in a hurry like that. I pulled that crankcase breather hose out of the intake, capped the intake port and put a cone filter on the hose. Don't know if this defeats the positive pressure cycle but better than breathing oil.

 

I've always wanted to do that, I did coat the hardtop of my YJ with bedliner. One thing I noticed is it holds a lot of dust and dirt. Might start looking fairly "Pig-Pen" in a hurry, but I never really wash my vehicles, so that may have something to do with it. Maybe if I used a color that matched the prevailing shade of dirt in my area.

 

Doing this. All my rigs suffer from failing paint jobs and I'm too cheap to contract anybody for anything. Good enough reason to buy a compressor and paint setup.

 

Here's a little anecdote...

I was driving around to auto parts stores looking to make my truck run better. I pulled up to a downtown location and began removing all kinds of vacuum hoses from under the hood to match up with what they had. I didn't have a flashlight and it was about 9pm.

A guy in a Celica pulled up next to me while I was doing this and began doing something under his hood. He asked me if I knew how to remove the headlight bulb. I showed him how and went back to what I was doing.

I took all the hoses inside and spent awhile matching inside diameters with what they had, then bought all I needed and took them back out. I started throwing it all together and realized, I can't find where the damn hose plugs in under the throttle body. I felt around in there awhile, peered at it, groped around some more, squinted at it again - couldn't find the fucking thing. It's dark and I don't have a light.

I go back in and ask to borrow a flashlight. The clerk looks and says they don't have one and I can't use one from the shelf. I walk back out and resume searching. The Celica guy comes back out and I ask him if he's got a flashlight. He activates the light on his phone which I don't want to take from him so I'm trying to direct it under the throttle body where the connection should be while I'm feeling around under there.

As we're in this process a junky girl walks up and asks if we have something to light a cigarette. I shrug her off and continue with this awkward endeavor. I cannot for the life of me find the damn connection. The girl volunteers that she has small hands and can maybe reach in there easier. Frustrated, I accept and show her an example of what she's looking for and where it should be located.

The girl feels around in there like I've been doing for the past 10 minutes, suggests looking from behind the engine or underneath and uses Celica guy's phone. Sometime after that she reaches up under the front of the manifold and says "I think it's there" I look where she's pointing and sure as shit it's hidden behind some rubber guard thing right in the front. I let the guy with the Celica off the hook with a profuse thanks and give the girl ten bucks.

Better entertainment value than a cheap flashlight.

 

So here's the layman's understanding... Positive crankcase ventilation expels gasses which normally make it past the rings into the crankcase. These gasses would damage seals in a closed system and produce emissions if directly vented. The vacuum applied from the manifold to the valve cover sets up a positive airflow so that gas is drawn from the crankcase thru the valve cover via the PCV/throttle body and air returns to the crankcase via the crankcase breather/intake connection.

In reality there's not that much vacuum pressure through the top end into the crankcase to keep air flowing in the intended direction. Crankcase breather intakes on the Air intake system can become sources of oil exit from the valve cover introducing oil at the throttle body or air filter.

 

I painted my '91 Toyota years ago when I was in college. I had zero spraying experience before I tried it (dad helped some), and for the money I was really happy with the result. Like everyone else said- prep work is crucial. Take your time, you'll be fine.

 

Monstaliner doesn't have the same dirt trapping texture as some bed liner sprays. I have some paint chips they sent me and the finish is pretty darn smooth with a texture similar to a wall texture. Similar to orange peel texture that has been knocked down to a short 1/16" texture. Like the feel of it. Too many other issues with the truck to consider painting it yet though.

 

2nd Gen 4Runner rear view w/map lights. $10 at junk yard.

 

Did the rear view bolt right up to the old rear view bracket?

 

Yeah mine bolted right up.

 

bolts up but you have to run a wire? right?
I do like these and it's handy.....dunno about how much use I'll get at this stage but I wish I'd done it 10 yrs. ago.

 

Why not put just use paint with a roller?

 

That's kinda where I'm at... you could get a good quality latex discard from the habitat store, then add some sand or chunks of blended styrofoam peanuts for texture, then roll that baby. Maybe in a custom chartreuse.

 

Not sure you got what I was saying. I'm comparing the monstaliner paint chips I have to some spray on bed liners that trap dirt such as rustoleum bed liner in rattle cans.

 

Wasn't being serious sardonic, just humorous, my '02 basket case needs something "special" though.

 

My dad always had a story about an old farmer where he grew up in western North Carolina who meticulously painted his 1957 Mercury coupe with a brush. Green no less.