2012TacomaGuy's Tasmanian Taco "Taz" Build

Here’s what I’ve been up to the last week or so:

Power washed the winch line and added a Nomex sleeve around the part of the line that’s in direct contact with the drum to prevent the synthetic rope from melting



I also had time to completely redo the winch itself. I sanded everything down, put on some rust reformer and some high heat engine block enamel



Next, I started to work on repainting the front bumper. At first, I used an angle grinder to get the paint off, then realized I couldn’t reach all the spots that had some surface rust on the inner frame support of the bumper



So, I took it to a local sandblasting place. They had it done in about an hour and got all the paint and rust off



At this point, I took my Baja fog lights out and put back on the square bezels. Originally, I figured I was going to remove the 1/8 metal the previous owner put over the winglets of the bumper, but I thought it didn’t look too bad with the smaller Baja lights in the cutouts. I can always grind it off in the future



After that, I wiped everything down and started to paint. This was after a couple coats of rust reformer as a base layer and a couple layers of Rustoleum Textured Black Paint



Here is the final layer, out in the sun, baking over the next couple days before I have time to put in on the truck. It’s not perfect due to the pollen in VA right now, but it’ll work. (You can also see my “Stay at Home” Afro hair)

 

Hate how easy ‘Safety Orange’ Maxtrax are to find in deep mud? Paint them dark grey for an extra challenge!



Back sides done and drying. Waiting to work on the front. Might as well replace the lugs that are burnt down with something metal

 

Installed a @CBoy808 anti-glare decal today. Waiting a couple days before washing off the extra soap residue. I also put in another 3rd brake light as my other one just stopped working.

 

Put the bumper on today! Still have to wire the winch and fix the reservoir mounts for my coilovers, but it’s looking good!

 

Some more photos to show my rigged up attic pulley Worked like a charm

 

OB medallion on the Prinsu?

 

yess sir 20969

 

21273

 

God damn I need a bumper. Looks niiiice

 

It’s definitely something you do and go, “Well, I should have done that WAY earlier.” Same thing happened when I put in a SwitchPro

 

Late night wrenching. Got the reservoir mounts bolted up. Had to cut out two holes in order for it to fit around the frame reinforcement mount for the bumper. All I had was an angle grinder so it’s not the prettiest, but it works and that’s all that matters

 

Got all the wiring buttoned up and spooled the winch under tension. Only small things left to do now

 

Finally finished this killer swingout bike mount thanks to @EatSleepTacos

So glad to have the bike out of the bed of the truck and it’ll even work with my bed cap on

 

I love everything about this. I'm so stoked with how it came out!

 

Dude me too! Could have not asked for anything better. Just tagged you on Instagram

 

Installed some hood lights on a switch thanks to brackets made by @tamer



Now I’m about to install the ultimate headlight harness and new bulbs

 

You need some hood struts! I finally broke down and got them about 4 months ago, and I have no idea why I waited so long.

 

Yeah I have no idea why I haven’t done it yet. I’ll add it to the list

 

+1 For hood struts! One of the first things I did

 

I’m on it! Gives me an excuse to buy a rivet gun