What Have You Done To Your 2nd Gen Tacoma Today?

Unfortunately I tackled it by myself. Once I got the rear end dropped and the transmission pulled the air freshener went in fairly quick.

 

hahahaha!

 

I can't stand this cold weather. Absolutely miserable. It's 6:50 PM in January by the way.

Oh and 619!!!

 

Made a bit of a push today on the retrofit job. I didn't realized I'd have to cut the Panamera shrouds to fit the Mini D2S 5.0 projectors. A dremel and palm sander came in handy. Just took bit by bit off...lots of test fitting. Now that I know the dimensions the other side should be easy. I got the fitment pretty dialed in now!

Next I'll drill the shrouds and reflector bowls to run the halo wires. At that point the parts will be ready for paint. I'm dropping them off for a professional paint job. Then half assemble, test fit on the truck to check the cutoff is level, tighten everything down, remove from truck, full assembly, then final install.

Anyone thinking about taking on a retrofit job, unless you have a ton of free time I definitely wouldn't recommend it. It's a ton of work. I would have rather paid someone lol. The end product is going to be very rewarding.

 

Shorts and a t-shirt! Long sleeves are for the fifties.

 

Finally finished installing my 4x Innovations bolt on sliders and applied the annual Woolwax treatment to fight road salt corrosion.

 

I did my mini h1s in about a week in spare time. Granted, they don't require as much work as the d2s, but I still think people can tackle it. I want to do d2s next

 

Well, the 805 is pretty chilly also! I actually put shoes on today, still had shorts and t-shirt on though. If it gets any colder I might have to wear a long sleeve t-shirt, damn this weather

 

I built a retrofit using the 5.0’s a couple of years ago and definitely agree. Very time consuming, tedious, detailed work BUT.. when it’s done it’s very rewarding.

 

Headlight restore. Been on the list for a couple years now. The $12 Turtle Wax kit does a good job but the "ceramic" wipes always leave streaks.

 

A little bit of dryrot repair lumber for the upcoming re-roof.

 

Tightening the gas cap to get rid of a CEL also ranks high for maximum effeciency repair and modification.

 

It all depends how much free time you have and whether you want to spend it working on headlights. I have gone all out on these. I bought a scuffing paste for plastic and some fine grit scotch pads (grey). I sanded everything down to a matte finish to prep it for the body shop to paint. I did my BHLM with spray cans and it just doesn't matter how good you are with a can, the end result just can't match a professional paint job. With all the hours I'm spending on this I figured I better not take any shortcuts. Can't wait until they're done! How long have you had the mini H1's? No issues since the install?

The only part I'm not looking forward to is test fitting them on the truck to check the horizontal level (rotational alignment). I had a hell of a time getting my headlights on and off the truck for the BHLM. When you test fit your lights, did you leave the front cover/lens off the housing? I'm wondering if that would make it easier to get in and out. I'm thinking of maybe just taping some bubble wrap over the front of the housing to protect the inside of the shroud/reflector bowl/projector from scratching when I test fit it. Curious what others have done.

I can't wait to get them all wrapped up. How have yours been holding up? Did you test mount your lights on your truck to set the rotational alignment on the projector to get a level cutoff? What was your method for this?

 

I ordered some sun visor organizers.

 

Did some browsing on the internet trying to find a part number for the "wiring harness clamp" that I removed prior to adding wires for accessories.
Ordering them tomorrow along with some other small parts.

 

My visors need to hit the gym. They're weak.

 

Absolutely, honestly that’s probably the most time consuming part. I left the lens off each headlight, had the 5.0’s relatively tight, would throw both headlights in the truck and set the rotational alignment. After I got it close I put the torque to the mounting nut on the 5.0’s and double checked / adjusted the rotational alignment again. Edit - I only installed the top two mounting bolts for each headlight (I didn’t touch the bottom two) for this process. I had the grill out of the truck at the time too. I was only concerned with the rotational alignment. After everything was buttoned up I set the height and all that.

Mine have been solid so far, light output was night and day (no pun intended) the 5.0’s beam is super wide and the cut off is crispy!

I worked on mine a few hours a day until all the paint dried then basically worked for a solid 8-10 hours getting everything mounted, the halos mounted, everything wired, adjusted and lens back on. Basically the final push. Well worth it but definitely time consuming.

 

went mudding today and had a blast. battery light popped on after going through semi deep area. washed the battery, cables and alternator off pretty good with a hose and light is still on. drove her home 30 miles with all accessories off. gonna take her to toyota in the am

 

What reloacation did you use? I think we have the same rear bumper and have been looking to do this for a while...

 

All of the fluid is going to leak out of your fog lights, they are in upside down!!