What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

Did some driving.

I'm loving not leaking fuel out the top of the tank

 

Replaced the leaf bushings and the front leaf eye bolts. Don't want a repeat of what we had on Swamp Lake Trail.

Tightend the shit out of the front leaf bolts and used red loctite this time. Odd, the OEM bolts have no locking mechanism (nylock nut, spring washer, etc).

Never thought about it before, but now I definately will.

Side note though. The bushings and sleeves were pretty shot. They weren't even tight in the leafs anymore. Brand new bushings and a metric shit ton of Polyurethane grease, should be much better.

 

Annual camping trip was a success. 1st gen city as you can see.

 

Got a second set of eyes, ears, and hands to help me check this out. It ended up being the metal around one of the bolts on my "cold" air intake shield cracked and fragmented a bit. There is some slop in my passenger side motor mount, so whenever the engine would torque it would tug on the intake shield and cause that bolt to move around and pop that metal. Fairly easy fix, just added some homemade rubber washers and now I'm back to the normal level of rattling I am accustomed to.

 

Thought it would be a good time to paint the ARB. Yeah, kind of wishing I never touched it. Rattle can paint looked like crap (way too much shine with satin) so decided to hit it with Rustoleum's bed liner. Looked good but the front had way too much texture so decided to start over. Stripping this thing is no fun at all. Wonder if it will fit in my Camry and I'll just drop it off at a shop and pay out $$ to have them do it. Either that or just order a new one and dump this one on CL.

WTF was I thinking?

 

Raptorline that thing. That stuff is good shit.

 

Krylon wasn't bad but way heavy on the texture. Wouldn't mind trying it again but can't find it anywhere.
https://www.krylon.com/products/automotive-truck-bed-coating/

Rustoleum's regular coating sucks

$32 Rust-Oleum 248914 2 Pack 15 oz. Truck Bed Coating Spray, Black

https://smile.amazon.com/Rust-Oleum-248914-Truck-Coating-Spray/dp/B00J94JEKA/

Their 'Pro' version isn't bad.

$15 Rust-Oleum 272741 Automotive Professional Grade Truck Bed Coating Spray, 15 oz, Matte Black

https://smile.amazon.com/Rust-Oleum-272741-Black-Automotive-Accessories/dp/B00N4IOX26/

Maybe I'll give raptor's product a try. Thx for the suggestion.

 

I raptored my mirrors, don't have any regrets.

maybe spray something that's not the bumper to see if you like the texture haha

 

The 2 part Raptor Liner (2K) is WAY better than Rustoleum. I used the Rustoleum on my truck boxes and you're right, the texture is way too aggressive. Dust/dirt would get on it and it was nearly impossible to wash off (example). Also, I swear, it seems like I had a 1 out 3 cans clog where they were unuseable.

I have since re-done my truck boxes, by just spraying over the Rustoleum with Raptor... WAY better texture, WAY harder finish.

I've also done the lower portion of the body, the flares, the roof, the hood, and the bumper. The finish is outstanding and it's already been abused. Also, I have used at least 10 cans of Raptor, ZERO issues with clogging.

 

Duplicolor Truck Bed Coating, don't get their Bed Armor, just the coating.... comes out great every time, 8-10" away and let er rip

 

Any clogging issues with Duplicolor's product? Multiple reviews were mentioning an issue with the tip clogging. Its a risk I guess with any bedliner coating product, especially if you're not shaking throughout spraying just seemed to see more mention of clogging with theirs.

Thx for the suggestion

 

I try to use a warm can, let it sit in a sunbeam for a few mins. But no it seems to stay clear for me, washes well, touches up easy, just needs a full day to really dry up proper

 

ugh. Just like the other brands... multiple choices of the same product.

 

The first one is the current regular can, the blue one is the old label of the current regular can, the last one is for doing truck beds.... it sprays wide and makes a mess on stuff like you're doing.

 

Where was it leaking from?

 

fuel pump hanger assembly. I tried the gasket first and when that didn't work I got a new hanger assembly, that didn't work either so I got a new tank (old one was dented anyway).

 

While the AC compressor is out of the way, I decided to replace my exhaust manifold gasket. I shouldn't have rushed. I broke off some heat shield bolts and an EGR bolt. Luckily none of them are captured bolts, so they shouldn't be too tough to extract if I need to.

I also replaced my Engine Coolant Temp sensor. Here's what the old one came off like.

And I replaced my cracked washer fluid pump.
Unfortunately, none of that fixed a thing, but I did get a peak at my exhaust valves and intake butterfly, and everything looked healthy, so at least there's that.

 

My best advice for painting is to test products on a scrap piece of the same material you're painting. Also, if you're looking for a professional result, go to a pro. Painting is like golf, the better your skillset is, the more you'll critique yourself - if you don't enjoy that process, skip it.

 

The truck bed coating stuff works good. But only lasts about 3ish years before flaking off.

Honestly, I'd take it to a shop, let them sand blast it and powdercoat it.