Obz Build Thread, with a Harley, and now a Tundra (Pic Heavy)

Keep!!!

 

Just got some interior lights done. SUPER simple to do. Just some prying to get the covers off. Pics below:

Before - Dome light



New dome light. Picked these up from Diodynamics. SUPER fast shipping and got to me quick too. I wanted to get an LED light board instead of getting just a single bulb. I didn't want to do the "pre-packaged" kits either because it sounds like the dome lights don't match. Anyway, just throw that sucker up there, and you can see that the spring allows you to put it into any size plug length then you just double-side tape it up in there. Very simple.



Plugged in and blinding me...



Replacing the map lights. Again, super easy. Just pry up from the bottom of the light cover with a screw driver or a plastic panel removal tool (which is what I used to prevent scratching). Then the bulbs just pop out.




First side replaced with LED's and are SUPER bright. My wife LOVES them. She said she'd prefer to do her makeup in my truck than in the house with that kind of lighting...



Comparing before and after...





Dome light. I had to dim the camera so you could see it well, but it's super bright and MUCH better than a single individual LED...



All together...



All in cost me about $40. Not too bad for a complete transformation of the interior lighting. I wish Toyota had put these in by default. My wife's Yukon has them in there... of course I paid $80K for that car... the Taco was a little cheaper...

 

Awesome build thread. Sub'd...

 

Well yesterday I decided to give my wife's car some love. 8 hours later I think I made a difference. MAN I HATE BLACK CARS! They are beautiful and probably the best color you can get on most of them, but I can't handle all the swirls, scratches, and dirt you can see on them. Yesterday I decided to tackle it with some serious elbow grease. Used Wolfgang products with my DA and did a full clay bar, full polish, and toped off with sealant. That car is huge, and took me WAY too long. I will say, though, the paint looks significantly better. Not perfect, mind you, but way better. One of these days I'll hit it up with some swirl remover, but this will have to do for now... Oh, you can see the taco in the reflection.

 

Thought I would upload this pic. Took it last night where it was nice and dark. The new LED's are definitely doing their job. Look awesome IMO.

 

Take a look at menzerna fg400. I swore by it on my black AMG. Completely removes swirls/scratches and polishes in 1 step. You can do a final jeweling polish but not necessary like megs 105/205.

 

Interesting. I'm reading up about it now. Is it truly a heavy cutting compound or is it more of a medium cut? The paint definitely isn't bad enough for 105 IMO, but more in the range of a swirl remover... maybe not even a compound.

 

It's like a heavy cutting compound and swirl remover in one. It's light enough to take out just swirls but if you work at it you can take out deep scratches. I had some gnarly pinstriping on my inferno paint and it took them out in about 5 minutes. Best part is that it's one step so you dont need to go over with anything lighter unless you want that show-car finish. I used to use menzerna super intensive polish too but stopped after picking this up. Using a microfiber pad really helps too. I stopped using yellow pads after I switched to microfiber.

 

Well now that my Taco is mostly done, I needed another project... so I picked this up...



It's a VERY rough, low mileage, 2004 Harley Sportster 883. Have lots of plans for it. Bikes are one of my favorite things to work on, and unlike Tacoma's I actually know what I'm doing. Should be a fun project and a HUGE transformation. This will be my wife's 883 and at $1700 there was NO way I could pass it up... even with the dents and all. Fundamentally a VERY solid bike, but aesthetically pretty rough. For reference this was the last little Sporty I did...

Before



After



So question, is anyone interested in what I'm doing with this along with the Taco? I know this isn't a Harley forum, but it's always fun to see a good transformation - Tacoma or otherwise right?

 

Do you remember how much it weighs?

 

Sure. The stock skid plates weigh about 12.4 LBS with bolts. The TRD Skid is 27.2 LBS with bolts. You've got a difference of about 14.8 LBS. Keep in mind this is an aluminum skid plate. If it were steel I'd probably double it or so. Not too difficult to install because it wasn't too heavy, but a little unwieldy under there. I'd have another person to help steady it so you don't accidentally strip bolts. Took about 15 minutes to make the swap.

 

Took the beasty out for a ride today...



Ended up here looking at bikes to copy for my new "project"...

 

Man, did an insane amount of work on the Harley today. Stripped and ready for masking... that is to paint the engine. Actually was a treat to work on a bike again. I forgot how easy they are and with all the new tools that I used on the Taco, it's even easier! Let me tell you, my impact wrench has CHANGED MY LIFE!

Tank and seat off...



Front wheel off...



Front triple trees, forks, handlebars, light, etc off.



Rear fender off...



Exhaust and rear tire off...



And all the parts...




Next is to do some masking and painting on the engine. Need to pull the carb to do that work. With everything apart that'll probably take me about 2 minutes though. I'll probably do the painting next weekend when I've got some time to blow... I'm trying to get stuff ready for paint/powder before I go to Disney World next week. More to come!!

 

do you have a link for the interior LED's?

 

Sure do. See below:

Dome Light - https://www.diodedynamics.com/store/led-bulbs/listed-by-size/31mm-festoon/led-board-12-smd

Vanity lights - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018J69J6W/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Map Lights - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MAG6RMM

 

This is awesome. At some point I would like to get my hands on a supermoto and have some fun with that.

 

Bikes are always a blast to work on, especially since they're nice and easy.

 

Built this today... well, took about 10 minutes to "build." Getting ready for painting that engine this weekend and I don't want overspray flying all over. This will come in handy for other projects too! It will have plastic over the entire thing allowing all of it to stay inside. I'll post some pics once I start getting everything ready.

 

How much did you end up picking up the lift kit for? I'm seeing them online for like 3500 plus

 

Yup, I paid about $3500. Maybe a little less but not by much if I remember correctly.