98 needs TLC

My parents just bought my brother a Tacoma and the exterior isn't in the best shape. It's a SR5 extra cab 4x4 and as far as I can tell its as mechanically sound as a truck with 200,000 miles on it can be. The frame looks clean and pretty rust free. I know next to nothing about the 4wds but I crawled up under it and theres no tears or worn spots on the CV boots. From what I can tell the clutch seems to be in decent shape since it drives good. My question for you guys is what can I/we do to clean it up some? The hood has a few dime sized spots where the paints gone and its rusted. There are a few scratches on the sides that are through the paint to the metal that are starting to rust and the hood and roof seem pitted like it was parked outside a chemical plant or something. Will clay bar help that at all? One semimajor problem is that the key doesn't want to come out of the ignition. The previous owner lived in a smaller town and just left one key in the ignition and carried another one to unlock the doors. Any ideas on what might be wrong with it? And the lock on the gas cap is broken. Haven't checked autozone but would they sell a replacement? I was thinking when I come home after this semester of college I'll help him do a few things to it. I want to get some touchup paint and try to repair the scratches on it and do something about the hood. So I guess I'm really looking for suggestions on how to at least get the rusted spots cleaned up and covered in a way that looks decent.
Any advice is appreciated. We're not looking to make this truck perfect. It is what it is but I want my brother to have something that looks good too.

 

what color is it?

 

It's black. so it shows EVERYTHING

 

bump

 

I say get a maaco paint job, its cheep and will look great too.

 

Thats not really an option. We payed 5000 for it and that would cost another what 2000? I'm looking for a way to touch up the existing paint.

 

paint it your self with glossy rust-oleum paint! im planning on doing that with my truck this coming summer..

it started snowing up here in alaska.

 

My Dad bought the truck and won't go for that. Just to save the repaint it comments I'll just say that we're going for inexpensive. He's not looking to spend much. I'm just trying to get him to buy a can or 2 of rustoleum truck bed coating or plastidip to put on the bumpers, a rattlecan and touch up pen of color match, and maybe some tint to try and fix that too. I'm just looking for suggestions on how to get rid of the pitting on the hood. Is there a product that would help with that or is he just gonna have to live with it? I would feel comfortable spraying the hood myself with color match in a rattlecan but he won't let me. Right now he's willing to let me fill the scratches and sand down the rusted spots and just cover and blend them.

 

No way to fix what your describing without repainting. Touch up paint will only do so much.

 

Yeah I realize that. I was just looking for a process that might help some. I don't want to get in over my head and make it look worse. I was thinking maybe I could try wetsanding with 2000grit just to try and even out the clear and get rid of the pits in it then hit with rattlecan clearcoat. I just don't know how detailed of a process that is. I know after I spray it I'll have to polish or buff it or something. Then let it cure? for a while before it can be waxed. I guess I need to search here and do some research before I jump into something like that. I thought doing the whole hood like that would make it easier to cover the rusted spots and make them blend in.

 

doing the hood a completely different color would look sweeet!

im thinking about doing it on my tacoma but my truck is white, so the hood would be black!

 

something like this.

 

they also sell that paint by the gallon.. so all you would need is a spray gun.. OR!! you could try to do roll on paint job..

 

Something like this might work. The trucks black so it might look ok.. or look like the paints just faded really bad b/c they don't know it's vinyl.

And I would need a compressor too if i bought a gallon of paint. I think the rattlecan would be fine and I can't see how roll on wouldn't look like shit.

 

personally i would do a different color than black on black. Personally i like colors that offset the main color of the truck.

 

But what color vinyl would you get to put on black? I think that might look bad. How much would a sheet big enough to do the hood cost?

 

i was thinking paint but you could do vinyl i guess..not to sure about that stuff tho, im no expert on that..

But maybe a darker color could look good, like the red of your truck..?

 

Yeah I think I'd prefer paint. Like i said i'd like to knock down the clear some to remove the pits, touchup a couple spots with rattlecan color match and then reclear it

 

thats probably your best bet, or getting a maco paint job like stated above.. I think the paint jobs are like under 300 bucks or something crazy cheap.

 

Yeah like 300 for maaco, a friend of mine had his mustang painted yellow by them and it turned out great. they did the doors and jams for 100 extra. That was like 3 years ago and it sill looks great. You google them and it will show one in your area.