A little restoration

Hey Everyone,

Thought I would share my experiences disassembling & re-assembling my base model/Pre-Runner 2005 DBL cab for new paint. It will be going to my local MAACO shop as I cannot afford a $6k paint job. So I need to remove anything I do not want masked off for paint.
I purchased this truck from my son after he had it shipped here to PA from Hawaii, his previous duty station. Since it has not been exposed to road salts and extreme low temps, it has no body or frame rot, and very little surface rust on the frame! The paint has taken a beating though and the roof & hood took the worst of it. It was purchased used from a company that had coated the roof with a bed liner to keep the rust down, which did not work.

All of the exterior plastic has taken a hit as well. The flares and front bumper are totally faded, so they will be re-painted as well. The rear bumper has been dented & twisted, so that will be replaced.
The only thing I am not removing myself is the door window trim and roof trim that covers the seams. That way weather is not an issue.
The rear bumper was no big deal, four bolts and done. I will transfer over the supports, if they aren't too out-of shape. The front bumper I have had off before, so again, not a big deal. The big challenge for me was the fender flares. I have read the different threads covering this, so they were a big help. However, doing it yourself is always different. The big problem was not the clips, but the mounting brackets on the flares breaking off. No one warned me about this, WTF Toyota!?

The wall thickness is about .032 or 1mm!! Planned obsolescence for sure. So I had to come up with away to prevent this from happening. What I came up with keeps that from happening. I used two spackel knives and a panel clip removal tool to get the flares off of the fenders. When you place the knives on either side of the clip and pry with the panel tool, you have to lean up against the flare to keep the other clips from breaking. Worked perfectly! ( see how faded the plastic is ) I'll have the repair the brakes or order new flares! #*@#^!!

I also removed the wheel houses as well. They were a huge pain because you cannot access the backs of the plugs that hold them in place, I had to cut the heads off of all but three of them! I will re-paint them if a good cleaning does not get a nicer look.

I will be ordering all new clips and flare gaskets on Amazon. Found that source through this forum! I will be returning the OEM parts once they come in. I have a new fuel door w/hinge to fix the rusted hinge problem.
Removing the bed-fender tops and tail gate panels were simple. There was Hawaiian red clay dust everywhere. It also coats the frame and suspension, looking like rust!

Ready for paint & body work. I'll remove the tail & headlights once I get it to the shop. They will also remove the antenna and windshield squirters.

I'll post the flare repair progress and clean up of the wheel houses once they are done.

 

Looks good. You know the front door handles come off really easy right? One of the 1st things I learned from TW. 1 plastic plug. 1 bolt. Pop them off.

 

Yup, all handles removed. You still have to tap them out though.

 

I saw you're in different threads discussing the disassembly. Hopefully this helps.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/05-taco-restoring.266435/

 

I see myself doing this in the near future. I just recently repaired my roof and now the tops of my rear doors are fading and tops of fender flares are all turning white. I've seen a lot of the bsp paint go to crap after 10 years even with regular waxing. Its like unless you park in a garage or covered parking everyday all day its bound to happen. Good luck o.p. looking forward to your results.

 

Thanks JBCjr! Its good to see behind all of the sheet metal. I'm glad my truck does not have those rust issues!! As soon as I get the truck back, I will be applying fluid film to the fenders and wells, the frame too. Then the plastic will go back on.
EDIT!!!... I have held off on the fluid film so I can clean & paint the frame first. I do not want to have to remove fluid film to clean the surface rust off and paint it.

 

Vaseline or other off brand Petroleum Jelly, or Tire Black Bumper Black gel may restore the fender flares if they are black plastic and not painted

 

I think the problem with the fading is simply UV rays. The flares are exposed to the elements & UV, and it dries the plastic out, removing oils and dies. That is why they are more brittle & less flexible. Replacing them is the best way to go, but for now, I am going to clean, fix & paint them. If I were getting a full frame-off resto, new plastic all around would be a no-brainer.
Skyway, my flares are black, but very faded, as you can see. I do not think petroleum jelly will restore the pigment and flexibility. But thanks for the suggestion.

 

Did some repairs and prep work on the flares. Had to clean them first, they were caked with Hawaii red-clay dirt on the back side.

Now I can repair the broken clip mounts. The thickness of the wall where they broke away from the flare is .020". ( less than 1/32" WTF Toyota!!!! )


I found a Youtube video on how to repair broken bumpers, etc. Using heat and a steel tool, some metal screening and PVC tubing, I was able to make the mounts stronger than factory.

I also removed the gaskets and the glue left behind. Lacquer thinner and a spackle knife got the rest off.

 

Completed cleaning & painting the wheel houses and prepping the rear bumper.
Again, more Hawaii red clay dirt. The stuff has stained the plastic, so I did my best to clean it off with soapy water and then lacquer thinner. I used Valspar outdoor plastic paint, black gloss. I turned out nice I think. Good enough for a 'little' restoration.

I pulled the dented and bent bumper apart and then straightened and test fit the internals to the new steel.

If its not too cold tomorrow, I will do some rust treatment and maybe get the flares painted. I will be using rust-oleum black satin on the flares.

 

You might be surprised...
My black plastic bumper was gray and white in some places...
Wiped on the Petroleum Jelly and let sit over night and it's like new money...
It's a constant polishing, like waxing or washing the vehicle, but makes black plastic new again.
If I were to paint it I would use some Bedliner. or take it to Line X

 

If I can get some and it isn't too expensive, I'll give it a try.

 

Picked up some petroleum jelly today and put some on a small section. I think the problem will be the staining that has occurred due to the red clay in Hawaii. I will know for sure tomorrow when I let sit overnight.

 

OK, more progress over the past couple of days.
I did try the petroleum jelly, but as I thought, the staining remained. I was hoping it would work so I could return a bunch of paint!

Sanded the flares with 400 to remove minor scratches and blemishes.
I had to etch prime the steel rivets that hold interior flare braces in place as they had surface rust on them.

My supervisor told me it was time to disassemble the front bumper......

After turning my model shop into a paint booth, time to prime & paint. I had my temporary booth set up so I just ran the plastic to it. I used Rust-oleum 2&1 primer and Satin black to for finish. After a second coat, they turned out great so far. One down, three to go and then the bumper parts. Also received all the parts I ordered through Amazon today, clips, screw anchors and gaskets. Big thanks to @chertzog for listing the parts in his thread!!

 

Got the center section of the bumper painted, and I tried some Meguiar's Ultimate Black plastic restorer. It worked as advertised and better than I thought it would!

Tested Meguiar's on one of the bumper pieces.

 

Did the final painting last night & today. Finished the bumper about 0100 with its third coat of flat black. Painted the front bumper end caps this morning. Two coats of satin, like the other pieces. Just finalizing the fasteners I am missing and waiting for the truck to be done at Maaco. Here's hoping they do a nice job. The only thing I am not doing is having the rear window removed for paint. Lots of re-assembly to do when I get it back. The only thing I need to do is to restore the black door handles. I tried the Meguiar's Back to Black on one and it did not do anything to improve the surface.

Any help would be appreciated. I don't think painting them will be a good way to go as it will wear off over time. I will try to polish them. Thanks for looking.

 

Very informative info. Looking forward to how the truck gets done.

 

Been quite a while, but here is the finished product. They missed a dent on the left bed wall and it was a week late getting finished, but the 209 color match looks great! I painted the flairs, front bumper cover. I replaced & painted the rear bumper. The paint is the single stage urethane. Still need to finish the grill and put in the fog lights. I also want to paint the wheels gloss black & replace the headlights. Warmer weather first!

 

So I have another issue that I would like some help with. The previous owners seems to have installed after market calipers. The reason I think this is, how close the calipers are to the wheels. The images show how close they are, barely 1/32"! There are also some rub marks on the calipers that tell me they are hitting the backs of the wheels.
What would be the proper calipers to replace them with? I also wouldn't mind spending good money on nice black powder-coated calipers.
I know Rockauto is our friend, but good quality is preferred.

Along with that, the plastic center hubs need replacing- any suggestions?

My intention is to have the wheels blasted and powder coated in black.

Thanks in advance!

 

Those look like OEM 2nd gen calipers.

Those wheels are 1st gen wheels.