Copart Tacoma. How to buy a newer Tacoma with out breaking the bank.

do you have to have a dealer license to buy from copart?

 

No, I just used a broker. It ends up costing about $200 per car you buy which is equivalent to say dealer fees when you buy a vehicle out of state. You can buy up to 5 vegicles I think with out a dealers license if you own your own business. But you have to pay registration fees so it's not really worth it if you plan on just buying one vehicle. You have to have a business license though because they need your states tax exempt codes. My wife and I own a business but there is no cost savings to register and buy yourself if you just want one vehicle, that's why I went with a broker. They took care of all the paper work.

 

Applying the finishing touches on the bedside. I hope to start on the hood this weekend.





These decals are not OEM, instead they are vinyl cutouts I ordered from ebay.com ~$16 (Pair). The plastic film over the decal is just temporary.



It probably could have been moved a little more to the right...

 

Wow. this is absolutely amazing. Good work!

 

Hey my truck is headed to copart if anyone is interested lol...

 

That sucks man, what happened to it?

 

I managed to find a way to wire in a aux input into my factory head unit yesterday for less than $5. Then I spent the last 2 hours writing a detail post on how to do it. If anyone is interested here is the link. It is a way cool mod and I really put some effort into the write up because I know there are a lot of people out there who wish they had an AUX input. Hopefully others will find it useful. I only wish I had someone to poof read it for me. Being an engineer and all I am not known for always being grammatically correct.

 

I did the same thing on my last car 06 jetta got it for $4100 loaded about $5250 fixed. got hit in the rear by a f150. got $14.438 for the car from there insurance and got my Tacoma.. how much did the bags and sensors run? and the air bag box ? and price on dash ?

 

nice job man..and cool write up on the aux

 

Nice

 

I only replaced one sensor because there was no damage near all the others. The nice part was I got it for free. I just asked them to throw it in with everything else on a whim.

dash - $200
Driver side curtain bag - $135
Driver seat bag- $150
Passenger dash bag - $100

the place I bought my bags from didn't have a driver wheel bag but I found someone selling one for $275 band new.

I just need to buy the driver wheel bag then I am going to flash my airbag control module. Do you have any experience with flashing your airbag control module? All I know is what I have read on a few websites that offer the service. It would be nice get some recommendations.

 

I think u can do it on a toyota but u would be better off asking a good body shop so the bags don't pop in your face u might need a clock spring to

 

I have the OEM procedures for removing the airbag and installing it. I have followed these procedures for every bag I replaced down to the torque specs. here is the link for the steering wheel. If you would like to search the entire OEM manual for just about every service your local dealer will do (including installing and reinstall any airbag, description of error codes, etc) check out this link. This is the manual I have been working with most of my repairs. I am sure a lot of you have seen it before but since I have been using it I might as well reference it.

Anyways I have not remove the steering wheel yet, but I am almost certain I will need to replace the clock spring. I had to unplug my horn because it kept going off whenever I turned a corner.

 

nice. sub'ed for later because my sockmonkey decal is coming in soon.

 

After reading about plastidip and seeing what a few people on here have done with it, I decided to give it a try. I did the bottom of my front bumper first just to test it out. I am happy with the way it has come out. At this point I plan on using it for my fender flares, Wheels, and trim around the grill. I really like that it is basically reversible and it does not require a lot of prep. Not to mention it is like rubber so rock chips on my back fender flares won't be a problem.







After that, I got started on the hood.





In these next pictures you can really see how much shipping damage there is on this hood. If I wasn't such a cheap ass I would just order another one, but I like that I got this one for free and I will sleep better knowing I fixed it.

Here is a close up of one of the dents the hood received while being shipped. I used my long sanding block to really expose the low and high points on the hood.



Check out how uneven this hood is. I knew it was bad but not this bad...



The entire surface is so uneven, I am basically planning on applying a thin layer of filler on the entire hood and sand it even. To do this right I have to bring the whole hood down to bare medal. I used my pneumatic DA sander which took me about an hour.



You can also see my other project in the background here. One of my big motivations to finish this truck is so I can get back to work on my real baby, my 1965 fastback conversion Mustang (in case anyone is wondering how I came up with the name FBconvert) .



That is as far as I got today. Tomorrow I will try to apply the filler. I have to watch my son while my wife works all day so I will only be able to work between his naps, so hopefully I can get some work done.

 

new pics don't work?

 

Try refreshing, and let me know if they don't work still. I can see them when I load the page. I have had trouble getting some to show up in the past but refreshing the page usually works.

 

Awesome job!

 

Well I didn't get as far as I had hoped to on the hood this weekend. I got the body work done. Then I applied two coats of self etching primer.



And then I wanted to do 3 or four coats of primer but I ran out after only 2. I have enough for one more coat but I want to keep it in reserve for touch up after sanding so hopefully I will be done with that tonight. My goal then is to get the base coat and clear by Thursday. Then it is off to Montana for the weekend.



Also picked up a slightly used set of tires. They are nothing special, just some H/T's since I commute 26 mile on the freeway to work a lot. There is good new and bad news. I picked these tires up from discount tires which is good because I am hoping they make good on their warranties. I live about 2 1/2 hours from Salt Lake City which is where discount tires is located. Unfortunately when I got back home I notice a large cut in the base of the tire. I am currently working on a solution with them but it is looking like I won't have my tires on for this weekend's 5 hour road trip to Montana .

I just hope Discount tires is good to their customers otherwise I may have to write them a nasty gram. If anyone knows someone up high at discount tires let me know, I would love to speak with them later if this deal goes bad. Check out the pictures.





They still have the injection tits on the tread. I guess they were driven from the dealership to the shop. Not bad for only a $100 a tires. I also forgot to mention that they are 265/70/17. I read on here that I should have no problem running them, but comparing them to my stock 265/65/17 they look much bigger



And here is a picture of the damaged one. Its not pretty and I am really glad I saw this before I put them on.

 

Well I have a positive update on my tire situation. Discount Tires is shipping me a brand new tire at no cost to me. At this point I am very pleased they were willing to make good on their end, I just wish I could of had my new tires installed this weekend before I head up to Missoula.

Also went to the paint supply shop to get some more clear coat but surprise surprise, they were all out. So unfortunately it doesn't look like I will be about to finish painting my hood until next weekend.

I did however plastidip my grille, I think once the hood is done it will look pretty sharp.





I have been playing with the idea of painting the fender flares and wheels with plastidip. Given all the success that everyone has posted on TW it doesn't sound like it would be a disaster. I am just trying to figure out if it will be the look I want.

The wife doesn't like the idea of back fender flares. So maybe I will hold out for now, but I will stay open to anyone's opinion.