Styx's Slowly but Surely Black Build

My front valence was pretty faded, you could see where the license plate used to be, so i painted it

Before:




Masked it off, pulled out the blinker housings, and painted:



After:

 

Looks great! What did you paint it with?

 

Thanks! painted with this...

 

great looking truck!

 

Thanks bro I appreciate it... It's slowly coming together.

 

Went to the dealership and picked up this stuff... Got some work to do!



Plugs, Wires, Fuel filter, oil filter, trans fluid, and some new TRD badges soon to be painted black.

 

Well I painted the TRD badges black and installed them where the stock SR5 badge was... I took the SR5 badge off a long time ago and Im not too sure how I like the TRD there. Thoughts?

 

Nice truck! TRD badge is rice, I'd take it off.

 

Lol yea I was thinking the same... Waste of $25

 

I've been leaving my bed extender in the back of the truck lately and I didnt like the gray, so I decided to paint it black.

Primer:


Paint:


After a couple times of sanding and respraying, then a couple coats of clear I put it back together. Hopefully it holds up ok.






Much better.

 

Some pics from a trip to Ocotillo Wells this past weekend...

 

Another camping trip this weekend to Peppermint Creek up in the Sequoia National Forest. Beautiful place but very cold this time of year!

 

Well I haven't posted in here in a while but its been a rough couple weeks for the truck... as i posted a couple weeks ago, my rear cat converter got stolen. So she was out of commission for a few days until I got a new Magnaflow one put in for just over $200.






Then, two days after I had the new cat put in, some guy was moving furniture in the parking lot of my apt complex. Next thing I know my alarm is going off so I rush out and find this.



It wasn't extremely bad, and the paint wasn't scratched, just scuffed a little as you can see. Fortunately the guy admitted he did it, and gave me his info and said to just get it fixed he'll write a check for it. (I know I probably shouldn't trust a deal like that but whatever) So I polished it myself to get the scuff marks off...



Came off pretty good just needed to get the dent popped back out, so I called up a guy named Jeb at Ultimate Dent Removal. He came out this afternoon and fixed it up good $150 and 20 min later. I'm satisfied...

 

So my power steering pump has been leaking the majority of the time I've owned the truck, just had to add a few ounces every couple months or so. I never really worried about it cuz it was such a slow leak. But it's been slowly causing more and more build up in the engine bay so I decided it was time to take care of it. Instead of buying a $300-400 refurbished one, I rebuilt it myself with a $15 seal kit from Rock Auto. I didn't take many pics but here are a few...










I followed this write up to do it.
http://www.toy4x4.net/ps/index.htm

Only thing that I had to do that it didn't show in the write up was remove the shaft. I couldn't get the shaft seal out (the culprit of my leaking problem) without removing the shaft.

 

Man, we have similar tastes :

 

Haha! Hey man nice wheels and tires... lol

 

You went with the tire size I really want. I was concerned about frame rub and chickened out with the 265s. I'm going to copy you and attack my pinch weld and get the 285s the next time around.

Your bumper looks great!! I just added that to my 'to-do' list...

Finished my timing belt/water pump last night. I took my time and only made a few bone-headed mistakes. With the exception of the a/c bracket, these are fairly easy trucks to work on.

 

Yea I was torn between the 265s and 285s too... Even with the pinch weld hammered back, the tire will contact the wheel well on really hard hits off road. And it does rub on the frame at full steering lock. I love the look of the 285s but I really would love a little more clearance... I've considered once these tires wear out to go back to 265s. Unless I pick up some UCAs then I can crank my Icons up to 3"... Or in a perfect world I'd go LT. Haha

Lol yea that stupid AC bracket was a major pain in the ass. Haha

 

She's finally broken in! haha

 

good looking truck