And another mod in the books today. Found out just how cheap these mirrors are when I had to order a replacement for my Tacoma.

I know this won't be a popular mod as the look I'm going for isn't exactly the "in" fashion, but it's a big part of it as far as I'm concerned. A quick little tidbit of 3rd gen history to start it off. For those who haven't ever noticed, have you ever seen a 3rd gen 4Runner with chrome side mirrors? Chrome mirrors were an extremely common sight on any 2nd gen 4Runner, and even made a resurgence on the 4th gen SR5 models, but interestingly enough are one of the RAREST pieces of trim you can find for a 3rd gen 4Runner.

Why on Earth would chrome mirrors for a 3rd gen runner be THAT rare? You might be wondering. Well, the answer is simple. Chrome mirrors were only ever an optional extra, on only upper model SR5's, only in the 2002 model year. The optional chrome package is something I've only seen twice in person, and I'm not one to miss a 3rd gen driving by. If you're wondering what else the package consisted of, you also got chrome door handles and chrome trim on the 01-02 taillights. Those are also only available with the package and therefore extremely rare.

So, history lesson over, I wanted chrome door mirrors on this build, instead of finding the needle in a haystack (which I did try to do..) We adapt and improvise. Parts interchangeability between the Tacoma and 3rd gens are very hit and miss, so any time you're doing something with no info it can be a risk. But these mirrors only cost me 50 bucks for a brand new pair so why not...



If I was replacing nice color matched factory mirrors I might've thought twice. I'm not though, base models and low option SR5's got these unpainted plastic mirrors. They're excusable on black runners like mine, but still kind of an eyesore.



To my relief, they fit perfectly, I didn't even have to do an electrical guess and checking. Exact same colors of wire on both sets. Only 2 differences, the plugs are different, and the Tacoma mirrors use studs with nuts instead of bolts.





And just like that they're installed. Much easier and quicker than I anticipated, but it looks as good as I'd hoped.



Now to decide what I want to do with the front bumper. A chrome OEM bumper seems like an obvious choice, quick, cheap and easy. I really would like to build a prerunner inspired tube bumper with an aluminum skidplate though, sounds like a lot more work to me.



Side note, thought I'd found a nice clean hatch for the old runner, but it ended up not working out... The hunt continues.