What Did You Do To Your 3rd Gen Today?

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What have you done to your 3rd gen recently? NIGHTWOLF2500, 415572, D.A.S. Taco and 108 others like this.What Have You Done To Your 3rd Gen Today? Got mine from Blain's Farm and Fleet. I went with the larger 11x19's which are $24.99/pair and
word master ordered the regular ...What Have You Done To Your 3rd Gen Today? Hi, 1st time to post. Just got mine last week. TRD Sport in an access cab. 3/1 ProComp leveling kit, ...Post up your mods, links to updates to your build threads, pictures while out using or wheeling your Tacoma, whatever you have going on with ...Put the finishing touches on new wheels and tires for my sons truck. A while back I found a new, never mounted set of Koenig Countersteers ...

This may come as a shock, but most of us only have Toyota 4Runners. They should really name this website to reflect that.
 
Got my valve covers and intake plenums back from the powder coater (so I guess technically speaking *I* didn't *do* anything other than drive over to pick them up):

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Got the rad over flow and washer fluid tanks worked out.
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Got my valve covers and intake plenums back from the powder coater (so I guess technically speaking *I* didn't *do* anything other than drive over to pick them up):

nN0lmgq.jpg


V9Joi4O.jpg

Thought about doing this a while back, really wish I did now! Those are gonna look great. Would match a s/c very well :hatsoff:
 
Looking into why i'm having a misfire on cold starts after it's been sitting for a few days. The misfire lasts for a couple seconds and then runs fine after. First thing my mind goes to is coolant in one of the cylinders because of a bad head gasket or cracked head. It has 220k miles on it so it is in the cracked head range. The coolant tank was almost empty. Anything to do with spark has been replaced recently. I don't think injectors would cause it but maybe. Bought a coolant system pressure tester and going to see what that shows. If it is a cracked head then i'll probably just get 2 new heads and replace both of them and have a new top end.
 
Got my valve covers and intake plenums back from the powder coater (so I guess technically speaking *I* didn't *do* anything other than drive over to pick them up):

nN0lmgq.jpg


V9Joi4O.jpg

looks great....im about to do valve cover gaskets...but all im gonna do is clean..but if I had time...wow
powder coat up here is $$$$$$$$ what did that cost... how did they handle the baffle at the pcv...or anyplace underneath or inside ?
 
looks great....im about to do valve cover gaskets...but all im gonna do is clean..but if I had time...wow
powder coat up here is $$$$$$$$ what did that cost... how did they handle the baffle at the pcv...or anyplace underneath or inside ?

I did that the first time I did the VCGs, just cleaned the VCs. In hindsight that really was a blunder, it would have been so easy to hit them with some paint at the time, but I think I was too focused on the actual project to worry about aesthetics.

Now that I'm doing this project purely for aesthetics, I'm taking the time to clean and paint everything in sight.

Powder coating can be expensive, I was getting quotes of about $400 from most places, and was going to just paint them myself. Then I got a quote for $150, which I just couldn't pass up.

To your question, they taped off all areas where they didn't want the powder coat to go.

The thing about cleaning is that unless you go to the extent of sandblasting or polishing them, they'll still look like the left side below, and that's AFTER doing some wet sanding:

bWdf5vs.jpg


Obviously from the purely functional standpoint, just cleaning them is perfectly adequate! I don't know that I'd want to be painting anything in Alaska in March :).
 
Looking into why i'm having a misfire on cold starts after it's been sitting for a few days. The misfire lasts for a couple seconds and then runs fine after. First thing my mind goes to is coolant in one of the cylinders because of a bad head gasket or cracked head. It has 220k miles on it so it is in the cracked head range. The coolant tank was almost empty. Anything to do with spark has been replaced recently. I don't think injectors would cause it but maybe. Bought a coolant system pressure tester and going to see what that shows. If it is a cracked head then i'll probably just get 2 new heads and replace both of them and have a new top end.

Sounds like a head gasket/cracked head to me. I have better luck doing a cylinder leak down test to find bad head gaskets/cracked heads. 100 psi for a cylinder leak down vs 15-20 psi for the cooling system tester. The higher pressure helps.
 
Sounds like a head gasket/cracked head to me. I have better luck doing a cylinder leak down test to find bad head gaskets/cracked heads. 100 psi for a cylinder leak down vs 15-20 psi for the cooling system tester. The higher pressure helps.

I'll have to look into doing a leak down test also then.
 
I did that the first time I did the VCGs, just cleaned the VCs. In hindsight that really was a blunder, it would have been so easy to hit them with some paint at the time, but I think I was too focused on the actual project to worry about aesthetics.



Now that I'm doing this project purely for aesthetics, I'm taking the time to clean and paint everything in sight.



Powder coating can be expensive, I was getting quotes of about $400 from most places, and was going to just paint them myself. Then I got a quote for $150, which I just couldn't pass up.



To your question, they taped off all areas where they didn't want the powder coat to go.



The thing about cleaning is that unless you go to the extent of sandblasting or polishing them, they'll still look like the left side below, and that's AFTER doing some wet sanding:



bWdf5vs.jpg




Obviously from the purely functional standpoint, just cleaning them is perfectly adequate! I don't know that I'd want to be painting anything in Alaska in March :).
These turned out quite beautifully. Thanks for the pictures of the wet sanding, it's interesting to see what it still looks slightly stained. This is good information for those who may want to do the same as you have.

Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk
 
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Got the second coat on today. I think I'm going to stick with this since it's not super critical that it be a durable paint job on this part. Also had fun with the paint mask after I realized I could Bane post with it on lol. Bushings go in tomorrow once they dry, hoping that part goes smoothly since they are sitting in my deep freezer currently to keep them shrunken. I know some have reported that they drop right in with no pressing if you get them cold enough. If not I have a bench vice and the big pair of channel locks to use as a ghetto press sleeve per Tim's video.
 
img_20230324_143308878-jpg.113459


Got the second coat on today. I think I'm going to stick with this since it's not super critical that it be a durable paint job on this part. Also had fun with the paint mask after I realized I could Bane post with it on lol. Bushings go in tomorrow once they dry, hoping that part goes smoothly since they are sitting in my deep freezer currently to keep them shrunken. I know some have reported that they drop right in with no pressing if you get them cold enough. If not I have a bench vice and the big pair of channel locks to use as a ghetto press sleeve per Tim's video.
If you wheel the arms will get bead-blasted with gravel and chip like crazy (ask me how I know)

Borrow a 4WD bearing press from a parts store, C-clamp style, and you'll drive them right in, even without freezing. Grease them well first.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk
 
If you wheel the arms will get bead-blasted with gravel and chip like crazy (ask me how I know)

Borrow a 4WD bearing press from a parts store, C-clamp style, and you'll drive them right in, even without freezing. Grease them well first.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

I have LCA skids actually that will be on the bottom so those will take the brunt of things. More than anything I figured it would be a good zero-consequence part to teach myself to rattlecan on. Bit easier than I thought it would be tbh. Missed a few spots on the first coat (more just light coverage than anything) but the second coat filled it all in nicely. Also a fresh coat of gloss should make it easier to keep them clean.
 
If you wheel the arms will get bead-blasted with gravel and chip like crazy (ask me how I know)

Borrow a 4WD bearing press from a parts store, C-clamp style, and you'll drive them right in, even without freezing. Grease them well first.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

I painted my LCAs and sliders with this stuff from Harbor Freight. I also used it to touch areas around the frame. No chipping so far.

Chassis Paint
 
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Well paint dried today and I went to press the bushings in using the Tim vice and channel lock method. 3/4 went in fine but the 4th fought me. Should have known as there was a slight bump I noticed on the inside of that one sleeve that I should have knocked down with a file. Was a good excuse though to go visit Clearock. He helped me get that all buttoned up and I got to see his sick rig up close. This thing is seriously going to blow every other heavy modded 3rd gen out of the water. Dude has mad fabbing skills. Learned a bunch from him and got a donor radio bezel for my radio vent swap mod. All in all great day.
 
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Greased my aftermarket outer tie rod ends and installed a new air filter. Weather is beautiful and wanted to do at least a little something.

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