Some Tacoma Cosmetic Updates

Joined
Apr 20, 2014
Messages
2,975
Location
Franklin County, PA
Morning all! After getting my truck back from the bodyshop after our freak hailstorm I decided to finally stop being lazy and get rid of the totally 80's painted on logo's and go with a more factory look.

Starting on the tailgate, just some prep work:

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Removed:

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I hadn't polished out this area yet, but a single pass with polishing compound brought the single stage paint back.

What we started with on the doors:

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Letting the oven cleaner do its thing:

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Almost there:

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Completely removed and polished where it used to be:

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Bedside prep:

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Removed and the entire bedside was polished this time:

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And finally the afters of it all!

The "T" on the Tacoma looks off in the picture for some reason, but I assure you it's not.

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All in all I have about $100 into this "project" for the emblems and decals. I know the Toyota 4WD sticker looks a little outta place on the tailgate, but I like it. I know some might be questioning using oven cleaner on automotive paint, but it worked well and didn't to any harm to the factory paint. Definitely an old school trick my dad taught me. I know some would have left it debadged, but it looked way too plain for me.
 
I think I might have left it debadged, but it looks much better now I think. Much better!
 
Looks much better, IMO..

I like the old school Toyota 4wd sticker. On white you can hardly see it and it looks fine imo..
 
Yes much better. As I was scrolling through the pictures I was hoping you'd put the stock TRD decals back on, glad you did, I think they look great.
 
I like the other badges better lol but stock is nice too. I have used oven cleaner plenty of times to remove decals a guy at a body shop taught me that. I done that on my friends car to remove a decal and he went off and called his dad on me 😂 because he thought it was going to take the paint off.
 
Holy thread resurrection guys! :LOL:

Kinda made me sad and nostalgia at the same time. It rode rough, was noisy, and got mediocre fuel mileage at best, but was a tank!

I replaced it with another Tacoma if some of you didn't know.

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I still like the old one lol 😂. I would of begged them to paint it blue.

Blue is my favorite color, but I notice white looks "clean" despite being covered in salt and sand. It's much cooler in the summer months too.

This was after driving up and down the mountain which was a sloppy mess. It doesn't look too bad!

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Obviously where I took this picture was completely dry roads, where I lived was a slushy mess. Stupid mountains...
 
Blue is my favorite color, but I notice white looks "clean" despite being covered in salt and sand. It's much cooler in the summer months too.

This was after driving up and down the mountain which was a sloppy mess. It doesn't look too bad!

flFhmWC.jpg



Obviously where I took this picture was completely dry roads, where I lived was a slushy mess. Stupid mountains...
Lol yeah I know. I am on the mountains all the time. We haven’t owned a white vehicle since 2006 lol it was actually a 1986 Toyota Pickup we sold it to someone who lived in Mexico I sure do miss that truck lol.
 
I still have my old '07 Tacoma double cab. It runs like brand new. How do you like the 3.5L versus the 4.0L ?

The power band shifted on the 3.5L, so there's a little less down low. It does have to rev slightly higher than the old 4.0L say like going up the mountain. Once you get it wound up it goes. It was a little odd at first, but after 2,000 miles it has finally learned itself between the engine and transmission (which is a topic in on itself). The loss of down low power isn't too, too bad and the fuel economy is greatly improved. Getting between 19-20mpg compared to 15mpg in the old truck in the winter. Some say that's not a whole lot, but over time it does add up.
 
The power band shifted on the 3.5L, so there's a little less down low. It does have to rev slightly higher than the old 4.0L say like going up the mountain. Once you get it wound up it goes. It was a little odd at first, but after 2,000 miles it has finally learned itself between the engine and transmission (which is a topic in on itself). The loss of down low power isn't too, too bad and the fuel economy is greatly improved. Getting between 19-20mpg compared to 15mpg in the old truck in the winter. Some say that's not a whole lot, but over time it does add up.
Nothing OVT and re-gearing can't fix. I have the 2.0MT tune and 4.88 gears. I absolutely love it.
 
Nothing OVT and re-gearing can't fix. I have the 2.0MT tune and 4.88 gears. I absolutely love it.

If I keep it that long that would be the plan. However for now while it's under warranty I'm not touching it other than routine maintenance unfortunately...
 
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