Operation: Olive Drab PATYWGN
Sep 15, 2012 | 01:41 PM
#29
New "glam" shots are in!!!
I painted the letters on my grill olive drab to break up the "murdered out" look a bit. Notice the side markers looking old school bad ass against that olive drab green?
More side profile goodness. I'm tossing around the idea of getting the black headlights but these are just fine for now. I've got more projects to do before I get to that anyway.
Another shot of the corner lenses. These came out great, it's too bad they don't have a translucent black or smoke color to tint lenses because this stuff works awesome. I tinted the 3rd brake light on the hatch with Nite Shades and I really don't like that stuff as far as looks and ease of use.
My rear wiper never worked well at wiping the rear window so I decided to delete the wiper all together. Made templates of the holes left, cut metal, welded in new metal, a little grinding, and a minimum of filler and it looks clean. I also welded up the holes for the Toyota emblem on the back but decided it looked a little plain back there with nothing, so I blacked out the emblem and used some 3M double sided emblem tape and stuck it back on. The only sticker I run on the back is my hot pink Hello Kitty with AK47, it definitely makes people laugh when stopped at a red light.
A friend and co-worker has a buddy that designs and makes graphics, so naturally I had him make me some new TRD graphics. I initially was going to make a stencil in military lettering and spray paint it white on the quarter panels but since everything is flat black and OD on my rig the flat black graphics were a better choice. I think they turned out fantastic!
I decided to try out the Plasti-Dip on the center caps and it looks pretty good and was easy to use. I'm going to see how durable it is on the center caps before I go using it on other things like the bumper and the rest of the wheels though.
As much as I like the Raptor Liner, I think I'm going to have the lower doors and rockers sprayed with Extreme Liner which will be cheaper for me (business discount through work) and has a nice texture and somewhat matte finish. We use it on customer vehicles at work a lot and it's a great looking and durable product that I think looks better than Line X or that gloppy Rhino Liner crap.
As usual, when I make more progress I'll update this thread. See you soon!
I painted the letters on my grill olive drab to break up the "murdered out" look a bit. Notice the side markers looking old school bad ass against that olive drab green?
More side profile goodness. I'm tossing around the idea of getting the black headlights but these are just fine for now. I've got more projects to do before I get to that anyway.
Another shot of the corner lenses. These came out great, it's too bad they don't have a translucent black or smoke color to tint lenses because this stuff works awesome. I tinted the 3rd brake light on the hatch with Nite Shades and I really don't like that stuff as far as looks and ease of use.
My rear wiper never worked well at wiping the rear window so I decided to delete the wiper all together. Made templates of the holes left, cut metal, welded in new metal, a little grinding, and a minimum of filler and it looks clean. I also welded up the holes for the Toyota emblem on the back but decided it looked a little plain back there with nothing, so I blacked out the emblem and used some 3M double sided emblem tape and stuck it back on. The only sticker I run on the back is my hot pink Hello Kitty with AK47, it definitely makes people laugh when stopped at a red light.
A friend and co-worker has a buddy that designs and makes graphics, so naturally I had him make me some new TRD graphics. I initially was going to make a stencil in military lettering and spray paint it white on the quarter panels but since everything is flat black and OD on my rig the flat black graphics were a better choice. I think they turned out fantastic!
I decided to try out the Plasti-Dip on the center caps and it looks pretty good and was easy to use. I'm going to see how durable it is on the center caps before I go using it on other things like the bumper and the rest of the wheels though.
As much as I like the Raptor Liner, I think I'm going to have the lower doors and rockers sprayed with Extreme Liner which will be cheaper for me (business discount through work) and has a nice texture and somewhat matte finish. We use it on customer vehicles at work a lot and it's a great looking and durable product that I think looks better than Line X or that gloppy Rhino Liner crap.
As usual, when I make more progress I'll update this thread. See you soon!
Dec 8, 2012 | 02:12 PM
#37
Operation: WTF!?
Disaster! Sitting at a red light on my commute home I called my boss to ask a quick question, mid sentence I look in my rear view mirror and see headlights racing toward me at a rate of speed no one could stop from. I yelled "Oh S**T hang on!" and 2 seconds of the most horrible sounds and violent movement later I knew I had just been in my first major car accident in almost 20 years on the road.
I got out of the 4runner and walked back in a daze, my guts squished by my seat belt, and my head a little scratched from my hat hitting something. The other gentleman was not injured and we both walked to the shoulder of the road. His car, a 2009 Camry was buried under my 4runner up to the radiator support, the hood folded up twice and laying on the windshield, battery obliterated, and oil leaking from the middle of the engine. My 4runner being so high up and his Camry so low he practically drove under my 4runner. I sustained very little body damage but some pretty significant frame and suspension damage. Looks like I'll need a new hatch, rear bumper and ends (I'm building a new rear bumper so those won't be needed), a little repair to the rear body panel sheet metal that I had just sprayed with the Raptor bed liner, new frame, new left trailing arm, new rear sway bar end links, a new left rear wheel, possible damage to my drive shaft (my new u-joints pretty much exploded) which I'll have to check my trans and rear end as well. Some superficial damage to the rear end like the e-brake mount but I'll dive into that when I get it on the lift if there is anything else wrong. It may need a new right trailing arm as well, it looked a little out of whack but couldn't be certain. Some of the rear end links were bent as well as their mounts on the frame so those will be taken care of. It knocked the spring out of it's pocket and I'm not 100% that the shocks survived. There is some minor damage on the rear quarters from the bumper ends getting stuffed upwards so I'll be ordering some more OD #8 and getting her back to new again.
With all that said, I think it's going to be OK. I have a line on a new ('99) rust free frame from a fellow YT member, I just have to figure out logistics on how to get it here. I work in a body shop so any labor money will go to my "better parts" fund to build it back better than ever. I'm already looking at several vendor's websites on what to buy that's better than stock and other misc maintenance things I want to do when I swap the frame and things are a bit more accessible.
Anyway, ON TO THE PICS!!!
Hmm, that wheel isn't supposed to be that far forward!
Rear bumper carnage.
Hatch isn't bad, but would take longer to repair than to replace. I'll still have to do another rear wiper delete on the new hatch when I get it though.
Rear body/Left quarter damage seen so far, I'll have to see what else lies under the center bumper section when I get it off.
Leaky U-joint, and after inspecting one of the caps was just laying inside it but I didn't recognize it as a u-joint cap so it may be something else.
Hmm, that trailing arm is supposed to be straight right?
Left rear spring not quite sitting where it should.
Looks like the rear sway bar shifted some, I'll have to see if it's bent or just shifted.
Left frame end and bumper.
Right frame end and a piece of a Camry hiding inside.
A good shot of the spring, and as I browsed the pics I noticed the wheel was bent.
The e-brake cable mount.
How about some Camry Carnage? I swung by the shop he had his car towed to and they already had it moved in back with the hood off so no hood pics.
I believe she's a goner!
The oil appeared to be coming from the center between the valve cover and the air box. I'm pretty sure my frame end punctured something in there.
License plates covered to protect the innocent. The guy was actually a decent human being so I can't fault him for that, he owned up to everything right away. We'll see if his insurance company is as honest as he was.
I should note that he told me that he was on his cell phone and distracted, looked down to hang up and saw that traffic was stopped. He also said he just gave his newly licensed daughter a talk about being safe behind the wheel, not driving distracted, no cell phones/texting, radio, etc. He said he would be an example of what not to do behind the wheel for his daughter, "Do as I say, not as I do.". S**T happens, I know so I'm not going to get down on the guy. Move on and don't dwell on the past.
I'll make some updates as I get info or as I make progress fixing her up. Thanks for sticking with me.
Disaster! Sitting at a red light on my commute home I called my boss to ask a quick question, mid sentence I look in my rear view mirror and see headlights racing toward me at a rate of speed no one could stop from. I yelled "Oh S**T hang on!" and 2 seconds of the most horrible sounds and violent movement later I knew I had just been in my first major car accident in almost 20 years on the road.
I got out of the 4runner and walked back in a daze, my guts squished by my seat belt, and my head a little scratched from my hat hitting something. The other gentleman was not injured and we both walked to the shoulder of the road. His car, a 2009 Camry was buried under my 4runner up to the radiator support, the hood folded up twice and laying on the windshield, battery obliterated, and oil leaking from the middle of the engine. My 4runner being so high up and his Camry so low he practically drove under my 4runner. I sustained very little body damage but some pretty significant frame and suspension damage. Looks like I'll need a new hatch, rear bumper and ends (I'm building a new rear bumper so those won't be needed), a little repair to the rear body panel sheet metal that I had just sprayed with the Raptor bed liner, new frame, new left trailing arm, new rear sway bar end links, a new left rear wheel, possible damage to my drive shaft (my new u-joints pretty much exploded) which I'll have to check my trans and rear end as well. Some superficial damage to the rear end like the e-brake mount but I'll dive into that when I get it on the lift if there is anything else wrong. It may need a new right trailing arm as well, it looked a little out of whack but couldn't be certain. Some of the rear end links were bent as well as their mounts on the frame so those will be taken care of. It knocked the spring out of it's pocket and I'm not 100% that the shocks survived. There is some minor damage on the rear quarters from the bumper ends getting stuffed upwards so I'll be ordering some more OD #8 and getting her back to new again.
With all that said, I think it's going to be OK. I have a line on a new ('99) rust free frame from a fellow YT member, I just have to figure out logistics on how to get it here. I work in a body shop so any labor money will go to my "better parts" fund to build it back better than ever. I'm already looking at several vendor's websites on what to buy that's better than stock and other misc maintenance things I want to do when I swap the frame and things are a bit more accessible.
Anyway, ON TO THE PICS!!!
Hmm, that wheel isn't supposed to be that far forward!
Rear bumper carnage.
Hatch isn't bad, but would take longer to repair than to replace. I'll still have to do another rear wiper delete on the new hatch when I get it though.
Rear body/Left quarter damage seen so far, I'll have to see what else lies under the center bumper section when I get it off.
Leaky U-joint, and after inspecting one of the caps was just laying inside it but I didn't recognize it as a u-joint cap so it may be something else.
Hmm, that trailing arm is supposed to be straight right?
Left rear spring not quite sitting where it should.
Looks like the rear sway bar shifted some, I'll have to see if it's bent or just shifted.
Left frame end and bumper.
Right frame end and a piece of a Camry hiding inside.
A good shot of the spring, and as I browsed the pics I noticed the wheel was bent.
The e-brake cable mount.
How about some Camry Carnage? I swung by the shop he had his car towed to and they already had it moved in back with the hood off so no hood pics.
I believe she's a goner!
The oil appeared to be coming from the center between the valve cover and the air box. I'm pretty sure my frame end punctured something in there.
License plates covered to protect the innocent. The guy was actually a decent human being so I can't fault him for that, he owned up to everything right away. We'll see if his insurance company is as honest as he was.
I should note that he told me that he was on his cell phone and distracted, looked down to hang up and saw that traffic was stopped. He also said he just gave his newly licensed daughter a talk about being safe behind the wheel, not driving distracted, no cell phones/texting, radio, etc. He said he would be an example of what not to do behind the wheel for his daughter, "Do as I say, not as I do.". S**T happens, I know so I'm not going to get down on the guy. Move on and don't dwell on the past.
I'll make some updates as I get info or as I make progress fixing her up. Thanks for sticking with me.
Dec 8, 2012 | 03:38 PM
#39
I haven't heard anything about my 4runner yet, I'm sure they'll send an adjuster out to look it over. I'll be right next to the adjuster with my boss and the other techs to make sure they know the investment and value of my 4runner and to show all the broken pieces for full replacement value. I won't accept aftermarket junk parts or used crap, good used stuff yes but no used junk.
Thanks for the concern jrallan, keep an eye out for those crazy Iowa Hawks fan drivers!
Dec 8, 2012 | 04:02 PM
#40
Bummer man. Hope everything goes well, your 4Runner is getting so awesome! Not that it wasn't awesome before, I've loved checking it out for the past 5 years so I hope that doesn't change
