Canman’s build and misadventures

Will “de-rust”, clean up welds, extend offending pipe by 3/16” - 1/4”, and paint with some galvanizing/zinc paint, and hi-temp exh paint.
Man, that muffler is as tiny as tiny can be. Lol!

 

Took a break from it for a couple of hrs. Cleaned up the one cat/pipe. The 3M Rotoloc discs work the best (compared to wire wheel). Even at it for a bit and got the three nuts off the manifold connection, but still cannot disconnect the O2 sensor. I have a “spatula” type pick that I’m using, and I can hear it lifting up the “lever” on the connector as if snaps back down, but I cannot get two hands up in there to pull on it. I can pull on what remains of the downpipe, but don’t want to use too much force as I could destroy the terminals/wiring.
I f’king curse Toyota design engineering for making almost everything I have touched on this Tundra a total f’king nightmare to work on. Could have moved the connector a few inches lower and reversed the position of the male/female ends which would have made this easy peasy. I’m almost convinced they did this on purpose, because “normal” design engineers would not have made this truck so unserviceable, or they are the most stupid bunch of morons to graduate from engineering school.

This is what I’m dealing with…



Wonder what he’s thinking about this $hit $how?

 

Finally!!!

Success. More engine degreaser, toothbrush action, then air nozzle. Used this long slot screwdriver to push down on the “lever” by reaching up and over the trans support crossmember, and with the downpipe swung out of the way, was just barely able to get my left hand up in there to pull on the connector. Feel like I went through the ringer to get this MF off. Will need to get some beer later to celebrate.

 

Damn! Burning through in spots. She’s paper thin. Will weld up, but at best she’ll last a year if I’m lucky…

 

Just finished welding up the crack. Almost half of it I was blowing through, so had to build up weld material on both sides of the opening, and then join them together. Neck is sore. Lol!
Will take a break, and get some pops.

 

Is that side exhaust factory? If so I've never seen one here, have to look harder.
Eastern rust, I don't envy you.

 

Extended the problematic pipe by about 1/4” yesterday with a pc I cut off from an exh pipe I had lying around. Despite making alignment marks, it did not end up perfectly aligned when the end pipe was welded back on. We’ll see how bad it is when I try to install it hopefully later today as it was pretty much raining all day yesterday. Also trying to knock down the previous goober welds. Not making any excuses, but a lot of welding was done in place under the truck. Rusted metal, poor grounds all contribute to bad welds (along with my lack of experience). Lol!
Going to paint with some galv paint first. I tried this once a long time ago on my ex-BIL’s exh, and it held up really well, but that was after the cat. I have some BBQ/stove flat blk that I’ll use over the galv paint.

 

Haha! No. 4” tips off of Amazon. Mandrel bent SS pipes from a company in Toronto, and the Magnaflow Super 10 from Amazon.
The inlet pipes are the OEM originals from the old exh.

 

Mandrel SS wouldn't be VIBRANT would it? BTW, I've painted my full exhaust completely every time I make changes and
repairs. I'm certain it keeps longer than not painted. Exhaust is the most damaging thing under a car aside from road
salt, I just won't have it.

 

Pll lol

I think it might have been called that, but now called Lyell’s.
Yeah, every bit helps here in the rust belt. Like I said, if I can get 1-2 more yrs, I’ll be happy.


https://www.mandrelbending.ca/

 

Done with the downpipe. Multiple weld/grind/sand passes. Now to get the first galv coat on.
That flange on the end is one I made up last year out of just mild steel plate. Rusted like a MF!

 

Also got to see if I can resurrect this thing…

 

Just brutal. Started raining again but has stopped. The SS pipes after the muffler are cleaning up nice. Counted the number of welds - qty 18. Holy hell!

 

What a nightmare trying to clean up the welds and remove the rust/paint from the Magnaflow muffler. I’m so sick of the pi$$ poor quality these days. That muffler was only a year old, and it looked like something that was 15 yrs old or more. Was getting tired of all the welding/grinding and then my one neighbour came over to complain about all the noise from my grinding. He says I had been at it since 8:00, which wasn’t true, but I agreed it was getting to be a bit much. Told him I just needed another 45 mins to wrap it up. He told me I should be doing it in the garage, but I told him I couldn’t because of all the dust etc. He left satisfied, and I really wanted to be done with it.
Anyways, I finished earlier, and decided to just wrap it up and paint the MF. It is what it is, and likely won’t make any difference in slowing down the rust as there were areas I just couldn’t reach, and the whole thing should have really been media blasted, but that wasn’t an option.
Also, ran out of the galv paint, so had to use some Zinc paint. I’m sure it is just as good, but again not sure I really accomplished much with regards to slowing down the rust, but we’ll see.

 

Getting kinda late, but applied the top coat, however I ran out before I could finish it. Problem is tomorrow is Canada Day holiday, and everything will be closed. I do have similar paint, but from another company. I like the way the Krylon paint looks and goes on, so not sure if I should use the other paint. At least for now, it looks much better than the rusty mess that I removed from the truck.

 

Decided to go ahead and finish it off with the other paint. It is ancient (19 yrs old?), and went on thick with some spattering. Just added a second coat, but takes forever to dry. The other stuff dried in 15 mins. Also more if a flat blk vs a semi-gloss compared to the other can.
Went to start the truck, and of course the battery is dead. Now on charge. Will likely see if I can get this second battery replaced. The charge/battery gauge is still below when driving. Wonder if there is another issue. Will check to see what voltage is when running once buttoned up.

 

My battery went dead after sitting for 7 weeks. I should have unbolted it. When I boosted it the charge needle was bezerk,
all over the place. Threw a good battery in, let the computers realign after a minute and it runs fine. I thought my
alternator was bad too. Wait until you have a good battery, I'd bet it will be okay.

 

Took it easy yesterday being Canada Day and having to get my kiddo at the airport. Ready to bolt up the exh, but I might need to get another exh gasket. Can’t find one of them at moment, and two OEM extras I had I think are for my LX as they are smaller in diameter. Also need to tend to my DD. It needs an oil change and new rear diff fluid.

 

Be nice to see pic of this once its on.

 

Yeah. Will take pics for sure. On a parts chase across the city. The PN they have in the system is incorrect (I think) for the flange gasket ahead of the muffler for the two pipes. He pulled up the PN, brought me the gaskets and they were smaller. Told him to check the one off of the manifold to the downpipe, and it’s the same one as I had taken off. Something strange is going on, as the two I had at home were the same one he gave me initially. He only had one in stk, but said another dealer in the east end had 1 in stk. Get to the other dealer, and she says they had none, but went and checked their “reserve” inventory and found one. She said they were using them while switching out a bunch of wiring harnesses on some hybrid model. Not sure what she was taking about and didn’t ask. Lol!
Here’s the PN of the larger gasket that matched the one I removed.

 

So, exh is all back in. Only issue as I was installing the nuts on the manifold studs, I managed to get one of the crooked, and while trying to back it out, the stud came with it. Eventually I did get the nut off the stud in my vise, but the nut and stud are ruined. So, another trip into town if they have them in stk.
I did try to keep the downpipe in a somewhat “installed” position, by BC supporting it with some tiewraps, but the downpipe was still kind of in the way of me getting the nut/socket on straight. Didn’t help that I was using the 1/2” size socket and extended ratchet. Oh well, live and learn.
Also, when I stalling the “catback” assy, I noticed that thd one pipe section I extended didn’t line up with the mating flange of the downpipe. The other flanges mated up nicely. I thought, yep, welding them back together went sideways. However, after tightening up the bolts on the “good” flanges, and moving the downpipe around a bit, the two flanges did align pretty good, although the two flanges were not quite parallel. Should have taken some pics which would have been better to show what I’m trying to describe.
Despite the issue of the missing stud, there is barely any “hiss” at the manifold joint. The other two flange joints seem to be sealed well. Still need to get one new gasket. I took the gasket from the manifold joint and re-used it at the DS flange joint after the cats. I used one if the two new gaskets at the manifold/downpipe joint. Some pics.

 

You can see the difference between the two types of BBQ/stove paint. If I can find the Krylon BBQ paint, I might repaint the catback assy.
Another example of my booger welds on the DS exh pipe. I should have used a thicker metal when I made all those new flanges. I’m a shitty welder because I can’t see what I’m doing, but it was also welded in place, and cleanliness/ and a good ground were far from ideal.

 

Forgot to posts pics of the gasket being the same size for the manifold joint and two pipes going into the muffler despite what the parts diagram at the dealer shows.

 

Also wanted to mention that I noticed the “breather” holes on one O2 sensor were blocked. IIRC, these need to be free from dirt etc. so that the sensor has a ref to atmosphere. Can’t swear to that, but when I saw them clogged it seems I had the same issue on my LX at one point, and reading up on it at the time, it was suggested to try cleaning these ports before running out and buying new ones.

 

Looks good. nice to see a job get finished. Good advice on the O2 sensor, have to remember that

 

I just read through your thread and this is quite the project! You have definitely done some great work on this vehicle, probably more than it deserves. I think it was lucky to end up in your hands. I can understand your frustration with this truck, but it doesn't seem to be a particularly good example, especially for the price paid. IMO, rust is by far the biggest enemy to these trucks, and despite the rust proofing on this truck, it seems to have some serious rust issues. I sold my 2008 Tundra DC last summer, which had just shy of 300k kms on it for $10K CDN (you could have bought mine, I am not far from Ottawa). It was in better shape than your truck, but it was still getting to the point where the rust was going to catch up (the rust proofers did missed a few spots that I wished I had noticed before some rust set in). However, over the nearly 12 years I owned it, I did much less work on my truck than you did on yours in the short time you owned yours. I was super happy with my Tundra over it's ownership which is why I replaced it with a 2021. It certainly was far better than the domestic trucks I have owned, but I would agree that parts are more expensive and repairability can be more challenging (rear wheel bearings are a dumb design IMO).

Also, I don't understand the $123 wipers? I used to get mine at Costco for about $10. Good luck with your Tundra and looking forward to continuing to follow the progress.

 

I think we’re still dealing with Covid prices unfortunately. We went to Montreal and saw a worse truck (DC) for even more money. At the time, CrewMax Ltd trucks were going for upwards of $22K.
It’s a fairly loaded truck with factory tonneau cover, trailer towing package, sunroof, JBL audio system, Toyota rain deflectors, and summer/aftermarket rims with 33” BFG tires. Interior was excellent except for some wear on driver’s seat which is typical for these Toyotas. Body was in good shape except for some dings. My daughter kinda thrashed it a bit despite me telling her to take really good care of it.
For comparison purposes, she bought a 2011 Double cab with about the same kms (220K) vs the 250K on the 2007. Hers is not a limited, no sunroof, no JBL, no factory NAV unit, and no OEM rims. It is in better shape in and out, but she also paid $22K.
As bad as I’ve been beating up on Toyota, I have no idea how they truly compare with Ford, GM, and RAM in terms of quality/reliability. I’m still disappointed with Toyota, but wouldn’t know what to say if the other big three are even worse.