New 2011 Tundra owner, its going to be a bit of a project

Hi, my name is Daniel and I just got a 2011 Tundra. I have been into building and modifying cars since I got my first one in 2002, and now I have a Tundra! I am and engineer as a day job and have also just started a small business doing design and prototyping, but I love to make random cool things for my vehicles and am also hoping to get into doing a bit of that with the business too.

The truck:

Guy I bough it from took it in the field hunting and what not, its got 200k on it and he had taken it to toyota for servicing regularly. It seems to be that it is in good mechanical shape but with a rough appearance, it runs and drives great. He had done lots of service items and replaced a few parts recently.

He didn't like any shiny stuff on his truck so he spray painted the whole thing flat grey, it was flat tan before this so lots of layers of enamel on top of the toyota paint. The tailgate is bent and binding up, I am planning on replacing it so I wasn't worried about experimenting on getting the flat grey off on it. I was surprised at just how hard it was to get the spray paint off, removing it is not really going to be an option it seems! I tried to use paint thinner with no real luck. I tried to use scotch brite with zero luck. Then I took the DA to it, 220 wasn't doing that well to get it off or flatten the scratches and I had to bring out some 120 to really get it looking ok on the tailgate. I went through down to the bare metal in a number of spots though, this will not be easy. Even though I will probably trash the tailgate, I laid some primer down to keep the rust off.

My thought is now to de badge it, sand it smooth everywhere, and shoot it with grey plastidip with black plastidip accents. I dont think Ill want to spend the time to make the body flawless and shoot real 2k glossy paint. There is a scratch from a branch down the left side about 4 feet long that put a crease in the panel that I'm not sure I want to try to fix, I think the plastidip will help hide it ok.

Ill need a new bumper as well unless I can get this one beat back into shape. Ill be replacing the Headlights and taillights as they are covered in over spray, any suggestions for a good source? The grill is cracked so Ill go ahead on this as well unless I can patch it to a satisfactory level.

He took the running boards off to get more ground clearance, so now I'm looking for some I think Ill need brackets too (open to suggestions here).

 

Welcome aboard from The Pacific South West.

 

Welcome from LA (Lower Alabama)! Wow! That looks like a heck of a project!

 

Welcome from NorCal

 

Welcome from Ontario Canada

 

Welcome from Ohio

 

Welcome from Nevada

 

Welcome from NY.

 

Welcome from Utah! Sounds like a good project truck.

 

Welcome from Florida/PEI. Headlight and tail lights can be sanded and buffed with headlight restorer kit. Grill, you can always come across someone who upgraded their grill or even get one from ebay.

 

Welcome from So Cal

 

Welcome from Washington

 

Welcome from Pennsylvania

 

Welcome

 

Another welcome from SoCal.

 

Just checked in with the local used car parts place. WOW used parts for these go for a lot of money! Tailgate-750, rear bumper- 700, running boards- 150.. I can literally buy new for less.