What have you done to your 1st gen Tundra today?

That's why people have insurance liability. Well, at least most do.

 

It's that trick you do when you pull the table cloth out real fast and the stuff on the table doesn't move. But with a telephone pole.

 

Man! Be careful out there. My uncle has a golf ball-sized divot in his chest right between his heart and lung where he (driving like a douche) went through a chain link fence and the fence post went through the windshield and impaled him!

 

Speaking of cloth trick fails, this one always cracks me up.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7cyy35

 

Normally, I'd ask to show us the pics, but I'll pass.

 

I would've just put a stick under it to look like it's carrying the load and then put a sign on it saying "fixed".

 

Well, I done did it. I'm caving in. I know I bought new OEM headlight housings, but what I'm seeing out of the H4 mini-projector retrofits, not requiring ovens and other BS, I've gotta give it a shot.

In true scAmazon fashion, I found another company, "BRAVEWAY" that's selling a replica (link) of the "CO" brand H4 projector (link) others have used. Compared side-by-side, they're indistinguishable but one is $5 cheaper, and I found, strangely, if you buy single BRAVEWAY lights, it's only $29/light versus $67/pair, so you're saving $7. New housings also incoming so I can butcher them, got 5% off on those as well with the regular RockAuto coupon, and I found at least one of the housings is CAPA certified, which I typically prefer. Weird only one CAPA certified was available. I'll post more when I get the stuff and get around to it. I can usually work on things like this while watching the kids pretty easily. Knowing my luck, I'll need a resistor to make this setup work, but .... we'll see!

​

EDIT:

Got word back from BraveWAY. They confirm: The single bulb for motorcycle is the *EXACT SAME* product as the double bulb package. So if you want to save a couple bucks, here it is from the Horse's mouth:

​

 

@Shifty - You’ll have to remove the reflectors which are tapered and larger than the opening for the bulbs. I loosed the Phillips holding the spring retainer for the bulb and removed it. I then removed the two Phillips holding the reflector and used a tin snip to make several cuts into the reflector so I could bend them inward with long needle nose pliers. I then pulled out the reflectors. The projectors are easier to insert and lock in if the heat sinks are unscrewed. They also have a small torx screw that you loosen to rotate the assembly so the cutoff is parallel to the road. I layer the housing on the table and looked at the reflection through the lens to get them level and it was very close after I turned them about 20 deg. Put the rubber boot on before screwing the heat sink back on. I attached the adaptor cable prior to installing in the truck. The right one needed to be raised slightly but they were very close on adjustment as shipped.

Crap - my 2000 AC housings were have half of what 2006 cost and CAPA certified

 

Yeah, yours probably lack that little corner teardrop thingy. I swear, everything costs more on my truck

Thanks for the pointers - It'll be a fun adventure for me, and if I don't like them, I'll probably sell mine off at-cost.

 

Started the valve cover gaskets. Pulled the passenger side in the dark. Gonna get it back together tomorrow and then pull the driver side then it’s time to refresh the cooling system

 

Really interested in how you feel about this. I keep leaning more and more towards doing it.

 

all that dust is making me nervous.

 

My father in law will take something apart dirty, and then put it back together dirty. Drives me nuts. If I mess with something, I clean it. Drain and fill the rear diff? Full rear diff cover wipe down. Change the oil? Full engine cover wipe down. Then the air cleaner housing. Then the hoses I can reach, top of the radiator, master cylinder, tops of the headlights, cowl on top of the grill, dear lord someone stop him!!!

 

Can't find a good OCD eye twitch gif to insert for some of the comments here. haha

 

Guilty. But I guess that was probably obvious with the state of my rear diff after fluid change. I can't help it.

Top-end is pretty darn clean, lucky you. Driver side is always worse. Don't forget to do the half-moon plugs, I take it you already got FIPG for that and the corners, right?

Looks like the boots on two of the coils in the picture aren't OEM, I'm guessing the coils aren't also. Just an observation, nothing more.

Ditto! I always try to wash down before getting into the guts if things are that gnarly. Ol girl looks like she's had a hard life

 

She’s been a work horse all her life and before me she didn’t have good maintenance, yeah yesterday I got the fipg. She has over 356,xxx miles on her and many more to come. Thank you for the reminder for the fipg

 

No prob!

Tip for the driver's side, since you opted to do the easy side first...

When you get to the other side, dont' be shy about using zip ties to strap fuel/evap hoses up and out of the way. The space is stupid tight in there to try maneuvering the valve cover in with everyone just flopped in. Didn't need to disconnect a thing, just tie it off toward the brake MC.

You may say it wasn't well-maintained, but that top-end says something different. At least they stayed on top of fluid changes. That head is cleaner than my truck with 4x less miles.

 

It must be valve cover gasket day! I started with the driver side. Seems fairly clean for ~ 240,000 miles.

Although every easy job is just one broken bolt away from being a 3 day ordeal. 9 bolts, and only one is broken! <sigh>



I guess it could have been worse. I can probably grab it with vise grips. I hope I can scrounge a spare bolt without a trip to the stealer.

Also, it doesn't look like I can reach the bolt for the dipstick without moving the compressor out of the way. I'm not in the mood for that. Does anyone have any tricks?

 

Too bad, I have all my old hardware, wish you were local.

With the dipstick, just pulling the dipstick out was enough to give me an inch or two of extra room.

Lucky just the head snapped off ... now you have a whole lot of stem to work with, and heating up the fastener is much easier with a post.

Notice the piece of cloth or tape or whatever between that last spark plug tube and the cam cap just above it in the pic.

I'd love to understand why the driver side head is always cooked/varnished more at the #7 side of the head vs. the #1 cylinder side.

 

I'm not sure what it is, but now it's out.

 

Could see if you have two nuts that will fit on there and back it out that way. I've had to use that trick in the past. Should be able to find a bolt that will work as a replacement at your local hardware store

 

Thanks. Perhaps, although I may have already mangled the threads with vise grips. I came in to get the torch...

 

If you've got a tap and die set, may be worthwhile just to re-thread to a nut size you have, then spin it on, now the threads are FUBAR. Then double-nut, and wrench off via the bottom nut.

I've had 50/50 luck with that method, threads often shear where the nuts pull the thread apart. These days I have a hardened steel stud removal kit that comes in handy for stuff like this.

 

OK, I'm done for the day. I need to go buy a 5mm drill (tap drill for M6 1.0). I can't get a drill in there unless I remove the brake booster (seriously...that's not happening) so I also need to find a flex shaft with a drill chuck on the end.

 

I will say, at least you've got a clean divot on the shank to center your bit. I see the injector there, so at least it's on the high corner, where fluid is less likely to leak if you don't bother with it. I'm not really understanding how the brake booster is in the way, though. Maybe get a Dremel with one of these bits in there? Although I'm sure if you just got a little 1/32" bit on there and ran it down the center, the heat of drilling would break the bond, and let you extract?

​

 

Tomorrow I'll start on the other side while I'm waiting for the drone to bring my tools. I have an extractor set, but I don't know if it's worth trying that, or to just drill and re-tap. I'll ponder this over my morning coffee.

 

Started templating.

 

Whatcha building?

 

I need me some of those plywood scissors.

 

a platform for polo, and instead of hinging, i might try to make it a removable table. Then i wont have to use an ironing board. The main floor sheet is 28x48 and i found him a 30x48 dog mat. Thinking about a canvas tarp to cover the back. And the back is going to come down under the window.