Just Bought First Land Cruiser (1 Viewer)

[dixierumba]

Just bought my first Land Cruiser. Black 2005 clean without AHC. Got some 1 piece Depos coming. 124k miles and the timing belt service was not done. Looking for black emblems for it or possibly paint the faded gold ones? Not the most mechanically inclined. Any recommended service that I should do besides timing belt? T hose heater? Anyone know a good mechanic near Northeast Ohio? Also have a super clean T100 for sale. Thanks, Jarrod

 

[TexasCrane]

Just plastidip the emblems:

 

[dixierumba]

Thanks

 

[NC-Grayson]

Welcome! I'm sure you may have already seen it but the FAQ at the top of the page is pretty awesome

 

[RyanStl]

I did this to the chrome on my Subaru grill and it made it look like the rest of the matte black plastic, which was fine because it all blended together. I then vinyl overlaid the actual badge with a color I liked. Just doing emblems you end up with a dull black emblem and IMO doesn't look good. Can the emblems be removed and then sprayed with a better paint. That is the way I would go.

 

[RyanStl]

Oh and Fonzi makes working with Plastidip way easier than reality. I watched a ton of his videos before attempting. The overspray did not come off as easy for me.

 

[TexasCrane]

Oh and Fonzi makes working with Plastidip way easier than reality. I watched a ton of his videos before attempting. The overspray did not come off as easy for me.

If the overspray didn't peel off like in the videos, then you didn't put enough on. Plastidip is counter-intuitive in that the more you put on, the easier it is to remove. If you get a little bit on an area where you don't want it, you might as well spray a bunch more and you'll be able to peel it off instead of picking at it.

They make about a million colors of plastidip, along with gloss coats, metallic coats, etc. You can pretty much get just about any color you want. I think the anthracite would look pretty good on land cruiser badges.

 

[RyanStl]

I was talking about the one can you can find at Wal-Mart, which is dull black for $7 a can. I know they make glossifiers and have other colors besides dull black, but the average person isn't going to order all that from the internet. Also, I understand how to apply, but I read numerous accounts how it was very difficult to cut out the insides of emblems and having to redo the job many times. I didn't have that problem because I shaved the emblems from the back. I recently took off my PD grill and thank goodness for Goo Gone. IMO, just using normal PD on an emblem looks bad. If you can take the emblem off and or mask real well real paint will give the best result.

 

[RND1]

Congrats and welcome to MUD! Do the water pump along with the timing belt. Do a full fluid swap if it hasn't been done in a while. Service the drive shafts. BTW LC's only came with optional AHC in '06-'07. '05 is a good year. Post some pics.

 

[dixierumba]

thanks, I am going to do a tranny flush. Is there a recommendation on the fluid? Amsoil? Mobil 1? Toyota? I will post some pics soon

 

[RND1]

@dixierumba - I had Toyota do all the baseline fluids when I bought mine so OEM Toyota fluids. Endless debate on which fluids are best. I've just decided to stick with OEM parts and fluids for mine.

 

[spaber05]

thanks, I am going to do a tranny flush. Is there a recommendation on the fluid? Amsoil? Mobil 1? Toyota? I will post some pics soon

I might be wrong on this one, but don't the 5 speeds have a lifetime fluid in them? I'm sure a dealer would be willing to do a flush if you are paying, but just take a look around here on what is recommended for these transmissions, seems they are found to be pretty bulletproof and unless you are doing a lot of towing, a flush may be unnecessary.

However, if you want to do it for peace of mind, use OEM fluid.

 

[dixierumba]

Thanks, I will do some research