Alright, fellas. Hope the holidays were good for you and your loved ones. We had some minor setbacks in the Pell household due to COVID but thank goodness everyone is gtg now. Yes, Christmas was canceled in my home and we spent time isolating/quarantining because my wife got the COVID during one of her volunteering activities with the church. Serves her right for spending time away from our kids and making me keep them alive.
Anyway, errbody is gtg so with that out of the way some updates:
1. BavRest Denso VAFM/AFM Refurb: I have about 750 miles on the refurbished VAFM on my 94. The truck is running great and the repair and refurb seem to be top-notch. As a side note, I like how BavRest bead blasted the crappy paint that the eBay dude sprayed on and got my original patina back.
2. I posted this pic in the thread Feldrian created but I'm reposting it here for posterity. The left rear passenger moulding was a pain in the arse to source but I ended up just buying it through
Genuine Toyota Parts - Wholesale Prices | Modern Toyota Parts - https://wholesaledirect.moderntoyota.com/. I like these dudes and it's going to be even better for me when I move to TN since they're based in NC.
2b. I think I bought most of these separately but the front right moulding and a couple of other pieces of moulding are only ~$30 plus $13.48 for shipping through PartSouq. Other pieces of moulding are as cheap but for some reason, the shipping jumps to ~$40-50. Weird right? Anyway, shop around.
3. This is the other big order I've been waiting on. IWhat you're looking at here is every bit of rubber and weatherstrip from front to back. It's a lot. I'm not going to use any of these parts right now but wanted to buy these soonest because I have FOMO. They were ALL available through partsouq so I figured I may as well. I'll be sending these to TN so I can replace all the glass and rubber during my repaint. You can see how bad my hood looks through the parts.
4. Since we're on the subject of repaint, I'd like your opinions on it. The Dark Emerald Green Metallic (6M1) paint color of my cruiser is either loved or hated, there is no in-between. My kids and wife love the 6M1. I don't
love it. Here are the following options as I see it:
a. Don't paint it. Keep the s***ty paint job so you're not worried about scratching it
b. Repaint it 6M1. After all, she is your baby and you want to protect her. who cares if you scratch her while using her? I don't mind 6M1 but I'm not in love with it. It's a beautiful color, don't get me wrong.
c. Repaint her in a totally different color. I'm thinking a dark gray or even keeping it green, just a much darker green. The spousal unit and kids will be pissed but they don't have a vote in this matter. I'm head of household and we are single-income. Otherwise known as the "it's my party and I'll cry if I want to" argument.
d. What other option am I not considering?