About my Previa and Sienna

While I am thankful for the work from the body shop, there were some issues. First I noticed my cup holder broken (won't retract fully). This was one of those pieces I took care of because it is a common issue. 2nd, I don't know why, but the turn signals weren't working in the front. They were blinking fast. I thought maybe the bulbs were backwards or maybe no bulbs at all. Well, bulbs are there and as far as being connected, everything seems in place. The bulb is dual filament and can only be put in one way... This is happening on both front signals and it wasn't like that before. Additionally, why would the driver side be doing this? It was fine before and nothing should have been taken from the right side. So I took off the turn signals to see if they were connected and try to troubleshoot. This is when I noticed that the driver side (which shouldn't have been touched) corner was broken in the mounting tabs. This was fine before. Not to mention, ...

First off, I am super happy to get my Previa back. I kept going back and forth about what to do since the accident happened. Quick recap: Sept 2017 older guy him my Previa. The right side smashed. Once I put on the spare tire, I knew the suspension alignment was off as it was pulling to the right very hard! I needed to clean up the damaged portion a bit and give it a better assessment. So I replaced the fender. In this picture, you can see how pushed back the wheel is. It is  closer to the door than the front bumper. There is also damaged to the door as well. I searched CL for Frame straightening and AJC Autobody came up. I asked someone at CCSF's autobody class and they said it was recommended. I called AJC and sent them these pictures. They said they would do the job for $1000 as a base (additional costs depending on needs). I told them it didn't have to be perfect, I just want it to be straightened as much as possible.  I agreed to the quote and ...

It's home! As of 2/9/19. Let's do the timeline: September 2017 - Older person hit my van. November 2017 - Final assessment of Previa and decided options. 2018:  Tried to find a Previa chassis with same options (95 and up, supercharged, dual sunroof and capt chairs in middle row).  I also attempted to find a place to drop motor and transmission with no luck. Decided to check the costs for frame straightening. There was only one shop that popped up on CL and that was  AJC Autobody. I contacted them and sent pictures. I was quoted $1000. I went to a couple junkyards for a few parts.  I had the van towed to their shop. I stopped by and met with Dave. We talked and I asked if they have a place that does alignment. They said they have a sister shop that does alignment. I pushed for it to be done after the frame straightening.  I called a couple weeks to get an update. I was told that the headlight I brought was not the right one. I told them th...

Alright. So the Previa was straightened out and I knew that the suspension would need to be addressed. The shop I took it initially said it was fine (I knew it would improve with pulling) but I knew it would still need to be looked at since it was tweaked. Additionally I figure while it was there, have the door fixed. The front part of the door that meets the fender got scrapped up as you can see in this picture. I was thinking of trying to get another door and what not.. but I figure that would take more time, and for it to be different colors (if I can find a door this color, it will likely be a different shade due to fade). Not only that, I'd have to change out the door lock and all kinds of stuff I don't have time to do. So I asked for them to fix it while there. ------------------------------------ An additional $1400. Almost there. I gave approval and I hope they can get the stuff right away.

There are some names in specific car demographics that are and should be known. Samay of Garage Tuner Automotive is one of them. He is the Previa guy and in Seattle. I had a chance to meet with him!!! and check out the previa limo!

For most of the year, I have been going back and forth with finding a new chassis and taking the motor/transmission out. I've been searching for the right chassis, mostly dual sunroof, Supercharged and middle row capt. chairs. Also just the chassis. And nothing popped up. I did find a All-trac chassis, but the van was in parts and primered... so I didn't go with it. -------------------------- But since it is now December, I figured I need to get on it. The previa runs and I feel it needs just a bit of a frame pull. I did a quick search under "frame straightening" and there was only one hit. I called them and sent the pictures. They quoted me "$1000".  I decided to go with it. --------------------- The reason why I was trying to find a clean chassis is because it wouldn't be a salvaged title. Unfortunately, my previa was given this status after they totalled it out. So I wanted a fresh body to work with and have a clean title... -------...

My van was dirty in the seat rail tracks. Once I started to take things apart, I saw how bad it was. I took this opportunity to do my best in cleaning, but also to take apart the Sienna.

So when I got the Sienna, I did not see the glue in the right fender/bumper area. Anyways, after I purchase the van, they give me the work order where Dublin Toyota spent 3K fixing the van and replacing stuff. It nagged me, but when my father in law messed up the rear bumper, I was heated. I ordered OEM bumpers from Toyota. Finally, I was able to get them painted and put on. $1500 outta pocket! I was waiting for one more part, a bracket and it came the next day. ------------------------------- Then a closer look at the shitty work that was done before I got the van. So I noticed that the right fender and bumper were misaligned. Glue was visible too. When the body shop that fixed up my van took them off, they showed me. Glue on everything. This was the old bracket just glued!  I ordered new bezels and reflectors. One was cracked, and the other side was scratched up from my father in law backing into a wall. And upon closer ...

Well, my previa is down... but damn it.. this a good price!!!

My Sienna had some fixes in the front. Looks like the previous owner was careless about this van and had some bumper damage. He painted it, but you can see some glue under the right head light. Plus the bottom left portion has scratches on the front, slightly visible. When I got the paperwork from Dublin Toyota ( after we bought it ), they mentioned the bumper was slightly different in color. I personally could not tell and I look for these things. But that has always been a nagging point for me. Our Sienna was suppose to go for this Celijet protective spray.. but I've held off because of these issues and small dents here and there. --------------------------------------------------- Glad I held off. Yesterday, my father in law fucked up my rear bumper... I try to refrain from talking like that, but you don't know how pissed it made me. Of course I'm respectful to him and I'm glad he was alright. He backed up and some how backed into a concrete wall next ...

So I finally get the word from insurance.  It was an older vehicle and considered not worthy of fixing. So they totaled it. ----------------------------------- 2 options. $1400 and they can scrap my van. $1200 and I keep the van... This is a No Brainer. I've dedicated so much time and effort to this van, that I couldn't simply let it die. No... This whole project was about reviving this van and that is still the mission. So I've been dreading it, but finally had time to really assess the damage. With the limited time off due to work and family time, My junkyard salvaging has been severely hampered. I was able to find a fender and grab it, but limited in time to get all the other parts needed, but those parts were either gone or damaged because dummies didn't care about them when removing. -------------------------- As I was taking everything apart for Previa, I seen that the right side isn't just pushed back, but pushed into the engine bay as well. I wa...

So I've been looking at a few things for the Sienna. I've kinda been into the OEM options. Upon looking in the manual, there are a few different types of consoles. I believe one has USB charging in the back and then there is this one: "Long Console". I think this must have been for the newer Sienna models. But for some reason, I'm really digging it. -------------------------- While I wanted this console, I realized that looking at my SE, it is going to be different than the XLE. See the SE has the sliding middle row with middle seat rail is different than the 7 seater models that don't have the additional center seat. Now I cannot 100% confirm unless I see this in person, but it looks like the sliding console's extended track might conflict with the SE middle row sliding track, as seen in this picture. Here is the long console  You can see that the with the XLE model, there is not additional track for the...