OEM rubber floor mats (Genuine Toyota accessories)
Fahrenheit roof mounted DVD player
Exterior
“SE” mesh grille
CityKruiser spoiler extension
Ikon Motorsports front lip spoiler (LE/XLE bumper)
Rydonair Shorty antenna
Lighting
Black housing OEM headlights (modified)
Fahren H11/H9/H8 LED Bulbs (low beam)
Fahren 9005 LED bulbs (high beam)
Astar H11 LED Yellow (Fog lights)
AutoSaver Fog light kit (Aftermarket OEM style)
iJDMTOY 8-Pin LED Flasher relay
BRISHINE LED Amber 7440 rear turn signal bulbs
BRISHINE LED Amber 3157 front turn signal bulbs
BRISHINE LED Red 300LM rear driving light bulbs
OXILAM 912/921 LED reverse bulbs
Other
The day has finally happened. Never thought we would ever own one, it was never in our plans. The closest conversation we had about a van is “Wow…they are pretty nice” but that’s about it. Its not like weren’t truly against minivans…its just never really been a conversation to look into owning one. The past several years though Minivans have become more “attractive” and desirable so the taste wasn’t that bad about them. Minivans like the 3rd gen Sienna, Kia Sedona and even the Pacifica actually look good…IMO.
Fast forward to February as some of you know my wife was involved in a hit and run with her Gen 3 Montero. 2 months prior to that my sis in law was involved in a rear end collision with their Toyota Sienna. (This will mean something in a little bit) The damage on the Montero was really just cosmetic and easy to fix but after a week it started to develop a misfire. This was my wifes transportation and with the kids school, her also taking care of our niece and nephew…we needed a running vehicle for her. I diagnosed almost everything on what causing the misfire and I am pretty confident its a stuck or bad exhaust valve on cylinder #3. Anyways this makes the repair even more longer and we were suddenly blessed.
My bro and sis in law already got $$$ from the at fault insurance of the driver that hit their van and they bought another Toyota Sienna and they thought it was all done and over. About the week after our Montero had the misfire issue they got a call from their insurance that when they wanted to pick up their old Sienna. My bro in law was confused and thought it was all taken care of but he was told that the at fault drivers insurance company (Geico) didn’t want to keep the van and had his insurance (Progressive) store it till the claim was closed. My bro and sis in law already had their new Sienna and didn’t know what to do with their old one and worked out that the situation with our Montero happened around the same time. My bro in law offered to gift their old one to us as gratitude for my wife watching his kids, picking up their kids, feeding their kids, etc while they work their busy work schedule for the past several years.
It wasn’t that hard of a decision to say yes to taking their old Sienna, the catch was we weren’t sure about how much damage we were looking at. So my bro in law sends me a pic of the damage: Collision by grimgs, on Flickr
So basically the tailgate door is bashed in pretty good and its a miracle the glass didn’t shatter. The bottom rear section where the bottom of the rear tailgate door and bumper was pushed in also and some passenger side rear 1/4 panel damage which isn’t that bad. My best friend who owns a shop and paint booth said this is something they can fix no problem…so we took the Sienna.
We have owned the Sienna for about a month, but took weeks to register it and get the tags due to this COVID-19 mess. We have been able to drive it around and I can see why people love these things. Its spacious and it drives very well. I am not a fan of the electric steering…it just feels weird. Maybe its a mental thing or something I still have to get used to. Other than that its a really nice van and this build thread will just be progress of the repairs and being a gearhead…I just can’t keep a vehicle “stock”.
I do find it odd that the electric steering bothers you most. What drives me and my wife crazy is the electronic throttle that just… Isn’t quite tuned right… There’s just enough of a delay to notice, and it’s maddening sometimes.
I am probably old school but the electric steering doesn’t give me any feedback feel like a traditional hydraulic power steering does. In a sense…I don’t really feel connected to the car, then again its a van and not sure feeling connected to it should be a heavy priority.
You are absolutely correct about the throttle response…its way too oversensitive. Doesn’t have a linear feel…its either No or Go and it just jumps to GO real quick.
Its been a few months since I updated anything here…I have just been busy with work and getting this Sienna fixed. Its been definitely a learning experience since I never dealt deep into bodywork. I learned several things while getting this van fixed at my best friends shop. His shop is a good hour from my house…so we made a trip almost twice a week for a good month 1/2 to work on the Sienna. I didn’t expect them to work on it all the time since they didn’t charge me for any of the work…I just had to help. It was great also because our families got to hang out and bond and the kids loved it especially with 5 acres of open property.
Other than the rear end damage there was a passenger side 1/4 panel damage and for some reason parts of the front door and fender on the passenger side and front bumper were a lighter shade than the rest of the van. We decided to repaint the whole van along with repairing the damage in the rear.
The rear floor panel apron was pretty bent in more so on the drivers side. There was a lot of bending and pushing and fine adjustments to get the metal close to where it was. This is definitely tedious and skillful work if you want to do it the right way. Definitely respect those that do quality body work and the time and effort into the craft. Sienna by grimgs, on Flickr
Splitting the metal was the best way to play with the metal as its more pliable and friendlier to shape. Sienna by grimgs, on Flickr Sienna by grimgs, on Flickr Sienna by grimgs, on Flickr
Once we got the bent in damage sections somewhat in decent shape we installed the new tailgate to help with the fine tuning. As you can see the original tailgate was pretty mangled up. Surprisingly the rear glass didn’t break which was very fortunate. Sienna by grimgs, on Flickr
The factory headlights were oxidized and I did not like the chrome housing and wanted to give the van more of a better look. So my old skills of blacking house headlights housings came back to play. Sienna by grimgs, on Flickr Sienna by grimgs, on Flickr Sienna by grimgs, on Flickr
I ended up using the Sylvania headlight restore kit and honestly really satisfied with the results. I was going to invest in some aftermarket headlights but i figured the OEM units were really good…just needed to make them look better and restore the lens so decided to stick with OEM Toyota units. Sienna by grimgs, on Flickr Sienna by grimgs, on Flickr Sienna by grimgs, on Flickr
It’s like ironing a shirt, a gigantic, steel and aluminum shirt. Some spots are almost Zen like, but others can make you crazy. Super cool too see how well this thing is turning out. Excellent work, dude!
And blacked out headlights. That’s old school. I approve of this message. Haha.
I can see vehicles with insane body lines can be expensive to fix. Body work in general though is tedious work…many respects to those who make it a skill and art.
Blacking out headlights is definitely oldschool. I remember i was the first to do them in the 7g Galant community years ago and it was such a big deal. Now…its just another mod
More body work…now focusing on the passenger side 1/4 panel. Mounted to rear bumper cover to match the body lines from the 1/4 damage and see if there are any further tweaks to the rear panel apron for fitment. Oh yeah…we started sanding, and sanding…and more sanding. Taught my son how to sand also.
I’ve used that kit on two different occasions with great initial results too. The “protective coating” only held up for about a year in both cases, but maybe I didn’t wipe it on thick enough.
There should be an article about “how to build a build thread”. And the article should just be a list of links to ALL MISTER GALANT GUYS build threads.
You all know it. I know it. I’m gonna keep building my build, but knowing its threaded bits will never EVER elevate themselves to the lofty heights of MR GG. Let’s call it aspirational, but on a pedestal.
Great stuff as usual. Almost makes me wanna get a van.
Okay, that last part was a joke. But I meant the rest of it. Great stuff!
I have read this is the common longevity of the Sylvania kit. There is another restore kit called Cerakote which supposedly lasts a lot longer and provides a near OEM look and finish but the trade off its more expensive. I am going to explore that kit probably next year.
Brian and John…thank you for the kudos, I appreciate it. I guess being detailed translates into my build thread. I mean people love pictures right and like a story…so why not document that in a build thread. Its something I wish I ran into more when I was starting a journey with my builds to help with more inspiration so when I walked the path of the build I decided why not share and hopefully help others looking to go down a similar path.
Now to more progress
The Sienna is finally ready for paint. Just some few little details in prep and times to shoot a fresh coat of paint. Sienna by grimgs, on Flickr Sienna by grimgs, on Flickr Sienna by grimgs, on Flickr Sienna by grimgs, on Flickr
Now the fun part…putting everything back together. All the misc screws, grommets, retainers, and fasteners added up real quick. Necessary though to have things fit right and secure…but Toyota does charge way too much for certain misc tid bits.
I am definitely in the wrong business …I should be in the glass business. $180 dollars to transfer the rear glass from the damaged tailgate to the new one. From the moment the guy arrived to the time he finished…it was a total of 25 mins. Sienna by grimgs, on Flickr Sienna by grimgs, on Flickr
Here is the Sienna finally home amongst the Triple Diamond family. Along with the fresh body work and paint the Sienna got some aesthetic upgrades which were:
Man, that’s a fine looking machine, my dude. Well done!
And I hear you on the little things adding up. How many of us have trim barely attached with crusty old clips because you don’t need them until they break–but if you can things back together with a couple, you’re not gonna take it apart again to replace clips.
Collision by grimgs, on Flickr
