Anyone "shave" the front nose emblem? Or paint the 90-92 emblem?

CSquared

New Member
Apr 5, 2005
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Atlanta, GA
An unfortunate circumstance led to me having to find a replacement for my nose (header) panel. Car is an 89 but I've always liked the 90+ round nose emblem. Only problem is that the don't make the nose emblem in red anymore and I'm not feeling the black background emblem on a red car (black is the only color still available).

I was thinking of doing 1 of 2 things:

1. Paint the round style emblem red in the background and gloss black on the actual toyota emblem. This to me would look awesome if done right but I have doubts about finding a shop capable of doing so.

2. Fill in the nose emblem spot entirely.

Anyone have experience? Pictures? I really don't like the stock square piece.
 

OfnaRcR4

Shea!
Oct 2, 2006
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I painted mine all black and kind of regret it. Looks nice with the chrome yota with the color of the car background. I'd suggest to look harder for one that is at least the same-ish color of your car.
 

spiller

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Mar 5, 2008
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My car has had the sqaure emblem shaved and the indentation has been filled flush and painted. It was done by the previous owner, looks kinda cool but if you look closely, you can still see the indentation slightly as bondo always shrinks a little over time. I have always preferred the updated emblem over the sqaure emblem and I actually have a hollow Toyota badge of the same size that I am going to stick over the top. Much easier than getting a 91 emblem and painting the background and then digging out all the bondo to mount it again.
 

White Zombie

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Feb 1, 2007
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sm_photo_missing.jpg


"Shaved" its a hairdo
 

CSquared

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Apr 5, 2005
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The more I see the shaved look the more I absolutely love it but I am worried about the issue mentioned above where you wind up seeing a damn outline. I don't think I've seen one car in person where there is no outline at some angle or light.
 

White Zombie

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Feb 1, 2007
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no outline on mine , of course the body and paint are only weeks old ... we used the fiberglass bondo stuff when it was done ,so hopefully less shrinkage over time than most ...
I love the shaved look, did the rear too , no wing,wiper,emblems,front sprayers,antennea, nothing . just clean...
its soooooo sexy.
 

honestabe

Happy as hell :D
Jan 15, 2006
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I believe you're talking about the fiber resin. That's what I used to shave my emblem. Looking back I should have used a little of the flexible bondo as a top coat to blend it in better. On mine you can still see the outline a little (mind you I did the filling and am far from a professional).
 

Canuckrz

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Jan 13, 2009
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Calgary, Alberta
9sbju9.jpg


I used a bumper repair kit that I got from a local parts store that included a 2 part 50/50 mix flexible filler putty and all the prepping agents and so forth. No issues with adhesion and the kit only cost like 20 bucks and was more than enough to do the emblem hole and both headlight squirters. One slight issue I ran into though was I must have not given the filler enough time to set and it rose a bit after I initially sanded it as it cured more so there was a very slight outline to be seen if you looked at it at the right angle.
 

Flateric

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Mar 26, 2008
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I shaved the emblam, headlight washers, antenna, door handles and smoothed the rear side bits of the "wing" so that there is no longer and seam. All in all I am happy with how it turned out and makes the car look sleeker and more up to date, IMO. Also did clear moldings with painted backs.
 

CSquared

New Member
Apr 5, 2005
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Atlanta, GA
Pics of antenna shaved with 89+ spoiler?

And what are you guys using for antenna? I heard the window antenna is crappy reception. I worry because I do get bored of my cds from time to time (was thinking maybe xm or sirius too).

I've pretty much decided to shave the emblem and possibly antenna. Exactly what I said to my fiance while looking at some pictures of the emblem was "wow that really gives it an updated look".
 

supraguy@aol

Well-Known Member
Dec 30, 2005
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Atlanta
This is almost on-topic:
Does anyone know if the upper nose panels are the same for 86.5-88, AND 89+?
Or is there a difference due to the change in lower bumper?
 

crisp

existentialincrementalist
May 25, 2007
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Ohio
p1737348_1.jpg

p1737348_2.jpg

p1737348_3.jpg




^^^ Also, no antennae through wing. Both body and wing filled when painted. (Maybe I'll find a pic around of the wing/antennae area later... but it looks MUCH better imho.)


NOTE: Mine is an '89...

-crisp
 

A. Jay

Search.
Jun 3, 2009
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White Zombie;1728596 said:
[IIMG]http://i701.photobucket.com/albums/ww13/5Easteps/image-2.jpg[/IIMG]

"Shaved" its a hairdo

Lmao, Spongebob right?


I used to like the 91+ emblem, my first car had it and I was looking into putting one on my current '90 after getting it, but have since become less fond of toyota. The less of their globe logos on my car the better (says the guy with '91 5-spokes lol).