Hi all, I'm looking into doing the stupidest, most unnecessary mod for the hell of it, and was just curious if anyone else had. Apparently, "fleet-spec" Prius Alphas (v in Japan) were sold as the Daihatsu Mebius, which is a much cooler name. Switching would only take the front badge, rear badge, rear model badge, and....oh, right. The airbag. Just curious if anyone else had done such a swap or could even point me in the direction of the right part numbers, because holy cow, information seems scarce for a model that only ceased production in 2021. The only p/n I've come across is 75310-47050, which is supposedly for the "Mebius" badge.
I might just be dumb, but Daihatsu's website doesn't appear to have any contact method listed, and they certainly don't seem to have a parts website like Toyota's.
Oops. Yeah, I should've updated this. Decent developments; not fully done yet. https://partsfan.com/daihatsu/ I used this website to find the part numbers I needed. Hated ordering stuff without pictures first, but that's just how a lot of car parts are, I guess. With apologies to people reading this in 10 years when the link rot sets in: Hood emblem 75310-33020 https://www.ebay.com/itm/197668107818 Back door emblem 75310-47050 https://www.ebay.com/itm/205705953085 Mebius badge 75442-47100 https://www.ebay.com/itm/205705953086 I found the front logo badge, rear logo badge, and rear Mebius badge all from one seller on eBay. Basically couldn't find them from any other sellers. Any other websites I found offering them for sale required a Japan shipping address, so a middleperson would be required. The listings didn't have photos initially, but once I made the order, within a couple of days they took photos of them and added them to the listings and asked me to confirm they were what I wanted. No pictures of my car yet. Despite my best efforts, I did scratch the paint where I removed the "Prius v" badge, and I want that touched up before I apply the Mebius badge. The new badge would unfortunately not be able to exactly cover up the scratches. So this leaves two remaining "clearly visible" Toyota logos to replace. The first is on the wheel covers. I pried off the Toyota logos easily, but unfortunately the matching Daihatsu badges aren't available separately. I would've needed to buy the complete wheel covers at ~$100 each before shipping, no thanks. So what I did instead was order these wheel caps: https://www.ebay.com/itm/127328134524 When I get some stripes painted (hopefully early next year), I'm hoping to have the shop adhere these to the center of the wheel covers. I already sanded down the little latches on the back so these are as flat as I can make them. The last, big obstacle, which I may even be insane enough to do eventually, is to replace the airbag module in the steering wheel. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a way to just swap the logos over. But at current prices, this will run me over $500. 45130-47160-C0 https://www.monotaro.com/g/03091322/?t.q=45130-47160-C0 45130-B2010-S2 https://www.monotaro.com/g/03091322/?t.q=45130-B2010-S2# It appears to be one of these two part numbers, but I'm not sure which. Either way, I can't buy directly from that site because they only sell to Japan addresses. Ordering Parts – Streeter Corporation I've heard good things about this importer, so I'd probably see if they could help me out with acquiring the genuine part and sending it over. I've already taken my airbag and steering wheel apart twice, so the actual replacement process should be plug n play...I hope. Having said that, there are some little things that are weird. The rear Mebius badge had two "locator pins" to center it, and they don't match the Toyota badge holes. I can't believe they changed any tooling just for that. Had to cut those off. Luckily, the rear badge is otherwise just a strong adhesive. No one will notice it's not perfectly centered unless they're either 1) me or 2) looking insanely closely. I'll hopefully provide pics when I'm done...but this is gonna take time. Plus, if I'm already taking my airbag module out to replace the airbag, why not also use that opportunity to replace the steering wheel with one that also has the voice button to use with my Android Auto head unit?... I am in deep in modding this car with the restriction that I want its fuel economy to stay near its normal amount, so I haven't changed tire sizes or tread patterns or anything. I curse the guy on the Autopian Discord who poisoned my mind with the knowledge the Mebius exists.
