Builds Bean! The Adventure Continues (1987 FJ60) (2 Viewers)

[erse]

That shifter is sneaky - everyone thinks it's a manual until they really look at it.

I definetely had a slight mental breakdown removing all that dynamat! It was worth it though!

It may be too soon to ask but are you reapplying dynamat after the bodywork and paint. Interested to get your perspective if the removal was enough hell to turn you away from it completely.

As mentioned above lizard skin seems to have its fans and @NCFJ uses it on a lot of his builds

 

[Bullzi]

@erse - That’s a good question. I’m not positive yet, but I think I’ll reapply in a few spots. It was horrible to take out, but I still have Dynomat on the front floor pans and Noico 80mil in the passenger and cargo areas.

I ended up removing Dynamat from the outside of the doors...it was being used as a vapor barrier. I also removed a ~10” strip of Dynamat from the interior of the doors (in case new lower door skins are required. I left the upper section of Dynamat on the inner skins of the doors. Same type of situation with the tailgate.
I also removed the Noico from the wheel wells and quarter panels and around all the areas that needed rust repair...there is still plenty of Noico and Dynomat left in the rig.

So with all that said, I’ll probably replace the Dynomat in the lower door areas (although I may use Noico). I think I’ll use something different for the vapor barriers. Not sure what yet, but there are a few products mulling around in my mind. The only issue with the Dynamat as the vapor barrier was that the door cards never snapped into place fully and would occasionally rattle. The Dynamat was too thick. Other than that (and getting it off was impossible), it worked really well.

As for the rear quarters and wheel wells, I haven’t decided what to do. Most likely I’ll go back to Noico. It was a pain to get off, but nowhere near the struggle of the Dynomat.

Honestly, I don’t plan on ever having to do this again...hmm probably shouldn’t say that haha...

I think the Lizard Skin looks super nice, but I don’t think it’s in the cards for the Bean unless Kelly convinces me that it’s a really good idea in a few spots...

 

[Bullzi]

While I was taking my doors apart in preparation for the bodywork, I noticed two pieces of rubber at the bottom of each door. Turns out these were the dampeners on the door limiters. Both had cracked off after 33yrs of use. The rubber dampeners for the rear door limiters were still intact.

So I went to work making some new ones with a bit of rubber I found in my dad's shop. You can get reproduction limiters or used ones, but they are around $40 - $50 a piece and I figured it would be just as easy to do it for free.

Here's a few pictures of the limiter and how the old rubber pieces are supposed to be fitted to it:

I found a piece of round rubber that was an extra bumper of some sort...not sure what this was for originally:

I cut the round rubber in the approximate shape of the old pieces:

Here it is slid over the limiter ready for install:

Its a little crude, but was super easy to do for FREE! I didn't realize these were missing and the difference in the way the doors open with them installed is crazy. When you open the door all the way and the door hits the wall of the limit strap there is no more violent clunking, its a nice soft stop. I would highly recommend doing something like this if yours are worn out/missing. The whole project took me around 1/2hr for both.

 

[Bullzi]

I've been working on getting my door cards to look a little more presentable while the Bean is away. My wife and I cleaned them really well with Folex carpet cleaner...This stuff works awesome! Apparently it doesn't have any toxic chemicals and is safe for most fabrics. It worked great on the door cards and I also used it to clean up my headliner and visors.

Before:

After:

Someday I'll get new visors - I'm thinking a used set of the LS400 ones since they are shorter and wont interfere with my rear view mirror at all...

Here is a picture of the Driver's door card. The difference is incredible!

All of the door cards had dramatic changes in cleanliness like this.


Along with a good cleaning, each door card needed some fresh inner felts. This was past due seeing as there was virtually no felt left on any of the strips!

The fronts are self explanatory...super easy install. The part number from Toyota is: 68170-90A01 and is still available. The front driver and passenger sides use the same part number.
The rear inner window felts are NLA, but its not too big of a problem because the rears have the same tab spacing as the fronts. This means you can buy another set of fronts and cut them down to fit the rears...here's what I did:

1 - Buy another set of front window felts. You can see how the bendable hold-down tabs line up perfectly.

2 - Carefully peel the little foam piece off the side you are going to cut and place the old felt on top of the new felt. Mark it for cutting. Note - the cut on these is at a very slight angle.

3 - Secure the felt for cutting...I used a vice, but you can use anything. I also taped the chrome area as to not scratch them.

4 - Cut the felt. I used a cutoff wheel with the Dremel and it worked really well.

5 - Reattach the small foam pieces to the freshly cut end. I also used a small hand file to de-burr the edges. A little spray glue on the foam pieces helps them stick to the edges if the adhesive is no longer tacky.

Continued in next post ---->

 

[Bullzi]

Here is a picture of the finished rear felts and one of them installed onto the rear door card.

Here is a picture of how the tabs attach through the back of the door card:

After the inner felts were all taken care of, there was one last thing that had been bothering me with the rear passenger door card...there was a giant ugly chunk taken out of it that someone had tried to fix with epoxy. This was done prior to our ownership and it had always bugged me. Here's my attempt at fixing it.

The issue -

After cutting it out -

I had a little extra foam and vinyl left over from when I trimmed my cargo area panels for the 3-point seat belts.

I cut the foam out in the proper shape -

Next I slipped a layer of vinyl under the surrounding vinyl material -

Lastly, I cut an piece of vinyl to the exact dimensions of the original cut and glued it to the piece that I had slipped under the surrounding material...this allowed all the edges to line up properly. There was a slight bit of puckering, but all in all it looks pretty good and a heck of a lot better than it did previously!

 

[Bullzi]

Before the Bean was sent off, I installed new parking brake shoes. The rear axle is out of an FZJ80 - so it has rear disc brakes with a drum style parking brake. The parking brake had been crummy ever since I bought the truck and I had tried adjusting it, but it never held tight.
While Torfab was installing my new transmission, I had them investigate the abundance of metal in my rear diff and as a side benefit of the investigation they found that the rear parking brake pads were in desperate need of replacement. I told them I'd take care of it when I got the truck back...so here's what it looked like:

Super worn - metal on metal in a few spots!

I ended up replacing the hardware and the shoes. For the hardware, I went with a kit from Cruiser Outfitters. I wanted to go OEM, but it was expensive and less convenient. Cruiser Outfitters has always provided me with quality parts, so I figured I'd give it a try.

The kit I used was SKU: PBHWKLATE $32.50 - I thought this was a very reasonable price. I purchased this from cruiserteq.com - powered by Cruiser Outfitters.

The kit was very complete and installation was easy. The only thing that was missing was a shim (Toyota part #: 90564-09185). This is the shim used between the parking brake lever and the horseshoe clip (picture below). I don't think the kit comes with this shim, and I wonder why...it literally comes with everything else. I ended up reusing my shims, which were really worn out. I would recommend buying shims separately if you plan on using this kit. I also left this info in a review for this product on the website.

The only other issue I had was that I couldn't figure out which upper return spring went in the front and the back. They are different spring rates, so it should matter, but I just guessed and I think it works fine (maybe I got lucky!). The old springs appeared to be the same, so I couldn't use them as a guide. I searched the FSM and parts manuals - the part numbers are: 90905-A6001 and 90016-DY008, but I'm not sure which one is in front and which in back...

Not sure, but whichever way I chose, it worked. The parking brake is working really well.

I also took apart and greased all the other components for smoother operation. @OTRAMM has a nice video on the process that I referenced a few times.
Here's the LINK.

Here's a picture of the freshly installed pads and hardware - I ended up splurging for the OEM pads. I figured if the parking brake is adjusted properly, the pads should be good for the rest of the trucks life...(I hope).

Part numbers:

46580-60050​	1	​	Parking Brake Shoe (Left)
46540-60050​	1	​	Parking Brake Shoe (Right)
46550-60060​	2	​	Parking Brake Shoe (Left, Right)

 

[Bullzi]

One more small tidbit of potentially useful info for the FJ60 owners out there...

I ended up breaking two of my door lock rod clips while I was taking the doors apart. Unfortunately, these are NLA from Toyota. I got a tip off MUD that these clips from Amazon work as a replacement, but I bought some and they were too big. Maybe they work for the FJ62? I have no idea if the FJ60 and FJ62 have the same rod diameter. the rod diameter in my 1987 FJ60 is 3.5mm.

Here are the clips from Amazon - great price and quality, but they didn't fit.

So, I searched for lock rod clips that fit a rod with a diameter of 3.5mm and found that Honda door rods are this size. Below are the clips that I went with. They were considerably more expensive, but fit perfectly! I ordered them off Ebay.

Honda Part Number: 72139-SR0-A01 (Violet), 72616-SM4-003 (White)

These can be ordered off of hondapartsnow.com which is basically the same site as toyotapartsdeal.com.

 

[erse]

One more small tidbit of potentially useful info for the FJ60 owners out there...

I ended up breaking two of my door lock rod clips while I was taking the doors apart. Unfortunately, these are NLA from Toyota. I got a tip off MUD that these clips from Amazon work as a replacement, but I bought some and they were too big. Maybe they work for the FJ62? I have no idea if the FJ60 and FJ62 have the same rod diameter. the rod diameter in my 1987 FJ60 is 3.5mm.

Here are the clips from Amazon - great price and quality, but they didn't fit.
View attachment 2636217

View attachment 2636220
View attachment 2636221


So, I searched for lock rod clips that fit a rod with a diameter of 3.5mm and found that Honda door rods are this size. Below are the clips that I went with. They were considerably more expensive, but fit perfectly! I ordered them off Ebay.

Honda Part Number: 72139-SR0-A01 (Violet), 72616-SM4-003 (White)

These can be ordered off of hondapartsnow.com which is basically the same site as toyotapartsdeal.com.

View attachment 2636222

View attachment 2636229

View attachment 2636224

Thats a stellar find. Little stuff like this being NLA drives every old vehicle owner crazy, Excellent work!

 

[Skniper]

So last week I mentioned that I had one more cat in the bag to get you all up to speed on where we stand with the Bean...

The latest news is that the Bean was recently shipped to AZ for rust repair and paint work by @kelly saad. This had been in the works for a while, but about a month ago we finally got the truck shipped off! We are super excited for this to happen!

View attachment 2622755
I live in the boondocks right now, so I had to trailer the Bean to Tacoma, Wa to meet the driver. My buddy let me borrow his trailer and my brother let me borrow his truck!

Shout-out to Aaron (@Riverrunner) at Summit Auto Transport for brokering the journey. Aaron is super helpful and really knows his stuff. He was really great to work with and I will definitely be calling on his services for the Bean's trip back! Thanks again Aaron!

View attachment 2622756
All loaded up!


This was a huge decision for my wife and I, but the Bean has some rust that needs to get fixed before it gets too out of control and we plan on having the truck for a long time. The paint on the Bean actually looks plenty good enough for us, but there is a good bit of underlying rust. The new paint will be nice, but that’s just a bonus compared to getting rust and bad bondo taken care of. The inner rear wheel wells and fenders are especially bad. You can see right through them! We are a little nervous because its hard to see the full extent of rust until you tear into it.

View attachment 2622769

View attachment 2622754

In preparation for this, I stripped the interior and exterior of the Bean. The hardest part by far was taking out Dynamat and Noico where Kelly would be doing his work. I probably spent 50hrs removing Dynamat from the inner and outer door skins…that stuff really sticks!

View attachment 2622770

View attachment 2622744
Luckily, I was able to get a little help from my wife and dad!

Here are a few shots of the removal stages:
View attachment 2622738

View attachment 2622741

View attachment 2622746

View attachment 2622747

I sent some new parts with the Bean so Kelly can use them as he reassembles. I also have a few new parts to put on it once it comes back!

Hopefully Kelly will be able to start working on it soon and I'm sure he will be keeping us updated!

I have a giant list of projects to complete while the Bean is away - I'll touch on those in a future post.

I’m curious what you found was the most effective method for removing the “tar” backed sound deadener. (?)

 

[Bullzi]

I’m curious what you found was the most effective method for removing the “tar” backed sound deadener. (?)

Are you referring to the Dynamat/Noico (butyl) stuff or the factory asphalt deadener?

So for the Dynamat and Noico, I resorted to just peeling them off a little by little. I had a plastic scraper and would slowly work it up in small increments. It took forever but worked the best. I tried a heat gun to the back of the panels and for the Dynamat there was a specific temperature where it would start to come off but then as soon as it got too hot, it would turn into a gooey mess. I tried this method a bunch with a heat gun and a hair drier, but it would always get too hot and start to get gooey - then it became a huge mess to get off. The Noico would turn to a mess with even a little bit of heat. The Noico actually came off without too much trouble...was still a pain, but not like the Dynamat.
Some have pointed out that dry-ice works to get it off, but my research suggested that it works well on the factory asphalt deadener but not so well on Dynamat. Also, most of the Dynamat being removed was on vertical surfaces which make it hard to cool with the dry-ice. I was working in a garage that was in the high 30's / low 40's and I think the cooler temps did help. If it was a hot day, I think the Dynamat and Noico would be a mess to get off - no experience there, just my speculation.

I only removed a few spots of the factory asphalt deadener. I didn't bother with the dry-ice because there were so few spots, but I have friends that have used it and they swear by it. I can see how it would help chip it up...the cold weather and a hard plastic scraper made it come up pretty well (one small piece at a time).
It's a pain, but if you go in with the correct mindset (and enough time blocked out) it helps!

 

[Skniper]

Are you referring to the Dynamat/Noico (butyl) stuff or the factory asphalt deadener?

So for the Dynamat and Noico, I resorted to just peeling them off a little by little. I had a plastic scraper and would slowly work it up in small increments. It took forever but worked the best. I tried a heat gun to the back of the panels and for the Dynamat there was a specific temperature where it would start to come off but then as soon as it got too hot, it would turn into a gooey mess. I tried this method a bunch with a heat gun and a hair drier, but it would always get too hot and start to get gooey - then it became a huge mess to get off. The Noico would turn to a mess with even a little bit of heat. The Noico actually came off without too much trouble...was still a pain, but not like the Dynamat.
Some have pointed out that dry-ice works to get it off, but my research suggested that it works well on the factory asphalt deadener but not so well on Dynamat. Also, most of the Dynamat being removed was on vertical surfaces which make it hard to cool with the dry-ice. I was working in a garage that was in the high 30's / low 40's and I think the cooler temps did help. If it was a hot day, I think the Dynamat and Noico would be a mess to get off - no experience there, just my speculation.

I only removed a few spots of the factory asphalt deadener. I didn't bother with the dry-ice because there were so few spots, but I have friends that have used it and they swear by it. I can see how it would help chip it up...the cold weather and a hard plastic scraper made it come up pretty well (one small piece at a time).
It's a pain, but if you go in with the correct mindset (and enough time blocked out) it helps

Was referring to the Dynamat/Noico stuff. Good info. Was thinking dry ice would be the go to for removal, evidently not.
Now wondering if steam might work well on that stuff, heat without the high heat melting factor.

This is a huge reason why it’s not a good idea to overkill the sound deadener application. Man you saved Kelly a sh*t ton of work!

 

[Skniper]

While I was taking my doors apart in preparation for the bodywork, I noticed two pieces of rubber at the bottom of each door. Turns out these were the dampeners on the door limiters. Both had cracked off after 33yrs of use. The rubber dampeners for the rear door limiters were still intact.

So I went to work making some new ones with a bit of rubber I found in my dad's shop. You can get reproduction limiters or used ones, but they are around $40 - $50 a piece and I figured it would be just as easy to do it for free.

Here's a few pictures of the limiter and how the old rubber pieces are supposed to be fitted to it:

View attachment 2629674

View attachment 2629675

View attachment 2629677


I found a piece of round rubber that was an extra bumper of some sort...not sure what this was for originally:

View attachment 2629681

View attachment 2629682

I cut the round rubber in the approximate shape of the old pieces:

View attachment 2629684

Here it is slid over the limiter ready for install:

View attachment 2629685

View attachment 2629686

View attachment 2629689

Its a little crude, but was super easy to do for FREE! I didn't realize these were missing and the difference in the way the doors open with them installed is crazy. When you open the door all the way and the door hits the wall of the limit strap there is no more violent clunking, its a nice soft stop. I would highly recommend doing something like this if yours are worn out/missing. The whole project took me around 1/2hr for both.

@EscapeWagon62 ^^^

 

[Bullzi]

Was referring to the Dynamat/Noico stuff. Good info. Was thinking dry ice would be the go to for removal, evidently not.
Now wondering if steam might work well on that stuff, heat without the high heat melting factor.

This is a huge reason why it’s not a good idea to overkill the sound deadener application. Man you saved Kelly a sh*t ton of work!

I should reiterate that I didn’t actually try the dry ice on the Dynamat or Noico. My applications were vertical so it would have been especially hard to get it cold enough. I’m sure you could hang it in a bag or something, but after dealing with the Dynamat I don’t think the dry ice would work well. The Dynamat is too thick to crack apart like the factory stuff. Maybe it would work on the Noico.
Plus all the research I did suggested it doesn’t work on Dynamat.

I just figured I should state that one more time. I don’t want to fully discount a method that I didn’t actually try.

I would love to hear from someone on MUD that has tried the dry ice method on Dynamat.

 

[EscapeWagon62]

@EscapeWagon62 ^^^

Thanks @Skniper
I'm going to give this a try.
I might do that. The used one I bought was for a rear door. Figured I was smart enough to move the rubber bit over to my front door.
Turns out I'm not that smart

 

[Bullzi]

While I was getting the Bean ready to be sent down to Kelly for paint, I created a wish list of parts for the project. I have been asked by a few different people to post it, so here it is. I didn't buy everything on this list by any stretch of the imagination, but I wanted to get the part numbers all in one place for future projects and such. If your doing a repaint or refresh of your cruiser, this list should be a good place to start. The OEM part prices were mostly taken from Toyota Parts Deal (TPD) just for reference...it may not necessarily be the cheapest vendor. I think this info is pretty accurate...there may be a few parts that are shown as discontinued that are not and vise versa.

Drop me a line if you have any questions!

DESCRIPTION	OEM PART NUMBER​	QTY NEEDED​	PRICE (EACH)​	VENDOR​	NOTES​	NOTES​
FRONT DOORS
Door Seal Weather-Stripping	(RH) 67861-90A00 (LH) 67862-90A00	1 of each	$80.00	TPD	Maybe Discontinued, but TPD had them
Glass Run Upper	68141-90A03	2	$67.00	TPD
Glass Run Lower	68143-90A01	2	$20.00	TPD
Front Door Cushion	90541-09006	4	$2.01	TPD
Window Felt Outer (LH)	68210-90A02	1	$28.00	TPD
Window Felt Outer (RH)	68160-90A02	1	$28.00	TPD
Window Felt Inner	68170-90A01	2	$39.00	TPD
Window Crank Plastic Washers	69266-22010-08	4	$1.13	TPD
Door Rod Silencer Foam	69759-30021	4	$3.50	TPD
REAR DOORS
Door Seal Weather-Stripping (LH)	67872-90A00	1	$40.00	City Racer	Discontinued: Price shown is for a City Racer Aftermarket Part
Door Seal Weather-Stripping (RH)	67871-90A00	1	$40.00	City Racer	Discontinued: Price shown is for a City Racer Aftermarket Part
Glass Run	68142-90A01	2	$93.13	TPD		City Racer has aftermarket for: $45
Window Felt Outer (LH)	68230-90A01	1	$20.00	TPD
Window Felt Outer (RH)	68180-90A01	1	$20.00	TPD
Window Felt Inner	68190-90A01	2	$39.00	TPD	Discontinued: (Use front felt and trim down)
Small Side Window Gaskets	(RH) 68188-90A00 (LH) 68189-90A00	1 of each	$96.00 (for both)	City Racer	Discontinued: Price shown is for a City Racer Aftermarket Part
BODY
Windshield Gasket	56121-90A05	1	$118.00	TPD
Rear Window Gasket	68291-90A00	1	-	SOR	Discontinued, but SOR still has OEM - otheres may have OEM as well (12/2020)	City racer has aftermarket for: $95 (non-chrome)
Cargo Window Gaskets	62741-90A00	2	-	SOR	Discontinued, but SOR still has OEM - otheres may have OEM as well (12/2020)	City racer has aftermarket for: $136 (non-chrome)
Rear Liftgate Upper Gasket	68282-90A00	1	$65.00	City Racer	Discontinued: Price shown is for a City Racer Aftermarket Part
Rear Liftgate Lower Gasket	68281-90A00	1	$85.00	City Racer	Discontinued: Price shown is for a City Racer Aftermarket Part
Fuel Door Lock Pad	69513-14010	1	$6.00	TPD
Fuel Door Cushion	90541-08003	2	$1.85	TPD
Gas Filler Neck Grommet	90480-92002	1	$19.00	TPD
Gas Filler Neck Gasket	77293-60030	1	$6.95	TPD
Rear Hatch Lock Bezel	69563-90A00	1	$45.00	City Racer	Discontinued, but still available from some vendors
Rear Tailgate Lock Grommet	90480-10102-01	1	$1.39	TPD
Trail Tailor Door Seals (full Kit)	Aftermarket	1	$280.00 (Full Kit)	Trail Tailor
Windshield Wiper Pivot Cap	85247-90A01	2	$13.00	TPD
Front Turn Signal Lens (LH)	81521-90A00	1	$36.38	TPD		Quality Japan Aftermarket from FJ Parts: $24.50
Front Turn Signal Lens (RH)	81511-90A00	1	$37.37	TPD		Quality Japan Aftermarket from FJ Parts: $24.50
Front Turn Signal Lens Gasket (LH/RH)	81512-90A00	2	$6.80	TPD
Front Side Marker (LH)	81740-19285	1	$21.25	TPD
Front Side Marker (RH)	81730-14110	1	$21.25	TPD
Rear Side Marker (LH & RH)	81750-91255	2	$21.25	TPD
Tail Light Gasket	(LH) 81562-90A00 (RH) 81552-90A00	1 of each	$56.00 (for both)	City Racer	Discontinued: Price shown is for a City Racer Aftermarket Part
Tail Light Lens (LH)	81561-90A00	1	$60.00	CruiserParts.net
Tail Light Lens (RH)	81551-90A00	1	$60.00	CruiserParts.net
Headlight Door (RH)	53131-90A01	1	$145.00	TPD
Headlight Door (LH)	53132-90A01	1	$145.00	TPD
License Plate Light Cover	81270-95A09	1	$155.00	FJ Depot	Discontinued, but available by some vendors
Land Cruiser Side Badge	75370-60020	1	$55.00	City Racer
Rear Hatch Struts	68950-69025	2	$35.00	TPD
Horn Ring Contact	45176-20030	1	$11.00	TPD
Horn Contact Pin	84312-20011	1	$5.75	TPD
CLIPS
Tail Light/Front Turn Signal Light Retainer Clip	90189-05013	16	$1.19	TPD		Works for both the tail light and the front turn signal lens
Tail Light/Front Turn Signal Light Screws	90154-50001	16	$1.24	TPD		Works for both the tail light and the front turn signal lens
Side Marker Retainer Clip	90189-04014	16	$1.11	TPD		front side markers, rear side markers, front vents, front grill center
Front Side Marker Screws	93219-64016	4	$1.44	TPD	Discontinued?
Rear Side Marker Screws	81739-22060	4			Discontinued
Sill Retainer Clips	90189-05012	20	$0.88	TPD
Sill Trim Screws	93566-54516	12	$0.84	TPD
Headlight Bezel Retainer Clip	90189-04069	8	$0.76	TPD
Headlight Bezel Screw Upper	90167-40010	2	$1.01	TPD
Headlight Bezel Screw	90160-40002	6	$1.02	TPD
Front Vent Retainer Clip	90189-04014	counted above
Front Vent Retainer Screw	90162-40006	4
Rear Vent Retainer Clip	62909-22010	8	$1.36	TPD
Rear Vent Screw	90159-35001	8	$1.12		Discontinued but available from toyotapartsdirect.ca
Rear Chrome Tread Trim Screw	93546-24516	6	$2.50		Discontinued but available from Cruiserparts.net
Front Grill Clips	90467-12008	8	$1.55	TPD
Hood Prop Clip	53452-90351	1	$4.07	TPD
Hood Prop Grommet	90480-15002	1	$3.00	TPD
ENGINE BAY
Hood Bumpers	53382-90A00	2	$8.00	TPD
Hood Insulator	53341-90A00	1	$217.00	Toyota Dealer
Hood Insulator Clip	90467-09014	20	$1.05	TPD
Front Hood Weather Strip	53381-90A00	1	$45.00	City Racer	Discontinued: Price shown is for a City Racer Aftermarket Part
Rear Hood Weather Strip	53383-90A00	1	$55.00	City Racer	Discontinued: Price shown is for a City Racer Aftermarket Part

 

[kelly saad]

Bean, shedding skin today.

 

[Bullzi]

Bean, shedding skin today.

View attachment 2644766

Ahhhh! It’s happening!

 

[Bullzi]

Small update on the Bean -

@kelly saad sent me a few photos this last week and let me know that we should be looking for a pair of front fenders.

The driver's side fender was crashed pretty hard when the Bean was stolen from the PO - I don't know the whole story, but from what I've heard it was stolen and the police were able to track it down pretty quickly...but not before the thief had put it into a tree. Here's a few pictures I scrounged up from Google Images lol.

Hmm - no wonder my headlight bezel never fit on correctly.

Anyways - I thought this fender might be a lost cause because it had a giant Bondo crack in the lower area when I bought the truck and I could tell it was tweaked pretty badly. Looks like the repair shop put about a 1/2" of filler in there to get the panel straight. Kelly confirmed that the time spent to fix it would well outweigh the cost of a replacement.

As for the passenger side fender, It has a crease down low and is pretty rusty near where the mudflap attaches. Again, it would be cheaper to get a replacement fender than fix this one.

So if anyone has a few fenders (in relatively good condition) that they are willing to part with, let me know. The other option would be to buy a set of aftermarket ones. I am a little weary of this only because I remember reading that they don't fit that well (body lines don't line up very well and such). But now having said that, I can't find where I read that. Maybe I'm crazy?

Anyone have any experience using aftermarket fenders from places like Cruiser Corps or SOR?

 

[Bullzi]

The past week has given us Washington residents some amazing weather, which is very unusual for this time of year. My wife and I figured it may be a good time to air out the rooftop tent, which can get a little funky over the winter months. I try to air it out every couple weeks in the winter, but circumstances this year didn't allow for that.
We ended up washing the outside, wiping down the inside with soapy water and taking the mattress out to air out a bit. All in all, its smelling pretty good again!

I was feeling especially motivated by the warm weather, so I decided to revamp the amber strip lights that I had added to the interior of the tent a few years ago.
These lights used to be on each side of the tent's interior, but we never used them both at the same time because they were too bright. So I decided to move one to the exterior of the tent (above the ladder area) to make it easier to get in/out at night. I also moved the interior light from the side to overhead for more central coverage.

Here are the materials I used to attache the interior lights - Nylon thread, Curved sewing needle and zip-tie mounts from Amazon. These come with a sticky back, but I sewed them in place. The tent fabric is 2-layers thick where I attached the mounts, so I sewed between the layers to avoid ruining the waterproofness.

Interior light placement before (there was one on each side):

New interior light placement after:

New exterior light placement:

Here are the switches for the lights (down low in the carpet area), luckily I didn't have to redo them. The map lights come with the tent, but are basically useless...they still work, but we never use them.

While I was sewing the interior light mounts, the needle snapped and jettisoned into my eye! It was bad enough to go to the eye doctor... I have a pretty nasty scratch on my cornea, but its feeling a lot better now! Eye injuries are always scary. Just remember to add sewing to the list of activities you need safety glass for!

 

[Borrego]

Looking forward to seeing it shine!