Monstaliner bumpers and 2-tone hundy

[ylexot]

I've wanted to do this 2 tone nod to the 55 since I got my white 100 several years ago. Source of inspiration:

The powder coating on my front dissent bumper failed and the poor bumper was getting rough. I had an excuse to, in fact a need, to do some cosmetic work. I don't have great before pix of the outside, but you can see from the back side of the bumper it was getting nasty.

 

[ylexot]

Took the bumper off with some convincing. Got the winch out and took it down to Warn to get reconditioned. (It didn't like rust inducing de-icer either.) Had all the bumper bits sandblasted and cleaned up. I used chassis saver on the inside. On the outside quartz grey. Tried a couple different textures. First a foam roller, then the roller they provide.

 

[ylexot]

Foam roller on the rear turned out good enough k left it. I would have done the same on the front, but I had runs from the chassis saver, that I carelessly didn't knock back down. (Note, at no point from this experience will I be leaving my day job for this. Purely DIY.)

 

[ylexot]

The paint on the plastic cladding on my LX was chipping, mostly from boot cleaning taps, I suspect. Onward to the blue.

Lots of power washing, scotchbritr scrubbing, rundown with MEK, and masking getting prepped. This was undoubtedly the most time intensive part.

Also did a a little repair of sorts for the fiberglass piece that runs under the grille. I've tried gluing it a few times, but it kept breaking. Sor it's more solidly fixed now and will also be blue.

 

[ylexot]

I also masked the little brushed nickle accent strip in the cladding, which is hard to see in the picture.

The rear bumper support bracket was also getting pretty bad, so I took it off and gave it a good going over with steel wheel and a rust converter spray paint. Hopefully it's good for another 20 years or until I put a more bad ass bumper on the back.

 

[ylexot]

A few shots in process. The paint went on pretty easy. I had very few problems with messes, but maybe that was just luck. Foam stain brushes were helpful in places. Cheap paint brushes were more durable. I went through a lot of gloves. Ventilation is important. My garage has a couple windows that I rigged with fans for a good cross breeze. I did this project a few weeks ago and the garage still stinks a bit.

 

[ylexot]

And the finished product.

It looks pretty good at a distance and not too bad up close. There are a few spots I hope to touch up when I have the time.

It is adhering really well and has cured pretty tough. I haven't taken it out to meet the trees or gravel yet tho.

One tip I wish I had heeded was getting all the masking tape off before it cured. The masking over the nickle pinstripe in the cladding was a bit of a bear. Took lower to take it off than put it on and the removal process left an less than perfect finished edge in some places. If it were still uncured, I think it would have come out easier and would have rendered in places I wish it had.

For the grey, I was trying to match the roof rack and rims. The grey is a little lighter than I wanted in the end, but I can deal with it.

Mixing the bedliner/paint was slightly tricky for the tinted stuff as you have to get the ratios of paint to harder to tint just right. I must have used too much harder on the grey, as I had just enough for the blue. I still have a half gallon of the bulk monsta liner and 2 enough grey tint for it, but I'll need another little can of hardener before I attack my utility trailer camper. After this camping season.

Hope this is helpful.

 

[ylexot]

Little update. I had saved a little bit of the Smurfadelic blue for dome detail or touch up work. About 6oz worth in a little plastic Togo soup container. Figured it would be air tight enough that the liner would keep for a spell. Not so.

Dried up and shrunk. Pencil in the cup shows scale of shrinkage. I know I used too much harder, and that may explain my spoilage. A lesson to learn here one way or another.

I hoped maybe there'd be some wet uncured liner in the middle for a touch up job. Cut it in half and it was solid all the way thru.

 

[PAToyota]

Once you add the hardener, it is going to... well... harden.

Only way to keep some is to keep the coating and the hardener separate.