Builds Reconstruction after rollover - building The Champ 2. (7 Viewers)

[baldilocks]

Last weekend was a Monstaliner fest. My suggestion is to read and understand the directions and study up on the experiences of others first.
I'm in NorCal where it has been in the 40-60 degree range. That's not a real problem it's just curing on the slow side. If you do this during fall or winter beware that your daylight time is shorter. I found that the application took longer than I figure for and
I ended up doing half of my second coat with a head light on and that was only my second mistake.
I got distracted while mixing the first gallon and failed to include the catalyst, this is why you should mix in catalyst before the color. I discovered this when
I began mixing the second gallon. I decided that I would press on in hopes that the catalyst in the second coat would affect the first coat. It seems to be doing ok so far.
Because darkness fell, my finish is not exactly what I had hoped so I called Monstaliner this morning, ordered another one gallon kit and told them about my first coat missing the catalyst. I was happy to learn that I'm not the only knucklehead out there. He told me not to panic and agreed that the second coat catalyst could affect the first coat. The good thing is that it's a paint job and not a truck bed where maximum toughness is absolutely necessary.
Other than that, the process went well. Like many others have advised, start the job with at least 8 rollers if not more and change them often.
I used factory 045 white.

 

[retrofive]

Looks great. My truck started it's life white and always liked it. But boredom took over and did my liner job in tan. Seeing your pics sort of makes me wish I "color" matched back to the 045.

 

[baldilocks]

Looks great. My truck started it's life white and always liked it. But boredom took over and did my liner job in tan. Seeing your pics sort of makes me wish I "color" matched back to the 045.

I went round and round about the color too but decided white was best for me. The pics don't really show all the imperfections I aim to conceal with a third coat.

 

[retrofive]

I will say, if you wheel your rig any liner IMHE will chip. I have areas of white showing through, had I kept it white it wouldn't have bothered me one bit with ... well the white showing through the white. Now the areas that have been hit I want to "touch" up.

 

[93yotasr5]

damn that turned out great!!! I've been throwing the idea around for white as well. I may have to do that soon!

 

[baldilocks]

damn that turned out great!!! I've been throwing the idea around for white as well. I may have to do that soon!

Thanks Eric but I think I can do better, that's why I ordered another one gallon kit. I know I will just beat it up but want to start off as purty as possible.

 

[baldilocks]

As documented in a previous episode of this here disorganized "build" thread, I smashed my rear hatch with the spare tire when I backed into a tree. Sometime after that I traded a local guy my OEM front bumper for a perfectly good white rear hatch from a 92 so I did not have to use the green one off my rolled parts truck.
I found out today that the wiring is slightly different and rear wiper won't work even though the relay for intermittent mode clicks away.
There are two connectors transitioning from the body into the hatch. One has 6 wires the other has 3 on the 93 harness whereas the smaller one on the 92 hatch only has 2 wires. Tomorrow morning I will see about moving all of the guys from the smashed 93 hatch over to the 92. If that won't work then I will be sans one each rear wiper. One more thing I never noticed until today is that the 92 hatch has no upper/third break light.

 

[baldilocks]

I was not satisfied with the Monstaliner job I did a couple weeks ago so I did it again on Sunday and Monday. Prep was the same as the first time. I did not like how off white and "Buttery" the first job turned out tinted with 100% 045 white, as well as the finish I ended up with, so I bought a one gallon kit and tinted it 60/40 or maybe 70/30 Toyota 040 Super White and the stock 045 White which is an off white. I'm happy with it this time.
Like others have said: prep is key, I went over mine with cotton rags soaked in acetone twice after I ran 80 grit over it to smooth it and then scotch brite to reach into the tiny crevaces. Move your roller slowly as to not cause air bubbles. When the Monstaliner is first mixed, its about like latex paint and will splatter and also get air bubbles in it if you roll to quickly. I found that I was applying it a bit to liberally on the first two panels so I started "stretching" it out some and I prefered the finish that gave me. I actually liked working with the material about 60-90 minutes after mixing in the catalyst. My buddy was present to alert me to spots that needed a re-touch, remove masking as I completed and area and pull insects that got stuck on the truck with a pair of tweezers. Using tweezers can be a slippery slope as it is possible to leave undesirable marks in the Bedliner, especially late in the process. What I did, in the end, was go back and dab Monstaliner over top of a few insects that were stuck rather than try to extract them from the "setting" material. Anyway, here it is. The pic that shows masking tape is what it looked like after prep but before the "whiter" Berliner.

 

[baldilocks]

I finally had to commit myself to disassembling the 94 I rolled and storing up the parts and trashing the rest unless someone wants the frame and shell as a start for custom buggy project and would come with factory elocked axles under it.

I had several gallons of gas in the tank. Instead of drain it I hooked the pump directly to 12v, slid a piece of clear pvc tubing over the end of the hard line near the brake MC and pumped the tank out. It worked pretty good. Also some pics of thediassembly process. Toyota really stuffed a lot under that dash.

 

[baldilocks]

Does anyone know the purpose of the rubber tube attatched to the side of the heater box. It's the S shaped black tube with the white plastic thing attatched to its forward end.

 

[baldilocks]

It's been nearly two months and a good bit has happened with both rigs. The Green Machine is stripped and ready for pick up. The Factory locked axles will have a new home under a 100 series up the road in the Sacramento area. The new owner has agreed to take the stripped body and frame along with the axles he wants. I pulled the power train this morning. With the transfer case removed it was an easy operation. Rather than attempt to pull the cherry picker away from the cruiser I littered the engine up and used gravity and the parking break to simply let the vehicle roll down the driveway away from the dangling engine and transmission.

 

[baldilocks]

The White Rhino trim was painted with black Rustoleum truck bed liner and reinstalled. Also picked up some nearly new 35" MTR's and wheels on CL for a good price and did some snow wheeling last weekend.

Those same tires and wheels are back on CL because I finally admitted to myself that what I really want are 37's.

 

[GW Nugget]

Lots of work striping a rig & saving it.
Are you sticking with MTRs or venturing out to a new tread design?

 

[baldilocks]

Lots of work striping a rig & saving it.
Are you sticking with MTRs or venturing out to a new tread design?

I would like to try out Cooper STT Pro's in 37". I'm trying to make myself wait until my current wheels and tires are sold.

 

[93yotasr5]

She looks great man!!! Time for me to remove my bumpers, paint them along with the sliders.
Smogging the beast on Wednesday!

 

[baldilocks]

She looks great man!!! Time for me to remove my bumpers, paint them along with the sliders.
Smogging the beast on Wednesday!

Thank you. How fun was it replacing your heater core?

 

[93yotasr5]

Thank you. How fun was it replacing your heater core?

so much fun that I hope I NEVER even have to think about touching another one!!!

 

[bloc]

View attachment 1378600Does anyone know the purpose of the rubber tube attatched to the side of the heater box. It's the S shaped black tube with the white plastic thing attatched to its forward end.

Didn't see this sooner..

It is a venturi tube to draw cabin air over the thermocouple (mounted behind the little grate on the bottom left of the AC control panel) to tell the AC what the cabin temp is.

IIRC my 94 had the tube and hardware but no actual sensor. Could be wrong on that though.... My 97 LX with auto AC definitely does have the sensor.

 

[baldilocks]

@bloc I wondered how long it would take to get an explanation. Makes sense. Yeah my 93 does not have auto climate control.

 

[BILT4ME]

Wow! That is some serious commitment!

Congratulations on having it out and going!

I did something like that when I was in HS, but that was 35 years ago. No way in hell would I go to that level now.

Great Job!