the DSRTRDR is getting some TLC . . .

[JohnnyC]

How is your soft top?

Are you able to keep using it? As much as I love the FST look ... I don't think it would really be the same rig with one.... Your rig is unique with it... Well ... Except for that poor clone with the bezel inverted

 

[SouthBostonFJ40]

You could do demolition derby with that rear sill.

 

[Tools R Us]

You could win demolition derby with that rear sill.

Fixed it for you!

 

[nuclearlemon]

How is your soft top?

Are you able to keep using it? As much as I love the FST look ... I don't think it would really be the same rig with one.... Your rig is unique with it... Well ... Except for that poor clone with the bezel inverted

lol...totally with johnny c. the diamond plate and old school white softtop on baby blue look totally belongs to claudia.

 

[Chachie]

c'mon no pics I need my fix

 

[inkpot]

Hang in there. We did do a bit more demolition today!! John

 

[Tools R Us]

c'mon no pics I need my fix

We were questioning the structural integrity of this member,,, answered!

 

[DSRTRDR]

if it gets too bad, your doppleganger is for sale

I want that top

How is your soft top?

Are you able to keep using it? As much as I love the FST look ... I don't think it would really be the same rig with one.... Your rig is unique with it... Well ... Except for that poor clone with the bezel inverted

my softtop decided to give in to the dry AZ heat last year before Cruise Moab: cracks developed in the windows (temporarily fixed with clear packing tape ), a branch ripped kaput one of the zippers (some drama to get that fixed 3 weeks before Cruise Moab ), and then more windows cracked in Moab when I tried to roll them up

I would really like a white top in Arizona (ever since after the 2012 Cruise Moab, I have been running my bikini top) - but the cost for custom was quoted at around $1500-$1800 even with the old top as the pattern

I do care much for the FST look; I am fine with the Bestop look - so I called them today to inquire about a white or grey top; but even a 10-top potential group buy (I just made it up for the inquiry), they wouldn't budge from their "only black, we don't do custom, and any other color would custom, which we don't do"

right now, my thinking is this: I have a white bikini top (homemade ) that is proven to work - it even got me through this winter in AZ - I might as well try black for the full softtop; which I am more likely to put on in the winter, anyway, when heat is not as much of an issue - and if I don't like it, I can still go custom and sell the black top - black will work well, as far as looks go, would also obviate the need to paint the new black Bushwacker fender flares I won at Cruise Moab several years ago

 

[Chachie]

uhhh maybe a shop vac so we can see dirt and dust vs rust! why does most of it look new?

 

[Chachie]

maybe I should say newer

 

[DSRTRDR]

lol...totally with johnny c. the diamond plate and old school white softtop on baby blue look totally belongs to claudia.

with all that fine work that went into the new quarter panels, I'm not gonna cover that up again

I drilled the rocker diamond plate off myself today, too - another overkill design is in the making there . . .

the bib will stay as is - the black bezel would go well with black top and flares

baby blue will stay as well, provided some paint shop can come up with a good match - only the panels that really need it will get new paint - the front will stay all original patina

I will even get a new seat for myself - the same style as before (I am repurposing the second seat of the pair that I bought 8 years ago it's practically new - stayed well-preserved in shrink wrap and garbage bags in the garage for all these years)

 

[DSRTRDR]

maybe I should say newer

because we wirewheeled it all and applied rust bullet 8 years ago when I got the truck

that middle section already then had some rust bubbles that we decided to ignore back then

 

[Chachie]

Makes more sense now. I will try and stop by tomorrow to check it out.

 

[inkpot]

It took me a while to drill out most of the 28 spot welds on that section. The drill was too big to get into the 4 corners, and a some of the welds were very hard to locate accurately, so I kinda had to questamate where they were. Used a fresh 3" cutoff wheel to trim it all out right at the inner edge of the weld holes so we can re-use them for rosette welds to hold the new metal in place. Now that's what you call "recycling"!This way I only had to cut out the bad steel. Almost all of the rust had stopped short of the welds. With all of this rust removed and replaced with upgraded steel, Claudia's 40 is DOOMED to a long life of wheeling in the desert southwest.

 

[DSRTRDR]

thanks so much for that yeoman's job - those spot welds were from hell, for sure

 

[Chachie]

We have to work on the censorship! can't say H E L L?

 

[tmarx]

Congrats, great work !

 

[DSRTRDR]

We ... can't say H E L L?

depends on whether you have the filter selected, I see it just fine

 

[ChaseTruck]

- black will work well, as far as looks go, would also obviate the need to paint the new black Bushwacker fender flares I won at Cruise Moab several years ago

Really? All these years of 'No, the top NEEDS to be white!', and now this?

I should have insisted we just cut that floppy part of the tub off, and tube out the rear. Would have made the H55 dealio much easier, too.

 

[nuclearlemon]

boat shops can sew in new windows