Builds "The Milk Truck" FJ45 Preservation Sorta (5 Viewers)

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I sprayed the eastwood encapulator stuff in any and all cavities especially inside the hard top channels. I did have to drill a few holes for access. It is runny and messy. Take the tube out of the box upon receipt and tape it to a wire to assist in straightening before use.
 
I sprayed the eastwood encapulator stuff in any and all cavities especially inside the hard top channels. I did have to drill a few holes for access. It is runny and messy. Take the tube out of the box upon receipt and tape it to a wire to assist in straightening before use.
And do that after your paint has cured, or good luck getting that paint to stick
 
The epoxy and Horizontal Blue layers are done. It is not concourse but better, IMO, I won’t be overly saddened after the first scratch occurs which is likely during assembly as I fumble with things trying to put it back together.

I should be able to get the lizard skin prepared and sprayed today but will have to wait 24 hours before adding the Raptor liner.

I think if I ever take on another paint job like this I will get one of those body rotisserie’s it would make painting all the different angles so much easier.

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The remainder of the process was sanding and tape prep for the Lizard Skin, then spray and let it cure for 36 hours. I followed that by scuffing the larger flat surfaces, the Lizard Skin was pretty ruff as was and I probably could have left it but wanted to make sure adhesion wouldn’t be an issue.
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Then I sprayed the Raptor Liner color matched to the same Horizontal blue. It looks really good. I can’t wait to start putting it together! Sorry for the crappy pictures lighting is not the best.

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Great work Tank! Getting close!
 
She is a keeper. Doing it right. Love that! You driving this to SAS?
Thanks guys for the kind comments!

I do have a campground site reserved in Ouray but had not signed up for SAS this year. In the event I fell short of being ready again I did not want displace anyone else. I figured if it comes together in time I would come down and visit.

Looking at the calendar I have 27 days to try and make this drivable, certainly not finished, to make the trip. That works out to be 3 full weekends and a lot of late nights. Just bolting it all together seems doable but finalizing the wiring could be what holds me up. I just told my wife I am going to work in the garage every day and night until August to see if I can make it drivable so, I am going to try and make it.

I might need someone to commit to picking me on the side of the road if an issue arises. It is possible the first real drive it takes is all the way to Ouray without much or any testing before hand. Could get exciting!:beer:
 
Been there. You'll get it done. All your mock ups are about to pay big time dividends.
 
I put the cab back on the body today after more than 72 hours cure time. It seems to have turned out just as expected but the Horizontal Blue is more purple or violet than I expected. I wonder if the red primer is affecting it and if I should have sprayed more layers?

Here it is after setting it on the frame.
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Here is a comparison picture of what I believe to be the original Horizontal Blue next to the new spray. When I had them mix the paint I asked for a satin finish rather than a gloss maybe that affected it?
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I am not repainting it, so I kept working. I knocked out some wiring harness adjustments, blasted some more parts, prepped, sprayed with epoxy primer, then some black. I wish I was done painting but there is still a bit more.

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My triumph this morning was reinstalling the door hinges. The upper passenger hinge would be a good job for a 10 year olds hands. I finally got it done though.

I decide to upgrade the hinges too. I am not sure what year these hinge bases came from but they have a molded rubber grommet on the hinge plate. The early hinges don’t have that grommet or at least mine did not.

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It's looking good and coming together. That's very true about that upper passenger hinge.
 
It’s a wee bit easier to harass that passenger side upper hinge through the kick vent hole, but you do have to remove the kick vent door. Then you only have to bend your arm in two directions rather than three 😂.
 
A lot more prep and painting today. I had forgotten that I needed to add mounts for the fuse box. I chose to mount it in the pedal assembly where the clutch pedal would have been.

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When I was blasting the inside of the top I realized that after the clear coat was removed the blue underneath was a lot like the blue I used on the interior. Probably harder to see in the picture but the degraded clear coat really hides the original color.

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I'm doing my annual pop in and check status of this rig.

Ok, I see lots of progress has been made (great job) and how is it that you ain't divorced is perplexing. You have a very understanding wife :).
 
My wife is awesome! I wouldn’t say she is understanding but she is accepting of me on enough levels we are still married and I want to keep it that way. ;)
 
I have we been working every night and my weekends to get it back to together to where it is now. Most of my time was spent blasting, prepping, sanding, painting, sanding ppainting again and then reassembling. Most of all the fluid systems are all closed up, the last is the AC/Heater lines.

I have started fitting the harness back in. My goal is to hear it run before I start working on all the accessory items.

The Amazon battery tray will be replaced after the AC lines are done which run under the mount.

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Nice progress 👍 🥃🥃
 
Looking nica!
And boy, that looks familiar! Just about to close up my loom now that everything is working and she runs.
How much of the ECU wiring do you have to do yourself or is it a pre made loom? I'm sure you've stated already but I'm following way too many builds o_O
 
Looking nica!
And boy, that looks familiar! Just about to close up my loom now that everything is working and she runs.
How much of the ECU wiring do you have to do yourself or is it a pre made loom? I'm sure you've stated already but I'm following way too many builds o_O
I paid to have a stand alone harness made. I still have someone wiring to do though. I made some modifications to it for fitting it where I wanted.

I had also changed direction on a few things such as the ignition and column that I had to adjust for.
 

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