Run to the Hills! - Jason's Completely Stalled Colorado GTFO Build

Firewall Tubbing for 35s - Fender and Flare Closeouts

Next in the weekend's festivities was by far the most time-consuming. It was definitely my OCD driving me a bit, but I think there is some sound reasoning behind all of the work.

First some backstory:

The last (and so far only ) extended trip that I've taken with the truck was last Thanksgiving. It was a fucking stellar trip, and the only real negative was that I got caught in some nasty weather.

On the way out of Grand Junction, Colorado, heading west on I-70, I hit a rain storm that was ridiculous in its intensity. Knowing that it was moving east and I was moving west, I knew that I'd be dealing with mud when I planned to camp that night east of the San Rafael Swell.

Sure enough, as dusk was closing in, I pulled off the freeway and headed north. The road was soggy as hell. My tires did absolutely fantastic, and I never once felt at risk of getting stuck.

I attempted to get as far north as I could to get away from the freeway, but I abruptly came upon a wash that was raging, with water spilling over its banks in spots. So I turned around, found a great little spot, and set up a very muddy camp.

Killer spot and great views.
And mud.


Gear packed.
And mud.


Good times.
And mud.

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So. When I got home the next day and took the truck to the car wash, it took me $12 in quarters to get MOST of that goddam bentonite clay out of nooks and crannies that I swear to God I'd never be able to get mud in IF I TRIED. The damn truck probably weighed an additional 80 pounds with all of it.

I had mud in my engine bay, the hood, and even the damn roof. Worse by far was the fact that I had mud and silt in between the body and the fenders as well as way the hell up in my bedsides. The reason for that is that I yanked every single liner out of the wheel wells when I cut metal for the 35s. Engine skirts, liners, all of it.

You might say I'm traumatized. I REALLY do not want to deal with that again. And on top of all of that, I figure if the mud got in those places, the mag chloride here certainly will too.

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Which brings me to my latest mod: Fender and flare closeouts. My thought was that since I wanted to run flares again, but they would have to be trimmed, all I would be doing is providing yet another pocket for mud and detritus to pack itself into, in addition to the monster gap between the body and the fenders.

To deal with the flare openings, I used a crap ton of rivets and some 90mil rubber sheeting. For the fender openings, I chose Kydex (ABS) since it can be formed to shape easily with a heat gun. By the time the weekend was over I only had the driver side fender done, but the results were pretty badass, I think. Check it out:

One fender flare, trimmed to match the clearanced fender.



Match punching sheet metal backing strips to hold down the rubber sheet. Tedious as hell, but my OCD powered me through.



And beer. Beer also powered me through.



Blurry pic of the inside of the flare, the rubber sheet, painted backing strips, and many, many, rivets.



Done riveting the rubber to the flare. Time to mate the flare to the fender.
Well, almost...



Moar punching, and then some half-assed touch up painting. The beer and the OCD were wearing off at this point.



Flare mounted to the fender with new clips. Time to trim and rivet the rubber to the fender.



Done. I had to rivet the bottom of the flare itself to the fender because the last clip location went bye-bye along with the lower fender-to-body mounts.



Not too shabby, I think. Pretty unobtrusive, but super functional.

​

At this point, it was time to start working with the kydex to close out the last gap. This one is HUGE; it basically encompasses the area under the battery, the void between the body and the fender, and the exposed area around the door hinges. Oh, not to mention the sweet holes in the wheel well bodywork that catch all sorts of shit.

Super awesome cardboard template. Lesson learned after the fact was that I needed to add about an inch to the overall length to account for curvature and forming.



80mil Kydex (ABS). Pretty stout stuff, and super pliable when you hit it with a heat gun.



Getting the first rivet in was a pain in the dick region. After that, it's a repeated "heat-form-rivet" operation.



Some rubber "washers" that I made to go between the Kydex and the firewall. I'm hoping that these do a good job of sealing out the elements and keeping moisture out of the cab. Fingers crossed.



Upskirt shot of the liner. My goal was to have the ABS overlap the rubber sheet that closes out the flare opening, and I think it came out perfectly. It's hard to see it, but the Kydex did a great job of conforming to the bumps inside the wheel well.


No more exposed fender gap and door hinge.



Not quite enough material to go as far as I'd like, but it should keep the majority of the mud from loading up the voids behind the headlights and side markers.


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So there it is. A lot of work, but I think it looks good and should perform even better.

 

I took off an inch. It didn't leave a whole lot of material there by the fuel door. I landed on that number because it seemed like guys like @Robmonster117 and @cynicalrider did that much on theirs and it worked out alright.

At some point, I need to cycle my rear suspension anyway. Then I'll know for sure if I'm clearing the bedsides and the flares.

 

Damn Jason....you are a machine!!! Looks great buddy....wish I had your patience

 

Yess! that looks awesome! Super clever with the liners too thats going to make things real easy to keep clean underneath. Well done sir. We need to see some posing shots of the whole truck with the new flares

 

Damn, I trimmed 1.5" and still rub at full stuff (or at least as far as the rear can stuff right now with the nitrochargers limiting). I'd say there is still ~.5" of tire that doesn't clear the cut line.

What is your overall BS with the new wheels? No spacers, correct?

 

Damn! Sounds like I might be trimming a bit more...

I'm running 3.5BS and 1" spacers, 2.5" total BS. Had to in order to get the tires off the frame at lock. That will likely screw me with the bedsides...

But it really depends on what sort of travel these Expos give me. I need to break em down and check travel anyway for my rear relocation. My plan is to be a little conservative with the bump location because I don't want to wear the springs out early by going negative with the loads they'll see. That'll determine how much more I need to trim.

 

I've got 2.25" BS, so you may be alright. I'm sure I had some negative arch at the time, too. Just figured I'd give my two cents and hope you can benefit from it.
Also, I edited my post to say ~.5" beyond the cut line. IIRC there was actually a small insision left on the tread from the photo below.
https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/146554856@N05/32843351426/

 

Always appreciated, Austin! All of this is still pretty new to me.

I think it's gonna have to be a compromise for me between maxing out uptravel, keeping the springs happy, and minimizing the hacking on the truck. Time will tell, for sure.

 

Yep. Pretty much.

That is just sexy!

 

I think you're on the right path for a happy medium. Curious to see how the expos cycle - maybe we can plan some sort of shock relocate together soon. I'd still like to get the frame plates welded on as soon as possible. The new bumper is an absolute pig lol.

 

Very, very nice. Good work.

 

Yeah I cut somewhere between 1.5"-1.75" just because I didn't want to take any chances. On the bright side I don't rub at full stuff.

Also the level of detail you put into the fender liners is really inspiring. I have been dealing with the mud getting up there and it's hella frustrating. It's coming out great dude.

 

Cough* flatbed *cough

 

1.75'' here. Did that because i knew it wouldn't cut up the tires due to jon.

 

That would be badass, Austin. Maybe we can bribe Jake with Dr. Pepper and get all of this done.

It could be like a "1st Gen Butt Lift Party (no homo)"

Thanks, man!

Thanks, Mike!

I need to take a look when I get home. Maybe I took more than I thought, because I seem to remember trimming about what you did. Or maybe that was Rob...

Trust me, Jake. At some point, I'd love to go down the "Expo Flatbed" rabbit hole.

I have ideas...

Shit. I really do need to check and see how much I took off the bedsides. Thanks for chiming in, Monte!

 

Well shit. Looks like I really did only take off 1"... Looks like I have another 1/2 to 3/4 to use before I get into the gas door.

Hey, fellas, what did y'all do around the gas door?

@cynicalrider, @Blackdawg, @alee891, @Robmonster117

 

The only pic I have of that spot after the chop is a crappy snapchat pic but its right here in the build.https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/robmonster117s-little-monster-build-thread.437656/#post-12704853 We all kinda used our own methods in measuring for cutting so I wouldnt go over board on more cutting till you see where your tire is hitting if it is at all.

 

Thanks, Rob! Looks like you didn't take as much as I thought. You still have about an inch of material before you break thru to the gas door opening, I think.

 

Yea I edited what i said a bit. Its really each and their own on the chopping methods. My idea of a flex test was to overload the bed with crap and stick a 10 ton car jack under the tire I flex. I dont reccomend copying as it is extremely dangerous and stupid