Florida B.S. Thread

Good suggestion, their appliance epoxy stuff is good paint, I've done a few projects with it. It comes in both rattle can and pints.

My computer desk is actually painted with high gloss black appliance epoxy.

More important than paint choice is prep work, as Lee knows first hand I'm sure, prep is half the paint job.

Use of a good acid etch and primer is critical on bare metal. My projects that I took the time to etch and prime look and has lasted much longer than anything just painted bare.

Looks like Lee has already done a good prep and base.

@Taco No Baka If you don't put some green on your bumper you'll have to start calling it the OMGT

The Old Mostly Green Taco.

 

I'll look into it. I don't want anything too high a gloss though. I used Rusto Pro (comes in the taller can) semigloss black on my rear frame reinforcements and my rear axle. When I wash them, they look freshly painted even though it was done a couple years ago. Was going to go that route again, but I like the epoxy idea.

I shot it etching primer first and then put on a coat of gray primer. Some places have a number of coats of each from overlap when I turned the bumper to paint the other side. There is a coat of red primer on the top plates and end tubes just because there wasn't a lot left in the can so I used it up as a sealer coat then ended up sanding most of it off when I bondoed the seams.

"OGT" actually stands for ODd Green Taco, so it still works whatever the color of the bumper is.

More interesting is what "Natty" means. Since she's Mom's primary vehicle, Mom named her that because it means "Not A Tacoma Thank You"

 

Well in that case you better not paint the one door handle, can't have things looking too uniform or it won't be so ODD.




Ah, at least I think I am funny.

 

Well, today has just been a really weird day. Apparently, there isn't a single can of Rusto Pro semigloss black to be had in North Tampa. I probably put 30+ miles on the T4R running around to Lowes, Walmart, 2 Home Depots, Advanced Auto parts, and Pep Boys trying to find some. I ended up back at the Lowes where I started and bought 4 cans of Krylon Pro semigloss black. Guess I'll be giving that a try. I did see the Rusto black appliance paint, but it looked a little glossy and I was hesitant to commit to buying six cans of it (the cans are smaller than the Professional Rusto and Kyrlon cans) without knowing what would look like first. I think it was Pep Boys that had a can of semi-flat black paint (Kylon, I think, but it might have been VHT) that I thought was interesting but I passed on it for the same reason. I may pick up a can at some point and test it out on something like my spare tire wheel to see how stain resistant it is.

Anyway, I had a feeling this morning when I was leaving the house that today was going to be one of those days where you just need to crawl back into be and try again tomorrow, lol.

That's actually weirdly logical. If I paint the other door handle black, there will be less OD green, so it won't be as OD. Heh, they say even a broken clock is right twice a day.

JK, Kyle.

 

In all honesty, I have been heavily reliant on the Industrial semi-gloss for well over a decade, but for my sliders, rear bumper, and skids I went with gloss. I'm not wet sanding, so it isn't crazy glossy, but it also clears mud and grime a bit easier than semi. And, the Walmart near me doesn't stock semi and Walmart is about 60 cents per can cheaper (plus a 10 minute round trip vs 30 minutes for Home Depot or 45 for Lowes).

 

I tried gloss when Todd welded my reinforcement plates on the rear frame rails because I knew from my skid that flat sucks to clean. I had to clean it with a scotchbrite pad to get the mud stains out of it. Anyway, like I said, I tried gloss and I didn't really like the way it looked. So I went to semigloss and it was still too shiny for me, but it is easy to clean and it stays black instead of turning dark gray looking like flat does after a while. I can't imagine gloss being any easier to clean than the semigloss I have on the OGT unless you just rinse it off and don't even have to wipe it, because that's all it takes (a light wipe with a soapy rag and rinse) for mine and it looks just painted.

On the other hand, I did spray a single moderate sealer coat gloss clear over the ultra flat green on the diamond plate and it came out almost like a satin finish which I really like because of the rough porousness of the ultra flat. Dunno how easy it will be to clean yet,but I imagine I'll find out eventually.

 

Probably going to be taking a friend out to citrus sometime next week to ride around some but I haven’t been out there in years. What roads/trails are still fun to play on?

 

9a has some sand hills to climb, where trail 11, 6 intersect is kinda cool. Trail 14 is good, and trail 15 down to the caves is cool. And of course trail 19 is probably the best.

 

I would highly recommend staying out of the off-limits areas. The FWC has got a real hardon for catching people out there and writing them tickets in the last couple of years. If you're lucky they will only write you the regular $55 one, but if they feel inclined they can get you with a destruction of state property ticket which IIRC is about $300.

Trail 6 between 11A and 11 has a pretty nice deep sand uphill section (if you are coming from 11A) that can be a little challenging in 2WD. Trail 7 where it comes out almost right across from the ranger station outside Holder mine camp is cool too.

 

Plus they have trail cams setup to catch people.

 

Well. Guess I’m keeping my truck. Have gotten pretty much zero interest in it. Might end up de modding it a bit to make it better suited for towing. Looking into buying a track car and will prolly end up trailering it occasionally.

 

Thanks for the tips!

 

What might you be de modding from it?

 

Can I still hang out here if I drive this

 

At least you stayed in the Toyota family unlike Grande and Ryan. So I guess you can stay. And at least it’s the right color.

 

Wanta run with the big boys now

 

With that thing, you are the big boy.