Dick's Dank Yank Wank Tank

Blues Brothers! Jake, Elwood, We're on a mission from God.

Like the Apocalypse now clip. Great way to start the day.

Nice build Scott.

 

http://youtu.be/gvKs2VLmVnY

 

My stocksuspensionshake brings all the boys to the block.

 

I'm here out of wordacious envy.

 

@scocar you reserved the tavern for your date?

 

Shell painted yet?

 

Dood. Seriously? My hood struts aren't even installed yet.

It will require pulling all the windows/doors and rear seal before I hand it to the shop, and I don't even have room to do that right now. It will likely be spring before that happens. We'll see.

In other news, I PMd Eric at Relentless this morning about a tailgate plate and the discount code, and approx shipping cost to Sac. I did not provide any spec.

He replied that he has one aluminum powdercoat in stock, everything else is at the other shop waiting to be bent. Approx shipping to Sac $30.

I said "put my name on it! OBTW, any chance you will be passing by Sac any time soon for a handoff?" and he said possibly Friday night as he goes to the Bay. So, we may have a handoff at the 80-50 split Friday if all goes well, then I can put it on this weekend.

LIKE A BOSS

I hope.

That is some serendipitous shit right there. Not a bad way to start the day.

 

Hell yeah!

I love my Relentless protector but the process was.. horrendous. Really, really horrendous. I'll assume that through some cosmic process unknown to man that I had extra trouble getting mine so that you could get yours with relative ease. So.. you're welcome.

Did the paint shop say they wouldn't pull that stuff of for you as part of the job? I know they'd charge you for it.. and probably break something in removal or re-installation, but still..

I still need to figure out my minor water leak and fix it.

 

Yeah, I stumbled across your...frustration in another thread, and issues like that have been a bit of a concern, so I figure I better act soon if I want one in the next few months. So thanks for paying your karma forward.

The wild-ass estimate from one shop (that seemed very professionsal, and was only a phone discussion) was $8-900, mainly because it can be such a pain and time consuming to mask around all the glass, hardware, etc., then they still need to sand.

So, I'd rather pull all this stuff off to cut down on their labor and overall get a better result with good coverage and adheshion in all the places the coating would tend to fail first. Furthermore, the rear seal has a little issue at top center anyway, so I'll repalce that. One side window crank is also a little sticky, and very difficult to access/work on in situ, so it will be easier to address that on my bench while the cap is at the shop. I'll also put in new struts then, if I haven't already.

But I'm goitn to run by that shop sometime soon I hope and ask for another estimate when they can see exactly what they are dealing wiht, and how much labor would be reduced by my prep work.

I might even pop off the Leer badges and fill in the recessed with bondo.

 

Hmm.. I dunno about that, I'd be worried about spending a lot of coin on a nice paint job only to have that cap flex make the Bondo crack and separate one day.

Fiberglass filler might be a better solution, should be more flexible.

 

@DCSBFTMFW edit
I would not want them to touch any hardware or fasteneners or glass or fucking anything. I don't want to risk stripped out crooked shit or anything like that.

Where is you leak?

 

Hm, maybe. Where they are located on the XQ is an extremely rigid area at the front corners, but the same thought crossed my mind.

 

I think it's at the top of the rear window (rear most.. at the tailgate). Supposedly my shell pretty much sat outside on and off for 5 years before I bought it from the guy, can't say it did or didn't, but the rubber is in great shape. I'm not sure where the leak is, I just know where the small puddle tends to be, a few inches back from the tailgate and on the drivers side, maybe 8 inches from center of the bed.

I don't see any issues with the window seal, so I'm not quite sure. Still need to sit in the bed and have the woman pour water on the roof, or something..

 

@scocar PM inbound

 

I think Bondo recommends a maximum thickness of 1/8", but IMO I think that's too thick. I use it as a skim coat more than a filler, because I'd rather keep it at 1/16" than 1/8", certainly no thicker.

Depends on the application, of course. It'd probably be okay, but I'd still use the fiberglass filler as a little extra insurance against cracking.

One thing I'm happy about with my SnugTop is that the decals had no recessing, so when I pulled them off it was nice and flat underneath.

 

Well take a look at how your wires are routed up to the third brake light/deom light. I found that in one spot, they crossed under the seal. I can't even picture it right now, but it compromised the seal in approx. the same spot you are describing and seemed totally uneccesary. A bit of the upper middle seal was a little loose and had captured dirt, so I gently pulled on it a bit in either direction to see what would happen, and that's when I discovered this. I'll clean out the dirt the best I can, then run a bead of silicon in there to get thgouth the winter if necessary. That said, i've seen no leak yet, but all the recent rain has not been heavy enough to assess it like a good pineapple express would.

The other thing to check is where the 3rd brake light wiring exits the cap to the light fixture. This was a leak source on my old snug top, and I was able to pull that off, shoot some solicon caulk in there, and then remougn the light with beads of sealant aligned from front to rear (rather than OEM side to side) so that water would be able to drain/blow out the rear rather than be trapped behind the fixture (and gather dirt, too).

 

Actual build talk ...

 

I remember you mentioning this.. I have a minute before a conference call, so I went outside and dumped a couple cups of tap water on the roof and let it run down.. turns out I have water leaking not from the seal but through the carpet. It looks like water is getting in where the third brake light is mounted to the shell exterior and then running inward, dripping down through the carpeted headliner onto the bed.

So, I'll have to see how the brake light is mounted and if it needs a new seal or just some silicone.

 

Parts accumulation status: full retard.