ImNoSaint's Gen III Build

[Imnosaint]

Bed Liner Blues

I decided to leave the Monty unclad and coat the exposed area with a bedliner, Duplacolor's Bed Armor with Kevlar. Got the kit on sale at Autozone for $75.

To prep out, I thought I'd fill the holes left by the cladding.



I ground out and reamed each with a Dremel tool.



Filled each hole with a fiberglass filler. Use this sparingly to save yourself an enormous amount of sanding. It's been too long since I've done body work, and trying to beat the setting filler I got sloppy.

Sanded down the excess and found that some took...



and some didn't.



I filled those that didn't with a Bondo filler, and sanded it down after setting. 80 grit. I didn't finish-sand knowing the liner would make it a moot point.



I had sanded enough.



After cleaning everything up, I masked the bodywork and removed the bumpers.



I was sure to mask interior lines as well.



I shot the grill and the driving light holes with the same bumper-black I used on the upper grill, knowing that I didn't want the hassle of trying to coat those areas with the bed liner.



I thought I'd use a small-nap roller instead of the textured roller that came in the kit in an attempt to keep the texturing at a minimum. This, instead, clumped imbedded texture in random areas, the outcome of which was pretty hideous. So I reverted back to the textured roller.

 

[Imnosaint]

Bed Liner Blues, part deux

The liner went on in two coats as per instructions. I used a little over a third of the product.







I'm not sold on it yet, though Mrs. Saint likes it a lot. Had I to do it over, I'd have finish-sanded the body work and shot the whole skirt and bumpers with bumper black, but that would've been more for aesthetics than function. Considering how we use the Monty off-road, and the amount of desert pin-striping we're accumulating, this will provide some protection. Throw on the Big Horns on the Mitzu steelies and I'm sure I'll like it better.

I hope.

 

[Imnosaint]

Bed Liner Blues, part toi

So, it's growing on me. It looks better photographed than live, and the farther away the better.





While I was at it, I decided to take care of another issue we discovered during our Three Hour Tour. When the Monty failed to climb and we reversed back for another try, the flanges (not sure what to call them, maybe a spoiler-type thing) that extend on the bumper in front of each front wheel acted as scoops, dragging back mud and rocks with us. So I hacked them off with a jigsaw.

This is before:





And this after the cut:





And this after the coating:





I'm much happier with this and can't wait to see how it looks with the 33s.

 

[off-roader]

Looks good. You also covered the Herculiner with a UV proof paint right?

 

[IncorpoRatedX]

looks good, wonder how that thing would look with some rivet on Z flares

 

[Mudrunner]

Oh I didn't mean the Roof rack, I meant the one on the interior. Sorry if that was confusing, or are those little black bars factory?

 

[eurosonic]

View attachment 154148

truck looks so bad ***. I am impressed

 

[Sabre]

Thank you for sharing this with us! I'm following this with great interest, as you're laying some groundwork for my own Gen III. I like the dark contrasting color a lot.

I know just what you mean about those "scoops" in front of the front wheels. I also found while backing down the first really vertical dirt embankment (to take another crack at it, the second one successful) that I'd peeled the front license plate up in addition to scooping up a few quarts of dirt and mud. The plate stuck out forward at a 90-degree angle! It had been positioned just where yours is; I just moved mine up to the next higher position to get the bottom of the tag away from any likely approach angle problems.

 

[jlocster]

Saint, the truck is looking great. Where were you able to find a set of stock Mitsubishi steelies for the new tires? I'm trying to find a set myself with no luck so far. Are they the 16x7 spare rims?

 

[Imnosaint]

Oh I didn't mean the Roof rack, I meant the one on the interior. Sorry if that was confusing, or are those little black bars factory?

Sorry for the confusion. Check this out.

 

[Mudrunner]

Brilliant!!! Thanks so much! It would be nice to not have fishing poles and such rattling around the back or in the seating area, lol

 

[Imnosaint]

Saint, the truck is looking great. Where were you able to find a set of stock Mitsubishi steelies for the new tires? I'm trying to find a set myself with no luck so far. Are they the 16x7 spare rims?

I went through these folks, Original Wheels in Chino, CA. And, I have to admit, I'm not entirely sure what I'm getting. I'll find out this afternoon when UPS makes the delivery. I went online to get their URL for this post, and the page from which I ordered has changed, the pick for the steel wheel was a generic image, now there's this , and the price has gone up fifteen bucks.

I'll post a pic of what shows up this afternoon.

 

[Imnosaint]

Brilliant!!! Thanks so much! It would be nice to not have fishing poles and such rattling around the back or in the seating area, lol

Good, I hope you can make it work. The rod was from a broken bag chair that I had laying around the garage, something you could pick up for a few bucks and cannibalize. We use it on every trip to get stuff out of our way.

 

[jlocster]

Looking forward to seeing what shows up, thanks!

 

[Mudrunner]

Awesome re-purposing BTW I love things like that. And I will be stealing this for sure!