Umm, between the 120K PMS and the gadgets, locker, lift, wheels tires and so on, I probably have close to $10K plus the cost of the truck invested, not including the tranny swap. I could have bought 2 more VXs for that...but they would be just plain old boring VXs
Just finished the ball joint swap, took about 1.8 hours, 30 minutes of which was trying to get the factory bump stops off and trying to find one of the castle nuts. The nut had fallen into the jack. I am not sure what the point of the low profile stops is, they are less than 1/8" difference from the factory. They are a bit bigger as far as contact area though. Oh well, its done now. Why is it every time I do something mechanical on the truck, she demands some type of blood sacrifice? If I was a mechanic for a living, I would have to have the Red Cross on site all the time to supply me fresh blood.
Hopefully tomorrow I can make some progress on the paint. Stand by.
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
Thomas Jefferson
I'm surprised that you say you have an aftermarket fender. With as few of these that they made, I'm shocked the aftermarket would even have one available.
I think your idea of having to back up from it and take pictures to make it look better is a strange concept. Sure it looks better further away, if you back up another half mile or so, it may even look better. Not at all what I want for my truck, but if you're happy, that's really all that matters. The interior of your truck threw me off as well. Are all the wires everywhere just mid-project, or do you like the rat's nest look for the dash? I know you boast that you do the projects others just think about, but maybe they didn't do the project because they thought it through and decided it wouldn't look good. I'm sure there's stuff on my truck that members would find fugly as well, but I think you may be setting a new record. That's just my 2¢.
'01 Kaiser SC'ed VX #0867
As I mentioned, the wires were mid project. I am electrician by trade, so my electrical work is typically top notch. As for the backing up, I meant that it would seeing the overall picture vs. the in your face shot.
The fender is definitely not OEM. It is much thinner, the passenger side has a thunk, the drivers is more of a tink. I don't know that repainting could make that much of a sound difference.
Hey J,
Are you talking about a bright red instead of maroon? If so, here it is. As for Kaiser... beyond my skills.(I'm sure it doesn't help that my software is 7 years old.) I'd never played around with colorizing before last night and my best attempt at Kaiser was a complete mess. I can say that lavender & gray is not a good color combination!
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That looks good...pretty close as to what I was thinking. I should have defined red but you did pretty well. Thanks!
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....IT LOOKS HORRIBLE.
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..just my take.
atb
jo
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I agree, I like the new flat finishes they are doing on cars, but I wonder how they wear. Do you wax a flat finish?
Oh, and it's not horrible, he just hasn't backed up enough with the camera!
Marlin, I'm glad you like it. It doesn't really matter how a hard-core trail rig looks anyway.
"Do Not Seek Praise. Seek Criticism."
"If You Can't Solve A Problem, It's Because You're Playing By The Rules."
"The Perosn Who Doesn't Make Mistakes Is Unlikely To Make Anything."
-Paul Arden
I just pulled the insert, cleaned out all the gunk under there, lined all that as well, no more rust, then finsihed the insert itself. Also went ahead and did the drivers window bracket with the SBC brackets. DIdn't help the drivers window go up any betterActually I think its worse now
I tried sliding the glass around, might have to try and push it forward in the slots some more.
I had the same experience, the SBC brackets made a huge difference in the passenger side but didn't make as much difference on the driver's side (still have to "help" the window up). It goes up just fine after it gets about 2 inches out of the door, but IMHO that's still not good enough. The guys at the shop I use kind of see my VX as a pet project (they love working on something besides Taurus's and Civics) so they asked if I could leave it overnight next time for them to experiment. Who knows, maybe they'll come up with something to augment the brackets.
Stay (patiently) posted.![]()