The wish list is growing

Beautiful weather here in Denver today. The sun was out, and therefore so were all the neighbors. I got a few comments from our friends, and some offers to borrow tools or whatever.

I removed the retarded-looking bent bumper. Before I bought this cruiser, I did my best to make sure that the bumper itself was the only thing that was bent, and not the mounts or the frame. With the bumper off, at least everything is straight. Probably illegal to drive it like this, since I would just double-impale whatever I ran into.




This is the bumper I want to replace it with, the "Hell for Stout" from Cool Cruisers of Texas. The bumper itself is $175 (pricey for a piece of powder coated steel, but I like it); so I could get it and add a winch channel and winch later.



I removed the jump seats and passenger seat belts from the rear, and spent some time cleaning up the inside of the truck. These jump seats are in great condition, especially compared to those I've seen in other 'cruisers. I put them away safely in the basement. The only reason I took them off at all is because I'm trying to isolate rattles, etc. and repair some surface rust.




Speaking of rust, I haven't quite decided what I'll do about the easy stuff on the bed and the hood, etc. The metal in these places is still in great shape, but I want to keep it that way until I get around to stripping and painting the entire truck (a long time from now). I posted up on ih8mud for some advice. I imagine that some sanding and rattle can primer would do the trick, but there might be a better way to treat the rust first. One thing's for sure- FJ40 owners are specialists in iron oxide.



Rattle can primer is pretty white trash looking also- that's another consideration. Grey would probably look better than attempting to match the factory color, which would just result in a clashing blue. Not too worried about the color anyway, just the integrity of the metal.