Build Thread: Burni

[SPF40plus]

Paint:
The blue paint on the cab is Toyota Cavalry Blue (8W2) tinted Raptor Liner. The Blue paint on the house is almost Cavalry Blue Haymes 307 Iso Free Acrylic Polyurethane.

Both paints were applied with a LVLP gun with a 2mm nozzle/air cap.

The roof is Haymes Iso Free Acrylic Polyurethane in white.

A few tips for those that want to use Raptor with a normal paint gun. Use a gravity fed gun, and use the maximum thinner, don't mess around just do it. Raptor is really variable with humidity and temperature, so pick your timing and make sure you can get a full coat done without more than 5 degrees temperature variation. Otherwise you will have to change your gun settings and supply pressures. There is a little bit of variation of texture on the cab from this, but I had to do a third coat to get rid of some literal rough patches.

Some tips for using the Haymes 307 product. Use a 1.4 or 1.7 tip. 2 is too large. Don't paint in the wind. The result in a confined space (ie paint booth) with a fine-medium tip and appropriately thinned paint is really good as an industrial finish. It isn't automotive quality finish, but i don't care, I wanted an industrial type finish. The paint is hardy and hard. It doesn't do well over flexible joints or seam sealer. It cracks and flakes. I'll have to work out what to do in the gutters on the roof because it has cracked badly as the gutters are full of seam sealer. I did a full epoxy coat under the seam sealer, so I'm not worried about it yet. But I will have to fix it.

I generally use PPG paints, so it was interesting to see the differences in these two. I think the Haymes makes a great solution for a fast curing, hardy coating for general use. There is no isocyanate and this means you can use it outside a booth with care ( it is still full of toluene and other stuff that is bad for you, so treat it accordingly).

The Raptor Liner is really easy to use, and their helpline is actually helpful. I don't like that their promo videos down play the hazard of the isocyanate and don't give industry standard direction as to how to be safe while using it. If you are going to play with it use an external air fed respirator in line with your local laws. Don't spray it up wind from your neighbours, and don't release the waste into the environment or pour it down any drains.

We've had the raptor liner crack in a couple of spots too. These have generally occurred on edges of the sheet metal where something has pushed against the edge. Otherwise it has performed well to date. With the texture from the LVLP gun we can hose it or wipe it down and is easy to take care of.

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[SPF40plus]

Cab Interior...
I should just say everything and be done, but that wouldn't be very sporting would it.

The floor and footwells have been stripped and painted in two pack epoxy.

In each of the footwells we have drilled a hole in the floor and installed a custom drain. This is a piece of flared copper pipe with a piece of rubber hose inserted into the bottom of it which supports a plastic ball bearing. The ball bearing rests on the anulus created by the hose and prevents gas entering the cab, but will allow water to drain past.

We have then made new mats with car builders mass loaded vinyl with foam backing. This doesn't seem to be available as a single product any more. Which makes sense because the foam just pulls away from the vinyl. The product is okay but I wouldn't buy it again. It did reduce the sound in the cab, but not as much as expected. In the rear footwells we ended up putting a 20mm layer of polyethylene foam under the mass loaded vinyl and that reduced the sound by as much as the vinyl product. The vinyl is tacky when you buy it, and then distorts over time in trafficked areas. I think next time I'll use a rubber mat product instead.

The dash was completely pulled out, the metal parts were painted, the fan which was completely full of mud, was washed out and all the ducting washed out (also full of mud). It was full of mud because there is no cabin filter, so the environment dust gets sucked directly into the fan. We found an engine filter that was the right depth and height and hacked it to length and pushed it into the cab vent/inlet. No dust so far.

The seats were in okay condition, but were garbage. So, they all got binned and replaced with four air suspension seats from Garpen. These are good quality seats and have made all the passengers happy. We couldn't find Isri seats that were short enough to fit in the cab, I'm told there are some, but noone has proved this to me to date.

After the rust in the roof seam was welded shut, and all the holes repaired. The roof liner was replaced with a piece if ply, foam backing, and marine carpet.

We made some sky nuts to bolt everything into and now there is no heat radiating into the cab through the roof. The sky nuts are pieces of 25mm x4mm stainless bar with tapped holes dropped into the structural channel in the roof.

The windscreen surround was toast from rust, so I fixed that with silicone bronze. This was used to fix holes and gaps, and also to make the sills resistant to rust in the future.
Before:


After:




We made laminated plastic door cards to replace the mouldy water affected originals. The new cards are two layers of PC-ABS with another car builders product for noise reduction sandwiched between them.

The plastic was affected by overspray and uv, so in the end we sprayed it to be the same colour as the handle in the photo. They have held up to abuse since.

Because the middle front seat was removed we installed an electrical cabinet as a new lockable storage box, and built a new console around it. We have cup holders and drink bottle holders for everyone, a place for tissues, a place for hand sanitiser, and a bin. This is working well.

Between the rear seats is the 45l fridge, and on the back of the front seats are two storage caddies for the trouble makers in the back.

We also have a fire extinguisher and fire blanket and the obligatory emergency safety cones in the cab.

In the future I think there is room for a fishing rod rack behind the rear seats, but I'll need to protect the amplifier from water if I do that, which is bolted to the rear wall.

IHTH