dustboy wants to build a camper...

[ExpoMike]

Aluminum is a very different animal to paint versus steel. You really need to use a bonding primer designed for aluminum, then an automotive grade paint. You'll want to go to an automotive paint store, not a home paint store. You will need to strip off all the old paint and caulk.

There should be auto paint stores up in your area but local in San Diego is TCP Global which does a lot of mail order paint supplies ( http://www.tcpglobal.com/ ). If you can't talk to anyone up there, give them a call and find out what you want to use. BTW, to do it right, it will not be the cheapest.

Prep is 100% critical and no matter what you use, that will be key to anything looking good and lasting. Good luck and nice build.

 

[dustboy]

Aluminum is a very different animal to paint versus steel. You really need to use a bonding primer designed for aluminum, then an automotive grade paint.

The bottom line for that is, it needs to be painted in a spray booth (I don't have a garage I can fit in, and my neighbors would flip if I tried to spray Nason). No money for that right now, so I'm stuck with shade tree techniques.

I don't have much trouble with the rust-oleum peeling, more that bugs and stains stick to the paint and are very hard to remove.

 

[Deleted member 9101]

The bottom line for that is, it needs to be painted in a spray booth (I don't have a garage I can fit in, and my neighbors would flip if I tried to spray Nason). No money for that right now, so I'm stuck with shade tree techniques.

I don't have much trouble with the rust-oleum peeling, more that bugs and stains stick to the paint and are very hard to remove.

Do the prep work yourself, buy the paint you want (Dupont Imron is affordable and good quality ) Than go to Maaco and have them spray it. Should not cost a whole lot more than DIY and will look better and last much longer.

 

[Ira]

I just happened across your build, dustyboy, and, my god: awesome! Kudos to you for this major undertaking, and I hope you come up with a satisfactory paint solution.

On the seating front (congratulations, by the way ), might it make sense to cut out the (top end of the) back half of your cab (i.e., from just behind the arch/frame of the front door) and fabricate up to meet the camper? If so, there's no reason you couldn't add a second door in the (thus somewhat more spacious) gangway between camper and cabin.

Of course, that'd be a massive project, but you'd get to keep the build (and also be able to justify spending the money on a profi paint job?), and possibly gain quite a bit of space. If you cut a passageway in through the front of the camper, in place of the window, you could line up a full-size seat directly behind the front driver or passenger, and use the other side for interior storage. It might also give you a way of making the whole affair more aerodynamic.

All that said, I guess if you wanted a chinook, you would have just bought one . Whatever the case, thanks for sharing the build, and my hat's off to your ingenuous project!

 

[dustboy]

Thanks, Ira. Yes, that had crossed my mind, although the thought of taking a sawzall to the cab scares me a bit! In the end, I don't know if I'd have the skills to properly mate the back with the front, and have it look good, be watertight, etc.

I wonder how the chinook-style camper deals with frame flex? There's a fair amount of movement between the box and the cab.

 

[Ira]

That seems like an important question . I have no idea myself, but I just happened across this the other day: http://oregoncoast.craigslist.org/rvs/2576331359.html. It's somebody here in Oregon who's dropped a 70s chinook camper onto a somewhat newer toyota 4x4. Not the same project as yours, obviously, but he probably has thought about the frame flex and other similar issues. Also some cool pictures of his build at https://picasaweb.google.com/108505826807986726641/Chinook?authuser=0&feat=directlink. If I hadn't just bought and started kitting out an overhead camper/canopy for my nissan 4x4, I would super-tempted to buy that guy's rig! Anyhow, just posting the link here in case you end up taking the sawzall to the cab after all . Good luck in the ongoing!

 

[dustboy]

After all that work...FOR SALE...

The writing has been on the wall for some time, and I've been in denial about selling this awesome machine. I really do need a truck with a back seat for the baby, and I don't see any big adventures in the near future. So, it's time for someone else to use this truck as it was intended.

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/75013-1999-Toyota-Tacoma-camper-conversion

craigslist ad

 

[dustboy]

SOLD

Well she found a great new owner who is going to take her to more exotic far away places than I could.

So long, old friend.

 

[southpier]

jeeze; that didn't take long!

 

[beez33]

sorry to see it go but you do get a new truck right