Here are pictures of the reboots. The doorman boots are a bit small for it. My installation leaks. I regret not having bought new ones from the start. 😛
A common thing with these bumpers seems to be galvanic corrosion on the rear of the bumpers where the shock mounts. As the paint and leftovers from chrome plating were beginning to fail, I went ahead and pressure washed it well, scraped off what loose bits were still on, and put two coats of Rust-Oleum Professional on. The paint took very well and should insure the bumper lasts a lot longer. Where the shocks mount will also be coated in some grease just to make sure. I still need to paint the light wells, but I intend to do that after it is mounted.
On one of the backup lamp wells is damaged, though I have cut and bent it back in to a lot better than it was. It is not visible once fully installed. …And only now have I noticed I failed to take pictures of the unpainted bumper. Huh.
Went ahead and took a couple shots of why I felt the need to replace the bumper.
One of these things is not like the other, one of these things is too damn long. Replacement shafts include one that is too long for reasons I do not know. The previous owner used one of these so now I have to cut one down and clean it up so the shaft is properly fit.
The fuel gauge was no longer accurate. This is a known issue with vehicles some yahoo ran nasty biodiesel through. Removed it, dismantled it, cleaned it, re-soldered a wire that popped off, reassembled, reinstalled. Huzzah. Should work fine now. I didn’t take pictures of it cleaned due to not wanting my camera to be covered in diesel. 😛
Don’t reboot the CV joint. Not worth the time and trouble of doing it right. Replace the thing and have done with it. If you have a parts cleaner filled with a 50/50 diesel/mineral spirits mix and you love spraying solvent all over the place, knock yourself out.
Last of the significant orders are in. Both half axles are off the car, getting cleaned up (CV grease does *not* want to clean off). Took the destroyed rear bumper off the car, got the replacement cleaned up. For sake of ‘better now than later’, I am going to repaint the inside for protection against corrosion. Where the steel and aluminum touch on the replacement bumper is … best painted. And probably greased up for good measure. Either way, things progress.
I installed a battery disconnect with fused bypass. Not an overly productive day, sadly, but I at least got something done.
Deciding against getting crushed by a car, I decided to opt for sturdy cement blocks to chock the wheels with as well as sit the jack stands on.
Went a lot easier then was promised on the ‘net. Who knew?
