ANTMAN'S Thread

Nice, does the silver match? Is it leather? Looks better then the stock big honking piece of junk!!!!

What you got planned? I am excited about getting my rear done in the next month!

I just re-read this and boy does that sound bad. I am excited to get the rear bumper done next month!

Ha much better.
 
** Trail Hood Swap!

Well, fellow member and good friend Kraeken and I had a very productive day in the Antman Garage!

A few weeks back, Kraeken must have hit his head fighting one of those NY fires, because he called me up and said he decided his Trail hood would look better on my truck.

Being a solid friend, I wanted him to be happy, so I told him I guess it would be ok. (When I hung up the phone the celebration began- wooohoo!)

Since Kraeken still had some sense left in him, he brought along some matt black 3M vinyl to wrap my (his new) hood, and I hooked him up by wiring up my underhood LED's with a switch on his truck.

Here is the story...:snacker:


First things first- hoods came off! Antman's truck- naked.


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Behold the scoop-less Trail...



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Me so happy!!!



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After the hood swap, we pulled Kraeken's ride into the garage to wrap the hood. Neither of us had done any of this before, but hey- we did watch some Youtube videos on my IPhone first so we were good to go.

The vinyl is amazing stuff. A little heat, a little stretching and a little squeegee action and it turned out great. We had one spot that was wrinkled up right in the middle of the passenger side of the hood. After some debate, Kraeken decided we would pull about half the wrap off to try and repair the wrinkle. We did, and it worked. VERY, VERY forgiving product. If you are on the fence about the wrap, don't be. Get a good friend and DO IT!


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The wrap looks amazing in person. Kraeken's ride took on an entirely different look. It's bada$$!




To celebrate our victory, and also to show off a bit, we went for a little photo shoot. Enjoy the pics!

This hill was pretty steep, and had some soft mud. No problem at all for these trucks!



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This is just one of the hundreds of reasons the stock Bridgestones SUCK. Check out my tires at the top of the hill packed with mud. JUNK!

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and Kraeken's Duratrac's- stock size...

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This may not look steep in the pictures, but it was difficult to walk up. We couldn't make it up without 4WD- even with the Duratracs.

I tried out the Downhill Assist and it was awesome! I took both feet off the pedals and stuck my hands out the window on one of the descents. NO drama- pretty cool! We went up and down quite a few times...:biggrin2:



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Since Kraeken still had some sense left in him, he brought along some matt black 3M vinyl to wrap my (his new) hood, and I hooked him up by wiring up my underhood LED's with a switch on his truck

You wired YOUR lights to HIS truck!?

Looks great! Can you provide some details on the vinyl you bought (size, etc). I really want to do this to my BP, but I would feel like I'm totally ripping-off Harper7 after meeting him at the Summit. Since Kraeken did it then I can just copy him and feel less bad about stealing the idea.

That hill looks super scary! :moon: Did kraeken take the pics or what?
 
Welcome to the TE Convert Club! Albeit as a junior member you can't yet vote at the meetings but you can use the rest rooms.

Looks great.

And are you proud of me that this time I kept my big mouth shut until you posted?
 
You wired YOUR lights to HIS truck!?

Looks great! Can you provide some details on the vinyl you bought (size, etc). I really want to do this to my BP, but I would feel like I'm totally ripping-off Harper7 after meeting him at the Summit. Since Kraeken did it then I can just copy him and feel less bad about stealing the idea.

That hill looks super scary! :moon: Did kraeken take the pics or what?

Let me clarify- The LED's that were already mounted to my hood were swapped onto his truck with the transplant. I am currently hood-light-less.

I know Kraeken got the vinyl off E-Bay and it was 3M. I think he only paid $70! Maybe he will chime in with more info when he gets back to NYC- or I'll find out and post it.

I took the pics! Dunno what happened there.

It was a big scary hill to us "AintneverbeentoOuray" folks.

*********Showoff.
 
Let me clarify- The LED's that were already mounted to my hood were swapped onto his truck with the transplant. I am currently hood-light-less.

I know Kraeken got the vinyl off E-Bay and it was 3M. I think he only paid $70! Maybe he will chime in with more info when he gets back to NYC- or I'll find out and post it.

I took the pics! Dunno what happened there.

It was a big scary hill to us "AintneverbeentoOuray" folks.

*********Showoff.

Haha I'm not hating! A lot of the photos I posted didn't look that scary either, but I can tell you I pooped my pants a little a few times. Photos just can't capture angles well.
 
Nice work!
Out of curiosity... why did you apply the vinyl after his (née your) hood was installed on his truck instead of applying when you had it off with easier access to all sides?
 
Nice work!
Out of curiosity... why did you apply the vinyl after his (née your) hood was installed on his truck instead of applying when you had it off with easier access to all sides?

Good question!

The vinyl requires a fair amount of work to get it right. A lot of tugging, stretching, repositioning (at least for us noobs).

If the hood was off the truck it would have moved around too much to be beneficial. You also have to be careful to keep the adhesive side really clean. We had one tiny piece of hair under there and you can see it if you look long enough!

Once it's all attached it's super easy to trim around the hood and stretch it underneath!
 
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Thanks Ant! We had fun, I feel like I got a new truck. I don't have a problem with fake hood scoops, and I loved the scoop on my 07 Sport, but on this truck it didn't really seem to look right to me. I think we both made out in the deal!

Here is the link to the ebay store that sells the wrap- http://www.ebay.com/sch/autovinylso..._trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649&_trksid=p4340.l2562. In case the link is against forum policy, just search for 3M 1080 Matte Black, and find whoever has the best price. The size I got was 5ftx6ft. It was more than enough to cover the hood, and leave some for Ant to cover the nasty chrome on his truck.

It is very forgiving to work with, but I think it takes two people who watched a whole youtube instructional video to install properly. We also had to improvise felt squeegees, because real ones are nowhere to be found outside the internet. Felt squeegees are necessary, hard plastic will scratch the film.

In the morning I'm going to wash the truck, and apply some 303 Aerospace Protectant to the hood. 3M recommends it.

Here's a pic I took with my old Nikon D50 which lives in my truck. Photobucket does a crummy job of compression, sorry for the poor quality.

Should I make my roof white like an FJ?

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I just bought everything I need (I think) from Amazon. Watched a couple of videos on youtube, and bookmarked another "how-to" site. Hopefully I can convince Joneseyyy or 4ShoreRunner they need to help me do this to my hood and help me install my BajaRack replacement one of these weekends... :D
 
I just bought everything I need (I think) from Amazon. Watched a couple of videos on youtube, and bookmarked another "how-to" site. Hopefully I can convince Joneseyyy or 4ShoreRunner they need to help me do this to my hood and help me install my BajaRack replacement one of these weekends... :D

No problemo...I have some hood ideas of my own...it involves a 10" Rigid SR...
 
When you cut and folded the wrap up underneath the hood, did you just adhere it to the underside of the hood? How much excess is on the underside?

Been wanting to do this, just been a little weary of it having a trail hood and working around the scoop with it. Also, did it require any kind of solution to be sprayed on under as you applied heat? Thanks.
 

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