Hi_Bruce
New member
Hey Everyone! I've been a long time lurker since before I bought Bruce almost 2 years ago. I finally feel like I have something original to contribute. I have the Baja long rack, I was surprised by the amount of turbulence and noise that came from the rack when it was installed. Its a bit different from the Gobi or Baja Utility because the air dam (is there an actual term for that piece?) on those are actually really close to the roof. On the long rack, the space is greater, and I have to say, since making this new air dam, things are smooth and quiet- I can finally have both an open sunroof and conversation again!
The plan was to make a new piece that extended down further to the roof line, hopefully blocking the open space under the lower part of the rack here.
I bought a piece of 24x48 22gauge sheet metal,, here cut down to I think 11 1/2" wide. The comparison shot.
I folded over the bottom edge to give the thin metal some stiffness. What I wouldn't have given for a proper sheet metal hand brake. I broke a duct crimper doing this.
I used cardboard to make a template basically eye-balling the line I thought would follow the rack and roofline for the corners.
Test fit.
I marked, center-punched, and drilled the 8 hole to use the existing mounts. I almost added some extra grit to my beer...
With some green painters tape to protect the paint, I drove it around for the afternoon. The difference was night and day.
I ordered some clear vinyl from Amazon, picked up some spray paint and new hex socket hardware to replace the screws I'd stripped down taking it on and off so many times. I sprayed the rustoleum etching primer after sanding down the metal with some 150grit I had laying around.
At the last minute I decided to add some flair instead of all black. I sprayed one vertical and one horizontal line of construction orange, let it dry, and then taped a couple stripes going each direction. I forget to take a photo here. Then I sprayed everything black with 4 coats of rustoleum matte black, let it dry overnight, and pulled back the magic...
I'll try to update with some pics once everything's cleaned up, but here is the final look. It looks huge in comparison to the original but I think it works well with the overall look of the truck. I also don't have a photo but I used some car door edging to wrap around the entire fairing. It was an adhesive inside, and feels pretty secure- but I'm not sure it will hold up over time. That will be a wait and see kind of thing... This is my first time working with raw sheet metal really and my first thread on here, so please let me know what you think, what you may have done different- I'll take any advice I can get. Cheers!
The plan was to make a new piece that extended down further to the roof line, hopefully blocking the open space under the lower part of the rack here.
I bought a piece of 24x48 22gauge sheet metal,, here cut down to I think 11 1/2" wide. The comparison shot.
I folded over the bottom edge to give the thin metal some stiffness. What I wouldn't have given for a proper sheet metal hand brake. I broke a duct crimper doing this.
I used cardboard to make a template basically eye-balling the line I thought would follow the rack and roofline for the corners.
Test fit.
I marked, center-punched, and drilled the 8 hole to use the existing mounts. I almost added some extra grit to my beer...
With some green painters tape to protect the paint, I drove it around for the afternoon. The difference was night and day.
I ordered some clear vinyl from Amazon, picked up some spray paint and new hex socket hardware to replace the screws I'd stripped down taking it on and off so many times. I sprayed the rustoleum etching primer after sanding down the metal with some 150grit I had laying around.
At the last minute I decided to add some flair instead of all black. I sprayed one vertical and one horizontal line of construction orange, let it dry, and then taped a couple stripes going each direction. I forget to take a photo here. Then I sprayed everything black with 4 coats of rustoleum matte black, let it dry overnight, and pulled back the magic...
I'll try to update with some pics once everything's cleaned up, but here is the final look. It looks huge in comparison to the original but I think it works well with the overall look of the truck. I also don't have a photo but I used some car door edging to wrap around the entire fairing. It was an adhesive inside, and feels pretty secure- but I'm not sure it will hold up over time. That will be a wait and see kind of thing... This is my first time working with raw sheet metal really and my first thread on here, so please let me know what you think, what you may have done different- I'll take any advice I can get. Cheers!
