So, since I am never content with leaving things alone, I took off the half shell to redo it again. The adhesive I had used on the window was coming lose, so I scraped that off. I masked off the window center and painted the outside of the lexan to hide the adhesive seam. I also did more bondo work on the shell, and trimmed the front edge of the shell to better integrate against the cab of the truck. I then painted the shell with primer followed by rustoleum hammered silver paint, looks much nicer.
I reglued the window in place, but that glue failed as well within a day or two. In desperation, I bought the most expensive polyurethane based construction adhesive I could find at lowes, and did lots of prep work, rough sanding to mar the surfaces, and then cleaned the two surfaces. I used my usual jack stand clamp routine, and this time I think the window is glued in there good, but time will tell.
Anyway, the silver paint almost matches the truck paint, and the black ring around the window hiding the adhesive makes it look nicer than before. I also shimmed up the shell by ½”, getting the transition closer and better matching AST-II.
Last week, I also mounted some bolt on steel truck steps (aka rock sliders) to the truck, not yet an aero mod, but makes it easier to get in and out. I hope to skin the bottom of them with something smooth, probably aluminum or UHMW (HDPE). This will be the start of my belly pan.
You will notice in my fuel log, most of last week was a-typical driving and I had my aggressive offroad tires on the truck, as I did a little exploring. I did have a tank early this week without the shell, and I will get a tank this week with the shell and re-look at MPG differences.
