The Cost of Learning (aeromodding a Toyota pickup)

[Weber95]

Originally Posted by wdb

Sounds like a well designed cover! Cheap too. I'll be interested to see if you notice mileage improvement.

Yea its a good design but with the day and a half of steady rain and wet weather I found that I did not seal the OSB as well as I thought and had to take the cover off to dry and prevent further cracking. The edges are swollen slightly and the paint has cracked slightly. So once it dries out ill have to take my Christmas money and invest in some more poly and let it properly dry and cure this time :/

An Merry Christmas to those of you that celebrate it and Happy holidays to everyone.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by wdb

it could have been that they were starting with the winter gasoline in my area.

Highlights the problem of trying to evaluate mods with tank-to-tank comparisons (especially mods that may make only a modest improvement). Small changes disappear in normal variability from outside factors. A-B-A or coastdown testing is best.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by wdb

Is yours a 4 cylinder or 6 cylinder? I have a friend with essentially the same truck as mine except manual transmission and 4 cylinder engine. He gets 27-ish.

Oops, guess my memory must be going. I was sure one of your first posts said you had a 4-cylinder. And of course I assume any truck is a manual :-)

[freebeard]

Oriented Strand Board is not fit for purpose. But since you're at the 'plenty of money to fix it later' stage—compare the costs involved for your 'poly' product and a quart of Plastidip and a disposable roller.

[Weber95]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Oriented Strand Board is not fit for purpose. But since you're at the 'plenty of money to fix it later' stage—compare the costs involved for your 'poly' product and a quart of Plastidip and a disposable roller.

Yea I realize that now, should not have gotten OSB. But I do have some poly left over so ill have to do more coats. :/ Now the question is is it worth it to keep fixing the problem or starting new.

[freebeard]

It was prescient to title the thread 'The Cost of Learning'.

I looked back but it's hard to tell from your pictures whether there were any pieces bolted together before painting (framing, etc.). If there were, they should have been painted before assembly so the poly (polyurethane?) didn't need to bridge the gap. Location of the damage may reveal something.

What do you think about Plastidip? You could use up the poly on the worst spots, then 4 or 5 spray coats or 1 or 2 rolled coats of Plastidip would make a rubberized coating that would seal everything together. It needs to cure 30-60 day, then it will be more or less immune to nicks and tears.

[wdb]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

Oops, guess my memory must be going. I was sure one of your first posts said you had a 4-cylinder. And of course I assume any truck is a manual :-)

I actually took the time to drive all of the engine/transmission combinations and permutations before making my purchase. I have a once-weekly long commute and wanted the vehicle to be comfortable enough for that; all of the 4 cylinders I drove were pretty noisy in the cab. In contrast the cabs of the sixes were amazingly quiet - especially after my Honda Fit! I also intend to tow, so the 6-pot was a pretty easy choice. Towing is also why I went with an automatic. Yes towing can be done with a manual, but an automatic is a more natural choice for the purpose. The end result is not the best for MPGs, and I miss my clutch pedal! But it fits my needs.

[Weber95]

So it's been a while since I've worked on the bed cover, it's been too cold to put more coats of poly on the past month or so. But recently there have been a few 45* days an I put an extra heavy coat on the two pieces of the bed cover. So now it's back on the truck. Hopefully it will hold together and show some mpg improvements.