Technically it's not the truck, but it is for the truck...

Getting ready to install the topper I kept from trading in my Silver Ingot '11, to my Sterling Grey '14. Pulled all the glass, and started scuffing it. I'll paint it next week, put the glass back in, and install it for the winter.



Got it completely scuffed down, and it's just about ready for paint. But there's a few things I want to address first...

 

There was a couple areas of fiberglass I needed to repair. Laying inside on the ledge, you can see the piece that cracked out of the flange...



This leading edge damage doesn't look very bad, but it jumped out at me every time I walked up to the truck. It's one of those blems that just have a way of grabbing your attention, specially since it's at such a visible spot, on the driver's side of the truck, at chest height. These two gouges are actually bigger than they look; the one on the top is about 1/4" tall, and the one below it is about 1'/8' tall.



I cleaned the areas, formed them up, mixed up some resin with matting, worked in the resin, and sanded both areas down. Actually looks and feels much better than this picture represents, but now it's ready for paint. The area on the window flange had to be built up, or the seal on the window would have never mated to the flange, and water would leak in. It was cracked pretty good when I took the window out, so it had it had to be addressed. This whole area will be covered by the window flange, and you'll never see it once the window's back in.

 

I've never really cared for the unfinished, raw appearance of the underside of toppers. Some of the more expensive ones have the option added of carpeted interiors, but I bought this one used, and it wasn't on the original build. I don't necessarily need that, and I don't want to dedicate that much time and effort to it. So I'm going to do as I've done on many other toppers and fiberglass tonneaus I've inevitably had on nearly all of my trucks. I'm going to take a few minutes to clean the interior, and put a coat of paint on the interior. This makes a huge difference in the appearance.



All total, I have about four hours invested in this project so far. Here's the topper when I first put it on my last truck. The lighting is off here, because it looks almost white in this pic, but it was really the same Silver Ingot as my '11. I found this topper over a year ago on craigslist, and negotiated the guy down to $600... a new one starts out at about $1100.



When I'm done, the topper's going on my Sterling Grey '14. I bought it on the last day of July, and I really enjoy driving these Super Crews...

 

Nice job! New truck looks great too. Any thoughts on adding some lighting in there while you have it all torn down? I added LED's to mine and love it.

 

Thanks!

I'm debating it. I have a narrow, busy window to get it all done and I'm not sure if I want to open up any wiring. And it's only going to be on the truck until mid-April or so. But I have been kicking the idea around.

If it goes like most everything else I do, I'll make up my mind at the last minute and have to scramble to get it done.

 

Got it back from the body shop today...



Got all the three windows back in, and was just about to put the back glass/door on. This is the last pic I took today, but it's all done and mounted back on the truck. I'll get some pics tomorrow in the daylight...

 

Looks great, nice job !

 

Done. The crappy lighting really makes the topper color look wrong, but it matches pretty good.

 

Looks good.

 

very nice work. do you mind if I ask what the body shop charged to spray it? I've been considering doing something like this. I can't bring myself to buy a new one and my odds of finding the one I'm looking for in 78" and platinum white seem awfully slim.