Unexpectedly had some free time today so starting knocking things off my checklist.
First up was hitting the rusty spots on the UJOR rear bumper with some VHT rust converter. No photos but I guess only time will tell. Unfortunately the rust had crept a decent amount under the powder coat, so using a wire brush I was able to knock off another 0.5-1.0" of powder coat in all directions before spraying the rust converter. Still have not made any moves to fix the inherent plastic slider design flaw I mentioned a few posts ago.
Next was mounting up the Bushwacker fender flares I bought months ago. The OEM Ford running boards we have posed some challenges but I think I came up with a decent game plan to trim the plastic caps on either end of the running board and not have to trim the fender flares. Unfortunately after mocking up the front passenger flare, I decided I don't actually like how they look! Maybe they would look better with a black bumper and black running boards, but as-is they just look cheesy/tacky. TBD whether I decide to sell the flares.
Also started the tedious process of reconfiguring the UJOR roof rack to slide the RTT as far forwards as possible, so I can build a short deck on the rear of the roof rack. No major surprises, but the aluminum extrusion hardware is stuck pretty good and requires a good knock to get them loose enough to slide along the rails. The mounting feet are also digging into the epoxy in rain gutter, which I HATE to see as I know how rust-prone that area of the van is. Unfortunately as far as I can tell, all of the roof rack mounting solutions available for the E-series utilize a similar design, so this isn't necessarily a knock on the UJOR design.
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