Bad news in the Wilcox household today...we have to put our dog sarah (the best pet we've ever had) down on Wednesday. I leave on Weds at 4 pm to head to England. We got her in 2000 and she has been the best dog anyone could ever ask for. She's a Boxer who has developed a brain tumor and she will never be the same again....I will be crying all the way to the airport I am sure x'(

 

Alright the Subaru thing aint gonna happen (like everything else I would really like to do ).

Anyway well I decided that I am sick of looking at my faded plastics and half painted front bumper sooo this summer I am going to paint them finally...and this Saturday we're gonna replace the A/C belt and hope that the squealing completely goes away. If that fixes the problem I will be an insanely happy guy

I would really like to do a PML (poor man's lift) this summer around my birthday but my dad isn't willing to help me in purchasing some stuff so we'll have to see how that works out.

 

Fixed the squealing today (HOORAY!)...two new "top dollar" belts and a new tensioner pulley later, no more squealing!

I am so happy right now lol I don't have to worry about anything maintenance wise for another hundred miles or so

Next project is painting my plastics...they all look horrendous
I also might try messing with the extra set of aftermarket p.o.s. fog lights that I have to see if I can't save them and put them on my truck somewhere hmmm we'll have to see.

 

Need to redo my headlights and decided to use VHT Nightshade this time instead of Plasti-dip...gonna strip off the black Plasti-dip, then clean the housing's (they're yellowing again), tape off the same pattern that I used last time, and then spray them with VHT Nightshade. Hopefully they will come out very nice and look 1,000 times better than they do now

Once I get that done I will decide on what color I am going to go with for the rest of my front bumper, my fender flares, and for my rear bumper...I am stuck between using a Graphite/Charcoal metallic color for all of it or using it only on the unpainted part of the front bumper and flares or spraying it all with black bed liner (the spray-can form)...I'll decide after I do the headlights. As of now I like the two tone front bumper from the bottom (being the faded Gray) to the top (being painted Black)...so I want to use the graphite/charcoal metallic but once the headlights are darker I think that will change my opinion.

Hopefully I will do this this week sometime but I am the Night Manager now at my work so I kinda need my headlights to be operational lol so I will need a full day probably to do both headlights. Might do that on Monday if I don't start working on a painting project for my dad...I have like 3 or 4 projects planned for him that we need to start on

Wish me luck! I need to get pics to keep interest in this thread lol

 

So I got sick of the Plast-dip I did on my headlights so I decided to get some VHT Nite Shades and went to work...

First I had to clean off the Plasti-dip and clean the housing of the yellowing.
One cleaned...it was a lot harder than I thought to remove the Plasti-dip


One completely cleaned of the Plasti-dip and yellowing...


Both cleaned (de-yellowed)...


The stuff I used...


Then I had to mask off the "design" that I really liked on them (the same design that I used when I Plasti-diped them)...



Tinted It looks a little too hazy, but I hope it settles itself out after sitting in the sun during the days.



Installed...



Please ignore the dirtyness of the truck hahaha the next thing I need to do is paint my fender flairs and bumpers...

 

Now I need to;

Clean the **** out of the truck...
Decide what paint I want to use for the plastics and the rest of the front bumper...
Then paint everything...
Pay it off (lol)...
Save for tires and, well, buy them lmfao
Maybe keep an eye out for a nice/decent set of wheels off of someone on the Frontier or Xterra forum lol

I would like to lift the truck some but we'll have to see if that will work out...I'm battling with my dad about this...

 

I kinda liked the way they looked plasti-dipped. lol
Did you clear coat them?

 

The headlights yes...and yea I'm starting to regret them the longer they're done but I'm not stripping this off lol gonna put on more fog lights I think And get brighter bulbs sooner or later.

Tomorrow (today technically lol) I am going to try and finish up the bedlining I was doing on the rear bumper. It's a real PITA to pull all of the clips to release the plastic step pieces on the bumper itself. That's what I am spraying now.

I am trying to decide on whether or not I want to paint the whole bumper with this bedlinging or use a charcoal metallic paint (the same color I used on the grille bar if y'all remember that color)...I'm really leaning more towards the paint cause this stuff goes through a whole spray can just doing a minor little thing.

Anyway...wish me luck with the 19 (literally) clips I have to pull tomorrow.

 

Didn't get to the other trim piece on the rear bumper...I ruined the headlights (sorta) by trying to take a little bit of tint off of one of the headlights and omfg it went to hell. We got it mostly clear again but I'm still going to need a new set of headlights. I got some in line from a Club Frontier-er but it might be a little while before I get them.

Aside from that I got promoted at work so I'm now a Manager at the Schlotzsky's I work at. I'm the Night Manager now so that's cool but I work a TON :/ Oh well.

Now my family is trying to move to Wyoming for some dumb @ss reason. So I am trying to decide whether or not I want to join up (Air Force) or try and stay here somehow (get an apartment) and go through the AF ROTC program at UTSA or Texas State...really big decision man.

I break it down like this:

The pros...

AF Enlisted:
-I'd be done with basic training and training in general for whatever field I'd be going into in less than a year..
-It's a guaranteed job for a long time and I'd have tons of opportunities to be promoted...
-Pay is pretty d@mn good...
-Great retirement if you stay in for 20+ years (which is what I'd be doing)...
-Free housing if you live on base or money to help you live off base...

AF ROTC (Officer):
-When you graduate you're a Officer in the AF which means more dinero per year (about a extra $20k a year or more)..
-They give you a stippen (sp) of $100/mo your Freshman year, $200/mo your Sophomore year, and so on (you get the picture)...
-You get a larger bonus when you graduate as opposed to the amount you get when you enlist...
-Depending on your degree, you can make a boat load more money doing something you'd love to do and are actually interested in...

The cons...

AF Enlisted:
-You don't know exactly where you'd be placed at career wise until after you're done with basic training...
-You aren't guaranteed where you'd be stationed...
-Basic training is tough and longer than AF ROTC "basic training" (not really even basic training, I think they call it OSS but not really sure)...

AF ROTC (Officer):
-It'd be another 3 or 4 years instead of less than a year like an enlisted airman...
-MORE classes (I'm really enjoying just working and not having to worry about taking classes and keeping good @ss grade)...
-You aren't guaranteed where you'd be stationed (same as an Enlisted airman)...

Me no know...it's a tough decision
(Sorry this is so long, I've been thinking about this a lot lately.)

 

Sooooo....

Still waiting on a set of oem headlights...

Decided I am going to enlist and my Dad will find out on Monday if he got that job in Wyoming. I am going to try and get an apartment with some friends/coworkers of mine in New Braunfels, Tx about 10 mins away from where I work.

Anyway so yah...maybe tomorrow I'll find a cool spot to take the truck for photos. Probably not since the headlights look like ****...maybe I could take some *** shots of it though hmmm we'll see.