*notcot in tech , 00:45

NOTFZJ80: Part II- 07.09.14

arb2-0.jpg We are long overdue for an update on The NOTFZJ80 Project - though, i also can’t believe that we’ve had it a mere 2 months! We have mostly been in a holding pattern waiting for parts to arrive at this point… and a big palette just showed up from Australia thanks to ARB! Since the last update, we have debadged the Full Tine 4WD, blacked spray painted the T, fully detailed the car (the paint pops again!), powder coated the 5th wheel, removed the running boards, took it on a little roadtrip to Oakley, received Rotopax, picked up the snorkel, front bumper, winch, rooftop tent, and awning, installed the tent… and even got gifted quite the US Army Survival Manual! Phew. We’ve been busy - but there’s still a bit to go. Check out the progress on the next page…

We debated for a while whether to debadge the car or whether it would have a color difference in the paint from 18 years of exposure… then our fingers got itchy and we had to do it! Next step was detailing the car to bring out as much of the original paint brightness and gloss as possible. Turns out the T has posts - so we painted it black - and put it back after the detailing. We also got the spare wheel powder coated and mounted the last tire. It’s currently awaiting the rear bumper’s arrival. While cleaning things up - we removed the running boards and put in some factory mud flaps for the front wheels. Instantly it looked taller and cleaner! Shawn’s mom also gifted us quite the Survival Manual for just about any and everything we could run into… notfzj2-1a.jpg

While waiting for parts - we brought the NOTFZJ80 with us down to Oakley HQ for a mini test road trip. Look how wee it looks in front of their beastly entrance? notfzj2-1b.jpg

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The Rotopax are here! White for Water and Red for Gasoline. I’m currently fascinated with the ways they interlock! More to come on these soon… notfzj2-3.jpg

Good news that our Warn Winch and most of our ARB goodies arrived over at TLC - so we went and loaded up the car to poke at things over the holiday weekend, before bringing the NOTFZJ80 back to TLC to install the suspension and fix up a few more little things! notfzj2-4.jpg

As for what’s in there - here’s the ARB Front Bumper! arb2-10a.jpg

Also the Safari Snorkel and Warn XD9000 Winch! Love the warning icons and remote icon details. arb2-10.jpg

Bucky was pretty curious about the ARB Awning 2000 - currently need to track down some awning mounts from Front Runner before it’s ready to install. awning2.jpg

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And of course - the ARB Simpson III Rooftop Tent i’ve been so anxious to play with! First things first - popped it open in the garage just to see how the interior is! notfzj2-5.jpg

… then it was on to drill pressing to get the right fit from the tent base to the Front Runners Tent Mounts for the Slimline II Roof Rack. arb2-11.jpg

Perfect! Basically the slats on the base of the tent slide on to four of these roof rack mounts. notfzj2-7.jpg

See? The nice thing about the Front Runner Tent Mounts are that they each span two load bars for added weight distribution. notfzj2-8.jpg

We decided to take the mattress out and leave the ladder to attach last to minimize the weight while maneuvering it onto the mounts. So, climbing in and out looked a bit silly with the normal ladder! notfzj2-9.jpg

And then the ladder was mounted - and you can see how it opens and closes!

More to come on the details of the rooftop tent shortly… and hopefully we’ll sort out the awning, bumper, suspension, and more soon! And to follow it all in real time - find us on NOTlabs and check out the #NOTFZJ80 tag!

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