KRAKEN - 2 door Black Diamond "build"

[KRAKEN]

Took a chance on some 2 Door Rear Window Molle Panels I found on Ebay; Tesin brand. For $137 total for both windows I figured if they didn’t work out they would make a nice garden trellis. They are aluminum with a decent finish, slightly textured paint/powder coat??? The panels come in two pieces that bolt together in the middle. They sit outbound of the roof bolts, closer to the window and have a bend back to the rear “roll bar” pillar. This bend gives the assembled panels some rigidity.

Stock photo…

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[KRAKEN]

I was able to get the top brackets installed with the top on, but probably would have been faster to just take the top off. The passenger side took some jockeying to get everything lined up and I made one modification to the driver’s side panel. With the bend back to the pillar, the design didn’t take into consideration a pass thru for the rear wire harness and washer tube. There was not an opening large enough to pass the wire harness connector through to access the location where they plug into the top. The thin aluminum was no problem to cut with a metal blade jigsaw. The original existing hole is outlined in red below.

 

[KRAKEN]

NOTES: A couple of the upper bolts would not engage the bracket nutserts during installation, luckily, I had some proper sized bolts that were just a little longer that engaged the nutserts. I painted all the interior facing bolt heads black before installation.
Worth mentioning: It came with no instructions, which was no big deal, easy enough to figure out looking back online at the ebay ad photos. Instructions translated from Chinese usually aren't very good any way.

 

[KRAKEN]

I've got plenty of stowage options now...

 

[KRAKEN]

Installed some Mod Crate blue anodized roof latch bushings to add another small touch of blue in KRAKEN's Black Diamond interior. Also, finally got around to installing the Stickerfab sun visor warning label overlays.

 

[KRAKEN]

KRAKEN wanted the Sas Wheel Trim Rings to be a darker gray... so I sprayed them with gunmetal gray Plasti Dip. Looks much better to me. The original powder coat I had done was just too light of a shade and looked kinda pastel. We will see how the Plasti Dip holds up; easy to repair if damaged.

Now I gotta do something else with the BRONCO grill letters.

Before & After:

 

[RealTruck]

Darker definitely was the way to go. It pulls the colors together perfectly.

 

[KRAKEN]

I agree, much, much better. Before, the light colored trim rings just pulled your eye straight to them. Now they are darker with just enough bluish hue to really blend in. We'll see how the Plasti Dip holds up.

 

[5GENIDN]

I agree, much, much better. Before, the light colored trim rings just pulled your eye straight to them. Now they are darker with just enough bluish hue to really blend in. We'll see how the Plasti Dip holds up.

That is a nice choice! the rings are more subtle and yet stand out just enough without drawing attention away from everything else.... Very nice.

 

[Alassise]

More than enough light... maybe a little overkill, if there is such a thing. One puts out plenty of light, but with two I have each of them aimed out to the side a little. I liked the shape as opposed to a pod light, kinda mimics the backup light in the Oracle tail lights, only horizontal.

Thanks for the info!

 

[BigDaddySquatch]

Let me know how they hold up. I’ve been thinking about doing mine with PlastiDip. I did the pinch welds and they have held up well

 

[KRAKEN]

I got some grill letter overlays that cover the entire letters off of Etsy. These will be painted a medium gray. The Tufskinz light gray overlays that were on the grill letters were removed with a little heat and repurposed on the inside of the tailgate. I thought it was a pretty cool use of them.

 

[KRAKEN]

Painting the grill letter overlays with Gloss Nardo Gray Rust-Oleum Custom Laquer. First couple of coats done and I will sand the letter edges a little to smooth them out. You can see in the photo the rough edges.

 

[KRAKEN]

While waiting on paint to dry I installed this azure topo fuse box cover overlay. I'm not real big on the topo thing, but here under the hood works for me.

 

[KRAKEN]

Rain is hampering my grill letter project so I moved on to something else.

"I am officially finished adding blue accent stuff to my interior", said the obsessed Black Diamond owner after installing more blue shit. Installed some velocity blue Tufskinz Door Handle overlays & Door Latch inserts (see before/after photos), along with a Window Control Switch overlay. I love the domed Tufskinz products... they just feel great. I already had the Gear Shift Knob insert which made squeezing my knob much more pleasant... don't read too much into that, and no, I don't have a rubber fetish.... I don't think so anyway. Oh, also installed a tiny blue bucking bronco sticker insert on the gear shift.

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