rapter liner advise ??

[rockslut]

Im getting ready to spray my bronco tub with the stuff, Any advice?? How is it holding up for u? Did u do your door jams or stop it at the edge of the floor? I want to do the jams but conserned about door fitment. The stuff go's on pretty thin, seems like there is plenty of room around the door. Prob going to spray on sat evening I have been working on welding up old holes and striping old crappy liner out most of the week. Going to clean and mask off tomorrow. Did u use any body filler under the liner to help with filling in some small dents ect ..

Thanks for any advice. Mike

[CityHick]

Re: rapter liner advise ??

I would mask off the areas where weather stripping is installed. I think that may be part of my problem with door alignment.
I do like having it on the door sills, its nice to have a duable coating anywhere that your feet go. Holds up a lot better than paint.

As for addressing dents etc - I would straighten things out a bit but would not spend a lot of time making it perfect. I did smooth a few areas out with filler before spraying mine.

I did not use Raptor, I used a similar DIY kit from SEM. Its been on my tub for 10-12 years or so. Its held up well but it is not as durable as Line-x (but for the price difference... I never expected it to be).

[904Bronco]

Re: rapter liner advise ??

Pearls of wisdom for a one time sprayer of Raptor Liner...

I looked at videos on line, both the parent companies (Upol) and your standard "U-tube Technician". There were even a few TV show videos that shot the material as well.
I talked to Cage Dave, Ryan (71Bronco71), and one of the Upol Companies Reps in SoCal. There are even a few threads on Classic Broncos about doing an install. At some point I started to over think everything.

Wear a respirator, I bought a 3M one time use or 30 days once the bag is opened. It was $26 and change. I used the same one when I shot underliner on my 71. The outer filters have a slight tint of orange now. The material is also strong smelling, so in my opinion, this should be considered a mandatory thing to have to protect yourself.

I bought a $4 throw away paint suit at Ace hardware. It came in handy as once the liner get on you it stays. I wore disposable latex shop gloves and changed them between bottles. Safety glasses as well, mine are prescription, so I can see close up details.

Masking off, paper and tape works well. The liner will go everywhere if you don't limit it. 9x12 throw away painters plastic is needed as the material does mist some while applying, faster to put in play than taping/paper. Cage Dave uses a section of cardboard as well, holding it in areas that he does not want RL. Worked great on the top of the bed rails. Remove the tape on your sharp lines as soon as you finish spraying all the liner. Pull at a 90* angle when removing. There is bound to be some slop over on the tape and there will be a little lift of the material, but it will resettle. Doors - remove limit straps and bungee cord them open, out of the way.

The Paint, I went to Hollister for my paint. (Less restrictions that SCCounty) The shop sells RL and knew exactly what I needed. There is a Tech sheet on the UPOL-RL website that spells it out, that you can down load. Quantity - It says mix 4 oz per bottle, it also says no more than 100 ml which is a little less than 4 oz. You cannot fit 4 oz and 250ml of hardener into the bottle. Just no way. The UPOL Tech said get a 5 gallon pail from Home depot, mix paint and product together for paint color consistency, pour back into the bottle and then add hardener, spray. That sounded like a pain in the ass to me. So I mixed in the bottle and the paint you can add is closer to the 100 ml. My color match for the batches came out fine. In fact, when everything is mixed together, the bottle is full. You actually need to pour some out as when you attach the spray gun to the bottle, the pickup tube will displace some of the liquid. You will need to pour some out > As you go through the bottles, there will always be some material left at the bottom. This is where I poured the excess material and I did tend to add it to the bottle that I was spraying as I got to the bottom to get the last little bit in-play. Just don't exceed the 60 min flash times between uses. Be aware - there is a breather hole in the cap of the gun to allow air into the container as material is displaced. Pay attention to how you hold the gun or material will come out... Especially when full. Have rags, paper towels at the ready.

Ryan gave good advice, divide your spraying area into sections/Quarters. So I shot most of the under cowl/firewall with one bottle. Then the foot well/floor area around the seats was one bottle, each rear quarter panel/wheel well was one bottle each. Then the 5th bottle covered the tailgate and center of the bed.

Check your application area for coverage regularly, you may need to go back and touch up. I was covering grey with orange, so it was easy to see.

Flush the gun between applications with clean up solvent. I sprayed against the bottom of my test panel of cardboard. Wipe down the suction tube and threaded area of the cap too.

Air pressure - 40-60 psi for their gun that comes in the kit. Pressure and distance the gun is held away from the bed determines how the material looks. Dave recommends 12" away, Upol says 12-18". Ryan said 45 psi and Dave said 50 psi. I settled on 12" and 45 psi.

I used an air line slinky hose between my gun and rubber air line. What I have always done. Mistake. You really need to paid attention what that is doing while you spray, cause it is missing up the surface you just sprayed. Rubber line would have been better or after fixing too many mistakes, watching it all the time.

Apparently, you may not want to apply in full sun as it may affect the 24 hr curing rate? Apply in shady area or broken sun. I started at 730 and finished 1130'ish, cloud cover broke and I did have some sun. While I was focusing on de-masking the tub, the tailgate was getting full sun. While this may or may not have caused the liner to lift some in one corner, it is good to take this into consideration.

I may add more this later, hope it helps the next guy/gal.

[904Bronco]

Re: rapter liner advise ??

I pounded out most dents in the tub... Wheel wells... I did not use any filler. Remember when you put the interior back in a lot of your work is covered.
Use appropriate self etching primer underneath, no bare metal > recommendation from Upol.
Use appropriate seam sealer, Cage Dave recommends Fusor 800D TM.

Raptor Liner Info.pdf

[rockslut]

Re: rapter liner advise ??

Thanks guys, lots of good info.. Anyone do over the bed sides ? im thinking over the side just to where the hard top sits, so from the out side u cant see it with hard top on. I too think im over thinking, Pretty sure i have watched every vid on the utube. Seems like prep and good masking makes the difference. Im not going with a color tint, just black. so I don't think bottle volume should be a prob. Ill shoot a few before and after pic's. wish me luck hehe

[70 Steed]

Re: rapter liner advise ??

Very good write-up Doug. This should be made into a sticky.

[rockslut]

Re: rapter liner advise ??

So I sprayed on Friday. Took 5 bottles and payed down 2 fairly heavy coats 1 hour apart. I’ll have to say went pretty smothhad my daughter mixing and shaking wile I was cleaning the gun between bottles. Came out real good. Thanks everyone for the pointers

[jperry1290]

Re: rapter liner advise ??

[rockslut]

Re: rapter liner advise ??

Sorry pic's took so long...

[rockslut]

Re: rapter liner advise ??

[904Bronco]

Re: rapter liner advise ??

Nice!

[California Monkey]

Re: rapter liner advise ??

looks great