These are just a few things I'll be doing/starting on the truck in the next few weeks so I'm sorta looking for any helpful tips from those of you who have already done these things

I'm finally gonna start to repaint my truck so I can finally look at it without going (omgwaytomanycolours)

-The Red and white portion will be a solid red.
-That wonderful rockguarded hood I've got will be scrapped down and repainted red.
-If its in my price range I'm gonna get a local Pinstriper to hit up my fenders with some some Basic 4x4 tags.
-I'd love to plastidip my rims if I could find a freaking place that sells it. (Stupid Canada)

I've pretty much decided on going the rattle can route since I don't have an air compressor that can put out the amount of constant pressure needed to use a gun for it. The whole paint is probably gonna take me a few months since it'll be a weekend project and I'll be having sporadic days off. Once its all primed though I'll be taking the truck off the road for a few days+ to get the paint as good as possible with rattle cans. Then I'm gonna clear coat it to if possible.

As for the rest of the work I have to do.
-Replace waterpump gasket. (I may have ripped it when I did it last time and ignored it lol!)
I've done a bit of looking around at local part stores and online. But I'd really like to find a metal gasket with silicone on top of it. But they appear to not exist for our trucks. If anyone has any tips on how to make a really strong waterpump gasket without cutting one I'd appreciate it. I'm considering double gasketing with a bit form-a-gasket.

-180 Thermostat. This ones pretty easy I figure lol but while I'm in my rad fluid for like the billionth time I figure I'll finally do this.

-I broke a nipple! I figure a rock bounced up while I was offroading and broke this little bugger.
The grease nipple on my idler arm is literally snapped at the threads. I'm thinking of drilling it out then using a (Reverse tap?) to spin it out. If anyone has any suggestions here I'd appreciate it. I'm a bit apprehensive on how to approach it.

 

Im not sure if you have them around you but where i live we have a couple places that does $200 and $300 paint jobs. They jusy tap your truck off and spray. The paint looks alot better than rattle can and it will last about 2 years. Im sure with all the paint primer and clear coat you will have pretty close to that in your rattle can paint job. As far as the water pump dont double the gasket cause you will have a very good chance it will leak between the 2 gaskets. I used the regular paper gasket and the gasket sealer that u buy at part stores. And for the grease fitting try using a easy out first before drilling into it. There should be a small hole already where it broke off.

 

Hence my thought of drilling it out so I could fit one of them in there(I called it a reverse tap couldn't remember the proper name). Its a very very tiny hole.

 

Even a small compressor will do for spraying it with a gun. It's not the compressor that's the big deal, it's using a regulator in the line so that the pressure is constant so that the paint flows evenly.

 

Just to add this
Last year I took a chunk out of one of my tires on the sidewall. Might've made a hole about (More like a 1/4 this is an edit) through my tire. Does anyone know of a product I could use to fill in their and slap an adhesive patch over? Just as a precaution if anything ever took another poke at that exact spot on my tire.

Edited: I was lying through my face about it being 1/2 lol.

 

Nothing is going to safely repair that much damage to a sidewall. Even if you fill it or stick something over it there's still a huge risk of blowout. You're better off simply replacing the tire.

 

Sorry let me correct myself. I think I was over exagerating the damage to the tire lol.
Maybe a 1/4 if that. I failed to realize that tires are slightly round lol.

The depth of it is maybe 1-2 CM if that.
Rotated my tires tonight so I checked it out a bit more.

 

Pics?

Either way, sidewall damage is sidewall damage, there's no repairing it.

 

Obviously its not repairable but something to protect it from further damage is what I'd like to do. Since I intend on 4x4ing soon with the weather picking up and new tires not anywhere near my budget at this point and time.

Heres some photos of it. Sorry for poor lighting its dark out there.

The Tires are BFG All Terrains. Its right on top of the T on Terrain lol.

 

You could get away with driving on it for a bit, but I certainly wouldn't wheel on it. Even from just driving it on the road, especially at high speeds, over speed bumps, potholes, ect you'll get a bubble that will form and push through the sidewall making a blow out even more likely. In most states that require an inspection you can't even pass with sidewall damage.