Got My Rotopax On!!!

For a while now, I have been dreaming about someday taking a trip to the Mojave Desert. But in order to do that, I know that I would need to be prepared with extra fuel. I started my search looking for different ways to carry gas and finally decided on the Rotopax system. Not the Fuelpax by Rotopax, but the original Rotopax vessels themself. Although the Fuelpax are less expensive, they are also less sturdy (and probably less durable), plus they are not "stackable"- since they have less rigidity, they will not hold proper shape under the pressure of the locking mechanisms. Additionally, while the Rotopax have a 10 year manufacturer warranty on their products, the Fuelpax only have a 5-year warranty. It was important for me to stack the jugs, so the decision was easy.

I purchased a mounting plate made by MorRyde, which mounts to the MorRyde Heavy Duty Hinges. I purchased two 2-gallon Rotopax along with the necessary extension, and the deluxe lock. The system was easy to mount up. I have 33" tires and there is a little over an inch of room between the spare tire and the mounting plate. With the fuel jugs in place, the tailgate is still able to swing open to it's widest position. I did have to install the "stopper" on the hinge, so that the door wouldn't swing too wide when it bounces open. Also since I have the flush LED tail lights, the Rotopax clear with room to spare. If I had the stock tail lights in place, it would be a different story. While driving around, the vessels stay in place with no issue. With my gas mileage ranging from 16-19 mpg, four additional gallons should yield me roughly 60-80 miles, should I need it.

I'm pretty delighted with my purchase. The Rotopax look good. They're functional. And they should last me a good long time!

Warrior Products Rear LED Corners Review

Crossing Lake Tahoe's famous Rubicon Trail didn't come without a cost. At some point, I dropped off a large rock so hard that was so steep that my rear bumper kissed my right rear corner leaving a small dent! Rather than fix that dent, I chose to take the opportunity to buy some new rear corner armor to  1) dress up the JK a little and add round LED tail lights, and   2) hide the body damage.

The selection for rear corner armor for JK 2-doors is not very big, especially if you're trying to stay on a budget! I really wanted the Poison Spyder Crusher Corners, but they are no longer produced for 2-doors, as aren't the PS Trail Corners. The other choice would have been GenRight, but they were just too expensive, plus I didn't like the recessed tail light holes. I found a couple of reviews on Amazon for the PS 4-door Trail Corners, where purchasers claimed that the 4-door panels fit the 2-door just fine. Pictures from a distance were included. Although I was warned by PS that the 4-door Trail Corners armor would leave a unprotected gap of sheet metal along both sides of the tail gate door, against my better judgement, I went ahead and bought them anyway, figuring that if they indeed did not fit my vehicle, I could return them for a refund- I really wanted them to fit! The PS armor showed up and sure enough, they were too short! I could have just used them, as they fit everywhere else just fine, providing ample protection, but I knew that if I installed them, eventually that OCD part of my personality would get to me. Now, choice of armor is not to be taken lightly- once you commit to a specific brand/model, if you're installing round LED lights, you're going to have to cut new round holes in your rear body panels, so you can't just try one out, then change your mind later. (Actually you could if you were willing to buy new OEM rear panels, weld and swap them out.) I contacted Amazon, who in turn reached out to the vendor to process the refund. It took a couple of weeks, but I got all of my money back. No harm, no foul. I had also already purchased the PS LED light kit from Morris4x4, but I was also able to return those no problem.

So enter Plan B. I went with the Warrior Products LED Corners. I know they're not as form fitting as the Poison Spyders, but they're only a fraction of the price! Some of the old stock of the PS armor is still out there, but come on! $688 vs. $162?! Hmmm...me thinks it's a no-brainer. I bought the WP LED round light kit (with reverse lights) as well. Through Morris4x4, both products together with coupon code only cost $260!

The panels themselves are pretty beefy (but not quite as beefy as the PS Trail Corners). When first matching the armor corners up to the body panels, I could've sworn that they must've sent me the wrong parts! I had to go and double-check my order against the box they sent me! The armor seems like it's going to bolt up an inch too short! But with some serious persuasion through leverage by 2x4's, it became more believable that they would eventually fit. WP supplies 8 aluminum pop-rivets per panel, but there are only two pre-drilled holes per side! To get the job done, you will need your own pop-rivet tool, as none is provided. Instructions are sparse- one page of typed text is all you get. Not even one single picture! The instructions for the LED lights wiring is just as bad. By careful deduction, you'll be able to figure out the wiring. No harness is included, so be prepared to cut, splice and solder. Also no resistors come with the kit, so you'll need to source your own. I happened to have a couple that I salvaged from my last pair of LED tail lights that I abandoned.

You will need to cut two new round holes per side to accommodate the LED lighting. The instructions do not even suggest a best practices method. YouTube is your friend, although most of the demonstrations are for PS. As a matter of fact, there is hardly ANY information on how to get the Warrior armor installed! No one ever puts up any comments or reviews! Amazing! I bought hole saws that were the appropriate sizes. I was able to line up the armor and trace the outlines of the holes on the panels, then plan on cutting a little outside the lines so the rubber grommets can seat properly. The small holes were easy to cut away, because you'll still be able to center the drill bit on metal. As for the larger holes, I clamped a small piece of wood in the center of the large radius so that the hole saw could stay centered. After the holes were cut out, I sprayed the exposed metal with Rustoleum to protect it from oxidation.

Next I did all the splicing and soldering. I tested the lighting, then moved on. That portion of the job took about an hour in itself!

The riveting was the part I was least looking forward to. With the combination of C-clamps, 2x4'sand ratchet straps, I was able to force the metal to the angles that I need to complete the riveting. I used an inexpensive Arrow pop-riveter, but every time I cut the end off the rivet, the excess piece would not fall out, so I had to disassemble that rivet gun after every rivet!! Thank God there were only 12 rivets to pop into place! I ultimately returned that shitty pop-riveter.

The LED lights were easy to hook up, although I had some small problems with the small reverse rounds. I was expecting the reverse lights to sit flush just as the larger red LED's did. I called WP to ask if there was a trick in getting them to snap in further. He told me that was the best rubber grommet they could source and they have been looking for a while. He then told me I was free to find any 2" LED round rubber grommet of my choice if I pleased- that they should swap out just fine. Basically, "You're SOL. That's what you get. If you don't like it, tough shit- change it yourself". The lights function fine, so for now, I'll just stick with the stock grommets. If they bug me, I'll change them out later.

I must say that I am quite happy with the end results. For $260, I couldn't be happier! The appearance

is cleaner and the curves remind me of the older CJ's. The armor fits nicely and the LED lighting is actually quite awesome! There is a 3mm gap at the top of the corner where the armor meets the OEM panel. I have read others have sealed that gap with silicone, but for now, I'm not too worried about it. We'll see how I feel after the first rainy season. The protection seems to be substantial enough to protect the vehicle, but I do have reservations about the pop-rivets- stainless steel rivets would probably have been a better choice- I'm concerned that a good bump might shear some of the aluminum rivets. If I have to replace any rivets, I'll replace them with SS.

My SV Garage...

Finally, I got the Mazdaspeed Miata painted! Dang! It took a couple of years, but it's finally getting done! I've just got too many vehicles and projects going on that I cannot really justify having this car any longer. Since I've sworn off HPDE hot laps, I don't need the roadster hotrod anymore. Plus I'm building up the 2002 as a restomod with racing/sport suspension, so the BMW will take the place of my "hot street" vehicle. Other toys I have include the hopped up Harley and then there's King, the Jeep. The plan is to get the Mazda together and perhaps sell it in the Spring.

Taking On the Rubicon Trail

I bought this little Jeep JK Wrangler last year with the intentions of doing some off-roading. As soon as I brought him home, the modifications began. We were going to ease into the 4x4 thing by heading out to the parks in Utah for the first year, then later take on tougher trails after the Jeep got lockers installed and was better prepared. Well, plans changed and our Utah trip got canned in lieu of a trip to the Rubicon Trail with the Jeepers Jamboree crowd. I had reservations about the ability of my JK, since it was nowhere where I wanted it to be before facing the 'Con, but the Jamboree website stated that even non-modified Jeeps could make it, so I figured what the heck? we should be fine.

It's not that King isn't prepped at all. He's got a 2.5" Teraflex lift kit, Fox 2.0 Performance shocks, 33" Goodyear Duratrac tires, rock sliders and a decent amount of armor all around. Plus I have all the recovery equipment I could need- winch, Hi-Lift jack, shovel, straps, etc. The question we had was will we be able to do this trail without any lockers? Plus my gearing is the stock 3.21, since I have an automatic transmission. Well, we found out.

We chose the 3-day trip, so we arrived in Georgetown one day early to check in and get our wristbands. Then we headed for our hotel that I booked in Auburn about 20 miles away. After a quick early dinner, we hit the hay to get as much rest as we could, since we had to be up at 3am the next morning!

From Auburn to the trail head at Loon Lake, it takes just about 2 hours to get there! First, you head to Georgetown, then to Uncle Tom's Cabin, then the Loon Lake dam. The last place to gas up is in Georgetown. We got to Loon Lake at around 5:30am. I aired down to 14 psi, disconnected my front swaybar and got into 4L. After our last potty breaks and grabbing our "express breakfast" (which was a breakfast burrito) and our box lunches, we headed out on the trail as the sun was just starting to break. We didn't know anything about how this Jamboree thing works- the literature alluded to the trail being "open" (I'm assuming they meant ready) at 0600.

The first part of the trail is open and vast granite. We didn't see any signs or trail markers pointing us toward which way to go, nor were there any guides on the trail. We ran across a bunch of rigs that were parked- they had camped there overnight. One of the guys I spoke to told me that 14 psi was just fine for the trail, then he pointed me in the right direction. He said that if we can make it through Gatekeeper, we should be fine for the rest of the trail. So off we went.

Soon we were on the "trail" and it was well defined. We were in the Gatekeeper. There were large rocks embedded in the trail everywhere. My first thoughts were, "We're supposed to drive over those??!" Emily was slightly freaking out. We went very slowly and deliberately, trying to crawl on top of the rocks, rather than have the rocks go under the vehicle if possible. Sure enough, this little Jeep managed to handle the task readily. I was a little surprised and very happy :)

After a short distance of crawling, there were challenging obstacles. This section was called Walker Hill. Our lines had to be picked more carefully. Emily got out to spot me and help get me over the rocks. Again, no problem! Wow! Maybe King really can get through this trail!?

We reached some open areas of granite called The Steps. There was a "Rock Roller" guide up on the rocks. I got out of the Jeep to take a peek at what lines I should be taking to get up these steps. Then the guide ran down to give me a pep talk and a couple of pointers. With her help, this little Jeep easily crawled up these very steep steps. I was fucking amazed, since we're running open diffs! But with a little pinching of the e-brake, it was just enough to trick the software into activating the BLD (brake lock differential) system- totally worked like a charm!

When we approached Little Sluice, there was an option to take a bypass. At this point, I knew that we were doing pretty good, but I figured that if we had the opportunity, maybe we should take a pass and not push our luck. The bypass sucked! The trail was vaguely marked with reflectors glued to the rock surfaces and the obstacles were still tough!! We got slightly lost and while asking for directions from someone taking the bypass in the opposite direction, he told us that Little Sluice was probably easier than this bypass!! Eventually we merged back to the main trail.

This spit us out to a super-narrow part of the trail that was actually a V. To get through this section, you had to straddle the V riding both sides on the walls! A little hairball, but once we got the initial line going, the rest wasn't bad.

At one point, we got a little high-sided and stuck on a rock during a steep decline. I was about to break out the Hi-Lift jack, but then came a trio of Jeeps, one of which hooked me up and gave me a yank off the rock. Our subsequent attempt was a success- we didn't even scrape the skid plate at all! We later ran into these guys again at Buck Island Lake, where there were a few tents set up to repair vehicles that suffered breakages along the trail- one of the guys blew a shock and lost a brake line.

Right after we left Buck Island, we slowly drove by a group of Jeeps lying in wait along the side of the trail- up ahead was a hairpin to the left, which lead to a sharp right up and over a steep granite rock. There they sat carefully eyeing the lines that vehicles were taking, watching the carnage. I asked one of the guys, "What are you waiting for?" He told me he needed to rest his Jeep, that he was having problems with the lockers. "Now you're scaring me!", I said, "My Jeep is on NO LOCKERS!" Carefully we crept around the hairpin and tactfully got lined up for the approach. Luckily there was a spotter on top of the rock that was guiding us. We got slightly hung up and there was a little tire spinning, but we got up and over with little drama!

A short distance ahead we ran into somewhat of bottleneck. There was a field of large basketball-sized rocks lining the way to a steep chute incline. The Jeep in front of us was having a rough time just walking up to the approach. Then he attempted to clear the obstacle. After three failed attempts, the guide at the top had to maneuver his Jeep around and winch the guy up the run. Apparently that guy broke his rear diff and lost all traction. Good thing Buck Island repair was just half a mile back!

The guides were absolutely essential in our success to clear this trail! They knew exactly what it takes to get through the obstacles. I was really starting to appreciate the short wheelbase of my 2-door. A few guides had remarked how having the 2-door was getting us on line more easily. And that BLD was working fantastically! After crawling up one of the steep obstacles, the Rock Roller told me that I could turn off my locker. He was shocked when I told him I didn't have any lockers!

After seven hours of driving, we finally hit base camp- Rubicon Springs. It was busy and crowded with vehicles sprawled all over the place. We made our own parking space and were able to grab some lunch before they closed down. It was cold cheeseburgers, but for the price we paid to do this trip, I was going to take all I could take! We quickly ate, so we could find a decent camp site, before the rest of the parade behind us crawled into camp. We got pretty lucky and soon were able to find an area to set up the tent fairly close to the main area.

Camping at Rubicon Springs was an experience. There were some permanent buildings erected, while some were temporary set up just for our event. This is where the mess hall was. On the first night, they Hickory Hank served up barbecued pork tenderloin as the main dish. There was a large grass area with a stage and dance floor. When announcements needed to be made, someone got up in front of the stage and jumped on the PA system. At night, a live band performed cover songs. Drunken dancing went on late into the night. Emily wasn't feeling all that well, so she retired early.

The next day we tooled around camp and listened to a lecture about the history of the Rubicon Trail from one of the historians. The story about the origins of the trail were fascinating! The struggles they went through just to get the building materials to the camp amazing! Later in the day, we made our way down the river to the swimming hole. There were literally hundreds of people in the water cooling off, 4x4's scattered all over the granite slabs leading to the river. Everyone was very friendly. I felt a great sense of community. There was a waterfall at the leading end of the river where some people were jumping off into the pool below. The water was the perfect temperature for lounging.

The next morning, the alarm went off at 5am. I wanted a head start to beat the parade of the 500 rigs or so out of camp. We packed up camp in the dark, then headed to the mess hall to get some express breakfast. This time it was like a muffin and a danish, along with coffee and OJ. At 0700 we were sitting in the Jeep and on the trail. Still, we hit traffic almost immediately. We slowly crawled down the trail for about an hour, then we found Cadillac Hill.

So this Cadillac Hill was supposed to be one of the hardest obstacles on the entire trail. On the way into Camp, there were many, many difficult obstacles, but heading home, this one was the only real challenge, so we were told. There was a vehicle with a winch positioned at the top of the Hill, just in case a rig got stuck. The hill was embedded with lots of large wet and slippery sharp rocks. The trail was less than 10 feet wide with the steep ravine at the bottom of the right-side dropoff. Thank God there were lots of trail spotters in position ready to go. We just slowly and methodically made our way to the top, paying close attention to whatever the handy Rock Rollers were instructing us to do. We got slightly hung up on one spot, but other than that, it was smooth sailing! Again, King has more than surpassed all my expectations!

Immediately after Cadillac Hill, there were actually a few challenging spots tight turns and big drop offs from tall rocks, but we made it through with little incident. We headed to the vista for a good long look (and pee) into the valley below, then we mustered at the express lunch spot where we were handed barbecue beef sandwiches, chips and sodas. From there on, it was pretty much easy going. Soon enough, we were on pavement again where we found a staging area to air back up and reattach our swaybar.

This is absolutely a must do experience if you are a 4-wheeler! The Rubicon Trail is considered to be the grand-daddy of off-roading trails and one of the more difficult trails in America! The price to go with the Jeepers Jamboree was kind of steep, but considering the expert line spotting they provided, plus the elaborate camp food, I do believe it was a fair price to pay for practically a guarantee that you and your rig will get through the trail. Sure King suffered a few scrapes along the way, and having larger tires would've made quite a difference, but for the setup that we ran, we received nothing but kudos from all the folks that we talked to. If you're ever thinking about doing the Rubicon Trail, this a fantastic way to do it for your first time. I have no regrets.

Recent Mods/Projects

Okay, now it's really time to start thinking about this Summer. I've already put my money down and I'm headed to the 2018 Jeepers Jamboree. I figure for the first time navigating the Rubicon Trail, it would be wise to make it easy with experienced spotters and people stacking rocks for me :)

Last week, I put on my JKS spare tire license relocation bracket. It takes the license plate from its original location, where it can possibly snag on rocks, trees or brush and relocates it to the center of the spare tire. It was an opportunity for me to put a bottle opener in the old location. But the real reason for this change was for me to install a rear view camera in the center of my spare tire. Since I went with a spacer on my rear tire carrier, my tire is positioned upside down, so the top wheel slot isn't centered. Unfortunately all the aftermarket camera mounts are designed for top center slots. No biggie- I just have to be smarter about it.

Well my first real challenge was trying to get the OEM license plate holder off of my Jeep without having to remove my aftermarket bumper, which was covering access to the screws. With patience (and small hands) I was able to remove the nuts from the back. Yay!

The other major challenge was to figure out a way to preserve my third brake light. The JKS kit instructs the purchaser to cut the wire to the third brake light, which will be used to power the LED license plate light, then to just saw off your light fixture. The intent was to save the installer from having to fish and reroute wires through the tailgate. It took a little figuring out, since their instructions suggest that you can save your 3rd brake light with 12' of additional wire, but they don't tell you how to do it. I had to trace the original hot wire back to the harness, then I used vampire clamps to attach and I ran the new wire to the spare tire mount. I cut no original wiring, so I just kept the 3rd brake light fixture and wiring just like it came from the factory. I stole the ground from the 3rd brake ground and voila! I had power to the LED lamp! The rest went like a breeze.

The other project I just completed was to finally install the Poison Spyder Bombshell differential covers. (Last week, I went ahead and bought one for my Dana 30 front.) The installation was simple and straight forward. I didn't have to jack the Jeep. I happened to have a wire brush attachment for my cordless drill, so all was pretty quick. I wanted to fill them with Mobil 1 75W-90 synthetic gear oil, but O'Reilly was out, so I bought the Lucas Oils equivalent instead. the only snag I encountered was when it was time to fill the fluids, I found that my gear oil pump was crushed and broken :(  I left it on a bottle of transmission fluid and left it under my BMW project car. The car has been neglected for so long that all the air has gone from the rear tires and the chassis crushed the bottle. Bummer.

Other than that, torque specs are 22-25 ft/lbs and Poison Spyder gives you exactly the amount of gasket sealant that you need to complete each side! I love the looks of the covers and now I can wheel with more confidence!

Snow Day!

It's been a while since I last posted- work has been an absolute bitch- I'm usually working a 6-day work week nowadays, somewhere between 49-58 hours! Methinks it's time to find a new job.

I was however able to take time to do a one day outing with my local 4x4 club, the Mathatters of Livermore. I am not currently a member, but I am hoping to one day be, if I feel that the club is a good fit. I grabbed my good friend Anthony to ride shotgun with me.

They had scheduled a snow day of playing at one of the ends of the Rubicon Trail. We started at Uncle Tom's Cabin, just outside of Georgetown, CA. After we mustered in Geogetown, we did the traditional visit to Uncle Tom's Cabin, then we headed for the trail, which was actually really a road covered in snow.

When heading out, I was the first one behind the leader, and I was the first one to get stuck in the snow! The snow got so slushy so suddenly, I wasn't even in 4-wheel drive yet! With a little help from Craig (with his gigantic and awesome Bronco), I was able to get tugged out of my mess. Apparently, I have nothing to be ashamed of, as just about everybody after me got stuck too, as we were waiting about an hour for the rest of the group to catch up. While waiting, I took the opportunity to air down to 15 psi (later 12 psi), and to get to know my fellow wheelers.

All went very well up to our lunch destination, a little clearing halfway up the road. We hadn't yet really had much traveling in snow, although there were some pretty good rocks to negotiate. I don't think anyone disconnected their front sway bars.

After lunch, that's when the shit hit the fan. One of the other locals, Walter, started getting stuck multiple times. He's been piecing together this 2008 salvaged Rubicon. It's bone stock, except for 33" tires. Once stuck, he would spin relentlessly until he dug himself really good ruts in the snow. My little jeep couldn't even tug him out! The first time, he got tugged out by someone from the rear with lockers. But then he got stuck 50 yards down the road again! He tried to winch himself out but he didn't know what he was doing. The Walter getting stuck thing became a running theme.

A little down the road, while I was just conversating with Anthony, not paying attention to what I was doing, I got high-sided on a giant block of snow! I didn't even know what my situation was until Cort behind me pointed out what had happened. It took no more than 5 minutes for us to get strapped together, where he was able to pull me off the snow. I then took a running charge at the incline and cleared the obstacle. Luckily, that was the last time I got stuck for the day.

Ultimately, the snow got too deep. Big Bronco Craig got stuck way ahead and while trying to winch himself out, he pulled his bumper right off his rig! Okay. That was the end of the trail. We all had to find a place to u-turn and head back to safety. Poor Walter kept getting stuck. He blamed his 33" tires claiming they were too small for clearance. I had earlier pointed out that I too was on 33" tires. Must be the driver. Hmmm.... very interesting. Walter literally had to get towed out by strapping onto Cort for at least a mile. He's going to get the boner award.

The day went well. We all had fun, despite the mishaps. I met some new friends and learned a lot about what my little rig can do. It was just a pleasure to get away and not have to work that day!

First Time Out!

Geez! It seems like it took forever for this day to come! I've been wanting to take Bear out for a drive in the dirt to test out the mods for weeks, but work was clobbering me and then I had this vacation coming up, so things were extremely busy. Well, finally I got a free weekend and was able to head out to Frank Raines OHV park to hit the dirt today! Yippee!

The weather was awesome! Clear skies and 73 degrees outside. I went over my checklist to make sure I had all the equipment I needed for today, mostly recovery stuff, since I would be out on my own. I got my CB antenna on the Jeep and got the radio all set up, then off I went headed for Patterson. The drive was only about one hour- not too bad.

It cost $5 to get into the park. There were lots of RV's parked inside and tons of ATV's zipping all around. I was able to find a quiet place to get set up, where I deflated my tires and disconnected my front sway bar. I found 2Low and off I went!

I tried to mainly stay on the green trails  1) since it was my first time 4-wheeling  2) I was unfamiliar with this park  3) I had no idea of the limits of this vehicle and  4) I was wheeling alone and I wasn't looking for trouble.

Upon entering the park, the park aid handed me a map, but it was very general (it was the same shitty map that I printed out from home). The trails were somewhat marked with lots of trails shooting off in different directions (unmarked). I stuck mostly to the big fireroad, but sometimes I would deviate just to try something a little more daring. I found some steep loose ascents, sometimes rutted and off-camber. I found some rutted steep descents, a lot of fireroad. Only once did I have to back up, because the trail resulted in something that looked too scary to try today.

The Jeep performed very well! I had the tires aired down to about 20 psi- they had good traction and I only slipped in one area. I really needed this day to go through the motions of using my equipment, from using the tire deflater to knowing when to hit the downhill descent button. Heading down the steeps, the Bear would modulate the brakes and keep the speed in check. It was interesting driving over loose rocks- the front tires would sometimes need to be turned with over-exaggeration in order to make the cut. I was able to drive some surprisingly steep rocky and rutted terrain, just slowly putting along. The suspension was able to articulate and negotiate everything that I threw at it today.

Now that the Jeep had a test day, I might just put the street tires back on it until the next outing- that way I can get a little more mileage per gallons back :)

Along Came A Spider....

Over the past few days, I've been working on a small side project for the JK. During the Christmas sales madness, I was able to score a Poison Spyder Dana 44 differential cover for the insane price of $59.99 (normally $108.99)!!! This was actually part of my Summer budget, when I'll be working on under armor, but for this price, I just couldn't let it pass me by.

I had seen lots of pictures of individuals painting their PS diff covers and I became inspired to do the same. I decided that a red spider would suit me best, so I picked up a can of Rustoleum red gloss enamel from my local Walmart and I was good to go.

After a couple of sessions of masking up the cover, I was able to shoot it with the paint. I gave it four coats, rotating the subject 1/4 turn each time with 10 minutes of wait time between each coat. After a few hours of dry time, the paint was dry enough to touch. I then spent half an hour picking off the painters tape. There were a few areas that needed cleaning up, so I did that when the paint was still wet enough to delete. The final product came out pretty incredible, if I do say so myself!