JP18 Build Thread, Jacksonville FL

[Dwight]

Made a little progress this weekend.

- Removed all the decals which was a little more pain staking than I assumed it would be. But using a plastic scraper and some Goo Gone, I was able to get er done. I must have gotten ripped off though, dude sold me a JOOP!

Removing Decals.JPG (393.23 KiB) Viewed 17853 times

Im not really sure why this JOOP photo is uploading upside down, but i'll include it anyways.

- My lightbar from Jamieson's Fabrication arrived. I must say, their customer service, quality of work, and speed of shipment was above my expectations!

- I placed my order for the Sahara Map Pouches through Vic. Really excited for those to come in! Just need to find some half doors to attach them too.

- Sold my full doors and placed my soft top and hardware up for sale. Funny story about putting my hard doors up for sale on FB Marketplace. Some guy was telling me how foolish it was that I would take my vin matching doors and sell them and ruin a perfectly good Jeep to make ANOTHER Jurassic Park Jeep. Didn't really want to get into it with the guy, but needless to say, I think a Jurassic Park Jeep will bring more smiles to peoples faces than a stock Jeep.

My next project will be to strip the Jeep down. Take out the interior and carpet, take off fenders, etc. Basically get it ready to prep for paint. I just want to get ahold of some half doors so i'm doing it all at once. Half doors are proving to be more difficult to find that I thought they would be. Or at least finding a good set of them.

[ratrace427]

opinions are like ass holes but he has a point. Your jeep will be worth less money converted. Actually, with patience you might be able to buy one for less the cost of converting one.

[ratrace427]

This is the first i have heard of Jamieson's Fabrication. Its good that another company has started building these. You should post info in that section. I was just reading about how obsessionoffroad had failed at this.

[Dwight]

I don’t think I’d put all this time and effort into making the Jeep if the thought of selling it was on my mind. At least for the time being.

As for the light bar , I got Jamiesons Fab’s contact directly from the JPMP Reference Page.

[Dwight]

Got my Half Doors and OEM Sahara Panels!

I also got an extra set of regular panels and since I already ordered map pouches from Victor, I’m gonna make a spare set of Sahara Panels. May sell one of the set of panels in the near future so keep an eye out!

Got the doors mounted on the Jeep already, just need to do a little fine tuning on getting them to fit just right. I also swapped out the mirrors that were on the half doors with the OEM mirrors that I kept from selling my full doors. The mirrors I took off didn't have the "OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR", but the ones I put on did, and also had the Jeep logo on the mirror. With that, I've got an extra set of mirrors I'll be looking to sell as well.

[Dwight]

Yesterday I did a test fit of the lightbar I received from Jamieson Fabrication. Their contact information can be found on the Jurassic Park Motor Pool Reference Page, and I highly recommend them as their price is fair, delivery is quick, and customer service is great. Not to mention the product is quality and screen accurate!

I love the way the lightbar changes the look of the Jeep.

Next step really is paint, so over the next few weeks or so, i'll slowly start removing stuff so that its ready for prep work.

[Dwight]

I know I haven't posted recently, but don't think i've stopped working on the build. Since my last post of getting my light bar test mounted, i've made a lot of progress. Managed to strip trim pieces off, sand, prime, and paint the entire jeep sand beige. Got the rims sandblasted, and received my decals (401 Graphics) and plates (Celebrity Machines). By the way, i've decided to change my Jeep number to JP18. Mainly because I was going for 100% screen accuracy so I didn't want to have a non screen accurate number on a screen accurate jeep.

Had a few speed bumps along the way when breaking her down. A couple stubborn bolts either were rusted and didn't want to come off right away, or bolts that wanted to start to strip. Once everything was off the jeep, it took one evening to sand everything down, and another day to lay 3 coats of primer and 3 coats of single stage sand beige on everything.

Whats left? Put the jeep back together, and lay down the red. Then apply decals. Also got to get a few odds and ends such as a Ramsey Winch, soft top & hardware, and get the screen accurate-ish wheels.

Here are some photos to catch everyone up to speed:

[Dwight]

So while waiting for the upcoming weekend to come around so I can do my red stripes, I've decided to go ahead and start restoring some old trim pieces. Using a red scuff pad, self-etching primer, black trim spray paint, and a satin clear coat, things have turned out pretty good.

[Dwight]

Another small update. Managed to get most of JP18 put back together in preparation for the Ford Performance red stripes this weekend. Leaving the windshield, light bar, rims, and side mirrors off and painting them individually.

[Dwight]

Today I laid down the Ford Performance Red on the side mirrors, light bar, windshield, and rims. For the rims and light bar I hit it with some self etching primer, then regular 2k primer, before putting a few coats of red on.

Tomorrow I'll be masking off the stripes, putting the decals on and spraying. Super excited for that!

Also, here is a before and after of the Sahara Fog Light restoration. Just scuffed them up, used a few coats of self etching spray can primer, black trim spray paint, and a few coats of satin clear.

Sahara Fog Light Restoration.JPG (662.4 KiB) Viewed 17324 times