Spared A LOT of expense #10 Build
Posted: October 16th, 2018, 11:17 pm
Been lurking for a while and figured id post my Jurassic Jeep progress. I have 2 other Offroad Jeeps that suck up a ton of $$$. So this was a side project built with the intentions of being a fun daily driver... when its not raining or winter. Still some minor finishing to do before its 100%.
I knew from the start I would do #10 because for one its my favorite JP Jeep, it has the best scene and most screen time in the film. Its also unique in that its a Jeep, but looks much different than other modern Jeeps on the road due to the lack of the rollbar. Plus its the cheapest to build. No light bar, no soft top or soft top frame, no rollbar padding to buy.
So......
Bought a 95 S model YJ off Craigslist for $650
Manual 4 banger. 129k miles. Started, ran surprisingly well, moved under its own power, stopped. Clean title. Had a frame. And RUSTY like you would not believe! Former plow Jeep
Immediately sold the full doors and hardtop for $350
Net starting cost $300
Started to instantly regret buying a rust bucket... It was discouraging to see how bad the rust damage was. This YJ was realistically a parts Jeep or Scrap. So I stepped away from it for a month
Watched Jurassic park and got re-motivated...
Removed the rollbars - no turning back!
Took the body down to bare metal & media blasted everything that was salvageable - even hardware
Taught myself how to stitch weld sheet metal and began patching holes. Ended up replacing 30% of the body tub sheet metal - and that's just the tub!
New: fenders, flares, bumper, windshield frame, tailgate, front floors, top cowl, rear valance, rear floors, body mount brackets, rear frame crossmember, brackets/hinges, odds and ends
Found some rough half doors on CL that needed TLC
Taught myself extensive bodywork & metal work using hammers & dollies, Fillers, body adhesives, and sanding techniques. Only filler used was to cover the stich welding imperfections
Monstalined the floors "Jungle Love"
Bought all the correct Sahara interior parts and carpet off ebay and CL over a year and a half. Replaced the dash backing plate and pad with like new old parts. Painted all dash plastics
Painted it - Already had some experience with DIY painting Jeeps so that helped a lot and I already had the guns and some supplies from previous projects - did it all in a home garage
PPG Low Gloss Sand Beige and Hot Rod Flatz "Tractor red" which I feel is a better match than Radiant Fire or Ford Performance Red, both of which look too deep in red color
New tires, brake lines, front brakes, lights, hoses, windshield, weather stripping, full exhaust, gas tank skid, cb radio. body mounts, seat belts. Lots of hardware. Full fluid changes
And of course, added all the Jurassic Park related stuff. DANG those Knaack boxes are pricy!
Total project cost including the price of the Jeep = $4500 bucks give or take I still have a few small holes in the frame to fix before I clean that up and call it good, so it will creep up a bit. Its was a lot of time and a lot of work but I think it shows that no matter how small your budget and bad your starting point is... you can still build a Jurassic Jeep without going broke.
Yikes... Its hard to see all the horrible bondo bodywork the previous owner did, and check out the rust holes. Notice it says "Jee" on the side because a 9" hole ate the "P"
1 year later...
Not the nicest JP Jeep out there, but it gets the point across. Only visual differences are the REP8000 winch, whip antenna and Tow Eyelets on the front bumper which I like cause they look cool.
I knew from the start I would do #10 because for one its my favorite JP Jeep, it has the best scene and most screen time in the film. Its also unique in that its a Jeep, but looks much different than other modern Jeeps on the road due to the lack of the rollbar. Plus its the cheapest to build. No light bar, no soft top or soft top frame, no rollbar padding to buy.
So......
Bought a 95 S model YJ off Craigslist for $650
Manual 4 banger. 129k miles. Started, ran surprisingly well, moved under its own power, stopped. Clean title. Had a frame. And RUSTY like you would not believe! Former plow Jeep
Immediately sold the full doors and hardtop for $350
Net starting cost $300
Started to instantly regret buying a rust bucket... It was discouraging to see how bad the rust damage was. This YJ was realistically a parts Jeep or Scrap. So I stepped away from it for a month
Watched Jurassic park and got re-motivated...
Removed the rollbars - no turning back!
Took the body down to bare metal & media blasted everything that was salvageable - even hardware
Taught myself how to stitch weld sheet metal and began patching holes. Ended up replacing 30% of the body tub sheet metal - and that's just the tub!
New: fenders, flares, bumper, windshield frame, tailgate, front floors, top cowl, rear valance, rear floors, body mount brackets, rear frame crossmember, brackets/hinges, odds and ends
Found some rough half doors on CL that needed TLC
Taught myself extensive bodywork & metal work using hammers & dollies, Fillers, body adhesives, and sanding techniques. Only filler used was to cover the stich welding imperfections
Monstalined the floors "Jungle Love"
Bought all the correct Sahara interior parts and carpet off ebay and CL over a year and a half. Replaced the dash backing plate and pad with like new old parts. Painted all dash plastics
Painted it - Already had some experience with DIY painting Jeeps so that helped a lot and I already had the guns and some supplies from previous projects - did it all in a home garage
PPG Low Gloss Sand Beige and Hot Rod Flatz "Tractor red" which I feel is a better match than Radiant Fire or Ford Performance Red, both of which look too deep in red color
New tires, brake lines, front brakes, lights, hoses, windshield, weather stripping, full exhaust, gas tank skid, cb radio. body mounts, seat belts. Lots of hardware. Full fluid changes
And of course, added all the Jurassic Park related stuff. DANG those Knaack boxes are pricy!
Total project cost including the price of the Jeep = $4500 bucks give or take I still have a few small holes in the frame to fix before I clean that up and call it good, so it will creep up a bit. Its was a lot of time and a lot of work but I think it shows that no matter how small your budget and bad your starting point is... you can still build a Jurassic Jeep without going broke.
Yikes... Its hard to see all the horrible bondo bodywork the previous owner did, and check out the rust holes. Notice it says "Jee" on the side because a 9" hole ate the "P"
1 year later...
Not the nicest JP Jeep out there, but it gets the point across. Only visual differences are the REP8000 winch, whip antenna and Tow Eyelets on the front bumper which I like cause they look cool.