Jeep 20 - A TJ Build

[Mastodon]

Stripes are one thing, but it's not really a JPJeep without the door decals.

With the color scheme of this Jeep being the subdued Black and Tan, I didn't really want a full color door decal, but a single color, black silhouette. Taking the design from elsewhere on this forum, I loaded it up into Adobe Illustrator and tweaked it to my vision. Eventually, I came out with this:



I didn't spend long looking for a vinyl shop online, and went with maybe the second or third one on Google's result list. Upload the vector file, set the size you want it printed, specify how many you want, and let them get to work. $42 later (plus shipping) I had my two decals in print, and in my hands few days afterwards.



I washed the door, soaping down the area as well as I could, and applied the decal. The passenger door, protected from the elements was easy to put on.



The driver side wasn't as easy. Started applying the top and a small gust of wind pressed the bottom onto the jeep door, leaving a large bowed gap between them. I tried peeling it off to reapply it, but the small little separate pieces in the text preferred to stay on the Jeep instead of the paper. Eventually I massaged it into place, though not without a number of large bubbles, many of which required a needle.



Still, from more than three feet away, and for someone who's not looking for every little flaw, it looks like it should.

[Gulbiron]

I like the car in this color, very nice and well done for all the job !!!
Thanks a lot for all information for "noise-wind" coming from the Jabsco light.

[MOjeep]

I second that. Thanks for the Jabsco light whistle diagnosis. 12 is the Jeep I'm looking to do, and the dreaded Jabsco light whistle has made me nervous about it for a while....but no more!

[Mastodon]

Glad to help.

In other news, look what came in the mail!

I'll put this emblem on once the Jeep is painted permanently.

[ratrace427]

How do we stop this? It says this guy has posted 18 times. Do i need to use my translator or is this advertisement?

[T-rex23]

I used my translator on it, and all I can say is WTSF....

[Mastodon]

Alright, so...apparently I missed something here, but whatever. Ignoring it and moving on.

I was always a little wary of doing a TJ build. I can be OCD on some things, and I was concerned about being irritated by the minor differences between the TJ and YJ. Sure, most people wouldn't notice, but I would and considering they would only see it for a couple of moments while I'd have to live with it, I decided to do my build in phases:

Phase 1: Plasti-dip stripes and basic decals. These were things that could be easily removed if I didn't like the TJ Park Jeep. The lights and winch were always going to be added anyways, since a Jeep isn't a Jeep without them. And having spent the last 10 years as an Air Force radio operator, how could I not add radios to it? If I liked the Jeep, then I'd continue on...
Phase 2: Prep work. This would be finding the half doors, correct wheels, and other large components to replace. I've also got a few dents on the hood that need to get pounded out. There's also some decisions to be made. My Jeep's not a Sahara, so would I add the Sahara side trim or would I assume Hammond would've continued to buy the top of the line Jeeps had the park continued? In '04, that would've been the Rubicon. The TJ's tailgate hinges are different than the YJs, and keep me from adding the iconic KC lights on the rear. Do I go without the lights, or do swap tailgates with a YJ? Pretty much, by the end of Phase 2, I should be ready to strip the Jeep down, and drive it into the paint booth.
Phase 3: Paint. Ideally I'd take some leave, throw the motorcycle onto a trailer behind the Jeep, and drive up to Jack_Fauth's shop in PA. Drop the Jeep off, and ride back home on the bike while he paints.
Phase 4: Interior. The YJ Sahara seats are probably the best looking seats Jeep has ever made, and I want them in my Jeep. And since I have the Khaki interior, and not the tan/spice/camel interior, I'll have to either dye my plastics, or buy replacements off eBay/Craigslist for the seats to match.

And that's the plan for my Jeep. Knowing I was PCSing (moving) this summer, my goal was to rush through Phase 1, being able to arrive at my new assignment with a JP Jeep already in hand. And that, I did. I loaded up a small U-Haul trailer, and drove across the Southern US. So forgive me for not being as active lately. I've been busy moving, setting up a new home, and starting a new job.

[Mastodon]

I've gotta say, after spending some time with my black and tan JP Jeep, I do like it. It brings a smile to my face when I see it in a parking lot, and even though it's not even close to being authentic, I constantly get compliments on it or see people take pictures of it. So yeah, I think I'll be moving on to Phase 2.

Phase 2 begins!

I spent some time looking on eBay and on craigslist for a variety of parts I'd have to replace. My fender flares are textured black, almost like they've been sprayed with bedliner. Not sure if that's how all non-Sahara/Rubicons are, but I don't see these painting well, so they'll need to be replaced. So will my wheels, since they're not the YJ's 5-spoke design. And downhere on the Gulf Coast, half doors are awesome. I'd also love a Kota Triceratops, not only for the Jeep, but for my infant son. Half doors are hard to find, and finding them in the right colors, and in good quality, is near impossible. Unless you want to spend a fortune, anyways. I considered YJ doors, since they're cheaper and will fit with a little modification, plus they'd let me get those nice leather door pouches. But TJs are easier, since there's no modification, and the panels match the interior styling better. I could always probably hack the two panels together if I really wanted the YJ's door pouches.

Luckily I found a set of tan half doors from a 99TJ on eBay, within a couple of hours of me, saving me the hassle and expense of shipping. Good quality, and bidding seemed to go slow, letting me purchase the pair for $400. I've seen individual doors go for that price. I took the wife's Fusion and drove up to Montgomery to pick them up and bring them back to the Gulf. Once home, I immediately took off the Jeep's full doors and put on the new half doors. The tan color didn't match, Jeep changing from Desert Tan to Khaki sometime between 99 and '04, but it didn't look terrible either. Still, it was too much difference for me to be really happy with them.




I stripped the doors down, removing the panels, door handles, and seal, and dropped them off at a nearby Maaco to have them painted. Picked them up a little later, reassembled them, and hung them back on the Jeep. Marked improvement.







But what's a Jurassic Park Jeep without door crests? Fortunately, once I won the doors, I reordered the decals. They arrived a couple of days after I picked the doors up from paint, and I applied them this morning. Seemed to go a lot smoother this time around. Probably because I did this inside, out of the breeze. Gotta say though, I still like it









Still a long way to go, but Phase 2 is an expensive and slow process, so don't expect daily or weekly updates.

[Mastodon]

Alright, well... disregard that bit in my last post about it being a long time between now and the time I start painting the Jeep. There's some life changes coming ahead in a few months, and it turns out that the best time to paint is now, before we move again in January and I lose my garage. Not only that, but there's a car show the first weekend of October that I think I can be ready for. It'll be close, but that's the goal, which mean's I've spent a lot of money over the past couple of weeks.

I bought my paints, primers, clear coat, and some tools to help apply it all myself. I've seen there's two main colors people use for their red. One option is Jeep's Radiant Red, but I'm a Ford guy, and have owned several Mustangs in my time, so for my red color, I went with the other option: Ford's Performance Red, from the 92 Mustang. And, since Sand Beige is supposed to be a low gloss paint, I picked up a matte finish clear coat to apply over everything.

Also picked up a new Spice colored soft top. I chose the half door option, since I don't have uppers for my half doors yet and the kit included them. I didn't know that there were a few differences in the kit besides having extra pieces. The back windows are cut a little differently too.

Anyways, since I had some time to kill while I waited for all of my parts to arrive, I headed to a local body shop to see about pounding out some dents in the hood and rear corner. He took a look at the hood and suggested it'd be cheaper to buy a new one. Conveniently, he happened to have a spare TJ hood lying around that was never picked up by a previous customer of his. 45 minutes later, my old hood was off, and a new one on.


The paint on the jeep is original, and since it's in good condition, I don't have an issue putting an epoxy primer over it, and painting on top of that. I don't see the need to sand a good quality, factory applied paint job down to bare metal. However, my plasti-dip job has to go. They advertise it as just peeling off, but apparently that's only if it's fresh. Outside in the elements, in the 100°+ temps and bright sunlight, it loses that ability. So, I've been having to spray it down with GooGone and rub it away. It's a slow process, but it's working.


What isn't working, apparently, are metal containers used to store clear coats. Mine arrived today with some of my tools, and I noticed one box was wet on a corner. As soon as I picked it up to move it away from my front door, a stream of clear liquid poured from the box and onto my uniform. I immediately cut open the box to see if this was a cleaner or the clear, and turns out...it was the clear. They had it in a ziplock bag, half filled with its own fluid, inside of a box that had been packed in another box.




I went inside, stripped down, and attempted to wash the clear off of my uniform and scrub it out of my suede boots. It didn't work...


Still need to get a hold of someone at Eastwood to see about a replacement. Hopefully it'll be packaged better and arrive this week. Don't have the time to spend if I'm going to have the jeep done by the 1st of the month.

[Mastodon]

Last couple of weeks have been busy. Started by stripping the jeep of all removable parts, and peeling off the decals


Started sanding, just enough to scuff up the original paint.

Past the point of no return now

Hung some plastic sheeting in the garage, set up some fans to provide ventilation, and masked off the Jeep.



At some point during this time, got a package in the mail from Jack Fauth with a full set of decals


Laid down the primer.



Unfortunately, I sprayed it on a little too thick in places, and got a few runs. I tried to sand it out as best I could, but that style line on the side of the hood is hard to sand around. I was left with this.


Changed tips on the gun, loaded up with the Sand Beige, and set to add the color. Having sprayed too much primer, I tweaked the gun some so it'd put out a little less paint. In hindsight, that may have been a bad thing. But at the time, color was added, and I could start masking out the stripes and numbers.


Remove the tape and this is what appeared


Removed all of the masking, backed the Jeep out into the driveway, and started putting it back together




Unfortunately I was having some issues with the new top. The one in the previous post was for a 97-02 Jeep, one without the extra padding around the roll cage. I had wanted the new hardware, since mine was rusted, but the new stuff wouldn't work. The mounting brackets didn't match, which meant the rear bow wouldn't pivot correctly.


So I had sent that one back, and ordered a different top, one that fit the OEM hardware. Unfortunately, this new one had issues too. One of the windows wasn't cut right. Or maybe it was the top, but the zippers didn't line up, which meant the window couldn't hook into the door surrounds. And then the zipper on the rear window had been cut, so zipping 2/3rds of the way closed, the zipper would constantly come off of the track. Needless to say, this top is going back too.


Those of you with TJs, where'd you get your tops??