Brandon's JP Jeep build - Houston, TX

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Ok, update time!

Got the inside of the tub all prepped for the Monstaliner coating. All the old bedliner is stripped as best as I can get it (going down to the metal in a lot of areas). Then scuffed up all the remaining paint with a really rough stripping/scour pad. Then solvent wipe with MEK all over to remove the sanding dust and any other last bits of oil or anything. Used foam earplugs to block off any threaded holes, to keep them from getting gunked. Then I painted on some Chassis Saver paint over those rough/metal areas. There's not really any rust on this body, but I figure I'll stave it off anyhow on that unpainted stuff. The Chassis Saver seems like a great product too, and it left a nice awesome surface for the Monstaliner.



My mom is a retired art teacher, so debating color choices and rolling something like this is right up her alley. The color is called "Sans Panties". REALLY glad I ordered the color sample chip set, because I never would have picked this green off the website. Really hard to take a pic of it that really captures the color, since its different depending on the light. In some pics it looks like almost a brown, but its a pretty nice vibrant OD green. This pic of us two is the closest to the real color:

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In case anyone else is interested in the Monstaliner, thought I would post my thoughts about it separately. I've actually used a couple other bedliner products before, my brother had rolled his old YJ tub back some number of years ago. This stuff is way different than anything I've used or even owned. It doesn't contain rubber chunks, and doesn't come out with that really abrasive texture. Its more like a scaled-up orange peel which is actually pretty nice. The stuff is self-leveling to a degree, which is pretty lenient when you're rolling it on and trying to get the texture consistent. In short, I think its great, and I'm sure I'll use it again somewhere down the line.

I ordered a 1-gallon kit, and that was indeed the right amount for two nice thick coats on the Jeep tub (and the tailgate, not shown). Had about an inch left in the can after all was said and done. I would highly recommend buying extra rollers with your kit though. As the stuff thickens, the lifespan of those rollers will get shorter and shorter. They'll start having little flakes peel off, and you won't realize it right away until the Monstaliner has a few seconds to "settle". If you see it start to fleck, just STOP and change rollers. I used a total of 4 of the 2" rollers and 2 of the 4" rollers, and I'm glad I had every one of them. Of course we had two of us rolling simultaneously, but our last roller started flecking just as we were done. I absolutely wouldn't buy any less than that.

I masked off the edge of the roll bars with Frog Tape, and it seemed to hold the lines nice and sharp. We removed the paint right after applying the second coat, and the tape wasn't sticking or doing anything weird. Looks like there would be zero trouble trying to do multiple colors or mask off designs. As long as the Monsta isn't dry, MEK seems to dissolve it like magic eraser. Took two seconds with MEK and a rag to clean up some drips on my garage floor, and on the Jeep bumper.

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Ok, update time!

Here's the Monstaliner fully cured, and just installed the new Tuffy center console.



I bought a set of Rugged Ridge XHD seats from Quadratec in spice, because they were advertised to be direct fit for a TJ with the stock seat mounts (therefore keeping the tumble-forward). Opened the box and they are complete garbage. One had a popped spring protruding (pic below), the other had a big section of torn seams on the front. Both had some dried black ink/tar stains. So bad that I took a video and sent to the Quadratec support guy, and he overnight'd an entire new set to me. Opened the third seat, and it was garbage too. Unbelievable. Is it possible that Quadratec is sending customer returns as new? Been fighting to try and return them, but another support guy was giving me attitude on the phone (and never processed my return). I posted a 1-star review on Yelp, and of course that got a higher-level person motivated to fix it. Counting the two crunched tailgates I got from them, this makes 0 for 5 as far as actually receiving items from them in usable condition. After more than a decade of being my go-to, Quadratec has lost my business.



Here's my review of the Rugged Ridge XHD seats on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zebDQYT8wwY

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Next up is tackling the wiring and some of the nagging electrical issues. Popping fuses, the gauge cluster working only sometimes, bad headlight switch, and dome lights turning on or off with no reason.

Gotta love previous owners. The last kid that had it put in this crappy stereo (made by Dual), and just twisted the wires together with electrical tape. Of course a couple had come apart, causing a short against the metal frame of the dash. I found several other splices like this too, like some side windshield mounted lights that are no longer on the Jeep.



I'm the previous owner you WANT to buy from. All wire splices will be correctly soldered with heatshrink. Also did the same with the lightbar wiring.



Got everything up and running, but now I'm showing two check engine light codes for O2 sensors. My guess is they are fuse-related, considering the stuff I had just fixed. Once I get everything put back together, I'll tackle that.

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Found a kit online for $80 that gives me all brand new lock cylinders for the ignition, 2 doors, and tailgate, along with two nice fresh keys. Luckily this 1999 doesn't have transponders in the keys, so this was an easy swap. Esp since I have to move all the latch mechanism to the new tailgate anyway.

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Doesn't look like much, but a couple things here. The 1999 TJ's headlight switch was the push/pull rod on the dash panel to the left of the steering wheel. Apparently on the 2001 where I sourced this dashboard, the headlight control was moved to the turn signal stalk. I didn't change my steering column (and required wiring), so I retrofitted the old style switch mount in the new dash and drilled a hole for it. Seems to work well. In the future, I'd like to ditch that rod switch in general, and go with separate rocker switches for each light.

Also figured out the intermittent problem with the gauge needles not moving, and replaced the cracked glass on my gauge cluster. Oh, and ditched that stupid white background overlay somebody had put in there(layout of the lights didn't even match). Sanded and repainted the plastics of the steering column shroud that were super sunbleached. Next up will be repainting that center bezel around the radio and AC controls.



Found a local Jeep shop that had some used half doors that are in way better condition than mine. Brand new tan interior panels, and the metal is all straight. He gave me $100 on trade for my bent up doors with the completely destroyed interior panels at least.

Drove it around for maybe 20mi over the last 2 days just keeping an eye on things. Think I've solved the O2 sensor CEL, hasn't come back yet.

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I keep up my own website, but I keep forgetting to update this thread. Got lots of new progress.

For reference, here's what the old tired seats looked like:



New Bestop seats installed:



With new seats and now new door panels, the entire interior of the Jeep has been replaced. Looks pretty darn good now.

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Before I start painting, I really wanted to replace the hood, since the one on it had like 15 dents. Some of them pretty big from somebody sitting on it or something. So I found one at a big parts supplier in an industrial section of town. So luckily didn't have to ship it, otherwise there's no way it would get to me unharmed.





Also the windshield support bars of the roll cage had a bit of surface rust, thought I would rehab them while I'm at it. Cleaned up and refinished with Chassis Saver paint.



Now that the interior is all put together... time to take it apart! Stripped everything down to get ready for the exterior. Sanded and solvent-cleaned with MEK.



Decided I would go the Monstaliner route also for the outside, since I was really happy with the results on the inside. Its not screen-accurate, but the functionality of it is worth it in my opinion. Got all my supplies ready for d-day.

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We were too busy trying to beat the clock with the Monstaliner catalyst to take pics, but here's what it looks like after rolling the tan. Used one full gallon of "Desert Sand", without even touching the roll bars, windshield, or hood cowl. I know another person on this forum has done Monstaliner with Killer Beej for the tan, but having seen a couple of real Sand Beige YJ's, the Desert Sand is really the closer match. Monstaliner makes several shades of tan. Killer Beej is the lightest and most neutral in color. Desert Sand is that but a shade darker. Pass the Bubbley and Yank My Doodle are tans that are a bit more towards the yellow side and red side of the spectrum (as opposed to more neutral).

These pics in the garage have terrible lighting, so its really tough to come across in photos. I'll get better pics once I can move it out into the sunlight.







Now measuring and masking for the red layer.

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The next day, we attacked the red. Believe it or not, took a full gallon of "Read My Lips", since we also did the bumpers and the roll cage. This red is a very bright, straight up FF0000 type of red, and so it doesn't cover extremely well. So plan on laying it even thicker than the other colors.

Having mulled over their sample paint chips and my friend's color-accurate YJ build, I believe that the "Lady in Red" color would be the more accurate red for the body of the Jeep. Its still a true red, but just one slight shade darker. I still decided to go with Read My Lips since this isn't a screen-accurate build anyway, so I'll take that extra little bit of pop and loudness.







Removing the masking tape is a very sticky job, since the Monstaliner has to be fairly thick.



Made sure to catch the red on the hinges.



All done with paint. Like I say, the color is hard to capture in photos, especially parked in the garage. I promise I'll do good color-corrected SLR photos once I get it out in the sun.