Starting up JP15 in Washington

[xennocide]

I finally had some time and sunlight today snap some pictures and put my thoughts in order. I purchased a black 95 SE 4.0 back in Sept and started on the conversion about a month ago.
This is what the jeep looks like now


When I purchased it, the interior was all black with grey seats and a hard top. The doors were missing their interior panels and the PO had welded steel plates with nubs on for window cranks. The e-brake was broken and there were cut wires for a sub, speakers, and a CB radio. The exterior had a rampage front and back bumper, tube side steps that were welded on, diamond rockers, and a superwinch. All of which had to go. The good news is the frame had very little rust, the engine was rebuilt about 40k back, and there are no cracks in the tub. Not bad for $4500.


I put the extras up on Craigslist and had a kid offer to swap interiors from his 94 Sahara. What good luck! The pax seat was in excellent condition, rear seat, spice pads, and unfortunately the carpet was a mix of green and grey panels and the driver seat had been replaced. I have the passenger seat on the left right now so the jeep is at least driveable while I search for a Sahara driver seat.

I'm going to break up posts in this tread into interior and exterior work since there is a lot that needs to be done.

[xennocide]

Exterior


Wheels:
As you can see from the original jeep pics, the PO had sort of the correct tires. They are BFG All Terrains (even say "Radial") but they are 12.5" wide an stick out pretty far past the fenders and they do not have the white lettering that is so visible in the film.
There was an online deal for the tires I wanted thru DiscountTireDirect so I bought them before I started working on the rims and they were delivered right to my front door. Gotta love the internet. These are 33x10.5x15 tires. I intend to keep the 3.5" lift the jeep came with but do not like how wide 12.5"s look or plan to rock crawl so these tires will be perfect.


I found a cheap set of 6 rims on CL that needed some work done to clean up and I do mean work!


After reading up on the different painting techniques and decided to try the plasti-dip method. I cleaned the grime and brake dust off the rims and had the tires taken off at Walmart for for $20. The plasti-dip option was appealing since it can be peeled off when I can afford to get the whole paint job done. I am glad I went with this option because I was not happy with the first attempt at doing the rims.


The discoloration on the rims and curb rash were very noticeable thru the plasti-dip and I decided to start over. I stripped the plasti-dip off and sanded down the chips and burs in the rims.


I then put a neutral gray automotive primer down to even out the discoloration.



And then applied 5 coats of plasti-dip. I think the results turned out very well and are ready to have tires mounted on them.


I like the idea that a few people had on here about finding an old BFG Radial All Terrain and mounting it as a non-driveable spare. I am planning on going to a couple salvage yards/pick-n-pull to see if I can track one down

[xennocide]

Interior

Doors:
My Jeep originally came with full hard doors that I intend to keep and use during the winter. Both doors had issues, the left door's interior handle wasn't working (broken latch clip), missing latch cover and the right door's outside handle didn't work (bent lever) and both doors were missing interior panels and had sheet steel welded on as window cranks.



I ended up having to replace both window regulators and the driver side door latch. This was a good experience to see how the doors are engineered and I was able to get both handles working cleaned out the latches, and bought new door panels. They work and look very good now.


As for the half doors,
I scored on CL once again and got a pair in excellent condition for $220. I'll have to remove the speakers, paint them, and install the door pouches I purchased here from ProjectVIC. Let me also say that I stumbled on this website while looking for Sahara interior door alternatives and the ones that he is doing are of very high quality and worth the price just in avoiding the headache of locating OEM panels that haven't deteriorated in 20+ years.

[xennocide]

Extra Reserved

[xennocide]

Busy Thanksgiving weekend!
I saw some of you had the idea to find an old BFG AT with the Radial lettering and use it as a non-functional spare. I really liked this idea and have been keeping my eyes open.
Thanks again to craigslist, I spied some old BFG tires that looked like they might be the right kind and drove up to Everett to collect them.


After quite a bit of scrubbing and cleaning up the white lettering I got a very good result from them.




I dropped the rims and tires off at Discount Tire to have them mounted and balanced. The kid who was going to do the work was very nice and after explaining what they were for, he promised to take extra care to not get the plastidip damaged on the rims. What looks like chipped paint in the pics below is actually the excess tire lube he used and there was zero damage to the finish. I tipped him an extra $10 for taking such good care of the rims. Another bit of good news is that I now have an extra Radial tire and a spare rim if anyone in the Seattle area is interested in doing this.

[xennocide]

A few more updates.
I was able to locate a set of stock sidesteps and mounted the passenger side, haven't had the time to for the driver side.
Stock bumper was purchased and installed along with the front corner bumpers. I also had picked up a pair of the older style front fog lights awhile back and installed them as place holders until I could locate the right


Lights:


*A small update. I was just able to acquire a set of the right fog lights on ebay. A person selling his 94 Sahara was willing to part them off along with his Spice soft top and frame. It was an expensive evening and I will have to do a small amount of work to fix up the one guard.


I am still waiting for a family member to pick up my Front seats and carpet down in SoCal from SgtJeep (you can see the jeep they are coming from here https://www.facebook.com/sgtjeep.ca/ in case anyone is looking for parts) and then figure out how to get them up here but things are starting to take shape!

[dwkane]

I'm in Seattle and would love to get one of those BFG Radial tires. How much do you want for it?

[Jurassic Vic]

Interior


As for the half doors,
I scored on CL once again and got a pair in excellent condition for $220. I'll have to remove the speakers, paint them, and install the door pouches I purchased here from ProjectVIC. Let me also say that I stumbled on this website while looking for Sahara interior door alternatives and the ones that he is doing are of very high quality and worth the price just in avoiding the headache of locating OEM panels that haven't deteriorated in 20+ years.

Thanks for the shout out! Looking forward to seeing them installed!

[xennocide]

I'm in Seattle and would love to get one of those BFG Radial tires. How much do you want for it?

Sent ya a PM.
Just got back from vacation and catching up. Going to try setting some time aside this weekend to start working on the door interiors

[jhpeyton]

Good work! I'll be following your build since it seems to be active same time as mine is.

Luckily for me I have a lot less work to do with mine, but I also paid almost twice what you did on your jeep.

What are you using for the colors, lightbar and rear amber lights?