James & The Sahara Build Thread

CB came in broken, go figure with refurbished model. Going to return this one and get a new one. Applied some grip tape to the steps as I’m finding it prevents shoes from chewing up the steps.

Gave in with 100 stickers laid around and placed a couple of them where I saw fit. May keep them there, may remove ‘em in the future. Here’s some photos of the newly
Installed black armor:

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Love the look of the contrasting black. Really sets it off, James. :thumbsup:
 
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Wow!! You’ve come a long way with that rig. Nice job!! Looks great


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For sure! ahahahahah. Thank you!
What’s going on with that rear wiper arm? :confused:
My room mate and I saw these wiperblade hands that attach to the rear wiper. This one in particular was a spongebob hand. Its very funny to see one of these in use waving at people lol.
 
So some updates,

Firstly, @Serbonze sorry I can’t get a video of the arm moving. The irony of post armor installation part 4 is the bolt cut through the ground wire. Ugh I will fix this in the future.

Secondly, here comes the list of small mods I’m tackling:
  • Driving to ATL today to pick up a dirt cheap $60.00 tan seat out of a TJ with 30k miles on it. It won’t match and I thought I could get by without a back seat in my TJ... but being in college I find myself driving more and more people around than I realized.
  • Bought another cobra 75 with magnetic mic mount, I will be installing this hopefully saturday.
  • I got a darn good deal on a rubber steering from dead jeep ($52). I didn’t even know TJ’s had an option of a rubber steering wheel but I am dang sure it would hold up better than a replacement vinyl steering wheel would.
  • Called up davey’s jeeps and purchased another passenger spice visor for $45 shipped. I was going to get another mount but managed to break my original one beyond repair.
  • Purchased Defender pro... YES. Finally I am going to tackle the rust on the inside of the tub and bed-line the interior of the Jeep. This day has been long awaited and I am stoked!
  • Purchased a set of replacement full door handles. My passenger side is completely broken and driver’s side is close to follow. Finally going to have smooth openning doors :D.
Really stoked to be fixing these things up. I will probably be removing the hard top this weekend and putting the soft top on. After thinking long and hard about it, I think I may follow in JB’s (@bobthetj03) footsteps and remove my roll bar padding this season.
 
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Be sure to check to see if the roll bar is painted. I've seen guys pull the padding and Jeep got lazy and didn't paint the B,C pillar bars all the way.
 
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Be sure to check to see if the roll bar is painted. I've seen guys pull the padding and Jeep got lazy and didn't paint the B,C pillar bars all the way.
I already pulled mine once to route some cables. I’m painted all the way :). It appears those corners were cut on the newer TJ’s vs the older ones.
 
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Like usual got some good with the bad. The good is the rear bench seat was in great condition and will work really well. The bad news is after 2 weeks I finally got back in contact with Katie at Savvy Offroad about the tailgate valance. She said it wasn’t cost effective. I explained the entire reason I purchased it was for the engraving and offered to pay whatever amount was required. She simply stated it just wasn’t an option. It was quite disappointing and I really wanted them to come through on this one. I outlined the concerns I had with the product with photos and sent it to gerald’s email last night. Hopefully it helps them work on consistency across their product line (Matching materials/misaligned holes/product mounting not fully thought out). This is pretty much the conclusion to working on the armor. I am happy with the corner & rocker armor, I am not happy with the tailgate armor/valance and wish they took the issues brought up a bit more seriously or provided resolution. So 2 thumbs up for the corner/rocker armor!

Back seat is installed:

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I will be removing the hardtop tomorrow and completey stripping out the interior sunday. This in preparation for the bedliner that should be installed wednesday/thursday and ready to pickup friday. Currently determining which components I am going to pull and which components I am ok bedlining over. CB will be tuned & installed saturday, although I will probably have to uninstall the antenna cable for the bedlining. More to come as always :).
 
Thats a bummer about the tailgate and valence. I know I was pretty disappointed in the quality of the instructions for the cable shifter...I sent them an email about it...They don't even have instructions for the 241, BTW. I haven't heard anything back. Hell, I'd do it for them...I'm a decent Technical Writer, for a bit of a discount on some under armor or control arms or something...
 
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Thats a bummer about the tailgate and valence. I know I was pretty disappointed in the quality of the instructions for the cable shifter...I sent them an email about it...They don't even have instructions for the 241, BTW. I haven't heard anything back. Hell, I'd do it for them...I'm a decent Technical Writer, for a bit of a discount on some under armor or control arms or something...
I’ve got to do the shifter too and not looking forward to it haha. I can say at least they offer 8% off all products, can’t say the same for the competition lol. Usually equals free shipping.
 
I’ve got to do the shifter too and not looking forward to it haha. I can say at least they offer 8% off all products, can’t say the same for the competition lol. Usually equals free shipping.
Its not bad...just gotta think about it a little bit. It took a bit of playing to get mine adjusted correctly. Since I've been off wheels for two months now, I haven't actually checked the adjustment, but I think it will work.
 
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Today was prep day! Yesterday I went home & got the hardtop off. Today was all about getting her ready for the tub paint!

Before starting:

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New backseat looks good ;)

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Kinda matches the front ahaha

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Oops missed some inbetween photos! This was post seat/seatbelts/mounting hardware/armor backing plate removal. If you look closely you can see why my Jeep is from Maine ;)

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Tweeter removed:

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This has been a long time coming! It make no sense why the early TJ’s had no rear drain plugs and junk front ones. Time to fix that:

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Pried both clips towards the center:

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Removing the metal plug:

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Cleaning up the rubber material junk:

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Bare metal:

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You can see I bought these drain plugs 2 years ago when I first got the Jeep. Finally getting them in:

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They fit perfect!

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Removed & primed the bare metal. Not a professional finish but something to keep the rain off:

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Rinse & repeat!

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I still need to do the Savvy cable shifter but so I don’t have weird paint lines when these are removed I backed them off a little bit to tape em off:

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Man @bobthetj03, it isn’t a white TJ till the roll bar covers are removed. I’m surprised how much it really pulls all the colors together.

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Everything removed for paint:

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You guessed it, time for a wash. I did get some weird looks at the local wash but you guys can guess why:

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What? Its a Jeep :D.

Hopefully will be droping off the TJ this tuesday for paint. Lots of rain forecasted this week so it may take more than a day or two to get done by my paint guy. I’m stoked!
 
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Today was prep day! Yesterday I went home & got the hardtop off. Today was all about getting her ready for the tub paint!

Before starting:

View attachment 32316

New backseat looks good ;)

View attachment 32321

Kinda matches the front ahaha

View attachment 32317

Oops missed some inbetween photos! This was post seat/seatbelts/mounting hardware/armor backing plate removal. If you look closely you can see why my Jeep is from Maine ;)

View attachment 32318

Tweeter removed:

View attachment 32319

This has been a long time coming! It make no sense why the early TJ’s had no rear drain plugs and junk front ones. Time to fix that:

View attachment 32320

Plied both clips towards the center:

View attachment 32323

Removing the metal plug:

View attachment 32322

Cleaning up the rubber material junk:

View attachment 32324

Bare metal:

View attachment 32325

You can see I bought these drain plugs 2 years ago when I first got the Jeep. Finally getting them in:

View attachment 32326

They fit perfect!

View attachment 32328

Removed & primed the bare metal. Not a professional finish but something to keep the rain off:

View attachment 32327

Rinse & repeat!

View attachment 32329 View attachment 32330 View attachment 32331 View attachment 32332 View attachment 32335

I still need to do the Savvy cable shifter but so I don’t have weird paint lines when these are removed I backed them off a little bit to tape em off:

View attachment 32333View attachment 32334

Man @bobthetj03, it isn’t a white TJ till the roll bar covers are removed. I’m surprised how much it really pulls all the colors together.

View attachment 32337

Everything removed for paint:

View attachment 32338 View attachment 32339 View attachment 32340 View attachment 32340 View attachment 32343 View attachment 32344


You guessed it, time for a wash. I did get some weird looks at the local wash but you guys can guess why:

View attachment 32346 View attachment 32347 View attachment 32345 View attachment 32349 View attachment 32350 View attachment 32351 View attachment 32348

What? Its a Jeep :D.

Hopefully will be droping off the TJ this tuesday for paint. Lots of rain forecasted this week so it may take more than a day or two to get done by my paint guy. I’m stoked!
I'd love to know what some of the witnesses to your madness thought at the car wash. True car guys (be it Jeep, or otherwise) would totally get it. The minivan set would be gathering up their children and telling them not to make eye contact with you. Looks like fun, James. Can't wait to see it after paint!